Page 197 of The Bluffing Game

“So sorry, Gracie,” Izzy apologizes as she leaves the kitchen quickly, and I wait until she’s gone to say something.

“You sure you don’t need some real help in here, Gracie? I can find a sous chef or⁠—”

“I know we’re not making enough money for a sous chef, Dalton.” She frowns as she grabs another pan. “I shoulda just sent Jimmy to go to the market for me, but he sure has a bad time picking fresh and ripe produce.”

“I coulda gone.”

“You’re busy.” She looks up at me. “Plus, you have other things to concentrate on.”

“What do you mean?” I say a little too sharply.

Has she seen me scrolling on my phone or checking out Sage? I thought I’d been careful, but maybe I hadn’t been.

“With Toby’s mom and the new businesses,” she says matter-of-factly.

Of course, she meant those things.

“How’s that going, by the way?”

“Brett has a lead, and we’re going to meet up this evening for fifteen minutes or so. He thinks there’s a possibility that⁠—”

The door swings open, and Sage is standing there with an anxious expression on her face.

“Hey, Dalton. I was wondering if I could have a quick word with you. There’s a customer who is being a little difficult.” Sage makes a face. “She’d like to speak to the manager, and Lucia said that she’s not really comfortable.”

“What’s going on?” I frown as I step toward her.

She’s got an impish smile on her face, and I can’t help but look at what she’s wearing. She looks gorgeous today, and this is the first time I’ve been able to have a one-on-one conversation with her without making it seem awkward.

“She ordered the beef stew, and … well, she’s upset that it’s beef.” She shrugs. “And we don’t really know what to do. She said she thought it was going to be tofu.”

“The name of the dish on the menu is beef stew, correct?”

“Yeah. I don’t know why she thought it was going to be tofu, but she says she wants to speak to the manager or the owner because it’s not acceptable. And Lucia really doesn’t know what she should do because she thinks it’s ridiculous. I also think it’s ridiculous, but obviously, I’m just a server, so I spoke to Jimmy the Fish, and he said that maybe you would want to talk to the diner.”

“Okay, let me go out.”

I smile at Gracie, and she laughs.

“Good luck with that one, Dalton.”

“Thanks, Gracie. And think about the sous chef,” I say to her. “Don’t let money be the reason why we don’t hire one. I can figure it out.”

“Okay, thank you.”

Sage and I head out of the kitchen, and she looks up at me, surprised.

“Does Gracie want a sous chef? I’ve always wondered why she’s the only one in the kitchen. I just assumed that maybe she liked to do it herself.”

“She initially thought she would be able to handle it herself, but this is a large restaurant, and she needs help, and … yeah, we’ll have to figure it out.” I smile at her. “Don’t suppose you have any interest in learning how to be a chef or a cook?”

“Not really.” She wrinkles her nose. “I like cooking, but not that much. But I could ask Rosie if you want. She might be interested in helping.”

“Yeah, definitely let me know if that’s something she’s interested in. Maybe we could do some sort of training. Otherwise, I’ll look into hiring a professional. Gracie doesn’t want it, but I think that’s because she knows the restaurant’s not doing well and she doesn’t think we can afford it.”

“It’s doing that badly?” Sage asks with wide eyes.

I shrug. “You know how it is. With new restaurants, it’s very hard to make them profitable right away. We put a lot of money into the infrastructure and the decorations. But enough about that, I haven’t actually spoken to you since your date the other evening. How did that go?”