Page 48 of Best Kept Secret

The Savannah Lace building was old but renovated, and looked like something out ofDesigning Women.

I was a respectable twenty minutes early. Nina only had time after five in the evening, which suited me fine. I would've been there if she'd said she could only see me at three in the morning. I wanted this job that badly.

I looked at my reflection in the glass windows of the building, and tried to convince myself that I belonged here.

Nova had told me how she'd grown up poor, and how she'd gotten a seat at the table—butIwasn't Nova. I didn't have her confidence or her education. I could make a meancoq au vin, but if you asked me to look at an Excel sheet, I'd run screaming.

I smoothed down the dress Nova had given me to wear, and then ran a hand over my hair to tuck away any flyaways.

I took a deep breath.

You can do this, Mira. It's just a job interview.

But I knew it was more than that—it was a chance to reclaim what I'd lost when Asha fell ill. I couldn't go to the CIA now, not with Pari still so young, but maybe I could find a culinary school in Savannah. Maybe I'd get on-the-job training here at Savannah Lace, and someday, I'd be a chef at a real restaurant. I could become someone Pari would be proud of—someone Beau would want to show off, instead of pretending we weren't together.

To be fair, Beau didn't hideus,but he also didn't advertise. There was no PDA—not like I saw with Nova and Anson, Katya and Trevor, and other friends of Beau's, like Gabe and Aurora, and Stella and Noah. I didn't know them well, but I'd met them when they'd come to Beau's house. Since that time I ran out of The Peregrine, he hadn't suggested we go out as a couple. We did go out of the house but always with Pari. I'd gotten pretty familiar with the children's museum, the zoo, and the various children's parks in Savannah.

Was he embarrassed of me?Probably.Iwould be. He was the CEO of a company and had an MBA from Wharton, while I had a high school degree and burn scars from working in a diner like every cook I ever knew.

Maybe once I got a respectable job, Beau would be more comfortable taking me out on a date. Maybe he'd tell me he loved me. Outside of Asha and Pari, no one had ever loved me—and I hungered for it, especially from Beau, because I was deeply, madly, Bollywood-movie style in love with him.

Nova opened the door to the building and grinned broadly. "Were you plannin' on comin' in?"

I smiled sheepishly. "I…I'm early so I thought I'd wait." Again, I looked at the phone Beau gave me to see the time.

I had a wristwatch, one that Asha had gifted me for my sixteenth birthday, nothing too expensive but still one of the nicest things I had, but it needed a new crystal as the original one had cracked. Once I had a job, I'd get that crystal watch face fixed, and I'd wear it again. I couldn't wait to do that, and all the other things I'd be able to once I was employed.

"Come in." Nova held the door wide open, and I stepped in, feeling gauche.

A redhead was sitting at reception, and she beamed at me. "Mira Sen?"

"Yes."

"This is Rebecca, Mira," Nova introduced me. "Rebecca, Mira is hopefully goin' to be cookin' our food, so let's be nice to her, yeah?"

Rebecca laughed. "As if I'm evernotnice." She fluttered her eyelashes. "Well, sometimes I am…difficult when the visitor is challenging."

Nova dropped her voice to a conspiratorial whisper, "Yesterday, she told a client who made a comment about her…bosomthat he could walk right the hell out."

I gaped. "You did?"

Rebecca tossed her head, sending her hair cascading in smooth, glossy waves, like a perfect shampoo ad come to life. "No shit, Sherlock. He can't talk to me like that."

"And your boss was okay with that?" If I'd asked someone at the diner who made a pass at me—or even grabbed a body part—to leave, my boss would've had my head. We couldn't send paying customers away just because they didn't know how to behave.

"Nina called the client and told him to never ever come back," Nova informed me. "Come on, let me show you around, and then you can talk to Nina."

"She'll be free in ten minutes," Rebecca stated.

The building may have beenoldandhistoric,but the inside was sleek and modern, with clean lines and soft lighting. The architecture screamed sophistication—just like everything Nina Davenport touched, Nova informed me when I commented in awe.

Nova had been talking about her boss for weeks, hyping her up as the most no-nonsense, brilliant woman she'd ever worked for. From what I'd gathered, Nina was a force of nature. She founded Savannah Lace and made it thrive, and she had a reputation for being tough but fair.

"So, this will be the kitchen." We entered an empty room with a sink. Seeing my blank expression, because this was not a kitchen, Nova chuckled. "Once you're hired, you can decide how you want this kitchen to look. That's why we haven't finished it."

There was a dining area attached to the kitchen, which had a large mahogany table and several smaller ones, paired with elegant Italian-style, mid-century modern dining chairs. It wasveryfashionable, on par with top restaurants.

"We want to serve breakfast and lunch to employees…I mean, if they want it, and I think they will, instead of bringing something or going to a restaurant every day, which can become expensive." Nova walked with me through the hallways of Savannah Lace. "And we don't want to bring food from a restaurant every time we have a client. We want to serve breakfast or snacks, and coffee, tea, that sort of thing for meetings."

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