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ON HIS LAST DAY ATEver, Richie went back to polishing forks in the morning. He walked around the restaurant, looking for the cloths. His mind focused on going back to The Bear, and what that would look like now, thinking that Carmy had sent this whole thing up in the first place just to get rid of Richie. Get him out of the way. It didn't help that now Fak knew about Richie and Kitty, and although they weren't planning on keeping it a huge secret, they certainly weren't looking forward to any of her brothers finding out and spending every second they could teasing them about it (like Neil had been doing whilst Richie was still over at Ever).
He came across Chef Andrea Terry in the back kitchen, peeling mushrooms alone.
"You know where the polish is?" Richie asked tiredly, the phone conversation with Carmen late the night before didn't help Richie's mood nor self esteem. The two arguing back and forth about Carmy's real reason for sending Richie away, "That bullshit keeps moving."
Chef Terry looked up, "Try that drawer over there," She gestured to the one she was talking about.
Richie glanced down at the ingredients on the table, literally almost a full table of just mushrooms, "What're you making?" He asked curiously.
"I'm just peeling mushrooms for the lamb des tournelles," Chef Terry explained.
"Peeling mushrooms?"
"Yeah," She nodded, smiling, "It's just a nice little fun detail. So that when the diners see it, they know that someone spent a lot of time on their dish. Do you want to have a go?" She suggested, gesturing to the spare knife on the side.
Richie looked surprised for a split second before shrugging, a smile threatening to tug at the corners of his lips, "All right," He said, taking hold of the knife.
"Okay, so hold it like this..." Chef Terry explained, holding the mushroom in the correct position to make the peeling easier.
Richie copied her movements, "Mm-hmm."
"Knife, Thirteen-hundred..."
Richie watched carefully as Chef Terry tilted her knife slightly. His eyes carefully observing and watching, not wanting to embarrass himself in front of the boss if he got it wrong.
"...Grab the end and just peel like that."
Richie finally began on the mushroom he was holding.
Chef Terry briefly glanced at his hands, nodding in confirmation, "So slowly."
