Yes, Chef

Yeah, I did the breakfast and lunch shifts. Is everything okay? Ben replied, stepping back from the grill.

Everything's fine. I just want to chat and can't do it over text. Ben honestly didn't know what to make of that.

Are we grown-ups now? First meeting for lunch, and now an afternoon coffee? he asked, smirking at his phone. But as he left the diner at 3 p.m. and walked down the street in the direction of Parliament Hill, he was genuinely worried.

Please, Ty, do not tell me you're using again, Ben thought as he approached the café with trepidation. Just make this a coffee and wanting to hang out because you're missing your dad. A sudden life change might have been enough to throw Tyler back into old habits, but he was praying that living with Aki would have prevented that.

Aww, shit, Aki, he was reminded of the perfect woman he'd let get away by not quitting cocaine and booze the minute he met her. He had to admit she'd been enough of a high for him the moment he'd first laid eyes on her. If I'd just come clean a bit earlier, she would have understood, he lamented to himself.

As soon as he spotted Tyler, however, he was confident his friend was still clean. After giving him a hug, Tyler sat him down at a table.

"Okay, first thing's first, I kept something from you when I asked you here," he admitted. Ben was about to reply but he was cut off by a familiar voice.

"Sorry I took so long. I was deciding between—" Aki stopped when she saw Ben. Of course, she knew he'd be here. He didn't know she'd be here, though, which was why time slowed right down for him. She wore a cropped denim jacket, a long skirt, and her trademark feather earrings.

"...coffee and an ice cream?" he finished for her, standing up but not sure if she'd be okay with a hug. "Hi. It's... it's good to see you, Aki."

"I've missed you, Ben," she responded, putting down her ice cream cup and flummoxing him with a deep embrace.

"I—me too. I'm so sorry about your dad."

One Mississauga, two Mississauga, three Mississauga, he counted while holding her. I have to let her go before five Mississaugas; her goddamn brother is watching and we're not together anymore.

"Second thing's second," Tyler broke the gravity of the moment. "Where are you cooking right now?" Ben looked away from both of them and Tyler shook his head. "It's just like you to be thinking of me, but we've been thinking about you. Aki, let me get him a coffee. You can start."

Ben raised his eyebrows at his buddy's cryptic wording, not noticing that Aki was looking at him while spooning her ice cream.

"I'm sorry, too," she said when her brother was out of earshot.

"What?" Ben's face snapped back toward her.

"I'm sorry for how I left everything. I should have been there to help you get clean, Ben."

"No, no," he said, fighting the urge to pull her onto his lap. "You'd just been blindsided with learning your dad was fighting cancer, then you spent the entire summer losing him a little more every day. I should have been..." he searched for the right word.

"I should have been capable of supporting you at a time like that." They sat in silence for a minute, neither of them knowing what to say further until Ben remembered why he was there.

"What did Ty mean just now?"

Aki's face lit up and her reticence disappeared as she reached into her bookbag and spread out a couple of folders across the table. Ben's head swam listening to her animated chatter while she pointed to a revenue chart, then several other charts in rapid succession.

"Aki, don't scare him," Tyler said, returning with two black coffees. "Ben, here's the gist. Dad left us a shit-tonne of cash. But it's not fuck-off-to-an-island money."

"Is it Trudeau money, or the-parasite-who-owns-Loblaws money?"

"No, not even that; it's a-fuck-pile-more-than-95-percent-of-people-in-their-20s-will-land type of money. But it's also we-can-revamp-the-old-Nell's kind of money."

Ben sat there for a moment, knowing that no matter how long he remained quiet, he'd never be able to do the basic math. His eyes darted to Aki's stacks of paper, knowing she'd done the complex math.

"What do you need me for?"

"We're looking for a chef de cuisine," Aki said, holding his gaze. "Nell is long-gone. She told me personally she has no interest in being an executive chef managing multiple kitchens from afar. You're our first choice and you'd run the place." Seeing the trepidation on her former lover's face, she motored on.

"You're probably going to tell us you're not ready," she predicted. "But no one's ever ready, Ben." Hearing her name on his lips almost torched him. "When is this opportunity ever going to come along again?

"You, yourself, told me the difference between a cook and a chef is capital. We have that now. And we're going to do things differently than Nell did. Here's the base pay for line cooks, servers, and other staff." She turned a spreadsheet toward him and he squinted at it. Then he did a double-take.

"Are you sure?"

"I ran the numbers 12 ways to Sunday. We can afford this for six months even if we sell entrées for a loonie a plate. Re-staffing due to turnover takes a lot of time and money, and I'm much more interested in keeping our staff rather than re-training new people every few months. Employees can actually live off our hourlies instead of relying on tips."

"Are you saying there'd be no tipping?"

"There isn't pretty much all over Europe," Aki rebutted. "People working in fast food there are sometimes paid more than servers in high-end restaurants here. There are dozens of eateries in Toronto that have already gotten rid of tipping. Let's just pay people what they deserve and give them way more time off so they won't feel the need to—" She stopped herself and stared vacantly at Ben, her face growing hot.

"Anyway, here's what we'd pay you," she pivoted, taking another sheet out of her folder and handing it to him. She reveled in the satisfaction of seeing his eyes widen, and exchanged a smile with Tyler as Ben read over his compensation package. "I'm sure," she averred when he looked up at her again.

How the fuck do you always read my thoughts like that, Aki? Ben thought, less concerned with the fact his ex-girlfriend would now be his boss, over the chance to see her every day again. He didn't know whether her plan would work and he didn't know whether it was wise to leave a stable job for something far riskier. But she was right—this opportunity wouldn't come along again. He sighed and ran his fingers through his inky, black hair.

"I'll have a menu for you in a week."

***********

"How's it going, Letti?" Ben shouted back to the line from where he was poised running the pass. He'd thought it'd be awkward to be his friends' boss but a noticeable air of pressure had been removed with Nell no longer there. Six weeks in, he was having the time of his life.

"Five out on sirloin, Chef," Letti called back.

"Ahhh, no, still no, it's still weird," he shook his head.

"Five out on sirloin, asshole," Letti amended, getting a laugh out of her fellow cooks.

"And here I thought we 86'd the sirloin asshole an hour ago," Ben grinned. The same notion crossed his mind every single night—people work better and work happier when they're being paid enough, and they don't have their souls sucked out of them to earn that pay.

He'd never had two days off in a row before he started at the diner, but now—for more money than he'd ever hoped for in his life—he and all the other staff were being given three days off for every four they worked.

"What's the difference between this and the way nurses or cops are scheduled?" Aki had shrugged in her no-nonsense way when they were gathering staff for their grand opening six weeks ago. "I get it that everyone has be on deck for both lunch and dinner, but you're still working 11- or 12-hour days. That's still over 40 hours a week."

Ben often caught sight of her standing in the door of her office from where he stood expediting at the window. The long hallway between the kitchen and the rear rooms was just narrow enough that only his station could be seen from the back.

Whenever he spotted her watching him, he gave her a little wave that she always returned with a smile. And he was deathly afraid that's all their relationship would be from now on.

Too much has already happened, he tried to tell himself. Instead of her usual form-fitting jeans and turtleneck sweater, Aki had taken to wearing pencil skirts and blouses in case she had to go out into the dining room, but often left her top buttons undone while in the back. More than once, he'd clumsily turned his body to hide his abdomen when she'd bent over in that outfit, exhaling in frustration at how he still wanted her.

As the dinner service started slowing down, Ben found himself spacing out a little more and wondering if there would ever be a shot for him and Aki again. She was his boss now. He had scored the best gig of his life simply by knowing the right people at the right time, and he couldn't afford to leave it. Ben's attention returned to his job when the next plate was put down in front of him. When he looked up again, Aki was gone.

As she sat in her office armchair and re-buttoned her blouse right up to the neck, she tried to keep her mind on work instead of how exquisite Ben looked when he was in his element. Any moment now, there would be people coming from the business school at Carleton, and Aki mentally ran through how she'd be greeting them.

She breezed through the kitchen and averted her gaze from Ben's face, although she could sometimes feel him all though her body even when they were just standing beside each other. On the floor, she put on a smile and began to perform when she spotted the Carleton party.

"So you finally managed it?" Letti asked Ben when she saw his eyes following Aki to the front. She dried her hands on a dish cloth with a smirk at catching her friend off-guard. "You've torn your way through the entire female waitstaff?"

"Will you guys ever let me live that down?" The corners of Ben's mouth turned up slightly, despite his annoyed tone. "I work for her now. And besides, she wasn't—she was something different." Letti's face softened.

"You can't try again?"

"Not when she signs my cheques," Ben shook his head. He knitted his brow when he spotted Aki first embracing and then holding hands with a tall man who had a square jaw and tanned skin. His two long braids contrasted his slim-fit suit, but he pulled it off beautifully. Ben's stomach burned.

"Relax, she's just playing the part," Letti said, seeing his face.

"Maybe so, but this is something I'll have to get used to," he replied, his gaze unmoving from the dining room where Aki led the man and his party to their table. "She'll end up with someone soon enough who'll fully deserve her."

"I get it," Letti said, putting her hand on Ben's shoulder. "There's no way I'd leave the restaurant the way Aki and Tyler turned it around. I don't have to miss my kid's birthday parties anymore."

"Three days off, am I right?" Ben smiled.

"Oh, I know. Possibly four on Saturday."

"Four?" Ben asked absent-mindedly as he picked up the next ticket. "Hey team, four adobo, two quail, one biryani on order," he called out.

"They're predicting a massive snowstorm, maybe the worst they've ever seen for early January," Letti said as she turned on her heel. "I can't imagine many places are going to stay open when we're digging our way out of 30 centimetres."

***********

"Nonsense," Aki told Tyler on the phone Saturday morning. "It's only 30 centimetres! People in Red Deer and Moose Jaw would be laughing at us if Ottawa shut down over this."

"Aki, come on," Tyler objected. "They've upped the prediction to 50. Ben takes the bus in and they've pre-emptively closed some routes, including his. What are you going to do without your chef de cuisine?"

"Well, my dear Ty, you're lucky I just happen to be getting in the car right now. Tell him to be ready in a half-hour."

Aki ended the call before her brother could protest, then made sure to gingerly back out of her driveway since about five centimetres had already accumulated on the tarmac. But as her car struggled to turn onto Woodfield Drive in Ben's neighbourhood of Tanglewood, she was reconsidering her decision. Upon parking, she saw his face in the window of his ageing townhouse.

"I thought you said a half-hour," he shouted when he opened the door and tried to fight against the wind slamming it shut before Aki could enter. "Ty texted me almost an hour ago."

"I know, I know, I think I messed up," she admitted. "I hope no one's at the restaurant already. Maybe I can still call him and—"

A thunderous crash erased the end of Aki's sentence and almost shook the floor they stood on. With a sharp shriek, she jumped into Ben's arms and he instinctively tightened them around her while trying to move her into an inner doorway and away from any windows. His heart pounded against Aki's ear, as if being alone with him didn't prompt enough memories.

When he was confident the house wasn't going to collapse around them, he held her hand while they made their way to the front-facing window.

"Ohhhhhh, shit," he swore. "I hope you have full coverage." Aki covered her mouth with both hands upon seeing her black sedan flattened under a hydro pole. "Hey, don't worry," he pulled her close when she looked distraught enough to cry. "You're safe. And considering how bad this storm is going to be, insurance will probably—"

"That was my dad's old car," Aki said. She hoped Ben wouldn't let go of her because she desperately needed this comfort right now.

"Oh," he said, gently tightening his grip.

"He gave it to me when I started at Carleton. I mean, I know I don't actually need it. Ty doesn't drive and dad's actual car has just been sitting in the garage since he—since the night I found out he was sick." Aki knew she was starting on a ramble but she couldn't stop. "I know I should have sold it but it was hard enough to give away his clothes and..."

"Shhh," Ben said. "You don't have to explain. Burying a parent when you're 25 isn't something anyone knows how to do. And you were amazing. You took care of your dad like you were his parent." Ben gritted his teeth when Aki began to cry against his t-shirt. "I'm sorry," he added.

"Don't be. You were making me feel better," she said.

"No, I mean, I'm sorry I wasn't there for you back then. I know I told you that already but it bears repeating."

Aki looked up at him in confusion and opened her mouth to reply, but jumped when her phone rang.

"Ty, yeah, I'm okay. I'm sorry I didn't text. Look, I'm at Ben's place and my car was just crushed by a hydro pole." She paused as Ben faintly heard Ty freaking out on the other end. "Don't worry, I'm okay. I think..." she sighed. "I think Dad was both looking out for me and telling me to get rid of that ugly thing." Ben gave her a devastating grin that took her back to a year ago when they'd first met.

"Can you text everyone and update the socials to say we're closed until Monday?" Aki continued, back in business mode. "I should have charged my phone but I'm running low on juice and I don't know if we have power here anymore." Ben left the room while she finished talking to Tyler, disappearing into the basement. He emerged juggling a four-burner gas cooktop.

"I checked all the light switches," he told her. "That hydro pole probably served the entire street, and it's going to be a while before the townhouse complex management gets their backup generator running. Until then, we don't have heat. Luckily, I have this beauty, and we've got a fireplace.

"Do you remember where I have the sleeping bags upstairs?" he continued on before she could get a word in edgewise.

So this is what it feels like to be on the other end of a conversation with me, Aki thought.

"Do me a favour and bring them down because in about a half-hour we're going to start feeli—"

"Ben!" she exclaimed. He turned and looked at her in surprise, his arm partway into the cupboard to reach for the tea kettle. "I'm sorry, but I can't let this go. Why do you keep apologising to me for us breaking up? I walked out on you when you were fall-down smashed without giving a second thought to helping you. And then I didn't return your calls. I thought you'd never want to speak to me again."

"Ohhhhhhh, no," Ben said, placing the kettle on the counter. "Aki, the time we were together... I needed the drugs and booze less and less. I should have told you my problem, but then I would have had to out Tyler and I didn't know if he would be okay with that. It shouldn't have taken getting caught by you—and when you were coming to Ty and me for help."

"Ben, you told me you loved me and I didn't even answer you."

"You just found out your dad was dying!" He went to the sink and let the water run into the stainless steel kettle. "Would you expect me to switch gears and coach you through your drug habit if I'd just found out my mom was dying?" When Aki simply stared at him, motionless, he went to the cooktop and began thinking out loud again.

"The range hood's not going to work so we can't keep any burners on for long. I have a carbon monoxide detector but—"

"I love you too."

This time, he froze and gripped the handle of the teakettle.

"Is that why you offered me this job?"

"No! Ben, you worked under Nell longer than anyone else on the line. I mean, it was only about two years, but two years under Nell is—"

"Okay, okay. I just had to make sure." He paused to regroup. "I think maybe our moment has passed, Aki," he finally said, concentrating his gaze on the first wisps of steam coming out of the spout. "I'm your employee now."

"You don't have to be."

"What?"

"Sorry, no! I mean..." Aki wasn't used to having her thoughts come out so incoherently. Her chest was flush with sweat despite the heat slowly dissipating from the room. "I mean, I don't have to work there anymore. Tyler could buy me out and..." She knew it was a ridiculous notion even before Ben gave her a crooked smile.

"And run the place into the ground? Tyler is a people person, Aki, not a businessperson. We need you."

"Well, I need you!"

He felt exactly as she looked—borderline desperate and frustrated as hell. But there was no point making this more difficult than it already was. Clearly, Aki didn't agree with that logic as she purposefully stalked the length of the kitchen to corner him against the counter.

"Are you saying you don't miss this?" she asked, fitting her body against his, and wrapping her arms around his torso. The perfume in her hair attacked him.

"Aki, don't," he protested, knowing full well how weak his voice sounded. Curve to crevice, skin to skin. He couldn't ignore how perfectly they were tailored for each other. "Aren't you seeing someone else?" She looked up him, her face a question mark but her hands still on his back.

Fuck, I want you right now, Ben inwardly cursed. It didn't help that her thigh was flush against his cock.

"The guy with the braids who looks like he was born in his suit?" he said out loud. A stream of giggles burst from Aki's lips, which further hindered his resolve to not kiss her right there and then.

"He was my professor at Sprott," she said, referring to her business school. "He loves seeing Native-owned businesses flourish, obviously, so I invited him and a group from Carleton. He's a married father of three, and 15 years older than me."

"He's over 40?" Ben asked. "His skin is amazing."

"Well, I'm pretty sure he never had a crack habit." Ben's eyebrows shot up. "Too soon?" Aki grinned. That wide smile was too much and Ben couldn't stop himself any longer. He put his hand on the back of her head and took her top lip between the both of his, gently sucking.