“Oh yeah? Well, based on your performance after a year you could request to transfer to a Jersey house.”
He looks around the new place. “I’m sort of digging this place. Nicest restaurant I’ve worked in a long time.”
I take a look around and grin. We do know how to build them. Dante and Gio are masters at scoping out locations and opening premium restaurants. Our kitchens are always the finest. A long way from where our family started.
I, for one, am proud of the workspaces we design for our chefs. Even the hidden back room at Anima Mias is state of the art despite not being used for restaurant purposes.
I shrug and gesture for him to take a seat at the table we’re closest to. “They’re all like this.”
He nods. “The Di Lorenzo brand. You guys have built some empire.”
“Your last name is Kelley, right? Is your family Irish?”
“My mother is. Kelley is actually her maiden name.”
I narrow my eyes. Jacob has blue eyes and dark hair that’s pulled up in a topknot. Nothing about him reads Irish to me. However, I do note the Celtic tat peeking from beneath his short-sleeved chef’s coat.
“Can you bring anything from your background to the kitchen? Colcannon and champ, soda bread, boxty, black and white pudding.”
He reaches to rub the back of his neck and frowns. “No, I don’t know much about her side of the family or the culture. We grew up knowing more about our father’s side.”
“Oh, where’s he from?”
“He’s Italian. I can relate to your family more than my mother’s.”
Now this, I can see. The Rome features are strong on him. I would have pegged him for Italian first.
I pull a face and nod. “This can work. We usually ask our head chefs to come up with a signature dish that speaks to their background.”
“No problem. I’ll come up with something. I could always ask Ma if she has any recipes I can make my own, but I have the Italian side covered.”
“Great, can you have a dish ready for me by next time I drop in?”
“You’ll be in all next week, right?”
“Yeah, to get you started. Is that a problem?”
“Not at all. I’ll head to Ma’s today after work and I’ll work on the other dish I have in mind.”
“How are you doing with learning our point-of-sale system?”
“I think I have a handle on it. You guys use nothing but the best, but I’m getting the hang of it.”
I tap my knuckles against the top of the table. “Let’s go talk with your line and front-of-the-house staff. We’ll talk menus after.”
“Sounds good.”
Carleen
“What’s going on with you two?” Toni says as she glares at me and Blake. She turns to me. “How you going to invite us here to have lunch and you’ve had a long face from the time we come? Not to mention you refuse to drink with us.”
I chew on my lip as I look between the two. I’m debating on if I should tell my cousin and friend what’s going on with me. I invited them here to the restaurant for a sense of comfort.
However, I’ve been in my head since we sat down. Some things have occurred to me in the last few days. Jace may be right, whenever I sense Dario has or needs change, I react as if it’s my own anxiety in my life. I blink a few times and look to Toni.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Ut-oh.”
“No, seriously. When I called you about opening this place, did it sound like my decision?”
Toni gives me a stern look. She rolls her eyes and sits back in her seat, folding her arms over her chest. I hold my breath as I wait for her to speak.
“I see you’re finally waking up. Girl, as always, Dario told you what you were going to do and then it was done. I’m not going to lie and say you didn’t seem happier, but that man knew you wanted change, and this”—she waves a hand around—“was his solution.”
I slump my shoulders and purses my lips. She’s right, he didn’t really ask me if I wanted to do this. He suggested it when I said I was looking for a job and then it happened.
It’s occurring to me that Dario has stepped in to fix things for me a lot over the years. What seems like decisions I’ve made are all things Dario decided were best for me.
When I started to show interest in cooking, he handed me the brochures for schools. When I wanted to buy a home, Dario handed me a list of neighborhoods and had a realtor call me.
“At least he has your best interest in mind,” Blake says, seeming to come out of her own head.
“Well, what’s going on with you?” Toni says to Blake.
Blake frowns, it’s so out of place on her pretty face. Blake is honey colored and has the most striking gray eyes. They are slanted and large, but perfect for her face. Her full lips stand out.