The Ex at Table Seven
A chef and her estranged husband inherit a supper club that only breaks even when they host other couples' divorce parties.
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How it begins
Kate had reserved table seven for a divorce party.
Her husband was sitting at it.
"You're early," she said.
"So are you."
"I work here."
"Apparently we both do."
David slid a solicitor's letter across the table.
Kate did not pick it up. She had spent the morning making lemon custard and considering whether she could afford to keep the refrigerator running. Neither activity had prepared her for this particular development.
The supper club smelled of furniture polish and onions.
Above the bar, her aunt's photograph watched them with the pleased expression of a woman who had always mistaken interference for hospitality.
"Half?" Kate said.
"Half."
"She knew we were separated."
"She was very specific about that."
Kate read the letter.
Her aunt had left her the kitchen and David the dining room, which was not how commercial property worked but was exactly how her aunt's mind had worked.
The first client arrived before Kate finished reading.
A woman in a green coat looked from one of them to the other.
"I'm here about Friday."
"The divorce dinner," Kate said.
"Celebration."
"Of course."
"Can you seat people so the two sides don't have to look at each other?"
Kate looked at David.
"Yes."
"And no songs about forever."
"Absolutely."
The woman relaxed.
"My friends think I'm being dramatic."
"You're hiring a room and buying people dinner," David said. "That's one of the more considerate ways to be dramatic."
Kate remembered, inconveniently, why clients had always liked him.
The woman took out a deposit envelope.
"Do you two do weddings as well?"
"Not currently," Kate said.
David looked down at the table.
The old varnish still bore the pale ring from the champagne bucket they had used at their own reception.
Kate placed the booking form over it.
"Let's start with Friday."
For once, David did not try to finish the conversation for her.
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Outline and characters
- Kate inherits half the supper club.
- David inherits the other half under an unresolved separation agreement.
- Their first divorce-party booking arrives.
- They set boundaries for shared work.
- A former customer claims the club owes her a wedding deposit.
- Kate finds a record of secret community meals.
- David admits why he stayed in town.
- They reject a profitable event that exploits a client's grief.
- The club survives through a transparent membership model.
- Kate and David decide whether reconciliation fits the people they have become.
Characters
- Kate Morgan, 29. Chef rebuilding an inherited supper club
- David Lane, 34. Estranged husband learning to share the dining room
Series possibilities
- A reunion dinner reunites guests who insist they have never met.
