Ruined By My Stepbrother novel · Chapter 15 of 32

Chapter 15: The Notes

I read it again.

Kitchen of one. Cooks quit at 4.

He knew.

He'd sat at my table on the worst night of my life, and he knew exactly why it was the worst night.

I scrolled down.

"8:10. Wait on the chowder, 40 min so far. Room restless."

"8:41. Scallops. Hard sear one side, cooked through. Plated in a hurry. Chef alone at the pass. I can see her through it."

"8:44. Chowder finally. Lukewarm, sat at the pass too long. Two spoons. Thin? Tinny? Can?"

Can, with a question mark.

Two spoons.

I knew that chowder.

It sat at the pass for six minutes that night, because I had eleven tickets and two hands.

Under the notes there was a draft of the review, with somebody's comments down the margin.

The fourth paragraph had a line in it I'd never read.

"To be fair, it was a kitchen of one that night; her cooks had quit at four."

Next to it, in a little gray comment box, his editor had written, "Cut this. It reads like an excuse. Keep it clean."

Under that was his reply.

"Done."

I sat at the prep table and read the whole file three times.

Then I read the published review again, the one in the gold frame.

"Chowder that tasted of the can."

The question mark was gone.

So was the kitchen of one.

I finished the wine and didn't pour another.

At two in the morning I went upstairs and sat in my father's chair in the dark and didn't sleep.

At nine I texted my mother.

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