Read Online My Bittersweet Summer by Starla Huchton - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Starla Huchton
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for all I knew I’d hate it.
“Any questions on the administrative stuff?” my mom asked. “Before we open for business, we’ll have a tasting for the staff, so everyone will get to try at least a bite of the food they’re serving and helping create. A well-informed staff is a helpful staff.”
No one asked anything, and we moved on to the tour of the building. Again, my mind wandered, still going over the menu repetitively. I lingered in the kitchen as my parents pointed out the various pieces of equipment, running my fingers over the empty knife block by the prep station. That one would be filled with nice knives later, but the one by the ovens and stove would stay empty for the head chef’s utensils. Every chef worth their salt had their own knives. The better the knife, the better the chef.
Someday, I’d have a set of my own.
“Didn’t take ‘em, did you?” Zach said under his breath, close behind me.
His proximity made me shiver. “Don’t be stupid,” I muttered back. “I haven’t earned knives yet.”
“Earned?”
I cast a withering look over my shoulder. “Not everything can be bought, Zach. Some things you have to work for.”
Wandering away, I spared him one last comment. “You’d better pay attention or you’ll miss seeing how the dishwasher works.”
* * * * *
I refused to let Zach take me home, opting to help my parents put away kitchen items instead. Loading up another rack of plates, I brought the large metal hood over top of it and cranked down on the lever, hitting the “wash” button that sanitized everything inside.
“While I appreciate the extra set of hands,” my mother said as she leaned up against the scrubbing sink to my right, “it wasn’t necessary for you to stick around here.”
I gave her a flat look. “Because I had so many other things to do today? Come on, Mom, this is the whole reason I’m here.”
“You could be out having fun,” she said.
“Destiny is working today. I’d be sitting at home reading when I could’ve been useful instead.”
“There are other people around here besides Destiny Plummer.”
I snorted. “Like who, Zach? I’ll pass, but the suggestion is noted.”
“Did you talk to him yet?”
“Sure did,” I replied, opening the hood and sliding the rack out. “Still don’t care. Besides, even if I did care, our social circles aren’t exactly compatible.”
“That didn’t stop your father and Terrence Robinson from becoming friends.”
“Oh? Does torturing the hired help’s children and trying to make up for it run in the family?”
“Watch your tone, Margaret,” my mother said. “Terrence and Olivia have been amazing friends to this family longer than you’ve been alive. Without Terrence, your father might not have made it through culinary school, and without Olivia, I might never have met him. You owe them more than you know. Being nice to their son, regardless of how he treated you when you were kids, is the least you could do.”
My temper simmered. “At what point do I stop owing them, Mom? Maybe give Zach one more chance to kill me? Would that do it?”
She reached out to me, but I slipped away from her, untying my apron and tossing it on a counter. “You know what? Maybe you’re right. I’ll find something else to do today.”
I spun on my heel, stalking out of the kitchen even when she called out to me.
“Margie?” my dad said after me as I crossed the main floor to the front door. “What’s going on?”
I didn’t answer him, pushing open the exit door and leaving without further explanation.
The heat wasn’t unbearable yet, but walking in the afternoon sun dressed in black slacks and a long-sleeved white shirt wasn’t exactly comfortable. As I went, I undid my buttons and slid my arms out, the ocean breeze feeling great through my white tank top and over my bare arms. An unlucky pebble got in my way, and I kicked it down the pavement. It was a mile walk to Edelweiss Cake
“Any questions on the administrative stuff?” my mom asked. “Before we open for business, we’ll have a tasting for the staff, so everyone will get to try at least a bite of the food they’re serving and helping create. A well-informed staff is a helpful staff.”
No one asked anything, and we moved on to the tour of the building. Again, my mind wandered, still going over the menu repetitively. I lingered in the kitchen as my parents pointed out the various pieces of equipment, running my fingers over the empty knife block by the prep station. That one would be filled with nice knives later, but the one by the ovens and stove would stay empty for the head chef’s utensils. Every chef worth their salt had their own knives. The better the knife, the better the chef.
Someday, I’d have a set of my own.
“Didn’t take ‘em, did you?” Zach said under his breath, close behind me.
His proximity made me shiver. “Don’t be stupid,” I muttered back. “I haven’t earned knives yet.”
“Earned?”
I cast a withering look over my shoulder. “Not everything can be bought, Zach. Some things you have to work for.”
Wandering away, I spared him one last comment. “You’d better pay attention or you’ll miss seeing how the dishwasher works.”
* * * * *
I refused to let Zach take me home, opting to help my parents put away kitchen items instead. Loading up another rack of plates, I brought the large metal hood over top of it and cranked down on the lever, hitting the “wash” button that sanitized everything inside.
“While I appreciate the extra set of hands,” my mother said as she leaned up against the scrubbing sink to my right, “it wasn’t necessary for you to stick around here.”
I gave her a flat look. “Because I had so many other things to do today? Come on, Mom, this is the whole reason I’m here.”
“You could be out having fun,” she said.
“Destiny is working today. I’d be sitting at home reading when I could’ve been useful instead.”
“There are other people around here besides Destiny Plummer.”
I snorted. “Like who, Zach? I’ll pass, but the suggestion is noted.”
“Did you talk to him yet?”
“Sure did,” I replied, opening the hood and sliding the rack out. “Still don’t care. Besides, even if I did care, our social circles aren’t exactly compatible.”
“That didn’t stop your father and Terrence Robinson from becoming friends.”
“Oh? Does torturing the hired help’s children and trying to make up for it run in the family?”
“Watch your tone, Margaret,” my mother said. “Terrence and Olivia have been amazing friends to this family longer than you’ve been alive. Without Terrence, your father might not have made it through culinary school, and without Olivia, I might never have met him. You owe them more than you know. Being nice to their son, regardless of how he treated you when you were kids, is the least you could do.”
My temper simmered. “At what point do I stop owing them, Mom? Maybe give Zach one more chance to kill me? Would that do it?”
She reached out to me, but I slipped away from her, untying my apron and tossing it on a counter. “You know what? Maybe you’re right. I’ll find something else to do today.”
I spun on my heel, stalking out of the kitchen even when she called out to me.
“Margie?” my dad said after me as I crossed the main floor to the front door. “What’s going on?”
I didn’t answer him, pushing open the exit door and leaving without further explanation.
The heat wasn’t unbearable yet, but walking in the afternoon sun dressed in black slacks and a long-sleeved white shirt wasn’t exactly comfortable. As I went, I undid my buttons and slid my arms out, the ocean breeze feeling great through my white tank top and over my bare arms. An unlucky pebble got in my way, and I kicked it down the pavement. It was a mile walk to Edelweiss Cake
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