So it goes.

I remember the first time I saw Drew. He was the sous chef of the restaurant where I had just gotten hired to work as a food runner and expediter. The restaurant was scheduled to open in a month and we were having our first menu tasting as a new crew. He came out with one of the new dishes for us to pass around and taste, but as soon as he spoke, I kind of melted. He was cute, don't get me wrong. I had already noticed that. But when he started describing what we were about to taste - a crush formed. From there we flirted through the window between the wood fire oven and the saute station (where he worked most nights). I scrambled to make communication happen through our wonky little kitchen and he kept me giggling through the stress. Once we were up and going, services were wild and sometimes very tense, but all of the levity he could bring to it was impressive. Pretty soon our chef (and dear friend) Brian, gave me the opportunity I was looking for! He was going to let me get in on the whole animal butchery that made this restaurant so cool. And soon after he gave me a position as a line cook in his kitchen. I was learning a ton, but it complicated this new flirtation building between Drew and I. All of a sudden, Drew was my boss. It was clear he was very aware of that fact. I decided, being the all too persistent person I am, that I wasn't ready to give up. I bought us tickets to a show, seeing as I already knew he loved live music, and asked him to join me. To my surprise, he actually agreed! But the night of the show he told me, pretty frankly, that he couldn't date an employee and we would have to be friends. I would love to say that I just accepted that as fact, but I can be stubborn (for better or worse). A couple months went by with some awkward flirting, a couple of mixed CD's, some positive pushes to ignore our work status, another live show and a very direct conversation. In the end, here we are, about to get married! Xoxo, Renee