Yes, Chef

Chapter 18: Waste of Your Time

~Benedict's POV~

I am in over my head tonight. First, this is the first time since getting arrested that I haven't been at my restaurant during business hours since I opened the damn place. I made a snap decision.  While I can only trust that my crew has it handled tonight, it eats at me.

I did it to prove I could. To prove it to Mads and it paid off. She's so fucking proud of me. That feeling is overwhelming and I haven't been able to wipe the grin from my face since she said it. But then there's the situation of who she's with tonight.

Although I'm having a great night serving and interacting with customers, I'm now looking to see if I can catch up with Mads and keep her and Garrison from getting close. She doesn't seem to want to be with him anyway so I'd just be supporting her wishes, right?

"We only have 45 minutes left of service and we have enough supplies if you want to head back to the restaurant." Jackie is the head chef of the catering crew. She took my presence in stride and actually runs a pretty tight ship. We worked well together, which gets me thinking and momentarily distracted from obsessing over Mads.

"What's your experience beyond catering? You run this crew like you have a respectable resume." I hope she takes that as a compliment.

"I do." She proceeds to list off the kitchens she has worked in, including some experience in bigger, tougher markets than here.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but how did you end up in catering?" I ask. We get interrupted to take care of a brief rush of customers.

"Well, I wanted to raise my kids and catering offered me the opportunity to do what I love with flexibility to do just that." She replies.

"How old are they?" Jackie isn't old but she isn't young either.

"Thirteen and seventeen. They grew up so damn fast." She mutters. "I've thought about getting back into a full-time gig now that they aren't little anymore but I'm not sure my catering experience would be looked at favorably."

"I'd hire you." I say. "Especially after seeing how you run a crew."

"You know you're not the overbearing asshole I thought I'd be encountering tonight when I heard you were coming instead of Kurt." Jackie replies.

"I hide it well." I joke, my eyes scanning the crowd in hopes that Mads has circled back. "I'm serious though. I'm hiring. I can easily see you stepping into a sous chef role again."

"Can I think on it?" She asks. I'm frankly surprised that she's considering. I nod. "Okay then. And thank you. Even if I don't take you up on the offer, it feels good to have that validation. Especially coming from someone like you."

I'm about to respond when a friendly voice coos. "I had to see it with my own eyes to believe it!"

I turn to see my aunt's friend or fuck buddy, whatever, Teddy Whitmer standing opposite the table. I hurry over to greet him with a hardy handshake. While his relationship with my aunt is neither here nor there, I do recognize that he's the reason Mads is in my life.

"Chef Bennie, mingling with the common folk." He teases then continues. "Seriously man, it is wonderful to see you out here. How's it been so far?"

"Ah, good turnout. Lots of folks saying they've tried to get in but had to settle for booking months out." I respond.

"Excellent. And your aunt tells me you're in the process of hiring more staff. Any problems there?" He inquires.