Chapter 2

The next morning I went back to the restaurant.

There were still a few personal things in the office, and I meant to take them.

The moment I walked in, I almost thought I'd come to the wrong place.

The communal tables by the window were gone, all of them, and a few workers were tearing out the old partition.

Jade was standing in the middle of the dining room with a tape measure, mapping out positions.

The second she saw me, she came right over.

“Vivien, the seafood and produce didn't come today. I've been on the phone for ages, and they all told me to talk to you.”

“I stopped it.”

The smile froze on her face.

“Why?”

Joseph came out of the back kitchen right then.

“I'd like to know that too.”

He walked up to me.

“Fine, you threw a fit yesterday. But you cut off purchasing? How are we supposed to test dishes for the new place?”

“You can find new suppliers.”

“Vivien.”

His voice dropped.

“After all these years working together, you just cut it off like that? Do you have any idea what a headache it is to negotiate a whole new supply chain?”

I looked at him.

“I do.”

Back when our first place was just starting to get a name, Joseph insisted on using the fish that came into port before dawn every single day. The supplier thought our volume was too small and wouldn't hold stock for us.

For three months straight I went to the market at four in the morning, begging and pleading.

All he ever had to do was tell the kitchen: “We're still using the Dickersons' fish.”

The rest of it, he never had to ask about.

Joseph paused, then held out a document to me.

“Stop being difficult and take a look at this.”

The plan for the new restaurant. Twelve guests a day, no group deals, no set menus, no participation in any platform rankings. The last page had two names on it.

Head chef, Joseph James.

Head of the restaurant, Jade Fox.

I stared at those two words for a few seconds.

Three years.

From apprentice, to R&D assistant, and now the one running the place.

I flipped further down. The line for operations lead was blank.

Joseph glanced at it.

“Members, purchasing, investors, that's always been you.”

Jade skimmed the blank page, smiled, and pushed it toward me.

“Vivien, whether your name's on it or not, it's the same thing.”

“Joseph and I only know how to cook. All these little outside things still have to fall to you.”

I looked at that blank space, and there it was: ten years of work, and in the end I didn't even need a name, because there would always be someone to do the labor for them.

A server hurried over.

“Vivien, the member chat is about to blow up.”

“There are over sixty reservations booked this month, and now everyone's asking how they'll be compensated for the closure, and what happens to their stored-value cards.”

I said: “Ask Joseph.”

She froze.

“But you've always been the one who handles this.”

“Not anymore.”

Joseph's face finally went cold.

“How long are you going to keep this up?”

“I already told you about that bottle yesterday. I'll buy another one to make it up to you.”

“All this over one little thing, and you won't even run the restaurant?”

I was about to answer when my phone rang.

Steve Chavez. The restaurant's biggest investor.

I picked up.

“Ms. Pruitt, I just want to confirm something with you.”

“Joseph said last night that the old place is just switching formats, and the new one will still have you running operations, with the existing members and supply system carrying over.”

I looked at Joseph.

He was looking at me too.

On the line, he went on: :

“So we're prepared to keep investing.”

“Is that what you want?”

I said: :

“No.”

Joseph's brow snapped into a frown.

There was a beat of silence on the line.

Steve asked: :

“Then does the new place have anything to do with you at all?”

“No.”

I hung up.

Joseph stared at me.

“Vivien, what are you saying?”

I set the office key down in front of him.

“Exactly what it sounds like.”

“From now on it's your restaurant.”

“You run it yourself.”