Page 56 of The Chef's Kiss
“I miss you too.”
“I have a reason for calling other than to badger you.”
I smiled. She loved to badger, and I adored that about her. “And?”
“Professor Montgomery turned our final into a paper. I’ll email you a copy of the instructions he passed out.”
Relief flooded me. Most of my finals were term papers I’d already turned in, but if I wanted to have a complete in Montgomery’s comparative literature class, I thought I was going to have to take a final in person. I didn’t need the class to graduate and had considered just not showing up, but I hated the thought of months of work being for nothing.
“Thank you.”
She made a sound in the back of her throat. “I almost wasn’t going to because I wanted you to have to return.”
“Graduation.” I made my decision. That was when I’d tell her. “I’ll be there for that. Can we have a long talk, just the two of us?”
“Yes, please. I have so much to tell you. But first, there’s a rumor here that you’re home waitressing.”
I laughed. “Managing.” I looked toward the kitchen. “I think … Cara, I think I’m happy to be home.”
“Wow, the Jorgina Ashford is done running?”
“I wasn’t running.” I knew it was a lie before it left my lips, and so did she. “Okay, fine. Maybe I was wrong.”
“About what?”
“Everything.” This town. My family. Maybe there was hope for us after all. All it had taken was a little growing up.
“Oh, sweetie.” Cara sounded close to tears. “I’m happy for you.”
“Stop it.”
“What?”
“The tears. Stop them right now, Cara.”
“I can’t.” She sniffed. “It’s like a movie. A girl returns home and connects with brothers she was never close to. She proves to her hometown how much she’s worth—even though those of us in the audience knew it all along.”
“Hanging up now.”
“Wait! I love you.”
“Love you too.” And I meant it. When I got off the phone, a sick feeling curled in my gut. I hadn’t betrayed my best friend, but would she see it that way? She was the kind of person who saw the good in everyone, yet this was different.
A few members of the new kitchen staff walked past me, returning from their dinner break. We were in crunch time, so everyone was working long shifts, and they had a lot of training to do, recipes to learn.
I tried to stay out of the way as much as I could, but I couldn’t help watching Hudson teach them, his skill evident. The way he moved his hands spoke of a man who knew what to do with them. When he chopped, he didn’t look at the knife—something that made me nervous. When he fried various meats in skillets, he was everywhere at once. Never stopping, never slowing.
I couldn’t wait to see him in real action.
My eyes were strained from staring at text all day. From proofing the menus to reading applications and memorizing everything I needed to know before opening, I was ready for a long nap. Preferably one that turned into sleeping through the night and the next month of my life. Then, graduation would be over, my secret would be out, and life could go on normally.
Well, as normally as it would get for me from here on out.
I’d started reading the email Cara sent me with the paper instructions when a bowl slid in front of me. The scent of chowder overpowered my senses, and I lunged to my feet. “Nope. Nope. I can’t.” If I stayed around that much longer, I was going to puke all over Hudson’s clean floor.
He swiped the bowl off the table and set another plate down. “That’s why I made a second option.” Grilled cheese.
I looked at him, one brow quirked. “I thought you didn’t make grilled cheese in your restaurant.”
