Chapter 9 - Joanne Returned to the Kitchen
Six months after Lily asked for a piece of bread, the Grand Crest Hotel reopened its restaurant.
Everything had changed.
Jeffrey Sloan awaited trial.
Brandon Cole pleaded guilty.
Samuel Knox faced federal charges tied to decades of financial crimes.
Graham Pierce was cooperating.
Richard was sentenced to prison, but his cooperation reduced the term significantly.
He accepted it without complaint.
Mason visited him once.
Richard sat across from the glass.
“You look tired.”
“You look incarcerated.”
“Fair.”
Mason almost smiled.
Richard became serious.
“How’s Anna?”
“Bossy.”
“Good.”
“How’s Natalie?”
“Bossier.”
Richard laughed.
“And Joanne?”
Mason paused.
“She starts Monday.”
Richard stared.
“At the hotel?”
“Executive kitchen consultant.”
“That’s poetic.”
“She hates when people call it that.”
“What does she call it?”
“A job.”
Joanne’s recovery surprised her doctors.
Her speech improved.
Her strength returned.
She still used a cane on difficult days, but she could cook again.
Mason had offered her a management position.
She refused.
“I want the kitchen.”
“You could run food operations for the company.”
“I don’t want the company.”
“You’re remarkably difficult to promote.”
“I learned from Lily.”
Lily, meanwhile, became an unofficial celebrity among Grand Crest employees.
She hated that.
Mostly.
She enjoyed free pancakes.
On Joanne’s first morning back, the entire kitchen went quiet when she entered.
Some staff had worked with her before.
Several cried.
Maria, the new executive chef, hugged her.
“Welcome home.”
Joanne whispered, “I wasn’t sure I wanted this to feel like home again.”
Maria answered, “Then we’ll make it different.”
Mason watched from the doorway.
Lily stood beside him.
“My mom’s nervous.”
“So am I.”
“You’re not cooking.”
“Exactly. I’m afraid she’ll make me work.”
Joanne pointed without turning.
“Mason, apron.”
Lily burst out laughing.
“You’re in trouble.”
“I own the hotel.”
Joanne finally looked at him.
“And?”
He put on the apron.
Natalie and Anna arrived for lunch.
Anna used a walker now.
When she entered the Grand Crest lobby, she stopped beneath the chandelier.
“I hated this place.”
Mason stood beside her.
“I know.”
She looked around.
“It feels different.”
“It is.”
“How?”
He pointed toward a brass plaque near reception.
IF YOU SEE SOMETHING WRONG, SPEAK.
YOUR TITLE DOES NOT DETERMINE THE VALUE OF YOUR VOICE.
Below it was an independent reporting number.
Anna touched the plaque.
“Joanne?”
“Her words.”
“Smart woman.”
“Yes.”
Natalie looked at him.
“You like her.”
Mason almost dropped his coffee.
“What?”
“You like Joanne.”
“She works for me.”
“That has never stopped anyone from having feelings.”
“Stop.”
Anna smiled.
“Oh, definitely.”
Mason looked toward the kitchen.
Joanne was laughing with Maria.
Her hair had grown slightly longer.
Color had returned to her face.
He had spent six months making sure he never became another powerful man deciding what was best for her.
So he had kept his distance.
Mostly.
Natalie said, “You stare.”
“I observe.”
“Creepy.”
Anna laughed.
That evening, after service ended, Joanne found Mason on the terrace.
“You survived.”
“Barely.”
“You chopped herbs.”
“I have blisters.”
“You held a knife for eight minutes.”
“Dangerous work.”
She smiled.
Then grew serious.
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For not turning my story into marketing.”
“I considered billboards.”
She laughed.
“I mean it.”
“I know.”
Mason looked toward the city.
“I owed you something better than publicity.”
“You didn’t owe me the medical bills either.”
“Yes, I did.”
“We’ve argued about this.”
“I enjoyed winning.”
“You didn’t win.”
“Payments were made.”
“That isn’t the same thing.”
They smiled.
Then Joanne asked, “What happens when the trials end?”
“I go back to running hotels.”
“And your mother?”
“She moved into a condo near Natalie.”
“That sounds healthy.”
“She calls me three times a day.”
“That sounds less healthy.”
Mason laughed.
“And you?”
Joanne looked through the glass doors toward Lily.
“She wants to go to culinary camp next summer.”
“She should.”
“It costs a fortune.”
“Scholarship.”
“No.”
“Anonymous scholarship.”
“No.”
“Extremely mysterious scholarship?”
“Mason.”
“Fine.”
He liked the way she said his name.
That was becoming a problem.
Joanne leaned against the railing.
“I spent years believing powerful people only noticed people like me when we caused inconvenience.”
Mason looked at her.
“I’m sorry.”
“You didn’t create that.”
“No.”
“But you almost became part of it.”
He nodded.
“Yes.”
That honesty mattered.
Joanne continued.
“Then you listened to Lily.”
“I’m good at following orders from thirteen-year-olds.”
“She likes you.”
“I like her.”
Joanne looked at him.
“So do I.”
Mason stopped breathing.
“Joanne.”
She smiled nervously.
“I’m not asking for anything.”
“Good, because I had an entire speech prepared about workplace ethics.”
She laughed.
“You’re ruining the moment.”
“I’m panicking.”
“You?”
“Constantly.”
They stood quietly.
Then Mason said, “Dinner.”
“What?”
“Not hotel dinner. Not business. Not investigation.”
“A date?”
“Yes.”
Joanne considered it.
“After my probation period.”
Mason stared.
“Are you serious?”
“Completely.”
“How long?”
“Ninety days.”
“That’s unreasonable.”
“I learned from management.”
Mason smiled.
“I’ll wait.”
Inside, Lily pressed her face against the glass.
Then gave her mother two thumbs up.
Joanne groaned.
Mason laughed so hard he had to turn away.
For the first time in years, Grand Crest felt like something more than an asset.
It felt alive.
But there was still one thing Mason needed to do before he could truly move forward.
He needed to visit his father.
Not in person.
Charles Vance had been dead for six years.
But Mason had spent his entire life carrying a version of him that needed to be buried again.
May you like
And this time, Mason intended to bury the truth with the man.
Not inside himself.
