Page 5 of Sing with Me

If the client wouldn’t discuss with her what he wanted to eat, then every day would be full of surprises.

Of course, now that Diehl had arrived in town, she’d finally get a chance to speak with him in person and ask for a meeting to make sure the next three months would go smoothly for both Diehl and her chefs.

After all, she was too busy to chase after clients. She had a personal chef business to run and a restaurant to manage. If she wasn’t cooking at clients’ homes, she’d be at Saffron on Jekyll Island, looking after her forty-nine percent share of the award-winning restaurant, which had been her brother’s.

Sebastian and his ex-girlfriend Talia had co-owned the place once upon a time. To help her brother out in his messy relationships back then, Skye bought his minority share of the company. Unfortunately, majority partner Talia lived in London and didn’t care much about the day-to-day operations. Skye ran the restaurant and did all the work, but only received the profit as a minority partner.

Skye had sold her million-dollar oceanfront house on St. Simon’s Island to buy out Sebastian’s share, and now she lived in a rental condo by the river where she could see the sunset from her screened-in porch, although she didn’t have much time to enjoy the scenery.

Skye didn’t want to sell her land on Seaside Island to buy Talia’s shares. Nor did she want to downsize Skye’s the Limit and fire any of her twelve personal chefs. And she did not want to dip into her savings and stocks any more than she needed to.

It would be unwise to cash out everything Uncle Miller and Aunt Irma had left her, which had formed the seed of her businesses now and kept her out of financial debt. In fact, she had multiplied her fortune by wisely investing in her business.

She might consider investing in her brother’s future ventures in Atlanta, but there was still time to think about that. Sebastian now lived in Athens, Georgia, where his wife, Emmeline, was finishing up her master’s degree in harp performance at the University of Georgia. His goal was to start a new flagship restaurant in Atlanta after Emmeline was done with graduate school.

“What did she say?” Marlo asked, wiping down the countertop and island.

Marlo had been a godsend to Skye. He worked hard, had no family obligations, and was available at any time. He was attending Brunswick College to get a degree in culinary science. He was such a good cook that Skye almost suggested he aim for a chef’s hat. But then again, who was she to tell him what to do?

“I’m waiting for her to text me back.” Skye put her phone back into her apron pocket. “I kid you not, Brinley told me to walk right in.”

“What if her brother walks around in his underwear?” Marlo laughed.

“I know, right. My brother wore boxers at home all the time—and probably still does even though he’s married.”

“No comments about myself.”

Skye washed her hands. “We don’t know where he wants to eat. Dining room or kitchen table.”

Marlo shook his head.

“Let’s set the dining table. We can always move either way.”

“Right.”

“Thank you for working with me today and adjusting to our client’s schedule.” Skye looked for silverware to set the table. “I would normally ask you to leave if you want since we’ve been here half an hour past our time, but I’d rather not be alone, so thank you for staying.”

“No problem.”

Obviously, Skye didn’t want to be alone with Brinley’s older brother—alone, not married any more, all by himself in this beautiful house.

Not only did she have a professional reputation to keep, she was also concerned that the guys at church she might be interested in might change their view of her if she were found alone with a backsliding Christian—possibly even unsaved person—such as Diehl, who had once cussed out Pastor Gonzalez when the latter asked him if he had ever accepted Jesus as his personal Lord and Savior.

Diehl had insisted that he was a believer.

Who had fallen away from the faith?

Was it because he was a gazillionaire? The verse from 1 Timothy 6:9 came to Skye’s mind.

But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.

What did the verse mean? Skye had been pondering it for a while. She and her brother had worked their way up from nothing. Now they were successful business people. Would they some day fall into “temptation and a snare” or would they be able to stay on the straight and narrow path of serving God with their successes?

What about Diehl? Diehl was successful too. But he had received a shoe-in job at his father’s company. Not that he wasn’t working as hard as everyone else. However, he probably had it easier.

Maybe?

Skye felt bad for being judgmental—

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