Page 3 of Challenged By You
I don’t know what I’m going to do. How am I going to find a job, feed my kids, pay my rent?
How am I going to pay my mother?
Without a word to anyone, least of all Elle, I race through the kitchen as fast as I can. I fetch my purse and slam open the back door hard.
Then I run for Grand Central Station as quickly as I ran to get here. I need to get to my mother as quickly as possible so I can get my babies and figure out a plan.
Chapter 2
Jonas
“No, definitely do not advise your readers to take a woman to Super Sticky to propose,” I tell my twin brother, Julian. Shuddering in disgust when I think about the matcha disaster from the night before, I poke him a little. “Are you crazy? You do want the woman to say yes, right?”
“But Jonas, you raved about it in your review this morning.” His voice is laced with confusion.
“No, I didn’t. I ripped it to shreds. That place was a disaster from the moment I stepped in down to the food.”
“Dude.” I hear the rustle of papers before my brother begins to read. “‘Super Sticky’s pastry chef has a fine hand but is not overindulgent. I don’t know if I would order the pomegranate and red wine sorbet again, but it served as an excellent palate cleanser before the ridiculously sinful honey-and-cinnamon caramel-popcorn cheesecake I would indulge in time and time again. While the crust wasn’t overwhelmingly innovative, I’m not certain it could have been baked better.’” Julian finishes quoting my words back to me.
Words that were meant for Seduction, not Super Sticky.
“Oh, God,” I moan aloud. “There’s been a god-awful mistake.”
“You? Make a mistake? What, was the cheesecake only moderately—” Julian starts to tease.
“The restaurant names were switched!” I snap, scrubbing a hand over my face.
“Shit, brother.” The horrified sound of Julian’s voice causes my stomach to churn, much like the matcha-suffused dessert at Super Sticky did last night did. “What does this mean?”
“It means I have to get dressed and haul my ass down to the office,” I tell him grimly.
“Good luck. Call me when you’re done.” He ends the call before I can say another word.
“Fuck!” I yell aloud. Racing over to my laptop, I check the column I sent in late last night. Was it me? Did I make such a catastrophic error?
Scanning through my email I sent in, I almost collapse in relief. “It wasn’t me.” The column went to the paper just as I intended it to go over. An almost perfect rating for Seduction—minus the ridiculous wait I had to endure—and I completely trashed Super Sticky.
Now, it’s time to find out who screwed up and how fast they can print a retraction.
* * *
“Chef Palazzo,again, I deeply apologize for our little mistake. We will be updating the website immediately with a note of apology included.” My uncle Karlson, editor-in-chief ofCity Lights, is wiping the sweat off of his forehead with a handkerchief.
There’s silence on the other end of the line.
“Chef Palazzo?” Karlson asks almost desperately. Perhaps he’s hoping she fell asleep due to the early hour on the West Coast, I think, bemused.
“Do you realize what your ‘little mistake’ could have cost us, Karlson?” Mia Palazzo’s voice is like shards of ice.
Karlson stammers. “Yes, which is why we’ll be immediately…”
“Issue the retraction,” the renowned chef demands. “Jonas, are you still there?”
“I am, Chef,” I reply smoothly. My uncle glares at me as if accusing me of being teacher’s pet.
“I appreciate the complimentary words you intended on writing on behalf of Seduction New York. If you would be so kind as to hand deliver a copy of the updated review to my executive chef once your website has been updated. It would go a long way to addressing this…” Her voice drops into a sneer. “Little issue.”
“Consider it done, Chef,” I agree. While this is something I normally would delegate to a member of theCity Lightsstaff, this was our mistake, and it aids all of us for me to do this simple deed to earn back the favor of Mia Palazzo and the other owners of the Seduction Restaurant Group.
