Chapter 72

MILA

I had exactly seven days between returning to Fresonia and my restaurant to make sure everything was perfect.

I was eternally grateful to Felic for monitoring the installation of the new furniture from Carnea while I was away, so now all I had to worry about was putting the finishing touches on the menu. I spent my days in the kitchens, tweaking each recipe until I felt it was perfect.

Thankfully, Isla was able to pull a few strings to get me some excellent staff–a sous chef named Carla who was around my age, and two waiters, Sami and Eliza. I didn’t need a huge staff since the restaurant itself wasn’t very big, but I was relieved to see that everyone seemed kind, friendly, and ready to work.

Felix and I were living in the city apartment for the time being, and there were several royal guards–both obvious and undercover–who had been assigned to our care. There was always someone at the back and front door of my restaurant, keeping an eye on things, and guards stationed all over the apartment building. I was no longer permitted to walk to or from work, instead, an armored car would take me.

I missed the freedom of being out in the city, but Felix assured me that the extra security would only be necessary until they tracked down Charles.

Since the public announcement of our engagement, interest in my restaurant had skyrocketed about a thousand percent. Reservations were completely booked out for the first six weeks, and my grand opening tomorrow night was the hottest ticket in town.

Social media was ablaze with chatter and gossip about Sea and Sky. There was a lot of speculation about what I would be serving and whether it would be any good. I tried to block it out as much as possible–the last thing I wanted was any additional stress over the big opening.

The day before the opening, however, the noise became impossible to block out.

I was sitting with Sami, folding a stack of our newly-printed menus, when Eliza let out a gasp from across the room. She quickly looked away, embarrassed.

“Is something wrong, Eliza?” I asked. “That didn’t sound good.”

She looked at me guiltily. “Have you heard of Alexandra Shea?”

I crinkled my nose. “She’s the most famous food reviewer in the world.”

“Yeah, so, she’s from Fresonia originally, and she’s planning on coming to opening night,” Eliza said.

“That’s good news!” I exclaimed. “That means we can impress her with all our hard work! Why don’t you sound excited?”

Eliza hesitated for a moment. “She’s made some uh, comments about you. On her blog.”

Alexandra Shea’s blog was the most-read food blog in the world. People took her word as gospel, and a review from her could sink or swim any restaurant. My heart sank. “What kind of comments?”

Eliza read out loud from her phone. “Of course, one cannot talk about Sea and Sky without mentioning its head chef, Mila Benson. A newly-minted celebrity due to her engagement to Prince Felix, one cannot help but wonder if the American is up to the culinary standards of Fresonia. Will she make a splash with her first restaurant endeavor, or is she merely an overhyped foreign commoner? Only time will tell.”

I chewed on my bottom lip. The most renowned food reviewer in the world had just put my restaurant on blast, questioning my talents as a chef. It was overwhelming, to say the least.

“Oh,” I said finally.

“I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have read that to you,” Eliza said quickly. “I don’t want to make tomorrow night more stressful than it already will be!”

I smiled at her halfheartedly. “It’s not your fault. I appreciate it, actually. Lights a fire under my ass to make tomorrow even more special.”

My phone started ringing, startling us all out of our melancholy. I looked down. Felix.

“Hi, my love,” I said by way of greeting, but Felix was raging.

“How dare that woman make those awful comments about you in the press! That is completely unacceptable!” he fumed.

“She’s just creating buzz before the opening–” I began, but there was no stopping Felix.

“I will not allow you to be bullied in the press! I will make a call to her this afternoon. She needs to remember exactly who she’s saying these offensive comments about.”

“Felix, Felix, it’s okay,” I laughed. “She’s just doing her job. I just need to prove her wrong, that’s all.”

His tone softened. “It’s my job to look out for you.”

“I know, and I thank you for it,” I said softly. “Just be there tomorrow night with a big smile is all I ask.”

When I hung up, my staff were all looking at me with uncertainty.

“Put Ms. Shea at our best table, the one by the bay window,” I instructed Sami. “Don’t worry about covering her, I will personally be serving each course to her. We want her to have the best possible impression of our restaurant, so we need to put our best foot forward.”

The night of the opening, my stomach was doing gymnastics. Despite being around all the delicious-smelling food, I wasn’t hungry at all.

Alexandra Shea was one of the first guests to arrive, right on time for her 6pm reservation. She was exactly as she looked in all the pictures–tall, thin, wiry, with tightly curled chestnut hair and sharp features. She wore a loose blue cotton dress, as was her signature look. She was stunning–and deeply intimidating. I swallowed my fear and tried to focus on the task in front of me.

Eliza sat Alexandra at our nicest table, and I tried to calm my pounding heart before walking over to her with our first course.

“Good evening, Ms. Shea,” I said. “I’m Mila Benson. Welcome to Sky and Sea.”

She peered over her cat-eye glasses to look me up and down. “So you are the famous Mila.”

“Tonight, I’m just Chef Mila,” I said, as graciously as I could muster. “I wanted to bring you your first course personally, to thank you for taking the trouble to review our opening.”

“That’s very unusual for a chef,” she mused. “Most chefs I know stay in the kitchen all night and never interact with the guests.”

“I’m not your usual chef,” I admitted. “I like being involved with each step of the food, from preparation to presentation. That is why with each course, there will be a wine pairing, with all the wines being local to Fresonia.”

I set down the platter and glass in front of her. She raised her eyebrows, saying nothing.

I prattled on. “These are our house biscuits paired with a trio of jams–a candied bacon jam, a strawberry basil jam, and a sweet-and-sour mango jam. They are paired with a Pinot Noir from a vineyard just outside Fresia. Please enjoy.”

Alexandra did not say anything as I scuttled away, back to the kitchen. I did, however, peer around the corner to gauge her reaction to her first bite.

“Everyone loves the biscuits so far,” Sami said, swinging into the kitchen to grab another tray. I smiled weakly at her, keeping my eyes trained on Alexandra.

What I saw made my heart stand still.

She spread some of the sweet-and-sour mango jam on the biscuit and took a large bite. And frowned.