Fifty-Four: Harlow

FIFTY-FOUR

HARLOW

“ I need chocolate truffles and tarts for table seven!” “Malt brownies and cream br?lée!” “Baumkuchen for our favorite regulars on the balcony!” “Go, go, go!”

Flames hissed on the ranges at Hudson Kitchen, soothing my mind as I prepared a custom cake.

The daily feel of sugar sifting through my fingers was enough to make me stop thinking about Pierce. But once the lights were out and the kitchen was silent, when were all sent away, memories of him flooded my mind.

Even though he sent a woman to take back the storefront, my heart refused to let him go.

“Beautiful work, Chef Harlow.” Chef Grant dipped his finger into a chocolate bowl. “I’ve yet to witness you making anything less than stellar.”

“Thank you, Chef.”

“Now, Chef Watson?” He spoke to the chef next to me. “What the foookkk is that? WHAT. IS. THAT ?”

I held back a sigh.

It was only a matter of time before my ‘newbie darling’ status wore off, so I didn’t plan to stay here for much longer.

Pulling amber caramel sauce from the stove, I poured it over a heart shaped-pie.

“Sir, you can’t be in here!” Chef Grant bellowed. “Sir, sir, sir!”

I looked up to see who was drawing his ire.

Pierce?

He stopped walking when his eyes met mine.

Dressed in the same three-piece suit he wore on the day we first met, he commanded everyone’s attention.

“Is this intruder a royal or something?” Chef Grant yelled. “Get back to work while we get security to haul him out of here.”

I swallowed as Pierce strolled straight toward me. The pain in his eyes mirrored mine.

“Harlow,” he said, his voice hoarse. “I’ve been looking for you.”

“I believe you have me confused with someone else, sir,” I said. “I don’t know who you are.”

“Why are you here?”

“No, why are you here?” Chef Grant screamed from across the room. “You’re not one of my chefs!”

Ignoring him, Pierce cupped my face in his hands. “You’re supposed to be working in your own kitchen. You have a bakery.”

“No, I had one…You took it back and banned me from the property.”

“That wasn’t my doing.” He caressed my cheek, and suddenly we were the only two people in the kitchen. “I would never take back something I gave you. You have to know that.”

“You took away my nanny job.”

“ Minus that .” His lips curved into a smile. “Can you come outside with me for a moment?”

“I have a soufflé in the oven.”

“And I have some very important things to say to you.”

“I bet you do.” I refused to let my heart take the lead on this. “You’re no longer my employer, so I’m not obligated to give you my time. Please go away.”

He clenched his jaw. “Harlow?—”

“ You hurt me. ” I blurted. “You didn’t even let me say goodbye to Olivia and the twins, so how dare you come here and demand that I listen to a single word you say?”

The conversations and shouted orders came to an abrupt halt. The only sounds left were the mixing tools and hissing ranges.

“If you’ll excuse me,” I said, pulling away from him. “I have work to do.”

I turned around peered through the top oven’s glass.

“I guess you’ve forgotten how I operate,” Pierce spoke behind me. “I don’t care who’s watching or listening to me, Harlow, so I highly suggest that you join me outside for this…”

“Can someone hand me a spoon, please?” I ignored him and held out my hand.

“I fucking miss you, Harlow Hawthorne,” Pierce continued talking. “My life hasn’t been the same since I let you walk out of it.”

“Spoon?” I asked again, but no one gave it to me.

“Let me rephrase that line,” Pierce said. “I pushed you out of my life, and I’ve been miserable as fuck every day.”

“I was mad about the lie, but I was more upset about the fact that you didn’t trust me enough to ever tell me the truth,” he said. “After all the times that I’ve had you naked and told you things in my sheets, and all the times I watched you come for me, there shouldn’t have been any secrets between us.”

Chef Grant handed me a spoon, but he didn’t utter a word about kicking Pierce out.

“I’ve never felt for any woman what I feel for you, and my kids still call for you every night because you’ve made one hell of an impression on them, and I need you to come back.”

“I need you to be mine again, and I’m willing to do whatever it takes to make you see that.”

I said nothing.

I opened the oven and tapped the edge of the soufflé bowl. Slipping on mitts, I gently grabbed it and set it on the counter.

When I turned around, every chef in the kitchen was standing still and staring at me.

“I’m doing just fine here, Pierce.” I choked back a sob. “I’m one step closer to making the senior line, and I can’t get attached to pastries like I can to kids.”

“I didn’t mention anything about you being my nanny.” He moved closer, wiping away my tears. “I just want you to be mine. Can you do that?”

More tears streamed past my cheeks.

“I love you, Harlow Hawthorne,” he said. “One sweet lie won’t ever change that.”

“You’re just saying that to say it.”

“Have I ever told you anything but the truth?”

“No, but you have to admit that you never would’ve hired me if I didn’t lie about being a nanny.”

“Maybe,” he said. “I would’ve asked you out, though.”

“I doubt that.”

“I was planning to ask Jerry to locate you after I first saw you in the library.” He touched my chef’s hat. “But then you came upstairs for the job interview…”

“You still could’ve called.”

“It worked out anyway,” he said. “I love you, Harlow.”

“I love you, too.” His lips landed against mine and he kissed me like we were alone.

Gripping my waist, he pulled me flush against his chest.

“What time do I need to come back for you today?” he asked.

“She doesn’t have a job here anymore, Chef Harlow,” Chef Grant answered his question for me. “She can get the fuck out of my kitchen.”

“What?” I turned to look at him.

“You’re fucking fired . FOOKING FIRED!” He pointed to the door. “Leave the souffle, and take the man who was about to make a porno in my kitchen with you.”

Pierce laughed and readjusted his arm around my waist, leading me through the kitchen and packed dining room. He pulled me outside the front door, where Olivia and the twins were waiting with Jerry.

“Holll-low!” “Holll-low!” Charlotte and William screamed.

Olivia rushed toward me, pulling me into a long hug. “Are you really coming back?”

“Yes, but not as your nanny...”

“As my friend?”

“That, too, but as your uncle’s girlfriend.”

She stepped back and tilted her head to the side, then she looked between me and Pierce.

“Has the spicy make-up scene stuff already happened between you two, or is that something you’re planning to do while me and the twins are sleeping tonight?” She narrowed her eyes. “I’m invested in your story, and I deserve to know…”