This is a continuation of the 'Bodacious' storyline. The first story is 'The Bodacious Blonde Milf' and the second is 'Bodacious - A New Year's Story'. The storyline is about a romance between a lady in her early to mid-40s and a nearly 30 year old man feeling his way through life. Linda is your typical All-American mother living the perceived American dream of a life and feeling like something is missing, and Bob, your typical unattached male, still has a lot of growing up to do. Together they are searching for something that life has not afforded them thus far.
Linda and Bob have experienced sex together a couple of times thus far. Linda is experiencing the flux of middle age, while Bob is still young and full of youthful cravings. The tempestuous tryst is unsettling for both in different ways. This is a story of change and evolution.
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(Bob's in the Kitchen at work where he is the Head Chef at his Family's Restaurant when this scene begins) -
"The Chateaubriand special for two... We have two of the Surf and Turf for twos... Rack of Lamb and the Salmon special. Get those on and I'll call out the 8-top next." We were hustling. It was Valentine's night. We were probably halfway through dinner service. 8pm and we'd been going at it full bore since 6pm. We were all flying around, with the loud sounds of pots, pans, and plates banging inside the tight confines of our small bistro kitchen. It seemed like a hundred different voices mixing in the background, but I was zoned in on the multi-tasking at hand.
Why'd my life have to be this way. I was dedicated to my job, my livelihood, this business, and a legacy, so much so that I didn't have time for much of a personal life. The restaurant business, it is all so fucking crazy. These people were my friends, but I couldn't totally relate to most of 'em. The people I worked with would hang out with me here, but not for the most part outside of here.
The day, like any special event day, had been a whirlwind of activity. I had prepared for this night for a week. Christmas Parties, New Year's Eve, and Valentine's are special evenings that make or break a restaurant. You really need to turn the tables at least twice and a three course meal usually takes a couple of hours, so a table sat at 6pm will be sat again at 8pm and a table sat at 7pm will be sat again by 9pm. Unlike New Year's Eve, most people will be working the following day, since Valentine's fell on Wednesday this year. This meant people wouldn't be hanging out at the restaurant all night long. Most everyone would be gone by 11pm at the latest and the staff should be headed home by midnight.
We were headed into the heart of that second seating of the tables, when our Manager/Hostess Toni let me know that Linda was sitting at the bar with a friend. I found that to be surprising. I hadn't heard from Linda in a few weeks. A week into January, she had brought a new saleslady into the restaurant and handed over the account to her. She had pretty much told me that she was going to do this, but I thought she would be over that by now.
"OK, does she have a reservation?" I asked.
"No," Toni answered.
"Do you have a table for her?" I further inquired.
"I'll probably have something for her in 20 minutes." She confirmed, knowing what I'd want.
"OK, Thank You," I dismissed her and she headed out. Toni and I were on the same wavelength at this point. We'd worked together now for five years. She was almost like a sister to me, although I did find her attractive. She had a boyfriend she'd been with for years, but I digress.
I did my best to concentrate on service, but Linda was consuming my mind. I rushed getting plates out, hoping it wasn't noticeable when I made a few mistakes. You make mistakes during dinner service, but it's all about how fast you can fix those mistakes, and these were definitely attributable to my mind wandering about Linda. The flow of dinner was getting on my nerves, because I really wanted to see her. What did Toni mean she was here with a friend. My relationship with Linda was a secret. I couldn't be asking what she meant.
Linda's ticket finally arrived at 9pm. It would be one of the last tickets of the evening. She was having the Salmon Special and the other person, whomever it was, was having a Filet. We fired the ticket, along with five others, and everything was ready in about 15 minutes. Around 9:30pm, we were down to the last few stragglers, so I headed out to the dining room and let the other staff take care of the orders that were left.
I rounded the corner of the main dining area and there she was. Linda was sitting with the new saleslady Kim at a 4-top table along with my mother who had joined them. "Hello Ladies," I smiled as I approached the table noticing they were finishing up their meals.
"Hey Bob," Kim effervesced as I approached the table. Kim was definitely an attractive lady with a short bob-cut hairstyle and perfect white toothed grin. She was somewhere around my age. Linda grinned a sheepish grin as she nodded down to me and said,"Hey."
My mother praised me, "Bobby y'all did an excellent job getting that food out of here tonight. I guess they're about ready to wrap it up?"
"Yes Ma'am," I let her know. "Did y'all enjoy your dinner?" I asked the ladies knowing they had.
"It's fabulous," Kim continued as Linda nodded in affirmation, "The Filet is perfect," as I looked at the mostly eaten steak." "I've never had the chance to have dinner here before. You have a great thing here." She looked at me, then turned the gaze towards my mother.
I took notice of Clarence tinkling the keys in the background and bellowing out a familiar pop song as I let the ladies know, "I told Toni to set y'all up a dessert sampler. She will have it out here shortly."
Linda smiled, "You didn't have to. I am stuffed already."
My mind was abuzz looking at Linda. She was wearing her red dress. The one that had enamored me so. The one she had been wearing the week before Christmas.. The red wrap around dress that was in love with her breasts. Rarely had I seen cleavage enhanced so beautifully. She was a model of feminine perfection in my eyes.
"Where's Charles?" I seriously inquired.
She shirked her shoulders in quick response, as her eyes averted my own and her head turned towards the ladies, "Off on another business trip."
Instinctively, I knew not to inquire further, "Well, I'm going to head to the back and help wrap up. I'd like to come have a drink with y'all, if you don't mind here in just a bit." The ladies nodded OK.
My Mother let me know, "Bobby, it's been a long one. I'm going to head home in a few minutes." I nodded in understanding and headed back to the kitchen to finish up.
A little later, around 10pm, I headed back out to the dining area where the evening was noticeably wrapping up. The servers were pre-busing their last few tables and there were only a handful of diners finishing their meals. A few people were sitting around the piano. A restaurant that had been hustling and bustling an hour earlier was now winding down.
Like a gentleman, I asked the ladies once again if they minded me joining them, I was drinking a Jack and Ginger to help relax. The ladies were enjoying some sort of red wine. Kim talked about how much she appreciated having this account, and my mother and I being so helpful and understanding after Linda had been our account manager for years, and she thanked Linda for giving her the account.
"Well, I have to tell you that Linda has been the best. No one is better and that is the reason why she had the vast majority of our business, so you have some big shoes to fill, but you have been great," I wanted her to feel good about our account and comfortable dealing with us and I wanted Linda not to worry about what had happened.
I looked straight into Linda's lovely blue eyes, "I just hope you won't be a stranger. Mom would be so disappointed and I know I will be. I've relied on you and you have always come through when we needed you to." I smiled and turned towards Kim. "I only started doing our ordering recently. Mom wanted to take some of the workload off of her shoulders and she pretty much trusts that I can handle it now and I don't want to disappoint her."
Kim nodded, "I understand and I'll do my best not to let you down."
