Page 61 of Mayhem
It tasted good, but he knew that wouldn’t always be the case when cooking and not tasting what you were making, especially if he had to make more than one serving at a time.
“It’s good,” Paetyn told him honestly. “But you need to ensure that you taste as you cook. Making a single serving is one thing, but if you get a large table that decides they all want the same thing, you risk it not tasting correctly.”
“Understood,” Jonathan responded.
“Continue to study the recipes, and I don’t think you’ll have a problem once I’ve chosen a location and opened. Before then, I plan on rotating you through the other restaurants soon to give you different kitchen pace experiences.”
Paetyn could see the nervousness settle in Jonathan’s eyes. He knew that Jonathan hadn’t worked in a kitchen outside of the cooking expo, where he’d been allowed to make what he wanted and take his time. The pace would be new to him, but Paetyn didn’t plan on throwing him into his busiest restaurant during the busiest time right away. He would work him up to that.
Putting Jonathan to work in a faster-paced kitchen would make him feel more at ease in the bistro kitchen. It wouldn’t be as large as his other restaurants, and the pace would be more leisurely than where Paetyn would have him train.
“Don’t worry; you’ll be fine. On the first few nights you work, I’ll be the chef in the kitchen with you, and when I hand you over to my executive chefs, you’ll be in good hands.”
Jonathan nodded, seeming at ease with the information he’d just received. Paetyn told Jonathan to pack the rest of the dish to take with him, and they cleaned the kitchen, ensuring everything was back in place when the staff showed up in a couple of hours to prepAefinityfor the evening.
Paetyn entered the house through the garage door. He’d spent the last two hours looking at two potential locations and leaned toward the first. It was in a good place, and a bistro would be on trend with the area’s style. Not only that, it was already primed as a restaurant. However, it seemed that the owner couldn’t get additional funding for the few needed equipment items and tables.
That wouldn’t be an issue for Paetyn, and the current owner was willing to transfer the permits they’d already received, saving him ample time. He already had his staff, which he’d hired when he made an offer on the original building. Once it fell through, instead of laying anyone off, he’d spread them throughout his other restaurants because he knew he would still open the new one.
The asking price was also fair, and Paetyn figured they just wanted to make back the money they’d spent and what they may have lost. The building was also close in layout to the one he wanted to begin with, so that was another plus. He wasn’t sure he’d find anything else that met what he was looking for thatclosely. He decided to call his agent in the morning to make a cash offer.
Now, with that decision made, he had to decide if he would agree to be a judge on the cooking competition that reached out to him.
Cruz sat at his desk, reviewing the scheduled update of all the businesses that employed his security system. They’d been working on it for the past couple of months, and he’d had his hand on the process every step of the way. He knew all the kinks were worked out, and it was ready to go; however, he gave it one last look before the systems began to update over the following days.
“Mr. Adair, Amir Tarek Zaher is on the phone for you.”
Cruz turned his attention to the phone with a furrowed brow. He was momentarily confused until he remembered that Sheikh Asim Gamil Zaher had asked that his grandson be allowed to work with Cruz on installing security systems on their property. He’d stated it was because his grandson was more technically inclined than he was. Glancing at the time in the corner of his screen, Cruz noted that it was late for Amir. There was a nine-hour time difference between them.
“Send him through,” he responded. He only had to wait a few seconds before his phone rang. “This is Cruz.”
“Mr. Adair, my name is Amir Tarek Zaher. You spoke to my grandfather about installing your systems on our property.”
“I did, and please call me Cruz.”
“I know he spoke of having a main system for the estate and personal systems in specific rooms. We would also like systems for all family-owned businesses.”
Cruz paused for a moment. He hadn’t discussed that when speaking to Asim. With the number of systems already being requested, along with installation and setup time, he would already be gone for about three weeks. Asim asked Cruz to conduct the installation personally. While he had qualified technicians, he was known to take on and complete specific jobs. This was one of them.
“I know that wasn’t in the original estimate, but we’d be willing to compensate you nicely for the extra time and effort it would take,” Amir told him.
“Before I decide whether or not that’s something I can do, I’d like you to send over a list of businesses with the addresses and type of security you want for each one.”
Cruz firmly believed that all businesses required different levels of security, even if they were in the same industry. He always wanted to give a company what it needed, and contrary to popular belief, more was not always a good thing either.
“Once I’ve looked it over, I’ll give you my decision.”
Cruz knew that time would significantly influence whether or not he would accept. He wasn’t the same as Kieran and didn’t have a big hang-up about being out of the office for a couple of weeks at a time. He had a good team and didn’t always need to have his hands on everything. However, it wasn’t work he had an issue being away from.
“I’ll have it sent to you in the next couple of days,” Amir responded.
They ended the call, and Cruz sat back in his seat. He hadn’t told Erin he would be gone the last two weeks in July and the first week in August, but he needed to. He’d wait until he received the list from Amir. That way, he could give her an accurate time frame.
The workday was winding down, and Cruz was sending out some final emails when his cell phone rang. He looked at the screen to see his mother was calling him. He answered on speaker.
“Hey, Mama.”
“Hi, son. Are you still working?”
