“Anyway,” Charlene continued. “I don’t know how he knew, but somehow Martin learned of these reviews and came in this morning specifically to fire Travis. Judging by the look on Travis’s face, it didn’t go well. He stormed out of here like his ass was on fire. Now your dad’s in the kitchen handing the reins over to the sous-chefs. And he mentioned that he wanted to speak with you.”

And what the hell was he supposed to do with Elisa? She was due in today to check out Travis’s stuff for the upcoming shoot. Should he have the sous-chefs take care of it or call Elisa and cancel? Even though he wasn’t totally sure Vic and Stanley, the sous-chefs, could handle all that, plus prepping for the day, the idea of canceling was even less appealing. The desire to see Elisa and watch her eyes light up with fire for her work overrode everything else.

Brody ground his back teeth together. A headache was already forming, making the back of his skull feel tight. “Hold the fort down for me.” He spun around and shoved the kitchen doors open with the heel of his hand.

At the age of sixty-seven, Martin McDermott had a head of thick, cotton-white hair and a paunch belly. He had passed on his impressive height to all three of his sons. He still managed to work forty-plus hours a week. The third restaurant he’d opened a few years ago was thriving like well-oiled machine. In fact, the only time his father showed his presence in the other two restaurants was when someone needed an ass-kicking. That didn’t bode well for Brody.

Brody waited until his father concluded his discussion with the sous-chefs. Then Martin turned his steel-gray eyes to Brody. “I can only guess what you want to talk to me about.”

“Can we go somewhere more private?” he asked his father. Brody didn’t expect this conversation to accomplish anything. Martin McDermott was a force to be reckoned with and rarely could be stopped once he got started. He’d built all three of his restaurants in Trouble from the ground up beginning in the 1980s and still wielded a large portion of control, despite doling some daily control out to his sons.

Once they were in Brody’s office, the two men squared off and Brody jumped in first. “I know you fired Travis this morning. I just wanted you to know that I had planned on letting him go, but I don’t appreciate you executing that decision without letting me know first. And I really needed him today.”

One of Martin’s white brows lifted. “Last I checked, this was my place and I was free to do as I see fit.”

“I didn’t say you couldn’t. But I’m supposed to be running this restaurant, and I can’t do that properly if you don’t include me in these things.”

“Travis needed to go,” Martin stated.

Brody nodded. “I agree. But now we’re minus a chef, plus we still have a photo shoot to do. I wouldn’t say that was any better than where we were before.”

“Actually we are. Vic and Stanley can handle things until we find someone to replace Travis.”

The oncoming headache Brody felt before was now full-fledged. “And do you plan on excluding me on that as well?’

“Of course not.” Martin placed a weathered hand on Brody’s shoulder. “I’m not trying to do your job for you, son. I know you’re under a lot of stress and things haven’t been going well. Frankly, I thought I was doing you a favor by firing Travis. Letting an employee go is never an easy thing, but this place has been going downhill for too long. It was time to take some action. And that’s another thing we need to talk about.”

Even though Brody’s head pounded like nobody’s business, the tension in the rest of his body eased slightly. His father had a point. His impending discussion with Travis had weighed heavily on him since he’d made the decision. It’d been like an elephant on his back. Normally, Brody didn’t appreciate his father making him feel like he didn’t know how to do his job. In light of the situation, Brody was willing to give his old man the benefit of the doubt.

But his father’s last words created a pit in his stomach.

“Brody, I’m not sure what’s been going on. And maybe I’ve been too ignorant of the situation here. After all, I am the owner and I am ultimately responsible for this place.”

Martin paused and Brody felt an enormous “but” coming on.

“But I’ve been watching and waiting for you to turn things around, and they don’t seem to be. I didn’t want to do this, but if things don’t start to turn around in the next sixty days, I’ll have no choice but to replace you.”

Knowing it was coming and actually hearing the words were worlds apart. The restaurants had always come first in Martin’s world, and quite frankly Brody didn’t expect anything less from him. He’d never expected special treatment because he was the owner’s son. And if Brody had owned the business, he would have done the same thing. In fact, he wouldn’t have given the situation this long. He would have fired all responsible parties right away. So, no, Brody didn’t blame his old man for the ultimatum.

On the other hand, the severity of Brody’s circumstances were now staring him in the face. He had two months to come up with a solution. Sixty days to find a new chef and prove to his father that he was worth keeping around. Otherwise he’d be out on his ass. With the local job market, he was likely to end up as a shift manager at the Greasy Spoon. Brody wouldn’t be able to look his son in the eye if he hadn’t done everything possible to secure both of their futures. Though he’d managed to save enough money to live off of for several months, he’d still need to find another job.

Before Brody could respond, Martin continued. “I understand that when I brought you here, you knew almost nothing about running a restaurant. And you are a major part of the reason this place got off the ground so quickly. You fired the original chef and found Michael. It was your idea to have a happy hour, and you brought in RJ. You’ve shown you can do this, Brody. But something’s just not working right now, and I’m giving you one last chance.”

Although Brody appreciated the uplifting words of his success, his impending demise outweighed the feeling.

“I understand” was all he could say.

“Charlene told me you’ve decided to hold off on the article in the magazine. I think that’s a smart choice. We need to highlight whoever our new chef is going to be.”

Brody paced his office and plowed a hand through his hair. “I still wish you would have waited until we’d found somebody new before firing Travis.”

“I know you don’t agree with the way I handled this. But Travis isn’t the first chef I’ve had to fire. I honestly think we’re better off with the sous-chefs in the kitchen than we were with Travis.” Martin paused before continuing. “I wouldn’t have let Travis go if I thought otherwise.”

Brody glanced at his father. “I want you to promise me you’ll let me find a replacement on my own. I don’t want to come in here tomorrow to see someone I haven’t even met before barking out orders in the kitchen.”

The twitch of Martin’s mouth almost looked like a smile. “You have my word. Now I need you to make me a promise.”

“What’s that?”

His father took one step forward. “Before you hire anyone, I want to meet them and taste the food. With the state of this place, I need to be a part of the hiring process.”

Brody gritted his teeth at having to relinquish part of his control. He wasn’t used to, nor was he comfortable with, having his father lurking around. Given the circumstances, however, Brody agreed. “All right. I’ll get started finding someone today.” When Brody had gotten up that morning, he hadn’t imagined his day going like this. Admittedly, he was relieved at having the burden of firing Travis taken off his hands. Only now he had to deal with his father scrutinizing his choice of chef.

“Remember what I said. If the replacement doesn’t work out, you’ll be shown the door along with him,” Martin said ominously.

Brody didn’t reply because there was really no need. They both knew that Martin always made good on his word, even if that meant firing his own son.


Elisa arrived at the Golden Glove ten minutes early. Her early arrival had nothing to do with the fact that she was eager to see Brody. Because she wasn’t. Really. The jitters in her stomach had nothing to do with the man’s hypnotic voice or the way his eyes burned down to her soul. Or the kiss that had knocked her off her feet. Yessiree, the only reason she came was due to Brody’s generous offer to double her fee. That money would go a long way to helping her get by until she landed a contract with a stock agent.

Or, better yet, helping her save for traveling.

Last night after Brody left with Tyler was the most conflicted she’d felt in a long time. Brody was the first guy who’d sparked a real interest in her. Even though she was already fighting her attraction to him, deep down she’d hoped for something more with him. Lazy Sunday afternoons and weeknight dinners at home. No, she couldn’t let herself keep going down that path in her mind. Knowing that he was Kelly’s ex-husband had put a damper on her feelings. Some women were kind of funny about their ex-husbands dating friends of theirs, and others were downright cruel to the woman treading on their territory. Elisa didn’t know Kelly well enough to know for sure how she’d react, and she was never one to risk a friendship for a fling that would likely trickle out soon enough. Plus, watching Brody’s son during the day would make things even stickier. Elisa already knew his parents’ divorce had been hard on him. She didn’t want to add to the child’s confusion by engaging in a relationship with his father, only to have things not work out. No matter how devastating or appealing the father was. No, it was best for all parties involved if Elisa kept her distance from Brody. She would meet with him today, come back and take more pictures, and that would be the end of it.