Page 9 of Sunset

Ken knows all and sees all. His boyfriend works at the front desk, so he has all the gossip.

“That’s so sweet, and we need the help. We’ll be losing money on Brynn’s fries alone. Who let her in the kitchen?” He grabs his plates and heads back out to the dining room.

If he wasn’t great at his job and been with me for the last six years, I’d fire him. But he’d just show up for work the next day and laugh. I know, I’ve tried it.

“Listen, you need help. We have things covered on our end, so let me help you,” he says.

“You need a chef, Brynn. Just let him help,” Ken says, walking back in.

I glare at Jasper and grab Ken’s hand, pulling him back into the chef’s office and closing the door behind me. He may be taller than me, but he’s as skinny as me, and I’m easily able to drag him around.

“What are you doing? The last person we need in the kitchen is him!” I hiss.

“But he’s the best on The Island, and you know it. You need help. No one in there is prepared to take over a kitchen. George wouldn’t train them, because he liked keeping them down and unprepared. Good riddance to him, if you ask me. So, let Jasper train them and get the kitchen running. He knows what he’s doing.”

Ken says, while using the mirror on the back of the door to check his hair. Not a strand of his jet-black hair is out of place.

“Anyone but him.” I shake my head.

Ken pulls me into a hug. This might not be normal boss employee behavior, but Ken is also a friend outside of work, and we are a small-town, so boundaries cross a lot.

“Listen, I know you two have a history, and it won’t be easy. But with him in the kitchen, you don’t have to be. You can focus on helping Lin with Mr. Blue and leave Mr. Kiwi to me.”

I burst out laughing. Lin and I named the guys the other night. Mr. Blue is Kade, because the fancy car he drove in with is blue. Mr. Kiwi is Jasper, because he took those kiwis so well.

“Don’t do this for you. Do this for your parents. You know they liked Jasper, despite everything he’s done, so let him help you. I’m sure he has a need to make things up to them, too. He might need this more than you think.” Ken says.

I hug him tighter, before I pull away. Why does he always have to make sense?

“Fine. Now, what’s the gossip for today?” I ask, needing a distraction, before I go back up there.

“The couple in room four called to complain that the couple in room three were having sex too loud last night. Turns out, the wife wasn’t there, and the husband had picked up some girl no one knows. I think it was Jessica, but we can’t prove it, yet.”

Lin and I went to school with Jessica, and she was the typical mean girl. But in small-towns, karma works its magic. She was pregnant at graduation and ‘went to visit her grandma’ that summer, which was code for having the baby and adopting it out, before getting back in shape and coming home. She hasn’t changed one bit.

“Also, the couple in The Sunset Suite hasn’t been seen for two days. They just order room service. Housekeeping has disinfecting spray on hand, when they check out. Though, everyone has extended, because of the bridge.”

Oh yes, we had to discount our rates, because where were these people going to go?

“So far, no complaints, but if it goes on another week, I’m going to have to offer some even deeper discounts and some comped rooms. Okay, well, I’m getting back out there. Thanks.” I say.

I step back into the kitchen, and Jasper has already taken over and is plating a hamburger. The guys in the kitchen are all smiling and laughing. Great. In ten minutes, he’s already won them over. I glare at them.

“Traitors. All of you.” Then, I stomp out and down to my office. I slam the door, even though there’s no one around to hear it and try to get some work done.

Emails and social media take my mind off the man in my kitchen for only a short time, before it’s all I can think about again.

I know the kitchen is getting ready for their dinner rush right now, so I head in and find Jasper in the kitchen office.

“These books are a mess. Did you ever look at them, or did you trust him blindly?” Jasper says without even looking up.

“He imported everything to the computer, which I monitor. I don’t know what he keeps written down, and I never cared how he did his system. It’s the stuff that’s entered into the computer that we monitor. I watched the inventory, and also the money in and money out that way.” I tell him.

“Log me in?” He asks, nodding towards the computer. When I hesitate, he finally looks over at me.

“Brynn, I’m just trying to help. I want to make sure this guy wasn’t screwing you over, because I can’t make sense of all this. I also need to see what our inventory is, and then make some menus to use up what we have,” he says in a soft tone.

I know he’s right, so I get him logged in, and he starts poking around.

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