Page 121 of The Promise Of You

So he has stuff he’s working on. Okay. But he’s loving and tender, and he can’t be next to me without holding me, touching me, kissing me, even in public. Especially in public. He’s constantly praising the changes I’m making at the restaurant. He’s helping me catch Samuel in the act of stealing so I can move forward. He once mentioned taking me on a trip to Montreal once the season is over. That means he’s making plans. ‘I think I’m gonna like you in my life.’ That’s not someone closed off.

“He’s taking me to his parents’ as his girlfriend tonight,” I counter. So far I’ve been at the Kings’ once, but more as the new person in town slash Haley’s new friend. Never as Justin’s girlfriend.

Fiona lifts her eyebrows. “A’right, girl,” and a slow smile spreads across her face. “I get full credit.”

“Full credit for what?”

“You guys.”

I laugh. She thinks I ended up sleeping with Justin in Boston because of what she told me on the phone that night. “You and faulty earbuds,” I say.

“Mmm. Nope. I planted the seed and watched it grow.”

She might be right about that. “Why does it always have to be about you?”

“You know I’m right.”

“You are so wrong. But I’ll concede, if that gets you off my back.”

She chuckles. “How’s the restaurant going?”

“Good. Aunt Dawn is getting ready to put it up for sale. We have new staff being trained. We’re open seven days now—”

“Wow, I thought your chef was some asshole diva. How’d he take that?”

“Weirdly, better than I expected. I upped his days, he takes only two days off, relies on the sous on Mondays and Tuesdays, but he sometimes still comes around to check things out. The two sous chefs are doing awesome, and I think that sort of tickled his pride.” I don’t tell her that the only reason he’s doing that is that he’s stealing from me. We’ll catch him any day now, and I can share the news with Fiona (and Aunt Dawn and Brendan) once it’s done. Or else I’ll never hear the end of it.

“Good. You want to keep him on his toes.”

I’ve been monitoring inventory, and saffron has been disappearing although we haven’t served the lamb tajine in over two weeks, and that entree is the only one using saffron. I’m sure there’s other inconsistencies, and if we had the proper software, it’d be easy to track, but at this point good old sleuthing and deducing is all I need.

Samuel is stealing, I just need to catch him. I could just let him go, but I need closure. I want to catch him in the act, to shut his mouth and also show Aunt Dawn and Brendan what a piece of shit he is. That it wasn’t Justin’s fault Uncle Kevin had a heart attack. That the restaurant’s problems can all be traced back to Samuel. And with Justin’s help, that part is going to be a piece of cake.

And if I’m totally honest, I’m still hurting that Aunt Dawn and Brendan put his word before mine. Even if on a certain level, I understand that they were misled, I want Samuel to pay for turning my family against me. Firing him won’t be enough.

But I’m not telling my sister that. She’d freak out. “Yup,” I simply say. There’s so much more I want to share with her, like the new midweek menu and a local’s pass I’m working on, but I can tell from her fidgeting that she has to hang up.

I also finally have a meeting with my new CPA, and she just walked in. It’s been a month since I contacted her, but she’s been booked solid since. I feel special that she’s squeezing me in.

“Emma,” I call from my office door and meet her in the dining room. “Gotta run, Fi. Talk later.”

Emma gives me a quick smile and throws her long, straight blond hair behind her shoulder.

“Let’s meet in the office.”

While we exchange pleasantries, David brings us new mocktails he’s added to the bar list at my request. It’s too early for food, but he knows to bring tapas for us should we go beyond two hours. I’ve been told Emma works with pretty much all the businesses in town, and I want to impress her.

She seems guarded, and I can’t blame her. She has to know we’re behind on rent, since she does the books for Justin.

“You might want to pull the plug sooner than later,” she informs me right at the start of the meeting. I sent her our financials via email, and this is to be our onboarding meeting. What is she talking about, pulling the plug? “You’re bleeding money. Your creditors have to be unhappy. Once Samuel leaves, you’ll be left with nothing but debt.”

I let her comment about Samuel slide. I don’t even ask her where she heard that—it’s irrelevant.

Screw that. Because the truth is, all this place needs is new blood. A fresh menu, tuned in to local production. A different attitude.

And I have a plan for all that to happen. I just needed someone like her to bounce the financials off. Confirm or adjust my projections. Brainstorm.

She sifts through a printout of our P&L. “The owners still aren’t in a position to put in more money?”

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