TWENTY-ONE

At eleven o’clock the next morning, I snuggled up to Josh and kissed him awake. “Hi, sleepy,” I murmured.

“Hey, babe.” Josh gave a stretch and growl of contentment. “Finally,” he sighed.

“I know. I was starting to doubt whether we’d ever—”

“Oh, but we did,” he cut in. “And it was goood!” He laughed. To prove his point, he moved on top of me.

When we finally emerged from the bedroom, I went to the kitchen and opened the new coffeemaker Josh had bought for me. When Detective Hurley had finally finished questioning us on the previous day, we’d left Magellan and both gotten into Josh’s Xterra. I’d been too shaky to drive and had yet again left my car illegally parked.

“We’re going to get you a new coffeepot,” Josh had announced. “And then I’m taking you home, making love to you all night, and waking up to—what will it be? An improved cup of coffee. Among other things.”

In fact, we decided to spend the entire day making coffee. So to speak. And other things. I called in sick to my field placement. I’d eventually have to return to Naomi and her miniature office, where I’d be drowned in syrupy hugs and forced to participate in hand-holding that I couldn’t face yet. As it turned out, Josh, on the other hand, didn’t even have a job to go to.

Here’s why. When Tim and Madeline disappeared from Magellan, they didn’t flee to some exotic country or do anything else juicy and dramatic. Rather, the police found them together at Essence. In spite of everything Tim had just seen and heard, he refused to believe that Madeline had participated in arranging Eric’s murder. As Josh and I learned when Tim called on Wednesday, he was so outraged at the accusation against dear Maddie that he had hired the best criminal defense lawyer in Boston to represent her. Tim’s loyalty to his ex-wife failed, however, to stop him from begging Josh to come to work for him at Essence. On Thursday, when he again called to try to steal Madeline’s chef, we learned just how good the lawyer was: Madeline wasn’t even in custody. As Tim pointed out, it was Brian’s word against hers. Despite Brian’s injuries, he actually was capable of speech, or so Tim reported. Unlike Madeline, he was, however, in no financial position to hire a lawyer and was consequently in the hands of a court-appointed defense attorney. What’s more, the evidence against him was and remains strong. He’ll probably go to prison and, specifically, to a prison kitchen. At least he’ll have a chance to keep cooking, and the other inmates will no doubt notice a remarkable improvement in the food.

On Friday, Tim quit trying to lure Josh to work at Essence, which he had finally decided to close. To my astonishment, he informed us that he was rejoining Madeline at Magellan. I assume that Madeline was taking back her ex as a ploy to convince everyone of her innocence. In any case, the newly reunited couple, angry at Josh’s continued insistence on Madeline’s guilt, immediately fired Josh.

Madeline, with her usual spin-doctor charm, used all of her media contacts to play the story in her favor. She skillfully presented herself as a superlative restaurant owner who gave a troubled young sous chef a chance to work in a top restaurant. Unfortunately, the young man was more disturbed than she’d known and had gone to extreme lengths to climb the culinary ladder. In her version of the story, Brian was furious at her for not promoting him and killed Eric in an attempt to frame her. Oh, please. Tim was welcome to her. When asked why her executive chef was leaving, Madeline insisted that it was a mutual parting of ways and that she wished Josh Driscoll the best. Bitch. As it turns out, Madeline was far from the generous, giving, supportive ex-wife everyone thought she was. So much for my personality assessment skills. I’d have to read up on pathological lying, among other things. God, wait until I got back to Group Therapy; my classmates would have a field day with me.

That weekend, as Josh was cooking another phenomenal dinner for me, I asked him what would happen to all the staff from Essence. Cassie and Katrina? Joelle? Garrett and his kitchen staff?

“See? That’s why you’re in social work school. God, I haven’t even thought about those guys.” Josh shook a hot skillet full of squash, mushrooms, and red peppers. “I’m not sure. They’re all great. Some of them might go back to Magellan, but I definitely know that Garrett’s out of a job. Tim’s blaming him, among other people, for Essence doing so badly. I’m sure I’ll run into some of them again. Boston is not that big a town. Every time I go out to eat I see someone I know working there. Anywhere.” He smiled at me. “They’ll be okay, don’t worry.”

“And what about you? Do you have any leads on another job yet?” I knew Josh was miserable about losing the best cooking gig he’d ever had. And for having had so much faith in Madeline.

“No. I’ve got some calls in to friends around town, but there aren’t that many good chef jobs out there. There’s some crappy stuff, you know, working in corporate cafeterias, universities, all that stuff. Those have good benefits, at least.”

Oh, no. The thought of Josh’s talent going to waste in a college dining hall made me sick to my stomach. “No, Josh. You are not taking a job like that. There’s got to be something else.”

“We’ll see,” he said with obvious doubt in his voice. “I’ve got a headhunter to call, too. He might have something.”

“I’m sure he will. Anyone would be lucky to have you.” I stood behind him and wrapped my arms around his chest. “Oh, hey. I’ve been meaning to ask you. Did you know that Tim and Veronica had a thing together? He told me that before we went into Magellan.”

“I didn’t know about that one until Maddie called her a blonde whore. But I’m sure Veronica’s downstairs right now with Noah, if you want to go ask her about it. Half those people have slept with the other half, but I had no idea about Tim and Veronica. I always tried to keep out of the gossip since I could never keep up with it anyway.”

“Are you telling me you weren’t ever part of that gossip?” I teased.

“Of course not. I was all innocent and sweet until you corrupted me.” He pretended to wipe a tear from his eye. “And, truthfully, I’m feeling a little vulnerable right now.”

“I intend to take full advantage of that. Right after you finish cooking.” I hugged Josh tighter. “Oh, and what about Ian? I can’t imagine Tim would give him a reference!”

“Not likely, but he’ll get another job somewhere, no problem.”

I guess the Ians of the world are everywhere. Perfect chefs, of course, are not. But I got lucky. I found mine.