“Be careful, everything is really hot,” the waitress told them. “Do you need anything else?”
Chris looked at Seth, his eyebrows up. Seth shook his head, so Chris told her they were fine and she left.
Seth’s eyes widened as he took in all the food on his plate. Shrimp stuffed with crabmeat sat next to grilled asparagus drizzled in a white sauce. A large pile of lobster mashed potatoes completed the culinary image. He glanced at Chris’s plate, just as full.
“Wow, this is more food than I eat all day,” Seth declared. “I don’t know where to start.”
“I do,” Chris replied and dug into his lobster mashed potatoes.
Seth laughed and followed suit, and when the food hit his tongue, he moaned. It was so smooth and creamy. Better than any mashed potatoes he’d ever eaten in his life.
“Delicious, right?” Chis asked, watching him intently.
“One of the best things I’ve ever eaten. Hey, you didn’t finish telling me your story.” He scooped his fork into the potatoes again.
“Right. Okay, let’s see…I was laying there and…I don’t have any memory of the fall, to be honest. The next thing I remember, my grandpa was waking me up and I kind of remember riding to the hospital withhim, but I think I was in and out. My temple was bleeding pretty badly and I ended up getting stitches.”
“Ouch. I had to have stitches on my arm when I fell out of a tree as a kid.”
“Not fun to get, right?”
Seth was in complete agreement. He still had a weird scar on his arm.
“Anyway, we thought that was the end of the story, but a few days later, I lost my peripheral vision.”
“Seriously? From the fall?”
Chris shrugged. “At first they—the doctors—weren’t sure. But over the weeks, my vision got worse. Finally saw a specialist and, well to make a long story short, I had to have surgery and my eyes were covered with bandages for about a month.”
Seth couldn’t imagine going through that, especially as a child. “Wow,” he said, breathing out sharply.
Chris took another bite and nodded.
But Seth was confused. “What does that have to do with wanting to be a chef, though?”
“Those first few days after surgery, I did nothing but mope and complain. Obviously, I didn’t feel good—who does after surgery, right? But I was miserable. I couldn’t watch television, play video games, or play outside with my friends. And everything was dark. I missed seeing colors.”
Seth sat back, his plate forgotten as he listened to Chris.
“It’s true what they say, though—about when you lose one of your five senses, the others kick into overdrive. Within days, I could smell things before others could.” He chuckled. “Sometimes the scents were so strong I wanted to bury my face in my pillow. On the other hand, the scents of things thatI loved, like chocolate chip cookies, would stay with me all day and I definitely liked that.” Chris picked up his wineglass and took a drink. “I haven’t really talked about that time of my life with anyone,” he admitted as he set down the glass.
“Do you want to stop?”
Chris shook his head. “I want share it with you.”
Seth smiled and took a bite of shrimp while he waited for Chris to continue.
“My hearing got better, too, but that seemed to fade once I was able to see again. The thing that reallychanged for me was taste. Like I said, those first few days I was miserable and I guess I wasn’t eating—according to my grandpa. I don’t really remember that part. But he turned meals into a guessing game. You know, ‘what do you think you’re eating?’ kind of thing. It was fun, but I could usually figure things out by the smell before I took a bite anyway. So he made it harder. Made it a challenge. I would have to guess the seasonings and the spices. I learned about herbs and spices and a variety of ingredients and suddenly food became fun. It was creative—like an art, really. And I knew I wanted to be a chef.” He grinned. “And as soon as I could see again, I began messing up my grandpa’s kitchen as often as I could.”
Seth smiled back. “So, that’s why you like color so much?”
Chris nodded. “I was in the dark for a while so I never want to be bland or blend in. The world is exploding with a palette of vibrant colors and I will never take it for granted.”
Seth was impressed. “It’s amazing how much that impacted your life, and still impacts it.”
“Yes, it definitely changed my life. But that’s enough about me. I want to hear about you now.”
“Not a whole lot to tell, honestly,” Seth said with a small shrug. “I have an engineering degree, butwhen Karlee decided to open her shop and asked me to help her, I jumped on it. I really enjoy it. I don’t think engineering was in the cards for me. I like people and I get to work with them all day at the shop.”
“You and Karlee seem really close.”
“Oh, we definitely are. We’ve been friends for years, and when I came out in high school, she was there for me when kids started harassing me. I’ve never been good at confrontation—still pretty shy at times. Which I know is a contradiction because I just said I like working with people. But at work, it’s different. I put on my manager mask and it’s like a shield. Does that make sense?”
Chris nodded. “Oh, yeah. Totally get that. When I meet perspective clients, I have to put on a show of sorts. Convince them I’m the person to hire.”
Seth smiled. He loved that Chris understood what he was talking about. He felt so comfortable around him—as if they’d known each other for years.