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“Why aren’t these cream puffs done?”
His voice over my shoulder makes me jump.
“It’s been half an hour and you’ve only filled half of them. You might be used to slacking off at home, but in a professional kitchen, we work quickly.”
Thirty minutes is a perfectly reasonable amount of time to fill fifty cream puffs and he knows it, but there’s no point reasoning with him when he’s like this.
I bite my tongue and continue loading the choux pastry into the filling machine to the soundtrack of his taunts and snide remarks. Honestly, I’m at the point where I could recite the litany of insults right along with him.
Suddenly, his posture changes.
“These look great. Keep up this pace and we’ll have the order done early. Nice work.”
He claps me on the shoulder encouragingly and moves back to his station.
Mr. Macklin must have walked in. I didn’t even know he’d be here today.
I glance up from the machine and see he’s heading straight toward me.
What does he want with me?
“You’re just the person I was hoping to see today,” he says with a smile. “Do you have a moment to chat with me in my office?”
Dread sits like a lead weight in my stomach.
What did I do wrong?
“Of course, sir. I’ll just need someone to keep an eye on the filling machine.”
“I can take care of that for you,” Henri offers.
“I’m sure you have more important things on your plate than worrying about filling pastries,” Mr. Macklin protests.
“Whatever helps you the most is always my top priority, sir.”
“Good man. Thank you.”
He turns on his heel without a backward glance and heads toward his office. I take that as my cue to follow.
“Let’s get right to business,” he says, settling behind his desk. “Why didn’t you tell me you applied for Age Gap Academy? I had to hear it from Henri well after the fact.”
I wring my apron nervously in my hands.
“Sir, I?—”
“I’ve known the chairman of the scholarship review committee since before he learned to walk. Went to the same yacht club as his family. I would have put in a good word for you if I’d known.”
That is the last thing I expected him to say, and I nearly rip my apron from the shock of it.
“I wasn’t sure how everyone would react so I didn’t really tell anyone at work. I didn’t want to upset anyone for no reason. I was surprised that Henri managed to find out about it.”
“Why would that upset anyone?” he asks, concerned. “If anything, they’d be thrilled, Henri especially. He’s always going on about what a great pastry chef you are.”
Any thoughts of telling him about how Henri’s been treating me fly right out the window.
He’ll never believe me.
“I guess I was just overly worried about how it might impact my availability here. I might have to adjust my hours a little depending on when the classes are.”
