Roni clapped her gloved hands together and said, ‘Let’s keep it goin’, keep it goin’!’
James started calling.
‘Chicken, mashed, greens, peas.’
I plated the chicken marsala – spooning a bit of mushroom marsala gravy over the top – and handed the plate off to Roni as James called out the next plate.
‘Chicken, sweet, greens.’
I plated the chicken as Roni threw an oven mitt toward me. ‘Go grab the sweet potatoes out of the oven and check how Dante’s doing on that shit sauce.’
‘Yes, Chef.’ I passed the chicken plate to her and grabbed the oven mitt. I felt like I was buzzing. This was the most exciting day I’d ever had at Sunset Estates – even more exciting than the day Willard Humphries got drunk and started flirting with the female residents until a fight broke out.
I shuffle-walked back to the dish room, grabbing a fork as fast as I could, and passed the walk-in, where Dante emerged with jugs of Worcestershire, ketchup and Dijon mustard. ‘How’s it going, Dante?’
He smirked, probably seeing the excitement on my face. ‘Good, kid. I’ll take as long as I need.’
I opened the ovens and poked the sweet potatoes with the fork. It slid in easily. They were done. I grabbed a pair of tongs and put the oven mitt on, pulling out the sheet of sweet potatoes and hitting the oven door shut with my hip.
On my way past the grill, I noticed that the steaks were starting to drip into the flames below them.
‘Behind,’ I called out. Roni moved out of the way as I put the tray down on the metal line and began transferring the sweet potatoes into the empty chafing dish. ‘Do you need to flip those, Chef?’ I asked, flicking my head in the direction of the grill.
‘Ah, shit. Yes. Here, let me do this – go flip those for me.’ Roni took the tray and tongs before I could argue. I glanced over to the servers again. Were they seeing this? This was wild! I grabbed the long tongs used for the grill and gently wiggled each filet before I flipped it, trying to match the grill marks to the other side.
I imagined doing this in arealrestaurant during arealrush. Everything going so fast and chaotic. Yeah, it would be annoying after, like, the first week or whatever, but still. This was the exciting stuff. This was when I would be using all the tricks and techniques I’d learn from the faculty at La Mère.
But then my excitement deflated, like someone punching a bowl of rising dough. Ilegallywasn’t supposed to be back here. There was a reason you had to be eighteen to work the kitchen, and it was because OSHA – Occupational Safety and Health Administration – made the rules for workplaces to follow. We had to have a whole two-day training session on it when we first started.
I mean, I didn’t care about it. I did more dangerous stuff than flipping a steak at home.
But Natalie, the rule cop herself, would have a conniption if she came back and saw me working in the kitchen. There’d be another blowup between her and Roni. I’d have to sign some OSHA form while she reminded me I’m not allowed to work in the kitchen, and that would mean bye-bye to my letter of recommendation. Forget trying to please her after that.
If I impressed Roni in the short amount of time before Natalie came back, maybe she would write me a letter. But that wouldn’t have the same clout as Natalie. Roni had never worked for Chef Louis.
Something on the other side of the line clattered, shaking me from my thoughts.
‘Sorry!’ Gabe was picking up a glass of spilled cranberry juice and mopping it up with a towel. Then he glanced up at me and gave me a wide-eyed look ofWhat are you doing back there?
I returned it with a similar look that said,Iknow, right?
He just grinned. Damn him and those dimples.
Seeing Gabe there, watching me – smiling at me,knowinghow big a deal this was for me – brought every awful, horrible, terrible, no-good, very bad, etcetera, feeling right back. And, dammit, it was not good. Because then I started thinking.
Roni’s letter of recommendation might not hold the same weight as Natalie’s, but maybe I could go back to my original idea of submitting a supplemental video with my La Mère application. I still didn’t have the equipment or the wherewithal to make my own video. But I knew someone who did.
Gabe – Mr ‘I Want an Oscar before I’m Thirty’ De La Hoya – took one last look at me on the way out the door. He had said things were complicated with his boyfriend. And he’d also said I was cute and that he liked me. But maybe he just needed to be reminded of that some more. No, I didn’t want him to cheat on his boyfriend – we’d already kissed, and that was bad enough. But maybe if he realized there was someone else he could connect with, someone who wasn’t complicated …
And maybe hanging out more often would make him realize that.
‘Tommy!’ Roni snapped me from my thoughts. ‘What’s going on with them steaks?’
I flipped the last steak and joined her at the line. ‘All good, Chef.’
Roni turned to check my work and said, ‘Great job, Tommy. James! Keep it goin’!’
We kept it going.
