As soon as Seth sat down, Linda said "So what is all of this?" Had he won the lottery?
It was almost that big. "The management company at the arena settled," he said.
"Out of court. Ruth Ann and Lauren's parents are each going to get two mill."
The whole thing had been on the back burner of Linda's mind for years. The money was nice, but it wouldn't bring back Jeannie or Lauren. "But what does that have to do with you?"
"Ruth Ann cut me a check for a hundred grand," he said, with a carefree, smug expression on his face.
The numbers made Linda's head swim, as the wait staff doted on them. When she tugged the napkin through the elegant sterling silver holder and set the silver piece on the table, a busboy snagged it from there only seconds later. "Why would she do that?" Seth wasn't related to them, he was only a close friend.
"Out of gratitude," he replied. The maitre d' gave him a golden gilded pair of menus and he handed one across the table to her. When he opened it up and looked inside, his features contorted into a grimace. "Aw, shit! This is all in French! How the fuck am I supposed to order if I don't know what I'm looking at."
Linda received B's and A's during high school French and she looked at the menu. She could tell that "Poulet" was chicken and that "Cordon bleu" meant that a meat was stuffed with a hollandaise and ham sauce. "Ask the waiter to make a recommendation," Linda said. "Or ask them to get you a menu in English. They must have one."
Moments later a lady waiter, with her hair pinned up tightly, appeared with new menus. "That's better," Seth said. "Jeez."
Linda looked around them while Seth decided what to order. Another waiter pushed a silver dessert cart to one of the tables occupied by a well-dressed family. A plump boy sitting at that table broke into a cheer when the waiter set the cherries jubilee aflame. She knew that the meal they were getting might cost Seth hundreds of dollars. "So that's how you got the car."
Seth grinned like a Cheshire cat. "Walked right into the dealer and said 'Gimme that one.'"
"It's a cool car, no doubt," Linda said, as she decided on a braised veal dish. "But couldn't you have waited, let the money grow on you a little?"