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“This is crazy,” Tracy said. “I’ve never flown before let alone in a helicopter.”
Grace grinned and turned to the girl sitting next to her as they waited at the airstrip on the island. “I know. But you didn’t want to miss a lot of work and this way, you won’t. You’re with me, you’re going to meet with your case manager, then we are going to shop and get a few things you’ve wanted. I’m going to bring you to where I purchase knives.”
“I doubt I can afford what you get,” Tracy said.
“They’ve got a wide range of prices and quality. I’m going to teach you how to look for those things. I need to meet with my mother too. In two weeks I’ve got the clinic that I teach in Boston so I’ve got to get everything set up for that at the facility we are using.”
She wouldn’t stay in Boston for it. Being off for a week and leaving her cousin short staffed unplanned was too much. This time, since the clinic was only mornings, she was going to stay with Lincoln in Boston at Egan’s condo Sunday night, teach her class Monday morning, stay that night, teach Tuesday morning, then fly back to the island. For the rest of the week, Lincoln would fly her to Boston before the clinic and after so she could still work Wednesday through Friday at The Retreat for the dinner crowd.
It’d be a lot and she’d be exhausted, but sometimes you just did what you had to.
In her mind, she was young and could handle it. She’d rather take time off later in the year when business was slower. She and Lincoln could enjoy each other more that way.
“I appreciate you letting me come over with you this early and not have to board the ferry. This way I can get to work on time.”
She rolled her eyes. Tracy was a go-getter. “You’re doing a great job. I’m impressed with the way you’re handling the breakfast service. Everyone treating you okay?”
“Sure,” Tracy said, looking away.
She wanted to find out more, but she knew the answers. She’d witnessed some of it in the past, but she hadn’t heard anything recently. Not that she’d been around much either.
“No one is giving you a hard time?” she asked. “More than normal. Everyone is given a hard time in the kitchen at one point or another. I’m sorry about that. I try to keep it to a minimum, but I got it too when I started and I can’t always be around.”
“It’s fine. You’re right. It’s nothing more than normal and not everyone.”
“That is part of the life in a kitchen,” she said. “I do run a tight ship as best as I can.”
“Everyone respects you,” Tracy said.
“I’m sure they said that,” she said. “Not sure they like me though.”
“Why are you laughing?” Tracy asked.
“Because it’s the truth and I don’t let it bother me. To move up in the industry you’ve got to have a thick skin. I believe what comes around goes around and if you treat people with respect they will do the same back. Work isn’t about having friends but getting the job done.”
“I know,” Tracy said. “It helps working with Ashley. Not that we always work together or at the same stations, but it’s nice having a friendly face in the kitchen.”
“I’m glad,” she said. Grace did the schedule and purposely tried to put them together for a few days.
Because Ashley was going to culinary school in a month, Grace made sure to put her cousin’s stepsister-in-law by more experienced chefs in the kitchen. It was about teaching Ashley the basics to get her a leg up before schooling. Maybe even giving her some tricks that others wouldn’t know.
With Tracy, it was about training her to have a job and that meant starting from the ground up. Stations that Ashley had spent time in last summer.
“I know we aren’t supposed to talk about you being on TV soon,” Tracy said quietly. Since there was no one in the airstrip but Egan’s assistant at the front counter and they were seated off the side waiting on Lincoln’s return from Boson, Tracy didn’t need to whisper. “But I need to know, was it exciting for you or did you just look at it like another day’s work?”
So many people had been asking her questions since her return to work on Sunday. Three days of questions that she had to ignore or joke about.
Even her family she’d given no answer to how it ended. Only Lincoln was aware she’d come in second. Her family, they’d told her how proud they were of her to get so far and that they were positive it would do the island well regardless of the outcome.
No one cared all that much if she won or lost. She had told them she’d been interviewed in confessionals several times each day, but she had no idea what would be shown and what wouldn’t.
Her questions ranged from how she felt about the competition that day to if she missed home or what she missed the most.
She’d let Lincoln slip in there a time or two. It’s not as if she had a choice when they asked questions like that. Then she told herself she would have done it anyway because he almost always popped into her head.
“It was both,” she confessed. “It was exciting because it was something new. I’m a competitive person by nature. But I tried to look at it as another day of work. Maybe someday you can try for a cooking show.”
“I doubt that,” Tracy said. “I just want a job and a place of my own and to live a simple life. I want something stable. I know most people think that is boring, but for me, it’s the dream.”
