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“All right, pull my emergency card over at Billy’s for this list.” Tristan shot a text to one of his minions. He nodded to his sauté and line chef, Rome. “Start on those recipes.”
Rome nodded. “Got it, Chef.”
“Kendra!”
“Yo,” she hollered from the front of the kitchen.
Tristan shifted his brain into go-time. He might bitch, but this was exactly why he’d been hired as head chef at The Hollow. He could pull together a five-star meal in an hour if need be. “I need you on the front line. Call in Cory and Brendan. They officially have lost their night off status. I’m going to have to figure out some additional special plates.”
“Got it.”
His kitchen ran like clockwork. Everyone’s A-game was on point and he didn’t need to worry about the day to day. Kendra would pick up the slack. She always did.
The evening blended into night. He even designed a special dessert for the happy couple and wished them well personally. He tried to put it out of his mind that the actress having her perfect night looked way too much like Juliet. And look at that, her guy bore a slight resemblance to Sparky.
Fucking phenomenal.
He wondered if Jules and Sparks were together right now.
He still had Juliet’s schedule in his phone, so he knew she was off for the evening. The band was getting ready for their huge show tomorrow at the Greek Theatre. He didn’t get to go to many shows of course, but he’d been looking forward to that one.
He might’ve had to stick behind the scenes, but being Randy’s best friend—former best friend—afforded him some benefits.
Now…well, now he’d just have to watch from the tabloids like the rest of the world. The threesome gossip had started to die down once Randy and Jules had been spotted together a few times alone. Juliet was damn photogenic, so the sites loved to keep her in their crosshairs.
Randy, always the protective one, was forever in the background hovering around her. And here he was with the scent of rosemary clinging to his fingers and chef jacket while they lived the glamorous life of rockstars.
As midnight came and went, Tristan pushed thoughts of them to the back of his mind where they lived while he was in work mode. They haunted him well enough the minute he got into the loft. He’d been working later and later to avoid the stillness of his place.
For fuck’s sake, he’d even considered getting a cat just to break the monotony.
He was so fucked.
When would he start to move on?
“Chef?”
Tristan looked up from the pile of scraps on his cutting board. He’d shooed the rest of his crew out the door over an hour ago. The rest of the kitchen was gleaming and the scent of bleach was pervasive enough to sear his eyeballs.
Just as he liked it.
Kendra stood there in her paisley pants and hot pink jacket. “You didn’t go home yet?”
“I tried to field this one, but this customer refuses to leave without talking to you personally.”
He glanced down at his watch. “The engagement party left already. I said goodnight to them myself.”
“Nah. This one came in complaining about something a few weeks ago.”
Tristan fisted his hands as he tipped his head back. “Jesus, like I need this tonight.”
“I tried to handle it, but Kate’s gone and this customer is really, really intent on talking to you tonight. Like jonesing.”
“She?”
“A guy and girl. Young. Entitled. The usual douchebags. I tried to hand it off, but there was no swaying them.”
“Awesome.” Tristan sighed. “Thanks, I’ll take care of it. Why don’t you head out? Or should I worry they have a knife or gun? How much did we screw up?” He grinned. “At least in her mind, because I never screw up.”
