Chapter four

Heather

My eyes drag around the restaurant as I sipped from the glass before me. The waitress threw a sympathetic glance at me for the hundredth time that morning. I appreciated the glass of water she offered, but I was getting fed up with the pity.

After I basically walked out of a once-in-a lifetime apartment offer, I decided to start moving on to the second phase of my plan. Apartment searching will have to wait. But first, I needed a job.

It's not like I was going broke. I still had a lot of money saved up from my salary, but I needed to do something. Otherwise, there was no point in starting this whole thing.

So here I was, sitting in an almost empty restaurant by 10 am, waiting for a job interview. I'd applied for the job about three weeks ago and got a response almost immediately. The owner kept postponing the interview, until they finally sent an email last week.

At the moment, I was contemplating leaving. What kind of person arranges an interview and shows up late without any heads up?

Definitely not the kind of boss I would love working with. I did like the restaurant though. The environment was perfect and at a strategic location, it was exactly the type of place I would open my restaurant, if I had the chance.

But the environment did nothing to reduce my annoyance of the boss's lateness.

I checked my wristwatch again and saw it was almost noon. I'd waited for more than two hours and he still hadn't shown up. I regretted not eating something before leaving the house.

As a professional chef, you'd think I'd be more observant of my own food schedule.

Just when I was about to give up and leave, the kind waitress walked up to me with bright smiles.

“Mr James is waiting for you in his office.” she said.

I didn't see anyone walk through the entrance, but I didn't ask questions either. I was already tired of waiting. I simply nodded and followed her.

We walked to the back of the restaurant and stopped in front of a door. The waitress knocked gently. A masculine voice came from inside the room, granting us permission.

I released a slow exhale and plastered a wide smile on before walking in. A man that seemed to be in his late fifties or early sixties sat behind the table. He lifted his head and smiled as I walked in.

“Apologies for the delay, Ms Wheeler. Please, take a seat.” I pulled out a chair and muttered my thanks.

“Again, I'm deeply sorry you had to wait so long,” he said.

“It's fine. Your employee was very hospitable.” I smiled.

He simply nodded.

“I went through your resume, and I must say, I'm quite impressed. You attended a top tier culinary school, graduated top of your class, and worked as a personal chef for Oliver Kang? That's quite the portfolio.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Why did you decide to quit working for Oliver Kang? Is he as impossible to work for as they say?” he chuckled.

I had thought about this question since I was asked to come in for the interview, but I couldn't come up with a good enough answer. I couldn't possibly tell my employer that I quit because I felt stuck in my life. Right?

“That’s not the reason, sir. Oliver Kang is actually a great boss and a wonderful person. Being his personal chef was really amazing.” I started.

I thought about how best to answer the question without revealing too much. Maybe I should have prepared harder before showing up, and just hoping my resume would get me the job.

I've never been great at explaining myself. I was better at avoiding things than talking. Maybe Ethan was right after all, I was great at running.

The fact that I was thinking about him during such an important moment in my life was laughable.

“This is gonna sound really cliche, but I've always loved cooking. I loved the look on people's faces when they enjoyed my food. I grew up in a place where cooking was considered a hobby. I finally got the courage to pursue my passion despite the critics, but somewhere along the way, I forgot about my dream and focused on earning big paychecks. I want to work here so I can gain more experience about the market before I open my restaurant. That's always been the dream.”

For the first time since I quit my job, I felt sure about the decision. I realized I needed that answer more than anything.

“Why would I think that's cliche? Your story is so beautiful.” he said.

“Thank you.” I responded with a smile.

“Your resume is impressive, and you seem quite passionate about what you do, but…” he hesitated, “I'm sorry, I can't hire you.”

My heart sank with disappointment. I'd planned the next few months of my life around this job, I didn't consider that I might be rejected.

Phase two of my self discovery journey had officially crashed.

I pushed back the feeling of disappointment and cleared my throat,

“May I ask why?”

James leaned back into his seat and drew a shaky breath.

“I probably shouldn't be telling you this, but I think you'll understand. I'm selling the restaurant.”

I blinked, startled by his revelation. Of all the things I expected him to say, I never expected that. Why would anyone want to sell this place?

I refrained from asking any questions, and simply stared at him expectantly.

“I want to move back to my hometown with my family.”

Oh! That was the least of things I expected him to say.

“I already found a buyer and we were in the process of finalizing the deal. He was going to take over everything, including the employees. The restaurant chef wasn't interested in working for a new boss so he's decided to resign. The bad news is, the buyer backed out of the deal this morning.”

“Oh, that's terrible!” I suddenly feel bad for overthinking the situation so much. He was clearly in a terrible plight.

“Yeah, he didn't give much reason, other than he found a ‘better place’. I've been trying to sort it out all morning, that's why your interview was delayed. Again, I'm sorry for that.”

“It's fine. I am sorry for you too. I'm sure you'll find a new buyer soon. This place is really nice. It's in a highly profitable environment too. You'd definitely find someone who would fall in love with this place.” I said.

“Or maybe I already have.” he smiled.

I stared at him in confusion.

“I'm sorry, what?”

“I'm asking if you would be interested in taking the place. You don't have to buy it immediately, you can just rent it until you make enough profit to own it permanently.”

“You're asking me to buy this place?” I asked in disbelief.

“Rent it, but if you want to buy it, no problem.” he said. “I know this isn't what you came here for, but your speech earlier, it reminded me of a young me.” he smiled, his eyes distant like he was reliving a memory.

“Cooking was a woman's job where I came from, not a man's. You were supposed to be a doctor or an engineer as a man, not a chef. It was challenging at first, but I finally found courage and went after what I wanted. And that's what got me here.

I know how overwhelming this moment must be for you, because I've once been in your position. The difference was I had to use my entire college funds to open my first restaurant back home. Then the brand got bigger and I came to the city. My parents were mad at me and cut me off for months, but I never once regretted taking that risk.”

“Wow, that's really inspiring, sir. But if you love this place so much, why are you selling it?”

I really wanted to ask if he was in debt or involved in a gang before I gave his offer any thought. I didn't have enough savings to buy this whole place, but I could rent it like he said, and renovate it.

But it didn't matter because I wasn't going to take his offers. Pretty sure making a huge life decision like this wasn't supposed to be the first step in a self discovery journey.

“Because just like you, I seem to have forgotten what the dream was and got distracted by huge checks.” he chuckled. “Besides, the kids are all grown and married now, and my wife wants us to move away from the city life.”

I didn't realize how hard I'd been smiling until my cheeks started to hurt. His story sounded a lot like a dream I had once.

Move away from my family and to the city with the love of my life, get married, open my own restaurant, have kids, then when the kids are grown, we could move to the countryside and spend the rest of our lives living happily together.

I was a dreamer, I've always been. Growing up, dreams were all I had. Of course, I didn't think they would come true, until they actually started to pass. I had met the love of my life, and he loved me back, but I had walked away. Just like I was walking away from every good thing in my life.

“You don't have to make a decision now, Ms Wheeler, but I'd really like you to consider it. Maybe your dream will come to pass here.” James said, cutting through my trail of thoughts.

“Yeah,” I smiled. “Maybe.”

I left the place shortly after that without giving James an actual response. I began thinking if maybe I was going to walk away from this as well.