That was a compliment coming from him. His girlfriend and my best friend on the entire planet, Kaya, had the most moxie of any female I’d ever known. I was on the other side of the spectrum.
No moxie. No grit. I was completely squish from the inside out.
Lifting a shoulder in a casual shrug, I told him, “This isn’t about moxie. This is self-preservation.”
He smiled and it lit him up from the inside out. Several months ago, Wyatt was nothing but my terrifying boss I tried to avoid entirely. Luckily for me, he had it bad for Kaya, which meant my mistakes in the kitchen usually went unnoticed. Still, he was the kind of boss that evoked fear and trembling on the regular.
Since he’d started dating Kaya, I’d gotten to know him in a different capacity. True, he was still a total hard-ass at Lilou, my current place of employment, but outside of those whitewashed walls, he was kind and generous, even funny.
We’d become true friends. That was another reason to leave Lilou. Now that I knew his bark was bigger than his bite, I’d stopped taking him seriously when he started shouting and pounding on things. My obstinance was causing quite the dissension in the ranks.
When Kaya left to run Sarita, I was promoted to sous chef, second in command. So, when I rolled my eyes at Wyatt’s antics, the rest of the staff felt it was okay to roll their eyes at Wyatt.
It was so not okay to roll eyes at Wyatt.
“You’ll be good for him,” he told me. “Ezra, I mean. He listens to you. He respects your opinion. And I’m afraid your only chance of getting Bianca back where she needs to be is ignoring every damn thing your brother has to say. He’s right about most things in life, I’ll give him that, but his restaurant philosophies are dated. I’ve had to fight for autonomy. Killian left to find it. Kaya isn’t asking for permission, she’s just doing whatever the hell she wants. You’re going to have to find your own way with him. But you’re going to have to do something to revive this place. And Ezra has no clue what that is.”
“The eyes were a good choice,” I said, defending my brother. “The mural brought life to this place.”
His lips twisted in a smirk. “Molly’s idea. And she told him to butt out while she did her thing too. Like I said, he’s super smart with money. But he doesn’t know shit about what it’s going to take to get this restaurant back on top. That’s up to you, Dillon. Make this restaurant your own. Give her your feel. Your style. Your… something special. She’ll bounce back naturally.”
Fresh panic swirled through me. “What if I don’t have a style? What if I don’t even know how to go about getting one?”
His smile softened and his eyes warmed. “I’ve seen you in the kitchen. I’ve watched you lead. I know you don’t think you’re qualified for this, but there are ten other chefs at Lilou that have been cooking decades longer than you and can’t do what you do. There is something incredibly special about the gentle way you handle food. You love it in a way that is rare.”
Emotion clogged my throat and I blinked back tears. “Aw shucks, Chef.”
He playfully punched me in the bicep. “Call me if you need anything, yeah?”
“Okay.”
“I mean that,” he reiterated, shooting my brother an annoyed look. “Kaya and I have your back. This isn’t going to be easy. You know that. But that doesn’t mean it’s not going to be the best damn ride of your life.”
I sucked in my bottom lip and sunk my teeth into it. He was right about that. Right about all of it.
“Seriously, thanks, Wyatt.” He nodded in acknowledgment and another thought dawned on me. “Wait, who are you going to get to replace me?”
His expression hardened and he glanced desperately at the ceiling. “Hell if I know. I merely mentioned the idea to Benny and he already shot me down. Nobody wants that job.”
“Yeah, well, nobody wanted this job either, but look, Ezra found a sucker. I’m sure you’ll find a sucker too.”
He snorted. “I guess we’ll see about that.”
“I guess we’ll see about all of this. Maybe don’t fill the position too quickly. I might need to come crawling back.”
The others joined us before he could assure me for the millionth time that I’d be fine. That was a good thing. I knew I wouldn’t be fine. I wouldn’t even be close to fine. I didn’t need any more false assurances that I’d be great at a job that was entirely out of my league.
I wasn’t going to be great at it.
I wasn’t even going to be okay at it.
Holy shit, what did I just sign up for?
Three
The following morning,I woke up with a splitting headache. I rolled over and buried my face in my pillow, willing my body to go back to sleep. The sun wasn’t even awake yet, why was I?
This was one of those rare traits I’d inherited from my father. Ezra was the same way. As a whole, the Baptiste family were terrible sleepers. Driven by insane work goals and the need to conquer the known world, we woke up ready for battle.
