“Wait.” He’s out of breath just from jogging that short distance. “Are you saying you’re not going to take the job?”
I glance around one more time and feel lighter. “Sorry, Noah. I appreciate the offer, but it’s not for me.” It feels good to say it. This place may skyrocket my career, but in the words of Marie Kondo, it will never spark joy. I’m done with it.
All of it.
“No.” Noah looks like he’s going to hurl. It makes me think that all the talk of Martin was just to bait me into taking the position. “You have until Sunday night to decide.”
“I thought it was Saturday, today?”
He gives me a desperate smile. “What week ends on a Saturday? Sunday makes more sense. Take an extra day to think about it more. I won’t accept an answer before then.”
“Sorry, man. My answer won’t change.” I turn and leave it all behind.
Chapter 28 June
You know what’s wonderful? Holding hands with Ryan Henderson in public! I don’t know why that fact is striking me more than making out with him in private. Forget the fact that our mouths have touched; Ryan lacing his fingers with mine while we walk into his workplace is the most exciting feeling in the world.
I have the greatest urge to hold our clasped hands in the air like I just won a boxing match and yell, I’M HOLDING RYAN’S HAND! at the top of my lungs for all Chicago to hear.
And I act on that urge.
“Shhh, you loon,” Ryan says, yanking our hands back down.
He makes me promise I’ll behave when we go into the restaurant, and I agree, but only because I have one hand behind my back, fingers crossed. I’ll do as I see fit once we get in there.
When we step into the kitchen, a hush falls over it. It’s equal parts reverence and fear. Ryan’s dark eyes slide over every surface, and the entire staff waits with bated breath. I had no idea Ryan struck this kind of fear in people (clearly, they didn’t know him during his saggy-jeans-and-green-leprechaun-boxer phase). But I’m not going to lie; it’s sexy as all get-out holding hands with the man who’s making the poor guy in the corner tremble in his stained apron.
I glance up and see the beautiful severe lines on Ryan’s face and savor that I get to be on this side of his life now. The side that knows how many crinkles live beside his eyes when he smiles and that his dimple only pops when he is really and truly happy.
“Chef, you’re back,” says a woman stepping forward before her troop. Her eyes slide from Ryan to me and down to our hands. Her face softens a little—almost as if she’s relieved to see our interlaced fingers. I like her immediately.
“Not officially,” he says, the new stern quality to his voice a little shocking to me. It sends a happy little chill dancing down my spine, and I can’t wait to see what happens next. “I just wanted to stop by, see how the kitchen is running, and show June around.” He squeezes my hand, and for a brief moment, his severity slides away, and he’s just Ryan again. “Nia, this is June. June, Nia is my sous-chef. And an incredible one at that.”
Judging by the way Nia’s face beams from Ryan’s praise, I don’t think it’s a usual occurrence for him to dish it out.
For the next ten minutes, I follow beside Ryan as we walk around the kitchen. Everyone quakes, and no one escapes Ryan’s notice. “Tim, you hungover? Don’t let that happen tomorrow or you’re out of my kitchen. Sanders, tell me you’ve not been scorching my sauce like this the whole time I’ve been gone.” He’s ruthless.
“You,” he says, pointing to a wide-eyed young guy. “I don’t even know your name, but if you keep chopping at the pace of a snail, those orders won’t be out until Christmas. Don’t mess it up.” Actually, I cleaned up his language a bit. Turns out, Ryan has a real potty mouth in the kitchen.
It’s Top Chef in here. High-stakes cooking, and if you’re good, you go on to the next round. If you’re bad…I don’t know, maybe you just keel over and die? It feels that way by the fear radiating off these people.
As much as I’m enjoying this live episode, I can’t help but notice Ryan never once smiles in here like he did in my donut shop. But I don’t know. Maybe that’s just the way things go in the chef world. What I do know is how happy I am to be on this side of Ryan’s wrath.
A few minutes later, we follow Nia out of the kitchen, and while she and Ryan are talking shop in the hallway, I slip off to use the bathroom. On my way back, I peek my head into the kitchen again.
“Hey! Y’all are doing great! Keep at it!” I offer my encouraging speech with a big cheesy grin and a thumbs-up. I feel really good about my contribution to the staff morale until I exit the kitchen and find Ryan’s lifted brow and smirk aimed at me.
“Did you just pep talk my staff?”
My eyes go wide. “Never. No. I was just giving that guy some pointers on the sauce.”
“Mm-hmm. I’m getting you out of here before you have them all holding hands and singing campfire songs.”
“Oooh, that sounds fun! Do you think they’d do it?”
He wraps his arm around my shoulder and kisses my temple. “Maybe next time. We’ve got a date to get ready for.”
My stomach dips at his words. I have no idea what to expect. All I know is that Ryan has been dragging this out for so long that I’m sure he’s got something spectacular planned. A man does not haul a woman all the way to another state for a mediocre date.
“Oh, so are you taking her to the opening tonight, then?” asks Nia.
“Opening?” I ask Ryan.
He looks down at me. “That’s not the date I have planned. She’s talking about a restaurant opening of one of my old friends from culinary school.”
“Oh, let’s go, then! If it’s your friend’s restaurant, you should be there to support him.”
Ryan studies my face with furrowed brows, trying to find any hints of a lie. “You sure?”
I poke him in the cheek, ready for him to stop looking so serious. “Why wouldn’t I be? Sounds like a fun night out.”
He looks back up to Nia. “All right, looks like we’ll see you there.”
There’s something about hearing the word we that makes me tingle.
They say their goodbyes, and when Ryan and I are both situated in his truck again, he leans over the console and kisses me. Just as I start to taste the mint in his mouth, he pulls away and smiles. “Are you ready for that date now?”
My heart hammers against my chest. For some reason, I thought the opening tonight would mean postponing the date. I like this option much better.
