“I’m not saying anything of the sort.” Larken jerked her thumb over her shoulder, pointing in my direction. “I just don’t understand the need to bring in a sous chef from another restaurant to step in as the head chef when we have our own sous chef who just helped us earn a third Michelin star.”
William’s brows drew together, and a wrinkle popped up in his forehead. “You cannot seriously think she’s qualified to run my kitchen.”
Several shocked gasps echoed around us as I glared at William. When I’d been hired as the saucier here, I was aware that he had a huge ego. But working under him in the kitchen of a Michelin starred restaurant had been too big of an opportunity to pass up. Plus, I was used to dealing with vain men—some of whose heads were literally too big to pass through the doorway when they were in their lion form. Growing up with three older brothers taught me what I needed to know when dealing with guys who thought they knew better than I did. The number one rule was to never back down. Refusing to show any sign of weakness, I stepped forward and muttered, “Damn straight I am. While you’re busy creating menus and supervising staff, I’m the one who’s ensured your kitchen runs like a well-oiled machine. Odds are more than good that the last Michelin star we earned was on a night when I was running the pass since I’m there four out of five nights when I’m working.”
He sniffed and looked down his nose at me. “I hope that’s not a complaint since being involved in the day-to-day operations of my kitchen is a part of your job.”
“And so is filling in for you when you’re not here.” I threw my hands up in the air. “Like when you take a vacation.”
“You’ve only been my sous chef for six months. While I’m willing to concede that you’ve done a satisfactory job when you’ve been on the pass, you’re not ready to take over for me for two weeks.”
Satisfactory job?
I felt as though my head was about to explode, making it that much more challenging to hold back my lioness. Too many humans were in the kitchen for me to allow her to lash out with her claws to make the jerk pay for trying to convince me that I wasn’t good enough to replace him while he was gone. Not to mention he wouldn’t survive an attack from me since he was human.
Several members of the kitchen staff moved to stand behind me. Having them take my back took some of the sting out of my boss insulting my skills. “I disagree. I think I’ve more than proven that I’m capable of running this kitchen.”
Armand’s gaze was considering as he registered how much of the team was on my side. Stepping between William and me, he held his palms up in a gesture that I assumed was meant to appease me, judging by the smile he aimed my way. Unfortunately, he missed the smug smirks on the other two chefs’ faces that completely negated his olive branch. “I’ve heard great things about the work you’ve been doing at Castagna, Peppa.”
Crossing my arms over my chest, I lifted my chin the tiniest bit as I murmured, “I somehow doubt that, considering the only chef you speak with here apparently doesn’t think much of my abilities to run a kitchen even though he’s the one who promoted me to be his second in charge.”
“I understand your frustration with the situation, but I’m asking you to set this issue aside for now. Tonight is for celebrating an accomplishment very few restaurants around the world achieve.” His shoulders relaxed when I forced myself to give him a jerky nod in agreement. “When William returns in two weeks, the three of us can sit down and talk about your role here and what we can do to ensure that you’re ready to step up the next time he takes a trip. And Martin will run the kitchen this time since he came all the way out here as a favor to me.”
Working under Martin for the next two weeks wasn’t going to be fun, but I knew things would be even worse when William got back. He wasn’t going to appreciate me calling him out in front of Armand. I had a feeling that our third Michelin star came at just the right time because I was going to need to update my resume soon.
1
Cason
I heaved the ax over my shoulder and split the hunk of wood with one powerful chop. The rustic log cabin I’d been staying in for the past month or so had a wood-burning stove for heat. There wasn’t much to do out in the wilderness, so chopping wood had quickly become one of my favorite pastimes. Not that I needed as much as I’d expected since the cast iron stove put off a fuck of a lot more heat than I’d thought it would. I’d only ever used a fireplace before and had thought I’d freeze my ass off since I was up here in the dead of winter, but the inside of my cabin was almost too warm sometimes.