Hot Flash (28 page)

“I do not wish to see my wife disappointed.”

“Neither do I.” I’d only met her once and she was extremely sweet, charming, and, I suspected, deadly when it came to protecting her family and her man. She was decidedly not someone whom I’d like to disappoint.

“You’re certain you know nothing of how the rumor got started?”

“Positive. This is the first I’ve heard of it.”

He shuffled some of the papers around on his desk.

“Don’t you think that calling me to your office like this might add fuel to the gossip?”

“Point taken.” He lifted a sheet of paper and scanned it. “According to sources, you have been spending considerable time in the administrative offices. Is this correct?”

I gulped. “Kind of.”

“Where have you been?”

“Consulting with the catering manager, Mandy.”

“Three to four times daily?”

I cleared my throat. I couldn’t exactly tell him that I was hiding from his new chef, could I? Additionally, I didn’t want to get Mandy into any hot water. “Sometimes it’s necessary.”

“I’ve also been informed that you have been taking prolonged personal breaks.”

Now, that had to come from Breck. Who else would call potty runs “personal breaks”? “Can you define
prolonged?”

“Over five minutes in length?”

“The majority of the kitchen staff is male. Being female, I require a bit more time.”

He nodded and consulted his notes again. “It’s also been reported that you’ve been visiting the guest and ballroom areas quite frequently.”

“I have?”

“You were seen at the Classical Cookware, Future Home Builders, and Tool Depot conventions.”

I should have expected someone would notice how I’d been attempting to scope out salesmen. But all of that was pre-Breck. “I had to check on the catering. Sometimes that’s necessary, you know.”

He nodded. The silence grew so loud I could hear the seconds tick on his fancy wristwatch. At last he said, “I previously promised that you’d always have a job at La Papillon. Do not make me regret that promise, Ms. Storm.”

My words gushed out, “I won’t. I’ll do whatever I can to dispel rumors of a personal relationship with you.”

“When Chef Breck asked about bringing over the sous chef from his previous kitchen, I informed him that he would find you an exceptionally talented individual. When I make a recommendation like that, I expect to be found correct. Do we understand each other?”

“Completely.” He was saying that either I get my act together or I was outta there. Breck was smearing my reputation so he could bring in the guy he wanted. Great. Just great.

“Thank you.” He stood and gave a quick bow, obviously dismissing me.

My life obviously hadn’t tanked enough. Although he hadn’t said so directly, if I wanted to keep my job I needed to do some serious sucking up to Breck. Gag.

I bowed to Mr. Nagasaki and headed back to the kitchen. While I waited for the elevator to arrive, I had a sudden notion.

Basically, Nagasaki had told Breck he couldn’t replace me. Six members of my kitchen staff had quit in as many days, and Breck had seamlessly replaced them with employees from his last kitchen. If he wanted to replace me with his old sous chef, perhaps Breck had decided to make my life at La Papillon a living hell?

He’d done a marvelous job of it.

Kurt warned me to watch my back around the Mad Chef. Perhaps he wasn’t the control freak he’d appeared to be. Perhaps he was extremely devious. The more I thought over his recent activities, the more convinced I became.

He’d set me up.

And it pissed me off.

What if the incident with the flour, the spray cleansers, the way he’d told me I was heating the ovens incorrectly, the proper manner of disposing of waste materials, the whole nine yards, were all an act?

He wanted to make me outraged enough to leave.

It wasn’t going to happen.

I wasn’t going to let Breck to do it to me. I’d buckle down. I’d not only tolerate his micromanagement, I’d welcome it—maybe even return it!

With a new attitude, I straightened my uniform and entered the kitchen. The man might be devious, but he didn’t know who he was dealing with.

The problem with outscheming someone is coming up with a better scheme of your own. I’d planned to start with staying later and arriving earlier than Breck. I failed to take into account the second shift, the members of which had arrived and were giving me dirty looks because I was in their way.

Biting back an urge to stick my tongue out at them all, I checked my watch. It was already a quarter hour later than I generally left and Breck showed no sign of budging, no matter how many dirty looks he received.

He kept watching me, as if he knew what I was up to.

If he was going to spy on me and run telling tales to Nagasaki, two could play that game. Although half the kitchen staff had been replaced by his stoolies, there were still enough loyal staffers in place to cover my ass and monitor his. Turnabout is fair spying?

I wasn’t convinced I wanted to go that route, but it wouldn’t hurt to keep tabs on him and burn the late night oil.

I checked my watch again. I was late meeting Connie. We have standing arrangements to rendezvous weekly at the gym. With a sigh of defeat, I grabbed my stuff and headed out.

When I entered the gym, the day’s stress slid off me like butter off freshly baked bread. It didn’t take long to change into my gym shorts and reach the rowing machines where Connie and I always met. We row slowly and chat a bit, before getting down to the serious business of shaping and toning.

Connie sat on a rowing machine, but she wasn’t doing any rowing. She was just sitting there with her chin in her hands.

“I’m sorry I’m late.”

She looked up and smiled. “I only got here a few minutes ago.”

I took a swig from my water bottle and sat on the machine next to her. “What’s up?”

I rowed.

She rowed.

She made a little kitten noise. “Not too much. I booked an entire family on a European cruise today.”

“That’s great.”

I rowed.

She rowed.

“I received a query about rates from a restaurant company looking to do a corporate retreat. That’ll be lucrative.”

“Awesome.”

I rowed.

She rowed.

“And I kicked Mike out yesterday.”

“What?” I stopped mid-row. “You did this yesterday and haven’t mentioned it until now? What happened?”

“That’s why I didn’t tell you until now. It’s a long and stupid story.”

I rowed.

She didn’t.

“I like long and stupid stories.”

“Well, yesterday started out pretty okay.” Connie shrugged and began rowing again. “Not good, but decent anyway. Mike had a second interview scheduled at the electronics store. I had a hair appointment at Murzo.”

So far, Connie hadn’t said anything that would lead her to kick Mike out, but it was interesting that she had a hair appointment at Murzo. It’s the latest trendy hair salon and happened to be located at the mall. I’d have to ask her what she thought sometime when we weren’t discussing more important things, like evicting Mike’s no-good ass. “Go on.”

She rowed.

I rowed.

“I said I’d drive us to the mall. We agreed to meet at the food court following each of our appointments.”

I nodded.

Connie rowed.

“What happened next?”

“I got to Murzo’s only to find out that I got the date wrong. My appointment is for next week.”

“What did you do next?”

I rowed.

Connie took a sip from her water bottle.

“I wasn’t sure what time Mike’s interview was, although I knew it was soon, so I walked to the electronics store. I didn’t see him. I thought he might be in back interviewing.”

I rowed.

She rowed half a stroke and then stopped. “So I decided I’d do a little window shopping and maybe I’d see Mike. If he wasn’t interviewing yet, maybe I’d run into him at the food court or around somewhere. Or maybe he’d finish his interview and run into me. So I dawdled, looking in the windows of every shop as I passed.”

She rowed.

I rowed.

“Did you find him?”

“Oh, yeah. I was dawdling, right?” She did a couple more strokes, at last coming to a halt. “I looked in the window of the video arcade. And there he was. He had a huge cupful of game tokens and was starting to play some big video game machine. I stood there watching, kind of frozen in place. You know?”

I nodded.

She continued, “He had an interview, but he didn’t seem to be worrying about the time. He seemed to be settling down for a long session at Halo or whatever.”

“That’s odd.”

“What was odder, Jill, was all of the employees knew him by name. But they were all kids. They would have been about ten years old back when Mike left town.”

“Strange.”

“I started to go in and let him know my appointment was canceled, but something stopped me. Maybe it was those kids, maybe it was his cup of tokens, maybe it was … I don’t know, but it felt off. Like something was wrong.”

“I can see how it would.”

“I walked back toward the hair salon, thinking maybe I could see if another stylist had an opening. Maybe it would be better not to know what Mike was up to.”

She rowed.

I rowed.

“Then I realized I couldn’t bury my head in the sand. I had to know.”

“Did you confront him?”

“I went to the electronics store and asked for the manager. The manager was a woman.” Connie’s breathing became labored from the exercise. “It was a little awkward at first. I finally leveled with her. Said I needed to know, for romantic reasons, if she had any employment interviews scheduled for today.”

Connie took another sip of water and both of us gave up all pretense of rowing.

“The manager understood about man troubles and said she didn’t have any job openings, much less any interviews scheduled. I was stunned. I thought Mike had only misled me about the second interview. I never considered the idea he’d lied about everything. I asked if he’d applied recently. She said his name wasn’t familiar and pulled out her applications file. He hadn’t put in an application. He’s been lying about everything. Applying. The first interview. The second.”

“That’s awful.”

She rowed.

I rowed.

She rowed harder.

I rowed harder.

We both stopped.

“All along, he planned to mooch off me. He conned me into believing he’d changed. The only change is his lies are better.”

“Is that when you confronted him?”

“No. I started thinking. About Mike. About myself. Some lonely part of me wants to have someone, anyone, even if he’s a total liar and thief, rather than be alone. My daughter’s gone. I don’t have a significant other. I don’t even own a pet.”

“You’ve got me and Susan and MaryEllen.”

“Why do you think I’m not a basket case?” Connie smiled. “You’re my family. We may not live in the same household, but in every way, you’re there for me. I don’t need more than what I have already. You guys and my friends at work. A fantastic career that allows me to travel. I certainly don’t need a lying asshole like Mike messing up my life.”

“What about sex?”

“From now on, it’s strictly recreational.”

She rowed.

I rowed.

“Why is it women feel they aren’t complete without a man?” Connie asked. “Who carved that message into our heads? On what mountain has it been written? Dammit, I may have an empty nest, but it’s
my
empty nest. I don’t have to share it to make my life more complete. I’m already complete. I’m enough.”

As Connie talked, I realized what she was saying also applied to me. Had my mom’s propaganda about finding a man been absorbed into my psyche when I wasn’t looking?

Connie stopped rowing and picked up the rest of her story. “I went home, packed Mike’s belongings into his backpack, then went back to the game arcade. Mike was still there, playing his stupid game. He didn’t notice me when I stuck a five-dollar bill into the token converter. Then I waited for him at the food court and ate every carbohydrate I could find. By the time he arrived, I’d finished a triple dip cone.”

Since we’d both been rationing our carbs, this was significant. “What did Mike say?”

Connie snorted. “What could he say? He took a seat, said my hair looked great, then told me he thought he’d gotten the job but wouldn’t know till next week.”

“What a freaking liar.”

“You said it. I asked what he thought of the store manager. The bastard referred to the manager as a male.”

She rowed.

I rowed.

“So you told him not to come back?” I asked.

“I said that was very interesting since I’d met the manager and
she
was very nice and very informative. You should have seen his face. Do I know how to pick ‘em, or what?” Connie grinned and shook her head.

She was taking the whole Mike matter better than I would have. Better than I dreamed she could have. “I’m awed by the way you handled him.”

“It gets better. I pushed the cup of game tokens I’d purchased across the table at him and said he’d need a few more tokens to get him through the afternoon. I lifted his backpack from the chair beside me and handed it to him.”