A twinge of jealousy twisted Kate’s gut.
“So you’ve been doing great without me?”
“Well, yes, hon. We’re even making more of a profit, so I repaid some of the debt. Bankruptcy isn’t such an immediate threat anymore.”
Kate nodded. “That’s great, Mandy!”
Mandy’s eyebrows rose. “Oh, hon. Please don’t tell me you want to change everything back to the way it was before.”
“No, no. Of course not. If the new menu has been working, we should keep it.”
Mandy smiled, clenching her hands. Kate looked around awkwardly.
“What about Logan Robertson?” Mandy asked. “When are they coming?”
“I have some bad news. Logan Robertson isn’t coming. I’m afraid I screwed up the program, and I’m out.”
Mandy frowned. “Oh no! What happened?”
I traveled back in time, lost my memory, and met the love of my life.
“Well, he hit on me, and I stopped him.”
“Oh my gosh…are you okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine. But unfortunately, the whole TV show thing isn’t happening.”
Mandy sighed. “Oh. Darn.”
“Are you mad?”
Mandy looked around the restaurant. Every single table was occupied. Clanks of cutlery, chatter, and occasional laughter filled the room.
“No,” Mandy said and hugged Kate around the shoulders with one arm. “Screw him if he wanted to do anything to you. And look, we don’t even need him.”
Kate’s eyes blurred with tears. “You’re right. We don’t.”
“But tell me one thing. If you weren’t preparing for the show, where have you been then all this time?”
Ugh. Kate hated lying. What could she say that would be true without going into specifics? “I stayed to learn from the locals. I met someone who knows how to cook Crazy Mary.”
“Excuse me!” Through the serving hatch, Kate saw one of the customers she didn’t recognize wave his hand at Mandy.
“I better go,” Mandy said. “You go upstairs and have a rest after your long journey, okay? I know you want to work, but don’t.”
She squeezed Kate’s shoulder. “Rob and I got this, sis, really. Don’t worry.”
Kate nodded, feeling like a third wheel.
“I was expecting you’d need me to start cooking right away—but okay.”
“No, no.” Mandy laughed, kissed Kate, and went to see what the customer needed.
Kate hesitated a moment more, then walked out of the kitchen. She picked up her luggage and went upstairs. Even the apartment looked tidier and fresher. She went into Jax’s room and kissed the top of his head. He was a handsome and a smart boy with his mom’s blond hair and his dad’s brown eyes.
“You grew,” Kate said through tears, looking at his suddenly so-grown-up face. “You’re such a big boy.”
Or was she tearing up because he also didn’t need her anymore?
“Aunt Kate!” He giggled, evading her embrace in that shy, boyish way.
She gave him the chocolates she’d bought at the airport and chatted with him about how he and Mandy had been doing.
When she entered her bedroom, it smelled like wood and dusty blankets and old books. The scent brought the sense of anxiety back to her chest as she thought of her usual dull life, a life without Ian. She put the luggage in the corner and lay on her bed. Even her limbs felt like she didn’t know what to do with them.
And inside, she couldn’t help feeling like she were a splinter that had caused inflammation. When she’d gone to Scotland, the splinter had been removed, and the system had healed itself. And now she was back, trying to fit into the old wound.
But she was unnecessary. External. Harmful.
They’d been fine without her. And, surprisingly, she’d been fine without them. More than fine.
She’d been so happy there. So deliriously happy with Ian, in that world full of danger and castles and war. And medieval cooking that she enjoyed more than she could have ever imagined. There, Ian had appreciated her dishes like no one ever had. Here, she wasn’t needed. In fact, under Mandy’s supervision, the restaurant was doing better than it ever had under Kate’s.
Why was that? Was it because Kate had always tried to implement something new, something unusual when all people wanted was traditional cooking? Was it because Kate had always thought she wasn’t good enough and the feeling had created negative energy? Or maybe it was her demeanor? She’d never had a smile on her face like Mandy did. Maybe the customers had felt some distance with her, whereas they absolutely loved Mandy.
In any case, Kate couldn’t imagine herself here anymore. She supposed she needed a bit more time to adjust to modern life. Her chest throbbed, her head and throat ached. It was as though she was hungry for Ian. Her hands itched to find him, to touch him, to feel his powerful presence near and around her. She longed for Dundail and Cadha and even grumpy Manning.
Over the next few days, Kate tried to adjust to her new reality. She went to work in the restaurant and was amazed to see how much smoother everything ran under Mandy’s control. While Kate was cooking, Mandy managed the restaurant. She negotiated better prices with the supplier, something Kate had never been able to do. She reduced the number of dishes on the menu.
“People never ordered some dishes, so I left only the most popular ones.”
That allowed Kate and Rob to precook certain things and serve dishes faster while maintaining their quality. Mandy suggested a new system of order placements that was much quicker and clearer for the waiters and the cooks.
There were more customers, higher tips, and more profit. And while she saw a big smile of satisfaction on Mandy’s face as her sister directed the staff confidently and chatted to the customers, Kate felt more and more out of place.
In the beginning, it had felt like Kate was doing Mandy a favor by letting her help in Deli Luck. Now it felt like Mandy was the one doing the favor.
While it was great to be back with her family, dissatisfaction grew
