River grinned. “All right, chef. What should we do?”
I divided the work so that River got to peel the carrots while Lake used this fancy grater that made things much easier than an old fashioned one.
Meanwhile, I prepped everything else and couple of hours later, we had…way too many carrot cupcakes.
I turned back to look at the trays I’d put them out to cool on and then decorated. We’d run out of silicone molds, but there’d been some paper ones in the pantry.
My first attempts at the decorating had been crap, but throughout the line of trays, I got better.
By the last ones, I felt sort of triumphant.
“I got you these you can put on top if you want,” Lake handed me this container of cheery little carrot shaped decorations.
“Those are great, yeah, let me…” I glanced around. “I’ll clean up and then add those.”
“Sure. Once you’re done, we’ll start dinner prep,” River said in that tone that told me I wasn’t going to be able to take part in more cooking tonight.
“Okay!”
He went into the pantry to find a container for the cupcakes that Lake wanted to take to Theo’s cabin. When Lake left with the goodies, I turned to River.
“You think they’ll be okay?”
“Yeah, eventually. Mental health stuff isn’t easy anyway, but Theo just lost his best friend. All the change and then the book news might’ve pushed him off the edge. I think that as long as we don’t try to cheer him up needlessly but show we care about him by making sure he has something to eat, he’ll be fine given time.” He grabbed some veggies and started to chop them. “At least that’s what Sierra, Hudson, and the cook seem to think.”
“They know him the best, I guess. Now that Ruth isn’t here anymore.”
River sighed. “Yeah, the more I hear about her, the sadder I get about not being able to meet her.”
“Hard same.” I shook out my hands that felt a bit weak after all the squeezing of the piping bag. My neck was stiff from concentrating so hard. “Okay, I’m gonna go nap.”
“Well done, Rey. The cupcakes look awesome. We’ll make a chef out of you yet.” River smiled at me.
“Not if I become a cleaning person first!” I stuck out my tongue and left him to his chopping.
I didn’t know what I’d be, once I was old enough to get my ID and stuff and could think about getting my GED. At the moment, though, I was liking the things I was doing here.
Once upon a time, in my previous life, I’d thought I’d maybe become a teacher or even a lawyer. I’m not sure whose dreams those had been, because they felt so different to the me I was now.
Sighing, I curled up on my bed and reached for my latest read. I didn’t want to think about my past. I was too content in the present. The future could wait, too.
Chapter 4
Cook
Being a private chef for rich people wasn’t glamorous. Not even when you got to do the job on a yacht. Especially for a guy my size. Luckily, I didn’t have claustrophobiaandthis particular yacht was a bit insane.
“Did she actually buy this thing?” I asked Halley one afternoon.
She sat on the island in the kitchen, hanging out while I cut veggies and fruit for a snack plate.
Halley snorted. “No chance. She has money but not this kind of money. It’s a rental of sorts.”
Something about her expression made me squint at her. I waited her out.
“You know that producer guy, Zed? It’s his.”
Digging in my memory, I asked, “Isn’t he direct competition to the guy who produced the girls’ last album?”
