Page 85 of Sing with Me

Chapter Twenty-Five

Brinley’s obstetrician had put her on bedrest for the rest of her pregnancy. That caused the baby shower to be canceled. It wasn’t a big deal because Skye and Avery decided to collect all the gifts and bring them over to Brinley’s house before the baby was due.

In fact, the situation lightened Skye’s load. She had many things on her calendar for this month. Not only were Skye’s chefs rather busy cooking for vacationers, Saffron on Jekyll Island also experienced a rise in patrons due to the summer break. Add to that singing at church, agreeing to help her brother at the food festival in Miami Beach, and organizing a baby shower for her good friend, and Skye felt overwhelmed by the time Thursday rolled around.

Fifteen minutes to eight on a cloudy Thursday morning, Skye and Marlo arrived at Diehl’s house to find a note taped to the front door.

“What is that, an eviction notice?” Marlo laughed. The paper sack on his arms shook.

Skye read it. “A note from Diehl. He’s canceling all meals on Thursday and Friday.”

Diehl’s truck was not on the driveway—but it didn’t mean he hadn’t moved it into the garage and closed the door. The carriage house-style garage door had no windows for them to peek in.

“Are we still getting paid?”

“Yep. It’s late notice. Policy says we should be paid for today, but tomorrow is still twenty-four hours away, so he has leeway there.” Skye put down her basket on the ground.

She texted him for confirmation.

No reply.

“Okay. I’m going to assume this is a valid note.” Skye took a photo of the note before she pulled it off the door. “I’m going to keep this note as evidence.”

“Good idea.”

“I don’t want anyone to say we didn’t show up. We stand ready to make breakfast.”

“We are. So what now?”

“I guess we go home. I’ll see you at Mrs. Morton’s at three o’clock today.”

“Anything you need my help with?” Marlo followed Skye back to the van.

“I’m assuming the note is telling us we can’t go inside, so we can’t remove the groceries we left in the refrigerator until Saturday when we can come back.”

“What a waste of food.”

“If they’re still good on Saturday, we’ll send them to Parker’s Shelter. I’ll let Chef Joseph know.” Skye rotated leftover food among the various missions and shelters in town—what most area restaurants did—but they would prefer cooked food. That meant Skye would have to take time out of her already busy schedule to cook the dishes when she could get access to the refrigerator—unless Chef Joseph could do it.

Saturday would be tight.

On Sunday, she had a round-trip ticket to Atlanta. “Some days, I might bring you with me to the food festival if I need an extra assistant.”

“Are you trying to persuade me to go to chef school?” Marlo chuckled.

“Is it working?”

“Keep trying.” He shut the back door of the van. “If I get some form of scholarship, I might do it.”

“If you like to cook, it’s worth it.” Skye thought about what Marlo said.

Scholarship.

She hadn’t provided that for her employees. Her finances were stretched thin due to Saffron’s expenses. If Sebastian didn’t want the restaurant anymore, there was no reason for Skye to try to keep her minority share and hope to buy out Jared and Talia.

If she didn’t have the restaurant holding her down, she could potentially provide scholarships for her potential chefs.

“Why don’t we pray about scholarships? God can provide anything,” Skye said as she put the van in reverse.

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