by A. E. Murphy
“Mummy,” he yells and pulls up my eyelid.
“Hey!” Batting his hand away, I roll us over and bite his chubby little shoulder.
“Noooo,” he giggles hysterically and thrashes to get me away.
Obviously I stop when it gets too much for him. “Love you.”
“Wuv ooo,” he responds and accepts my kiss. “Daddy uh-oh.”
“Daddy what?”
“Uh-oooooh,” he frowns and scrambles to move out from under me. I sit up and scan the empty room.
“Where is your daddy, I wonder,” I murmur, climbing from the bed. I close the bedroom door so the little terror can’t escape and quickly dress. “NATHAN?”
He doesn’t answer so I lift Dillan into my arms and step into the dark hallway that still stinks of disinfectant.
“Nathan?”
I can hear him speaking and it sounds as though it’s coming from the kitchen. I can’t quite make out what he’s saying.
When I enter the well-lit room, I immediately spot Emily in her highchair eating slices of banana. Nathan must have dropped Dillan in my room and left. He’s standing in the doorway leading to our small back garden and seems to be captured in a deep conversation. His tone is so low, I can hardly hear him.
When he senses my presence, he quickly barks, “I have to go. Now.” And then hangs up the phone.
“What the hell was that all about?” I snap, feeling out of the loop and a bit nervous.
“Nothing,” he responds. His brows draw in, making the lines on his forehead deep and concerning. “Just shop stuff. I hate it when they bother me at home.”
I blink, disbelieving his lie. “Since when?”
“Since now,” he snaps back but quickly softens when he sees that he has upset me. “I’m sorry. It’s just they’ve been calling non-stop all morning and it’s for stupid things. I’ve been up since six. Dillan has been driving me crazy, pulling everything from the cupboards.”
“Are the child locks broken?”
“The clever little git figured out how to open them.” I’m pulled into his arms and kissed slowly and wonderfully. So wonderfully I forget everything else for a moment. “We’ll either have to upgrade them or tie him to a chair.” A plate clatters on the ground, but fortunately it doesn’t break.
“Dillan,” I chastise and pull him away from the immediate danger. “Come on, let’s go and play in the room while Daddy cleans up your sister.” Before we fully exit, I turn back to my future husband. “Are you sure you don’t want to hire a nanny? It’s not like we can’t afford it right now.”
“No, we can handle this,” he barks, offended at my suggestion.
“Okay, I’m sorry. I don’t doubt you; I just don’t want you overworking yourself.”
“I know, I just… I don’t want them being raised by other people.” His lips twist with a grimace.
“It’d only have to be for a day or two a week. Just to give you a break.”
“No, okay? We’re fine. Now, are you hungry?”
I nod my head. “Starving. You?”
“Same. Shall I cook?”
“I’ll whip up some porridge and then we can go to the store to sort out the thousands of calls you’ve apparently been getting.”
“That’s fine.” He waves me off. “It’s sorted. Let’s take the kids to play instead.”
I nod my agreement. “That certainly sounds like a better plan.”
“I’m glad you agree. I’ll sort out the changing bag; you make porridge and we’ll both argue over who gets Dillan and who gets Emily.”
“As is our normal routine,” I grin, laughing a little. “I love our life.” He hums and pulls me tight to his chest. I tuck my head under his chin and ask, “Don’t you?”
“Of course.”
“Are you happy?”
“One hundred thousand percent.”
“Me too.” I move away and reach for the cupboard that holds the porridge.
“I know.” He smiles arrogantly before smacking my arse and exiting the kitchen. The kids follow closely behind him.
Chapter Four
“He still hasn’t asked me!” Sasha screeches before I even get the chance to say hi.
“Did you ever think that maybe you’re wrong and he isn’t going to just yet?”
There’s a long pause, where even her breathing has stopped. “FUCK!”
“Chill out.” I have to hold the phone away from my ear to prevent any long term damage.
“You’re probably right, oh my god… what if he’s cheating on me?”
Eye roll. “He isn’t cheating on you.”
“But…”
“Sasha…”
“Okay, okay but what if he is?”
“I’m hanging up on you.”
“No! Okay, I’m sorry, I’ll quit obsessing. Tell me about you. How are the kids?”
I sink back into my seat and prop my feet up on the coffee table. “They’re fabulous. Dillan used the toilet twice yesterday.”
“Toilet?”
“Yeah, he didn’t like the potty so we got him a little toilet training seat and a step. It’s so adorable.”
“Yuck.” She laughs. “Only a mushy parent such as yourself could find toilet training cute.”
“Whatever, it was a good day yesterday.”
“And what about today?”
“Well we’ve been at the store all morning so he had to wear a pull up.”
“I don’t know what that is.” She takes a noisy gulp of something. “I fucking love coffee.”
“Me too.”
“So, how do you think he’ll propose when he does propose?”
And we’re back to that. “Ask him; maybe he’ll tell you.”
“You suck at this.”
“Goodbye, Sasha,” I laugh.
“Wait maybe you could ask…” I hang up before she can finish. No way am I being pulled into her madness. Not this time.
Kerim: Need you at work ASAP. Patience is ill.
Fuck.
“Nathan!” I call and moments later he appears in the doorway.
“Yes?”
“I have to go into work.”
The shutters come down in his eyes. “But we just got the kids to sleep.”
“I know, but I need to make a good impression.”
He sticks his lower lip out in a pout. “I get it. Don’t worry.” Walking over to me, he holds out his hand and pulls me up from my comfortable position. “At least we had all day yesterday and today together.”
“Exactly.” I flop like a dead weight, knowing he’ll catch me.
He grunts, holding me under the arms as I hang from him like an extremely heavy noodle.
“You might have to drag me there.”
“Get up,” he laughs. I love making him laugh. I don’t love it enough to actually get up though. “Come on, Gwen. Either go and get them or stay and let me use your body in delicious ways that please me.”
“Ugh, now you’ve made being an adult even harder.”
“Just ignore it. You have kids…”
“Don’t be an enabler.” I stand upright and slap his arm.
“I’m not sure that word works in this scenario.”
Blowing out a breath, I stretch my body and give him a frown. “Don’t correct me when I’m being cute.”
“When were you being cute?”
“Bugger off,” I smile and pick my phone up off the sofa.
Gwen: I’m leaving now. X
Nathan, who watched me type over my shoulder, immediately snaps, “What’s with the kiss?” His tone reeks of jealousy and annoyance.
Immediately I regret my error and not just because my partner has pointed it out and it has caused him to feel uneasy, but because I just sent my boss a kiss.
“Total habit. I genuinely didn’t mean to send that.” My teeth sink into my lower lip and it’s painful. I deserve it. “Think he’ll be weirded out?”
“I think he’ll be thinking with his dick.”
Nathan, unused to having feelings, can sometimes overreact to situations such as this. He’s not overbearing by any means and never stops me from enjoying myself, but when it comes to men, he gets nervous. I can’t blame him for that and I’m helping him with it.
“Don’t be silly. Kerim is extremely… extremely strict on the no fraternisation in the workplace rule. He won’t even let us take breaks at the same time.”
“I trust you. I just don’t want him thinking he has an in.”
I can’t help but laugh. “Because of one accidental X in a text message?”
“Go to work,” he pouts, nudging me towards the doorway. “Before I change my mind.”
“I’m going, I’m going.”
Kerim: Hurry. You have twenty minutes.
What an arsehole. How does he expect me to get there in twenty minutes?
*****
“Oh, I’m not even kidding,” I growl to Tommy on the phone. “He was all, ‘you’re late’. Like… I’m not even supposed to be there.”
“What an arsehole. But you’re so fucking lucky to be there.”
“And don’t I know it? Hence the fact I just say, ‘sorry, Chef. Yes, Chef.’ Like a submissive little fool.”
“You’ve been reading those whip and chain novels again, haven’t you?”
“Yes, during my work breaks.” My eyes roll heavenward. “So… anything new to report other than the usual?”
“New as in what?”
“I dunno,” I lie because I’m fishing for information about the proposal. “Just asking.”
“Nothing that I haven’t told you already. Why? What’s wrong?” He suddenly sounds panicked. “Although Sasha has been acting odd lately.”
Oh no. “She has?”
“Yeah, I caught her searching through my pockets. Though I didn’t tell her I saw her. Any idea what that’s all about?”
Oh dear.
Sasha, what are you doing you crazy bitch?
“Nope, why don’t you ask her?” Their level of communication is below par.
“I asked her what’s wrong. She said nothing and then the next day I caught her searching my pockets.” He clears his throat. “Does she think I’m having an affair? Because I literally spend no time away from her, excluding work hours.”
“I umm… I have to go. I think Dillan is crying.”
“Don’t use the brat as an excuse to escape an awkward conversation,” he laughs.
“Why else did I have him?” I look at my beautiful babies who are napping happily on the sofa, a thin blanket thrown over both of them. “And don’t call him a brat. He’s an angel.”
“If you say so,” he jests. I know he’s kidding. He loves how cheeky Dillan is. He taught him most of it. “I’ll come and visit soon with the psycho woman I love.”
“Make sure you do; we miss you.”
“As you should.” I hear a door close on his end. “She’s home. I should go or she’ll be checking my phone next. Speak later.”
“Later.”
I rest my head back against the wall, enjoying this moment’s peace. My body aches. My brain aches. I don’t know how people work this hard and enjoy it. I haven’t had the chance to enjoy the things I’m learning because I’m so tired.
Have I jumped into this too soon?
No. It’s just the start; I’ll get used to it. Soon Kerim will allow me to actually cook something. So far all I’ve done is cut, chop, slice, clean and watch him order things for the pantry. We all have to start from the beginning and, considering I’m going into this blind, without a University degree up my sleeve, it’s a huge accomplishment just to be there and holding my own. I’m more surprised that I haven’t yet been fired. Kerim hates me. He’s told me so on two occasions when I botched the length of an asparagus tip. I was supposed to cut them all to the same length and I was sure I did, but I was out by a millimetre.
No word of a lie.
A fucking millimetre.
But when one works in a twenty-million-star restaurant, everything must be perfect and I’m not moaning about that fact. I just wish he wasn’t so aggressive. It makes me panic and when I panic, I make more mistakes.
Like now, just thinking about how he makes me panic is making me panic.
Dillan sits bolt upright, like a meerkat peeking over grass. I laugh at the suddenness of it and open my arms ready to welcome him when he scrambles towards me.
“Mumma.” He nuzzles my hair that rests over my shoulder. I had to cut a lot of it off after the fire so it’s not as long as I’d like, but it’s getting there. Hair takes so long to grow.
The living room door clicks open and Nathan pokes his head around it. He’s so handsome, especially now he’s had a shave and doesn’t have a ton of scruff circling his mouth. “When’s your next day off?”
I shrug. “I’ll have to let you know.”
“I thought we could ask Jeanine to babysit. I want to take you out for the night.”
Yay. “Date night?”
“If that’s what you’d like to call it.”
“Woohoo!” I whisper cheer. “Date night.”
“You’re adorkable.”
“Thanks.” I give him my cheesiest grin and Dillan does the same, simply to copy me. “Where are you taking me?”
“I haven’t gotten that far yet. I’ll let you know.”
“Oooh, exciting!” I blow him a kiss and he blows me one back. I can’t deny the fact that we are a sickly sweet couple. Even I find it nauseating how happy we are sometimes. It worries me too because happiness like this doesn’t last forever according to everyone else in the world. We need to be unhappy more often so that when a blowout does come, it’s not so huge.
I’m being moronic.
This gorgeous man walked through fire for me and chose to die beside me. How could we ever be unhappy?
“You’re staring.” He frowns; he really doesn’t like it when I do that.
“I can’t help it.”
Quirking a brow, he vanishes back into the hall and moments later I hear him whistling to himself. He’s happy. I’d know it if he weren’t.
“Mama,” Emily coos and I see her chubby little arms straighten as her legs stretch so high the toes of her right foot hit her lips.
“Emmy!” Dillan yells and scrambles from me to help his baby sister off the sofa.
I love them both, so much.
“Yes, Chef!” I yell for the thousandth time in ten minutes.
“You’ve got this, Gwen,” Ahmet whispers in my ear as he passes. Ahmet is the name of the Executive Chef. We finally got an introduction in between all of his arguing with Kerim. Though considering they fight so much, there seems to be no love lost between them. Apparently they’re cousins but they have such a brotherly bond. It’s nice. I can understand why Kerim wants to keep everyone separate. This place, though they yell a lot at each other, is such a well-oiled machine. One kink in the cogs and it’ll fall apart. Anyone can see how much effort Kerim has put in to create the perfect team.
I can’t be the one person who screws that up.
“Good,” Patience tells me when I slide the tray of sliced vegetables towards her. “Another week and you’ll be laughing.”
I sure hope she’s right.
“Prepare the duck,” Kerim yells and at first I ignore him because he can’t possibly be speaking to me.
“Sorry?” A duck in a small metal dish is practically thrown my way.
“How would you prepare it?”
Holy fuck. This is happening.
The problem is, I’ve never cooked duck before. As if sensing this, Kerim steps beside me. The bustle of the kitchen is louder than his voice. “You have only half an hour. Prepare it how you like it. Go crazy. I want to see what you’re made of.”
“No pressure then.”
“Don’t panic; just have fun. The whole point of doing this is because it’s what you love and supposedly you’re good at it. Rely on your instinct, your talent. If it exists, we’ll soon see.
”
With that he wanders away, leaving me and the bald duck in the middle of the kitchen.
Crap.
I cheat and keep it simple. If I was to have duck, I’d want the skin to be crispy and salty and the rest to pull apart like string cheese.
Or should I follow the recipe Kerim has taught the others? I’m not totally sure what the formula is.
When it has finished cooking and it comes time to taste it, Kerim does so but gives me no feedback other than the fact he doesn’t spit it out. It isn’t terrible in my own personal opinion. Could use some potatoes and gravy.
“Back to chopping and rid the fat from this beef. There’s too much. My error.” Kerim yells from across the kitchen. “Jamal, wash your fucking hands before you touch the equipment, you idiot.”
“Yes, Chef.” The man darts past with red oil covering him to near elbow.
I’ve never handled so much raw meat in my life. There’s a dirty joke in there somewhere.
Chapter Five
Nathan climbs into the driver’s seat, a happy smile on his face. Flexing his glove covered hands, he looks at me and then beats a rhythm on the steering wheel. “Are you ready?”
“After the week I’ve had, is that a serious question?”
He pulls me to him and places his lips against my forehead. “You’ve worked so hard.”
“As have you.” He so tirelessly puts my needs before his own.
“I’m used to it and the stores are doing so well, I’m thinking of opening another.”
Grinning, I throw my arms around his neck, leaning over the console so as to hold tighter to him. “That’s amazing! I’m so happy for you.”
“Thank you.” He seems uncomfortable, not with the way I’m holding him but with the subject. I feel as though he has something to tell me. When I get this feeling, it’s usually correct.
“Where were you thinking of opening another?”
His phone startles us both at the same time as a car, wanting to pull into the space we’re about to vacate, blares its horn at us.
I reach for his phone, as is normal while he’s driving. Normally I’ll answer and ask them to call back. Just as my fingers touch the edges, he snatches it away and drops it into the hollow pocket on the door, beneath the handle.