Giving them a wobbly smile, I held out my hand and doubted myself. It was a sickening feeling, and the emotional switch from proud and energized to insecure and fearful made bile rise in my throat.
I should have told them I hadn’t decided on sous chefs yet. I should have inferred that I might be bringing my own sous chef with me. I definitely shouldn’t have accepted their verbal claim on the position and changed the subject.
But that was exactly what I did. When they finally returned my handshake with limp versions of their own, I said, “Nice to officially meet you. Ezra has told me so much about you already. I feel like we’re old friends.”
They did not laugh or smile. They nodded their heads absently and avoided eye contact.
Damn.
So much for winning over the staff with my charming smile and connections to the boss.
“Where is Mr. Baptiste?” Ashlynn asked. “We didn’t realize we’d have to work with you already.”
Blaze, who was much younger than Ashlynn, but still older than me, had taken to staring at me with his arms crossed over his chest. He wasn’t a bad looking guy. Certainly, more friendly looking at first than Ashlynn with all her mob-mom vibe happening. But I didn’t like how he hadn’t spoken yet. His attempts at intimidation felt childish at best, arrogant bullying at worst. And I hated that it was actually working! I wanted to crawl back inside my office and slam the door shut.
No wonder Ezra hadn’t been able to entice anyone over here.
“He’s out front,” I told her. “Let’s go find him.”
I pushed between the two of them, desperate to get out of this awkward tension. I didn’t know what I expected taking over this kitchen, but it hadn’t been this. They were like toddlers that had gone without adult supervision for too long—spoiled, entitled, and angry for no reason.
And I was playing right into their temper tantrums, I realized.
I wanted to smack my hand over my forehead and scold myself. Instead, I whipped around, causing both of them to stumble to a stop before they slammed into me.
“I’m sorry,” I told them, and then regretted apologizing and showing them any kind of weakness. Be strong, Dillon. Be the badass boss you know you can be. “I don’t want to find him right now. He’ll come find us in a little bit.”
They blinked at me, totally thrown off by my change of plans. Not that they had softened any, but I could tell they didn’t expect me to stand up and take charge.
“Before we get Ezra involved, I want to talk to you about clean kitchen habits. When I got here today, this place was a disaster. If the health inspector had happened to stop by, he would have written us up on a hundred different violations.” Slight exaggeration, but I hoped they were getting the point. “I realize this place has been without solid leadership for a while, but that doesn’t mean you all can slack off on every day duties.”
They glared at me, clearly despising me for questioning their leadership. Blaze tilted forward on his toes, folding his arms over his chest, choosing to stare at the floor. Ashlynn poked her tongue into her cheek and raised her eyebrows as if waiting for me to retract my accusation.
Nerves bounced through me, bowling balls playing Ping-Pong in my skeleton. I pressed my legs together to keep my knees from knocking. Still, I needed to establish dominance.
Granted, I didn’t come in here today to claim the alpha position, but I also couldn’t let them think I was weak. Or underqualified for the position.
Even though I was both.
“I worked through what I could before you guys got here,” I continued, “but I’m going to write up a checklist for us to use moving forward. Each station will be responsible for cleaning up after themselves. Together the work will be fast and efficient.” I didn’t really have a game plan as far as the checklist went, but we’d used one at Lilou. My plan was to adopt that one.
I thought they might have something to say about that. But they didn’t. Ashlynn ground her teeth together and Blaze continued to stare at his feet.
“When does the rest of the staff arrive for prep?” I asked, keeping my voice polite and upbeat.
Ashlynn shrugged. “Soon.”
“Do you have an official start time?”
She shrugged.
“That will change too,” I said calmly. At Lilou we not only had detailed shifts, we arrived early for them. Wyatt ran his ship with the “if you’re on time, you’re late” philosophy. It looked like I would be adopting that one as well. I cleared my throat. “We’re going to move prep work to the day of. I want everything fresh. Does Jo deliver produce here?”
Ashlynn stared at me. Blaze offered nothing.
I could ask Ezra later. I felt the fire of their hatred and decided I could ask Ezra now. “My plan tonight is to mostly observe,” I told them. “I’ll have the final say in all the dishes leaving the kitchen, but I’d like to see how you work.”
Ashlynn rolled her eyes. Blaze finally looked up, but it was to give his coworker a disgusted look.
