My email box was filling up quickly too. I’d also missed calls from Kaya, Vera, Wyatt and Ezra.
Good grief.
I texted the first three and dialed my brother.
“Thanks again,” he said, sounding wide awake and chipper. “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you stepping into that kitchen.”
“Good morning to you too.” I sounded significantly less poised. Unless this hoarse, croaky man-voice thing I had going on was poised.
He ignored me. “You’re the best, you know that right?”
“I am aware,” I teased, sighing for good measure.
“Good.”
I smiled at my unmade bed. “I’m not starting until Sunday though. We’re clear on that, right?”
“Sunday…”
“I want one last shift at Lilou,” I reminded him. “And I want a weekend before I become head chef and never get another vacation day again. One last hoorah before I sell my soul to saving your ass.”
He barked out a laugh. “Is that what you’re doing?”
I didn’t say anything. He knew that was what I was doing.
As sous chef at Lilou, I still got nights off. Sure, I worked almost every day. And night. And Wyatt basically couldn’t run his kitchen without me. But I did occasionally get a night off.
I wouldn’t get the same luxury at Bianca. Especially not in the beginning as I attempted to undo all the damage the last year and a half had inflicted on her.
He groaned, reminding me of how I talked to my mom this morning. “All right, fine. I guess I can cover for you until then.”
“And I still want off for all the wedding stuff. Don’t forget about that.”
“Right,” he agreed quickly. Too quickly. “The wedding.”
“And the rehearsal dinner,” I reminded him. “And the bachelorette party.”
“I don’t know if I can swing—”
“Ezra. You promised.”
“I don’t think I promised.”
“I think I quit.”
“Excuse me?”
I sighed, realizing this was how it was always going to be working for him. He was impossible. How Molly ever put up with him was an unsolved mystery. “I quit. I can’t work under these conditions.”
“These conditions? You haven’t even started at Bianca! That’s the whole point!”
“Then you should have hired me after the festivities. Those events are nonnegotiable.”
He cursed under his breath, a word he didn’t usually say in front of me. You know, because he was the big brother and I was the delicate little sister. Cue eye roll. “You’re a ballbuster, you know that?”
My smile was real when I quipped, “Learned from the best.”
“Hmph.”
