Way fewer results this time, the only thing that looks to be relevant recently is a TikTok of a girl filming herself in the bodega looking sad. I’m guessing because she doesn’t have eye candy anymore, or maybe she misses his…sauce.
Oh no, now I’m doing it too.
This guy is contagious.
Well, nothing too scary came up on his search that could get me out of this.
Looks like I have a new chef.
For now, at least.
FIVE
WILDER
I’ve reread the email a dozen times since it came in over the weekend. It hasn’t failed to make me smile once yet.
To: Wilder Amante
From: Heights Bites
Subject: Your interview
We regret to inform you that you are being offered the job of head chef at Heights Bites, effective as of this coming Monday.
Despite your disrespectful behavior and your highly unpleasant demeanor, the quality of your cooking (as evidenced by the photos you attached, the gardener’s account, and the recommendation from Rory Weiss-Grady) cannot be overlooked.
A list of your duties, responsibilities, and expectations, as well as compensation, is attached.
This is a trial period, a paid stage lasting through the end of August. Should your performance meet expectations, a permanent position will be offered to you then.
Opening day for Heights Bites is just two weeks away. There will be a soft opening of Downtown Smoky Heights in early June, and the grand opening will be in August. Each of these events is a major milestone where your performance will be judged.
Take the weekend to settle into town, develop a healthy respect for the Heights and those who live in it, and be at the restaurant at 8 a.m. Monday to begin. Samuel, the line cook who worked at the original diner, will meet you there and get you started.
Your new boss is Alexis Weiss, manager of Heights Bites. Try not to piss her off.
Regretfully yours,
Heights Bites Management
Setting my phone down on the counter, I step into the shower and let the hot spray crash down on my chest, eyes level with the showerhead, and I duck down so it washes over all of me.
Day one of my new life.
The hours will almost feel like vacation after working two shifts, six or seven days a week, back and forth halfway across Manhattan a couple times a day.
The pay is a joke. A quarter of what I made back in New York. I thought I’d have to dig into my cushion of cash to stay afloat, but my expenses are next to nothing here. Only time it was ever cheaper for me to be alive was when I was in prison.
Rory set me up with a place to rent, a basement apartment beneath a row house that you could toss a chicken nugget to from the restaurant. The old lady that owns it reminds me of a friend of mynonna’s, hard of hearing, but kind in a way that’s died out with her generation. She invited me in for cookies whenshe saw me coming back in from exploring yesterday, and said I was welcome for dinner anytime I want.
Not that I’ll be home at 4:30, when she eats while watching Wheel of Fortune, which is during peak dinner prep hour at the restaurant, but it was a kind offer.
When Rory showed me the rent, I thought it was missing a zero. This place has everything I need for the price of what I used to pay for just a couple of days in my last apartment. I’m probably going to end up with more in my pocket at the end of the week than I did back in the city.
Pinch me.
If I can just get my own ride so I can get around a little easier—this place doesn’t have everything I’d need on a single city block the way I’m used to—I think I’ll be close to set.
