Page 80 of Chloé

Not to mention her most important guests tonight, her family—table one.

So if that meant obsessing over every sprig of thyme and every dollop of sauce decorating the plate, that was what she’d be doing. Nothing was going out to that dining room tonight without her seal of approval, and that started now.

She wiped her hands on her apron, straightened her shoulders, then turned and headed back into her bustling kitchen. The delicious smells coming from the ovens and stovetops made her smile as she stood there for a second and took in the controlled chaos unfolding in front of her.

God, she loved her job.

“Right.” She clapped her hands and waved everyone over to the main pass. Once they’d gathered around, she looked at each and every one of them.

“We have a full house tonight, and expectations so high that no one believes we’ll touch them. But you know what? I’ve been proving people wrong my whole life. They said I was too young to be an executive chef. That I’m not formally trained. That I’m agirl… But you know my fathers—they weren’t going to let me believe that.Iwas told to reach for the stars, and they’re pretty damn high. So let’s put our heads down and hit this night out of the park.”

Everyone whooped and let out a whistle, and with a laugh Chloé shooed them all away as Todd, one of their waiters, came in with the first ticket, and the starting gun went off.

The next four hours flew by so fast that Chloé barely stopped to breathe. Her menu was an ambitious and intense one that had everyone working overtime to get each order cooked, plated, and ready to go in perfect sync with the other orders at the table.

She was lucky, though—her team was incredibly talented, and as each ticket was filled and sent out, Chloé ticked it off in her brain as one more success story.

When the final ticket of the night came in and everyone got to work on it, she allowed herself a moment to step back and look around at the place she’d spent so much of her childhood. There were so many memories here.

Herpèreteaching her how to knead dough for pasta when she had to stand on one of the stools to reach the counter, or how to make her very first cheese soufflé. She remembered her dad and papa dancing around the kitchen, as her andPèrecooked together for them the first time. She also remembered how proud she’d felt when they both asked for seconds.

Then there was Justin.

She looked over at the back door, her vision blurring a little as she thought about the first time she’d ever seen her brother—

“Order up!”

Kayla’s voice snapped her back to the present, and Chloé blinked, shaking the memories off. She stepped up to the pass and inspected the final plate of the night, and with a nod she handed it off to Todd and sent him on his way.

Everyone in the kitchen fell silent then as Chloé stared at the stainless-steel doors, and as they swung shut behind him, the entire kitchen let out a loud cheer.

They’d done it. They’d pulled off dinner service without one dish being sent back. It was a miracle, and for the first time in over four hours, she breathed.

Chloé started to laugh and hug her staff as she congratulated them all. As she let the enormity of what she’d just done sink in, the doors to the kitchens swung open and herpèrewalked inside.

His smile was so wide it almost slid off his face. He held out his arms.

“Bravo, mon ange. Bravo!”

Chloé ran over to hug and kiss him. The pride and pleasure on his face made her eyes begin to blur.

“Where did you learn to cook so well, huh?”

Chloé grinned up at him, sharing in his joy. “Oh, I don’t know, here and there. But one thing I can tell you: I had an excellent teacher.”

“Oui, you did, and I had an excellent student.” His jade eyes sparkled at her, and Chloé gathered her courage to finally ask him the one thing that had been on her mind all night.

“So… What did you think of the squab?” Yes, she’d ended up going with her first choice as the main star.

“I think it was one of the most exquisite dishes I have tasted in a very long time. It wasparfait.”

She smiled so hard her face hurt as he shrugged.

“But then again, so was the beef tartare and the squid with the black truffle and ink.”

She chuckled, already knowing herpèrewould’ve tried a little bit of everything. “The squid ink was for Zayne. Did he try it?”

“He did, actually, and then he ate half of Ethan’s.”

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