A Trip to the Beach by Melinda Blanchard

Author:Melinda Blanchard
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction
ISBN: 9781400045327
Publisher: Potter/TenSpeed/Harmony
Published: 2001-11-20T05:00:00+00:00

The dining room at Blanchard’s over the holidays was filled with celebrities from around the globe; producers, directors, fashion icons, actors, models, politicians, and Wall Street gurus arrived daily. A hush fell over the room each time a superstar was shown to his or her table. Some were difficult to recognize in casual attire with no stylist or hairdresser for miles around, but they added an element of excitement to each evening.

On one particularly busy night a woman dining in the restaurant had told us she was writing an article on the villas of Anguilla. She was including a section about restaurants and asked Bob if she could take some pictures of him in the dining room. He didn’t mind, but said it was imperative that she not bother any of the customers. She followed him around taking pictures and was very discreet until Bob reached a table in the corner. The woman pointed her camera directly in the customer’s face, practically blinded him with the flash, and made a beeline back to her table.

“What the hell is going on here?” the gentleman demanded.

Bob apologized and explained about the article, saying that the woman was supposed to be taking pictures of him. The guest’s wife became indignant and said, “We reserved under other names, but you really don’t know who my husband is, do you?”

Once the gentleman introduced himself, Bob realized he had a serious problem on his hands. This was a major movie star, and Bob was terribly embarrassed not to have recognized him. He went back to the woman with the camera and asked for the film, which he then turned over to the celebrity. We never did see any mention of Blanchard’s in any article about Anguilla’s villas.

We hadn’t given much thought to New Year’s Eve, or Old Year’s Day, as it is called in Anguilla, until concierges began calling with questions. Carimar Beach Club wanted to know if we had a fixed menu, Blue Waters asked about entertainment, and Covecastles was hoping for fireworks.

Leon Roydon called from Malliouhana, warning us about a particular guest who would be joining us for dinner on New Year’s Eve. Dr. Gibson was one of his best customers and had never before ventured off the hotel property; he had apparently heard about our restaurant and was planning to give it a try.

“Please understand,” Leon explained, “my only interest in calling you is to ensure my guest has a positive experience. His Anguilla visits have been very protected until now, and I don’t want to take any chances. He’s something of a gourmet and a wine buff, particularly fond of Montrachet, so I wanted you to be prepared. He also tends to dine with a large group, so the number in his party may grow; he loves to entertain. I’d suggest preparing a large table for the chap, just in case.”

“Bob,” I said after hanging up the phone, “this Gibson is a heavy hitter. We’d better not make any mistakes or I’m afraid we’ll ruin our good relationship with Malliouhana.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.