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“Yeah,” I said. “Famous in all of Port Sunshine. You can go into any bar and ask, ‘Have you had Harriet Campbell’s fish and chips?’ And only a lucky few can say yes, but they rave about it to everyone.”
“Okay, Harriet,” he said. His eyes surveyed my face. “You really don’t give up, do you?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked quickly.
“It means exactly what you think it means. Go on. Go and finish cooking, and I’ll tell the rest of the guests that we shall be eating fish and chips tonight.”
“Yeah. The most delicious fish and chips ever,” I said. “Well, I’ll get to the kitchen and get working on it. And no need to come to the kitchen. I’ll come out to the room to let you know when it’s ready. Okay?”
“Okay,” he said, nodding. “I look forward to it.”
“Good,” I said. “Thanks, Finn.”
“Don’t thank me just yet,” he said. “By the way, Harriet,” he continued as I made my way to the door.
“Yeah?” I looked over my shoulder at him with a questioning look.
“If the fish and chips aren’t good,” he said, “it’s going to be more than my hand spanking your bottom later.”
“Um, okay.”
I swallowed hard, opened the door, and hurried out.
“Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh,” I chanted under my breath as I hurried down the corridor toward the kitchen.
Everything was spinning out of control, and I had only made it worse. I should have just come clean, should have just come clean, gone home, and figured out another job. Maybe I could go back to Charlotte and beg her to give me another chance, or maybe I’d go to Macy’s or somewhere else and get a job. I had no shame. I just needed money. Ugh, why did life have to suck so much?
“Hey,” Polly said as I entered the kitchen. “Oh my God. You’re back. Thank God.”
“Yes, I am.”
She nodded toward a stack of bags on the counter.
“I got you lots of goodies from Red Lobster.”
“Thank you. I don’t know what I’m doing, girl. Should I just tell him the truth?”
“Um, not yet,” Chelsea said. “He’s not going to pay us if you tell him that you’re a fraud and that we were complicit in that fraud. And I already have plans for that thousand dollars.”
“What plans?” I asked.
“Well, I wanted to go to Sephora, and there was a handbag, and I was thinking I could maybe get a plane ticket to New York and—”
“You’re going to do all that on one thousand bucks?”
“Exactly,” she said. “I’m going to make that grand stretch so far. And you know how much of my life you’d be ruining if you took that away from me?”
I sighed.
“Fine, but we’ve got to make sure that we don’t fuck this up as much as you fucked up those deviled eggs.”
“Hey, I was just trying to help. They tasted like shit. I thought that the hot sauce would make them taste better.”
“Well, it didn’t.”
“What about Dr. Port?” she asked. “He didn’t die, did he?”
“No. He didn’t die. I guess he had indigestion or something.”
