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“I’m willing to make an exception for you,” he said, smirking. “Besides, I’m sure I’ve got most of them, but you work on Fridays and could bring them home with you if you thought of it.”

“I’ll think about it,” she said.

“What are you going to do today?” he asked. “Do you have plans?”

“I’m going to relax. I might go to the beach and take a walk. I could sit in the sun and soak up some rays. I don’t get to do that often.”

Now was the time to ask this, he supposed. “Labor Day weekend. That Sunday, my cousin Penelope Zale is having a little party. Not a lot of people. Just family.”

“How many families?” she asked.

“Penelope and her sister, Emily, their spouses. Griffin, that is Penelope’s husband, so Griffin’s sister, Jennie, and her boyfriend, Alex Bond.”

“So kind of a double relations there?” she asked.

“I guess. My parents and Kelsey. Another cousin of ours that works for Kelsey now, Alana Nadar, who is first cousin of Penelope and Emily. Like second or third with us. I lose track. Anyway, Penelope’s parents and that might be it. Not a lot. I’m invited too. I hadn’t decided yet, but I want you to meet more of my family if I go.”

“When you put it that way it’s hard for me to say no,” she said.

“Good,” he said. “Now I need to leave. I’m sorry. I’ll drop you off at home.”

“It’s not a problem. I’m just thrilled to finally get my car back,” she said. “I’ll run some errands and then have the day to myself.”

He hated that he was losing time with her, but he was going to try to make it up if he could.

He pulled into Southside and opened the back. He was the first one there and expected no differently. He started to prep for the day and Beth came in next. Her face lit up when she saw him.

“Hi, Duke. I didn’t know you were working today. Did Zeke call in sick? Sometimes he complains about being here on the weekend, but I don’t mind it.”

He didn’t care for the fact that Beth was gossiping. More like making shit up. Zeke worked weekends for him all the time and never said a word about it. Most chefs knew that was part of the job.

“I took a few hours to be here and see how things are going. He’ll be in at four,” he said.

“Then I’m glad we get to work with you for a few hours,” Beth said. She was smiling all toothy like, her chef coat not on, her T-shirt fitted tight against her curvy body. He wasn’t trying to notice, but it was hard when she knew how to work what she had.

He couldn’t say she came in like that for him since she had no clue he’d be here, unless she noticed his SUV in the parking lot.

“I hear service was a little slow on Friday night,” he said.

“Did Hadley tell you that?” Beth asked with a frown on her face.

“It’s her job to tell me if there are problems,” he said. “But I didn’t need her to do that when I heard the same story from a few other sources.”

Beth’s face got a little pink. “You asked me to train Michele and I was. She’s a little slow and made a lot of mistakes. I know you strive for perfection and I was only following your lead there.”

Though he couldn’t dispute her words, her meaning and his were different. She was being catty and he was being professional.

“I appreciate that you feel that way, but there is a fine line where service is slowed down and food is wasted, costing the business money. I believe Hadley would have pointed that out to you.”

“She didn’t,” Beth lied. “Just gave me a hard time about the service being slow. I told her why. It’s not like she would understand. She is just a baker. I mean I know she’s the manager now, but she doesn’t understand the kitchen like we do.”

He felt his face twist a bit. “She understands just fine,” he said firmly. “She’s the manager. If you are having a problem with someone that you should be training then maybe you’re not training them right either. There could be a lot of reasons and we can get to the bottom of it. But in the future, the service will not be affected by something like what happened on Friday night. Is that clear?”

“Very clear,” Beth said, her face on fire.

Beth got to work and so did he. At one Michele came in. There was no need to have them both there when they first opened, but it was picking up now.

He kept an eye on Michele and noticed that she had a good pace, and though she seemed unsure of herself and nervous, it wasn’t anything horrible.

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
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