Page 111 of Zane

“The Michelin star.”

She said it like that explained everything, and it probably did.

“Was I happy there?”

“Yes.” Kelsey placed the stack of folded towels into the basket. “You said it was so inspiring working for a chef who had attained such a lofty position in the restaurant world. You would talk about some of the incredible dishes the chef had developed, and the people who came to the restaurant to try them.”

It was odd, because as he listened to Kelsey describe what he’d been like working at such a prestigious place, it really felt like she was talking about another person. A person he wasn’tanymore. Though a part of that life really appealed to him, his desire to work for prestige had never been that strong.

He’d only wanted enough prestige to be able to dictate the type of restaurant he could open. But he’d never viewed a Michelin star rating as the pinnacle of his career, though, of course, he’d never turn it down.

“Would you be surprised if I said that I’m not sure I’ll try for a position like that again?”

Kelsey frowned. “You mean at a Michelin star restaurant?”

“Yeah.”

“Maybe?” Her brow furrowed. “But you worked really hard to get that position.”

“And now I’ve forgotten all the work that I did.”

Kelsey nodded. “That’s true.”

“Back at the start of my training, I dreamed of having a Michelin star restaurant,” Zane said. “But as time went on, my perspective shifted, and I began to dream of a restaurant that made high concept food accessible to all ages.”

“How did you come up with that idea?”

“Mainly my family,” Zane said with a laugh. “Aside from Kayleigh, none of them really like the more haute cuisine. All they care about is that food tastes good, and I know that there are a lot of people who feel that way. It made me think about how to make haute cuisine more appealing to people like my brothers.”

“You really think you can do that?”

“I think so. I have journals filled with recipes that I developed over the years. The ones I remember doing were my firstattempts at that. As I reviewed the recipes I’d worked on over the past couple of years, that has definitely changed.”

Kelsey nodded. “By the time I met you, you definitely were working to attain the highest position you could. Which is what led you to Tampa.”

“And you were okay uprooting your life in order for me to follow my dreams?”

“I had no problem with that,” she said. “I can get a job anywhere.”

“Do you like moving around?” Zane asked. “Or did the way you grew up make that difficult?”

“I prefer to stay in one place, but I was willing to make the move in order to be with you.”

“And then you had to pick up and move again,” he said.

She nodded. “But circumstances aside, it hasn’t been a horrible move.”

“Do you like Serenity?”

“It seems like a nice place, from what I’ve seen.”

“Not someplace you probably ever thought you’d live, huh?”

Kelsey shrugged. “I don’t know that I ever really thought about where I wanted to live. Chicago had been home for quite awhile, so I guess I just assumed I’d always live there.”

Zane was in the unique position of knowing where certain decisions had led him, and he wasn’t interested in repeating them. The two things he’d been most disappointed in learning about who he had become were how he’d distanced himself from his family and from his faith.

It felt like he had the opportunity to reset his life’s direction. Or perhaps it was a forced reset. One that might have been impossible to make without a change of heart.

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