Page 2 of Talk Turkey To Me
“You said you’d explain after you ate so we got the ball rolling.” Her mother smirked and her father chuckled as they retook their seats.
“We knew you’d be hungry after the long drive so we ordered your favorites. It came out of the kitchen just before you walked in the door so dig in and we’ll try not to pepper you with too many questions while you chew.” Her father pushed a glass of white wine towards her. “Thought you might need this as well.”
She grinned and took it without hesitation, “Thanks Dad.”
“Uh uh.” He tsked as she raised it to her lips, “First, we toast.”
“Dad…” She started but he shook his head.
“We toast. It’s tradition.”
Dutifully she raised the glass of wine as her parents did the same and her father cleared his throat dramatically. It was a silly old tradition. They always toasted before eating at the restaurant. She wasn’t sure why or when it had started but it always went the same way. Her father toasted to a happy family and good food, with a wink at the end before he gave himself credit for both… only this time, he didn’t.
“To family. I’m so lucky to have the two loves of my life here with me tonight. It’s been too long since we shared a good meal together in this place that we all built together.” His lips twisted slightly but he continued, “And to the staff in the kitchen who prepared this meal and so many others, let us enjoy their food and give thanks for their hard work and dedication.”
“Cheers.” Her mother clinked her glass against his and then against Lily’s.
“Cheers.” Lily mimicked as she watched her father take a big gulp from his own glass of red wine. “What do you mean the staff? You didn’t make this?”
Her parents exchanged a look and Lily felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up. Apparently she wasn’t the only one with a secret at the table. She looked between them and then sat her glass down without taking a sip.
“Dad?”
“I’ve been meaning to tell you, I just wanted to do it face to face and you haven’t been home and we haven’t made it down to visit you in a while…” He trailed off and Lily raised her eyebrow, prompting him to continue. “I’ve taken a step back from the restaurant over the last six months or so.”
Lily frowned, confusion making her tilt her head, “What does that mean?”
“Honey, I don’t want you to worry. That’s why we wanted to tell you face to face. So you can see that he’s fine…” Her mother started and Lily’s eyes went wide.
“Dad? Are you sick?”
“No. No.” He quickly shook his head. “I’m fine, Lily girl. I swear. I just had a bit of a health scare and it put things into perspective for me. I’m not as young as I used to be and I can’t spend all my time in a hot kitchen on my feet. The stress isn’t good for me and the truth is, this place doesn’t need me in the kitchen. We’ve built it into a well oiled machine and I have great people who have stepped up to take over the day to day routine so I can handle more of the business side of things and not work so many hours.”
Lily couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Her father wasn’t cooking full time anymore. He wasn’t the head chef at The Mont, the restaurant he himself had founded and built from the ground up. And he hadn’t told her. He hadn’t called and asked her to come home and take over the family business. He hadn’t passed the kitchen over to her the way she’d always assumed he would and she felt a sense of abandonment, a loss of hope that made her lose her appetite.
She struggled to find her voice, “So… Dave took over the kitchen?”
Dave had been her father’s right hand in the kitchen for as long as she could remember. A grizzled old cook who smoked like a freight train and cursed like a sailor but always had a candy in his pocket for Lily when she’d come to the restaurant as a kid. She couldn’t imagine him running the busy kitchen but he was the only one she knew who might be capable of filling her father’s very large shoes in that respect.
Her father shook his head, “Dave retired last year, remember? I told you he moved to Durant to be closer to his grandkids.”
“I thought maybe he came back.”
“No. He’s enjoying his retirement. I promoted one of the guys he brought in and trained though. He’s a good kid and a hell of a cook. The townspeople really seem to love his style. Business is good and I have more free time to spend with your mother which has been a blessing.”
Lily bit her tongue to keep from pointing out that if he had all this extra time he could have come to New Orleans to visit her and tell her all of this before now. She would have packed up and come home in an instant. He had to have known that she would have jumped at the chance to take over the family business… right?
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me. That you just gave the kitchen to someone else without even…” Lily shook her head. “I don’t understand.”
“Honey…” Her mother reached across the table and touched her hand. “We didn’t want you to feel like you had to come home when you’d worked so hard to make a place for yourself in New Orleans. You work at a five star and we didn’t want to take that away from you.”
Lily tried and failed not to scoff, “Yeah, okay, except that I hate it there and you know all I’ve ever wanted is to take over the family business. I wanted it when I was eighteen and you said I wasn’t ready, that I had to go get a degree, go find myself or whatever… and then you just… replace me?”
“That’s not what we did.”
“It sure as hell sounds like you did. You gave the kitchen to some random kid instead of me? Well, I'd love to meet this amazing chef who seemed like a better fit than your own daughter would have been.” The betrayal leaked out of her and into her voice.
She probably sounded like a petulant child who hadn’t been given the toy they wanted for Christmas but she couldn’t find itin her to care. Not when it came to this. Not when it came to the family restaurant and her right to be a part of it instead of being left out and passed over.
