Grandfathered: The Ties That Bind

Annelise Helps Out

The gray clouds that stood in the sky perfectly matched Jimmy's dismal mood as he went into work for the next couple days after the incident. Jimmy, who always retained his perky personality even when he felt exhausted from all the work he had been doing lately, was now withdrawn, gloomy, and just seemed plain out of it. Annelise, Ravi, and the rest of the cooks had noticed the change in their boss, but Annelise was the only one who seemed to notice that Jimmy's behavioral change was not only because he was exhausted from his job.

As Jimmy walked into the kitchen one morning, he watched all the chefs preparing for the day rather quietly. The past couple of days had seen a changes in the atmosphere of the kitchen; usually, the chefs reciprocated Jimmy's enthusiastic energy, so now that Jimmy had grown more quiet, there was a thick sense of silence filling the air amongst everyone. The only one who kept his cheerful demeanor was Ravi, who seemed oblivious to Jimmy's mood.

"Bro, check this out," Ravi said excitedly, grabbing a paper from Annelise's hand and scurrying over to Jimmy. "Guess who wants to interview you."

Jimmy shrugged defeatedly before even taking the time to guess. "You got me."

Ravi held up the paper in front of Jimmy's face. "Brad Baker. The top food critic in all of the west coast."

"Wow," Jimmy said a bit nonchalantly, much to Ravi's disappointment.

"C'mon, man," Ravi implored, grabbing Jimmy's shoulder and shaking it. "Get excited! This is probably your most important interview yet!" Jimmy's expression didn't change, so Ravi's hand fell and his brows furrowed in concern. "You're not excited."

Jimmy took in a deep breath and gave his head chef an apologetic smile. "We're gonna have to tell him I won't be able to make it." It hurt Jimmy to say this, but he just wasn't in the state to do yet another interview. Being dumped by Sara and then witnessing her move on to someone else in the matter of a week certainly didn't do any favors. He started to walk away to avoid further conversation, but was cut off again.

"But Jimmy," Ravi cried, "this is, like, huge! You've done every interview you've been offered, and this is the one you turn down?"

Jimmy sighed and turned around. "I'm sorry, Ravi, but I just can't do it," he said, a twinge of annoyance in his voice. "I should have turned down all those other interviews when I had the chance. Don't you see? Ever since we've been named Restaurant of the Year, it's only made things worse! I can't afford to put my time into anything else, and it's not just ruining my career, it's ruining some of the most important parts of my life." After a short pause, Jimmy finished by saying, "You know, maybe they should've given this title to Bisto Six."

Each of the chefs' heads whipped up, and collective gasps burst throughout the room. Jimmy's eyes scanned around the room as he looked at all his employees, and he felt his heart growing heavy. Stiffly, he turned around on his heel and headed towards the back room.

It was at this point when Annelise realized her suspicions about there being a deeper problem were true.

Jimmy sat on the edge of the sofa in his back room, massaging his temples as thoughts swarmed through his mind. He didn't even notice the sound of the door opening, and footsteps slowly and cautiously approaching him.

"Jimmy?" Annelise said quietly, not wanting to stress him out even more.

Jimmy whipped around and flashed an artificial smile. "Annelise!" he exclaimed.

Annelise folded her arms and cocked an eyebrow, and Jimmy winced as he knew she was onto him. "Jimmy, I know something's going on and I want to know what." Seeing Jimmy's hesitation, Annelise softened her expression and sat down by Jimmy's side, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Jimmy, you should know after all these years that you can talk to me about anything." A comforting smile came across Annelise's face. Annelise wasn't exactly known for being openly compassionate, but she was incredibly proud of the growth Jimmy had made as a person ever since he met his family, and seeing him in such a rough state made her heart go out to him. She was impressed by this realization, as it occurred to her that she may have not felt this exact way two years ago.

"I shouldn't have accepted the offer of Restaurant of the Year..." Jimmy muttered. "I'm just so, so tired." He sounded incredibly weak, and not just physically.

"Jimmy, what did you mean when you said it's ruining the most important parts of your life?" Annelise prodded gently.

Jimmy let out a noise that almost sounded like a dry scoff, and he shook his head. "I have no time for my family anymore," he told Annelise, and that sentence alone caused the outburst of the baggage he had been carrying all this time. "A couple years ago, I wouldn't have minded this. I had no family to care about. But now, I just can't bear not being able to talk to Gerald, and see Edie grow up, and Sara..." Not wanting to show his emotions more than he already was, Jimmy just placed his elbows on his knees and buried his face into his hands.

Although Annelise felt terrible, she still felt a bit awkward about comforting her boss. "Um... there, there..." she said slowly, awkwardly putting her hand on his back. "I know it's painful that you and Sara broke up, but --"

"It's not just that," Jimmy interrupted, picking up his head. "I-I tried to apologize, but... Sara's... moved on."

Annelise's mouth was ajar. "What do you mean?"

"I... saw her kissing Brian," Jimmy said slowly.

"Oh, Jimmy..."

"It's just... been a rough couple weeks all around," Jimmy sighed.

"Listen, Jimmy," Annelise said after a couple moments of thinking. "Why don't you take the day off? You obviously need a break. I can take over for you today. Really, I don't mind."

Jimmy looked at Annelise and mustered a smile for her. "Thank you, Annelise," he said gratefully. "I'm not sure what I'd do without you here."

Annelise nodded and gave Jimmy a soft smile before getting up to go back into the kitchen and take matters into her hands. Jimmy leaned back on the sofa, staring blankly towards the dark gray wall. He zoned out for a bit, not really having any conscious thoughts. But the sound of a new voice quickly slapped him out of his trance.

"Jimmy?"

It was a voice that, even after everything that had happened in the past two weeks, still made his heart flutter.