Page 86 of The Chef

“What are you talking about?” Bay asks.

“I’ll buy it.” Cleo snaps her fingers. “Boom, no more money problems. No more issues with this place. With my injection of cash, you wouldn’t have to ever worry about this place again, Cliff.”

Bay’s eyes flicker from Cleo to me. “You can’t let her buy Rockpool, Cliff,” she says. “You can’t.”

“You want to buy this restaurant?” I ask Cleo.

“Yes. For you, Cliff. No more headache. No more stress.”

Bay shakes her head. “You can’t buy this place.”

Cleo smiles. “Oh, I can. I’ve got the money, and I’ve heard about all the problems here. You need money.”

“We can manage fine, thank you very much,” Bay retorts. “Tell her, Cliff.”

But Bay is wrong, and Cleo is right.

I sigh. “I’ve looked at the numbers, Bay. We need investment. We need money.”

Bay’s voice is quiet. It breaks my heart. “No, Cliff.”

She’s wrong. I’ve seen the financial records. We’re going to collapse. We need money.

“I’m sorry, Bay.”

“Well, what about your family, Cliff? Can’t you borrow money off them?”

I shake my head. “I will never borrow money off them, Bay.”

“So, you would rather let Rockpool collapse than borrow money off your own family?”

“Yes,” I reply, and Bay’s voice shakes in anger.

“I honestly don’t understand you, Cliff.”

“Rockpool’s in bad straits,” I explain. “I’ll take the money, no matter if it comes from Cleo or someone else, rather than see this place fail.”

“And you’ll take it from her, but not your family?”

“Yes,” I reply. It’s the truth. I will never let my family see me become a failure again. Never.

I’m trying to be reasonable here. Pragmatic.

But Bay doesn’t see that. She’s got tears in her eyes. They sparkle in the office’s lighting. She wells up looking at me, turns her head, and storms outside, out of the office. She disappears as quickly as she appeared.

Cleo turns around with a triumphant smile across her face.

I’m trying to be rational.

Why can’t Bay see that?

I need to explain it to her, explain the predicament Rockpool’s in.

I launch out of my chair and out of the office, chasing after Bay.

And I hear Cleo laughing behind me.

“She’ll be the first to go,” she says as I run out of the restaurant in pursuit of Bay.