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“I’m so sorry,” Paisley says, touching his arm.
“I’m going to move back home and let her stay with me. I don’t know if it’s permanent. But I can’t just ask for my position to be held until I know, either. We’ve got to find a new chef for Taste.”
I frown. “You don’t need to be worrying about work right now, Zander. You’re doing the right thing, and I know we all support you.”
“Frosty Harbor is going to miss you,” Grams says around a mouthful of cookie. “At least I’ll always have those videos of you taking shirtless runs by my house last summer.”
Everybody’s eyes narrow except Edgar, who apparently already knows about this. He just grins.
“Uh,” Zander says.
Grams waves him off before he can say more. “We’ll miss you dearly,” she says in a tone that implies the topic is closed.
“Who is going to be able to replace you, though?” Caroline asks. “I mean, do you have any equally hot and talented friends? Not that your hotness is a prerequisite, of course, but it would be nice to trade a local hot guy for another one, if possible.”
Zander seems to be too upset to even grin at Caroline’s attempt in lightening the mood. “I was actually thinking about Mia,” he says, lifting his eyes to me. “You know all the recipes. Hell, you’ve probably spent more time in the test kitchen dreaming up new dishes than I have, too. You’re capable of running Taste. You have been for months.”
I shake my head. “I don’t–”
He holds his hand up, cutting me off. “I’m not really asking for your opinion. I’m telling you that you can do it. Consider it a huge favor to me. Please, Mia.”
Paisley is looking eagerly at me. I can see she’s barely biting back her excitement on my behalf. Caroline looks stunned, but a little more confused, as if she isn’t quite sure if I want this or not.
I meet his eyes and feel touched by his sincerity. I can tell he really means what he says, and his confidence in me is the highest form of flattery I can imagine from a chef. I look down at the table for several seconds, then I finally nod my head. I feel the happiness and excitement glowing inside me, despite my sadness at how this came to be. “I’ll do it. But, if you ever decide to come back, I want you to have your position back.”
Zander waves me off. His eyes crinkle slightly. “I’m happy it’s you.”
We’re all leaving the bed and breakfast a little while later and I’m hugging everyone goodbye. Zander tells me he’ll be flying out in three days and he’ll do everything he can to make himself available as I transition into his role.
Caroline stops me before I leave when it’s just the two of us.
“Holy shit!” she says. “What’s going through your head right now?”
I open my mouth, laugh a little, then lower my eyes. “I feel conflicted, I guess? I knew Zander had a sister with health problems because he mentioned it briefly a few times. But I never knew more than that. I feel terrible for her.”
“Yeah,” Caroline says, working her lips to the side. “But, you know you earned this, too, right? That’s how life happens sometimes. Opportunities out of tragedy. Positivity out of negativity. It’s all part of the balance.”
“That doesn’t stop me from feeling guilty.”
“Dude,” Caroline takes me by the shoulders, looking up into my eyes. “You had your dreams stolen right out of your hands. You were on the cusp of going to the freaking Olympics. And then just like that, it was all over. If it takes a little twist of fate to push you ahead in your new dreams, I think you’ve earned it. And if I see you looking like you feel guilty again, I’m going to personally slap it out of you.”
I grin. “Okay. Don’t show my guilt in front of you. Got it. By the way, how the hell did Grams convince you to let her run the bed and breakfast while you’re gone?”
“Um,” Caroline hesitates. “Blackmail?”
I frown. “What?”
“She swore she’d spread a secret of mine as far and wide as she could if I didn’t let her try this. I panicked, and here we are.”
“What secret?” I ask.
She smiles, as if she didn’t even hear my question. “So,” she says quickly. “Are you coming with us next week? I told Jesse to keep a ticket on standby.”
I could press her to open up, but I decide to spare her the stress. “You didn’t have to do that.”
She shrugs. “Bossing my brother around is one of the perks of sisterhood. I’m happy to do it. So, are you coming? I know everybody would be excited for you to be there. Everybody,” she adds, giving me a meaningful look.
That’s all it takes for a wave of grim sadness to rise up in me, overshadowing everything else. I’ve thought so much about how things left off with Nolan. Maybe it’s more accurate to say I’ve thought about how things ended with Nolan. That’s what it felt like.
