Page 11 of The Signature Dish of the Underworld

“It’s not as scary as it seems.”

Rae raised an eyebrow at him as she scoffed. “You’re kidding, right? That place is the stuff foodies like me can only dream about. It was fun, but I’m better suited to the bistro.”

Another brush off. Another attempt to get him to admit that tonight had been a test she’d failed.

“But you didn’t dream it tonight. You lived it. You survived it. Why do you insist on playing small? On downplaying your natural skills and talent? What are you afraid of?”

“Why are you trying to push me into something I’m not cut out for? Are you deliberately trying to psych me out, is that it?!”

Before Garth had a chance to reply, someone else stepped out into the cool, dark air.

“Not bad for a first time, Sunshine. Not great, but not bad,” Nika acknowledged as she brushed past both of them.

“Thanks.”

And with that, Nika walked off into the twilight streets.

“Look,” Garth said, drawing Rae’s attention back to him. “Don’t listen to Nika. Use the token tomorrow night. I’ve got a special table set up. You could come and actually enjoy the first night of the festival, experience the other side of our place. Show you what you were a part of tonight. We can talk.”

Rae offered him a sad smile, shook her head, then turned and walked the same route home.

CHAPTER SIX: Late for a very important … date.

The clock on the wall of her kitchen told Rae it was midnight, which meant she had five hours until she had to get up and start baking for the bistro. Thatmeant she could either spend five hours nailing her golden apple recipe or she could spend just two on it, and then get three hours of rest before the day began.

Rae shrugged off her coat, threw it over the single chair, grabbed the apple from the table and went to work.

She woke up, seven hours later, with her face smooshed against goats cream.

“Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no.”

Wiping her palm against her face, she stood from the table where there were two dishes – one the original apple with a bite taken out of it, the other her replica that she’d broken with her face – and hurried to the sink to wash off the remnants of food from her cheek.

Pots and pans littered Rae’s small kitchen. The wooden spoon was making a garbled noise, stuck in the honey glaze now firmly attached to the bottom of the pan. The remaining cream was gloopy when Rae needed it to be set, which wouldn’t happen if she didn’t get it in the fridge ASAP. She went to grab the pot and sling it in the fridge, but there was no space.

Usually Rae’s fridgealwayshad space, there were days where she would have gone hungry if she didn’t have the leftovers from the bistro to rely on. But, with the festival coming up, Rae’s fridge was – for once – packed.

“URGH!”

Desperately trying to rearrange things, she wedged the pot between a bowl of goats cream and an unidentifiable block of something that Rae believed was once cheese. Slamming the fridge door shut, she looked around, trying to get her bearings.

There was dried lotus leaf …everywhere, Rae realised. It was sprinkled across her bench, over her face, in her hair. She looked like someone had sneezed on her with glitter. Except it was a well-known fact that lotus leaf could drive anyone to lose their mind.

“Bugger it.”

She showered quickly, removing as much of the lotus leaf as she could, and ran out the door to work.

***

“You’re late.”

Of course the one and only time Rae would be late to open the bistro was the one and only time that Geras would already be there early.

“I’m sorry, Geras. It won’t happen again.”

“It better not.” He began to walk away to the backroom now that Rae was here, muttering something under his breath about how females walking out on him would get their comeuppance.

The day went from bad to worse from there.

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