Love in the Kitchen

Chapter 11

Chelsee's POV
"Hey Ryan!" I called over all the people in the kitchen. Ryan turned from the plating table and smiled.
"Yes ma'am?" I rolled my eyes at him and he laughed because he knows how I feel about being called ma'am.
"Clint's mom is coming for dinner tonight. I want you on it. You good with that?" He looked at me surprised.
"Whoa mom already. That's a huge step Chels." He said with a wink. "I'm on it. Have Jessie let me know when they're here." I nodded and kissed his cheek.
"Thanks Ryan." He kissed my cheek back and I went over to Randy the new sous chef. "How's it going Randy?" She looked up and smiled brightly.
"Awesome! I'm loving every minute of this." Her body was literally shaking with happiness.
"I'm so glad. I can't wait to see how well you do." I patted her on the shoulder and then headed out of the kitchen. I looked around the dining hall and saw that we were mostly full up. It's a little unusual to be this busy so early into the evening. I looked around to find Jessie and I found her at the bar. I headed over and met up with her before she went out to deliver drinks. "Jessie."
"Yes Chelsee?" She looked up at me and balanced the tray of drinks in her arm.
"Clint is bringing his mom tonight. I'd like you to man his table. Take the ticket to Ryan. He'll take care of it." She smiled and gave me a nod.
"Good deal." She walked away as I made my way through the dining hall asking how people's meals were. I got to the hostess stand and talked with Julie. "Hey Julie, Clint is bringing his mom tonight. I'd like them in Jessie's section please. So make sure she's got at least one table opened alright."
"Alright, I'll write it down. Will you be sitting with them?" She looked up as she made her note.
"No, I've gotta get some paperwork done in my office for construction wednesday." She nodded to me and then went on with finishing with writing down some things.
"Would you like dinner brought to your office?" I shook my head.
"I'll just grab something at the house later. Would you let Lexi know when Clint's here though." She nodded and then went on with her business as I went to my office.

Clint's POV
"Wow, I can't believe how big this place is. I really wasn't expecting this." My mom said as we walked up the stairs to the restaurant.
"Believe me, Chelsee has surprises all the time." I said with a chuckled. It was true, the woman surprised me almost hourly. I opened the doors and my mom sucked in a breath. "Are you ok?"
"This is gorgeous." She looked around and I pulled her along with me to the hostess. Julie I want to say her name was. We got to her desk as she looked up to us.
"Hello Mr. Hamilton. Chelsee has a table all ready for you two." That sly devil informed all her staff.
"Is she here?" I asked as she grabbed our menus and started walking us towards the dining hall.
"Yes, she's in her office. I'll let her know you're here." We were brought to the more quiet area of the restaurant. It's obvious Chelsee was wanting to impress. Like she had to do this in order to do that.
"You don't need to do that. I'm sure she's busy with everything for Wednesday." I waved towards her office. She smiled as she walked away and obviously was going to ignore all of that.
"What's going on Wednesday Clint?" My mom asked as she looked up from her menu.
"Chelsee is building a ice arena among other things." I said and watched my mom as she eyed me from her side of the table. "What?"
"What do you mean among other things? I thought you wanted to get away from this kind of stuff." I rolled my eyes at her.
"Believe me, never in your life would you think Chelsee is a stuck up rich snob. She's far from it. She's more of a humble billionaire." Her eyebrows shot up. Before she could answer our waitress came.
"Hello I'm Jessie. I'll be taking care of you tonight. Can I start you off with some drinks?" We both got our drinks and decided to order. Mom settling on the lobster bisque and I had the beef wellington for myself. Everything was delicious as per usual. Our waitress Jessie has been way over the top and I'm sure Chelsee will be giving her some sort of bonus I'm sure.
"That was just amazing." My mom said as she pushed her plate to the side. I nodded and smiled.
"Her Chef is pretty amazing." I put my silverware on my plate and took a drink.
"Well his recipe's are fantastic." I chuckled and shook my head.
"They're all Chelsee's. She was the head chef for a while until she just hired this new sous chef to help Ryan out." She looked baffled.
"You were right. That girl has surprises around every corner." I nodded and looked around. "Isn't that Chelsee over there?" I looked to where mom was pointing and saw Chelsee speaking to a few older men at one of the tables. I took the moment to take in her appearance. She had a full dress suit and the dress pants made her legs look miles long. Her shoes probably added a good 3 to 4 inches to her. I looked up to her face and noticed she caught me staring over at her. She winked at me and then returned to her conversation.  "She's a beautiful girl Clint." My mom broke my ogling and smiled at me.
"No she's a gorgeous woman. I can't get enough of her." She laughed as I shook my head.
"I can see that." She said as I looked back over to where Chelsee was. She was now walking over our way and her hair bounced around her face as she neared us.
"Hello you two. How was your dinner for tonight?" She leaned down and kissed my stunned lips. Having her up this close looking this beautiful is hard to even breath.
"It was delicious. I just love it here. You've got such a great place here Chelsee." My mom said and Chelsee sat down in the chair that Jessie brought over.
"I'm glad you liked it. Did you order dessert yet?" We both shook our heads. Chelsee waved Jessie over to us and Jessie nearly ran to her side. "Have Ryan do two lemon torts." She nodded and walked off.
"Are you not joining us for dessert?" I asked with a hint of disappointment in my voice.
"I ate with the kids earlier. I'm good." She winked at me and my mom leaned over.
"So Chelsee tell me more about the kids. Clint did slightly but, I'm sure he left out a bunch." Chelsee laughed as I gave mom a dirty look. I watched as both of them talked back an forth. Never in my life did I ever think I'd see my mom talking to one of my girlfriends like this.
"Yeah you'll have to meet them sometime. They're really good kids." My mom nodded and sat back in her seat as our dessert came out. "By the way since you helped Dec with his math. He's cruised through it. He was done before I got back to the house." Chelsee said and placed her hand on my thigh.
"I told ya once I got a few of those tricks down for him. He got it in no time. He was schooling me by the end of the night Friday." She chuckled and grabbed the check Jessie came and brought to her. She pulled two hundred dollar bills out of her pocket and put them inside before she handed it back. "Keep the rest for yourself Jess." She winked up at her and Jessie was surprised beyond belief.
"Hey, I was getting that." I said as I went to grab Jessie from leaving.
"Clint who do you think she's going to listen too? You or her boss?" Chelsee gave me a victorious smile. I rolled my eyes at her and my mom laughed.
"Yet another delicious creation Chelsee. I'm going to get huge off your food." Mom said as she put another bite in her mouth.
"There's a reason why I look the way I do." I swatted Chelsee's leg as she finished the statement. "Oww"
"You look perfect. Now stop with that." She smiled as I took a bite. She looked down at her watch and sighed.
"I better get back to the house. I've gotta get the kids to bed." She stood and I followed her. "You should take your mom for a look out at the trees after dessert. Mr. Spencer just put the lights out and they look gorgeous. " She said with a kiss to seal her words with. I nodded as I gave her hand a squeeze.
"Will you join us after you get the kids in bed?" I pleaded like a little boy asking for a popsicle. Only this popsicle was more delectable and gorgeous beyond words. She chuckled and nodded.
"I'll see you two in a bit then. Just meet me in front of the house." She gave me a quick peck on the cheek and then glided away, stopping a few times to ask people how things were.
"Oh honey you are in so much trouble." Mom laughed and returned to her tart. I gave her a weird look as I sat down and took a bite. "Don't look at me like that. I know that you know she's got you hooked. She barely even needs to try." My mom chuckled with every word she said.
"I have no idea what you are talking about." I said and pretended to be offended. I knew completely that she had me desperately waiting on her every word. The woman doesn't even realize. We finished up our dessert and then made our way outside to the front of the house.
"Wow, what a beautiful home. It must be fun for those kids to live here." Mom commented as we stopped at the bottom of the stairs of Chelsee's porch.
"You should see how they are. They absolutely love it here." Mom nodded and smiled as she looked around and held her jacket a bit closer. Chelsee then came out holding a blanket and had changed into some jeans and a sweatshirt.
"I brought you a blanket. It can get kind of chilly out here." She held it out for my mom and my mom gratefully took it. "Alright, lets go up." Chelsee said as she turned to head up to the little gravel path towards the tree line. I snatched one of her hands in mine as we walked. She flashed me a smile and then continued on forward on the path. I wasn't really watching if my mom was braving the trail. Mom's never been an outdoorsy person. I took a glance back and watched as she dodged some of the branches and mud on the trail. It made me chuckle slightly.
"Are ya good mom?" She gave me a dirty looked and smiled back at her. Chelsee bumped me with her arm.
"Be nice." I gave her an innocent smile and she came to a stop. I hadn't paid attention to the glow that was in front of us. It was absolutely beautiful. It literally looked like a Christmas card.
"Oh wow." My mom said as she made it to where we stood. "It's like a fairy tale come true." Chelsee smiled proudly and looked over the trees. I watched her as she did so. The wonder she held in her eyes made you want to know just what she was thinking. She looked over at me and I couldn't help but become entranced in her eyes. I kissed her lightly and was rewarded by a small sigh. When we pulled back she placed her head on my shoulder as we looked over the trees once more.
"You better get going you have school in the morning." She said as she lifted her head. "The ground breaking is tomorrow too. So I need to get some sleep."
"What time is that at?" I asked as we turned and headed back to the house.
"It's at noon and then we're doing a big party in the conference room at the restaurant." I nodded and thought for a minute.
"Can I come?" She looked up at me and smiled.
"I would love that but, you have classes. I don't want you to have to get a sub on short notice." I shook my head.
"Are you kidding the kids love it when they have subs. They don't have to do anything all hour." I said with a laugh.
"If your sure. But I would love it if you were there." I gave her a hug as she said that and mom stopped to the side of us.
"Great I'll be here a bit earlier then. I can help make sure things are ready and other things you need." She smiled up at me and gave me a quick kiss.
"That sounds lovely. I might actually need help with Chloee. Mom won't be able to help out tomorrow."
"I'm there. Chloee and I are great pals now." She laughed as I let her go.
"I know, she won't stop talking about you." She said with a laugh. "I'll see you tomorrow and thank you so much for coming Mrs. Hamilton. It's been really great talking with you."
"Oh I had such a great time. Thanks for making me feel so welcome." Chelsee smiled as she started heading up the stairs.
"Anytime, drive safely." As she waved to us.
"I will. Love you." I said and turned towards my mom who looked at me wide eyed. "What?"
"You just said love you to her." I nodded as she followed after me.
"Yeah, and believe it or not mom its not the first time." She shook her head at me as I opened the door. I quickly headed over to the other side and got in.
"You two look so happy and comfortable with each other. I love seeing you like this. You deserve someone like her." I watched her as she smiled out the window. It was a sad smile though.
"Thank you mom." I gave her hand a light squeeze and we headed home.