Page 143 of A Chef's Kiss for Christmas

“A Michelin star?” Warren said again.

“Hard to take in, isn’t it?” Lewis said. “Let it sink in and next week we’ll get together for a planning session of any changes we’ll need to make. I’m thinking we’ll need to take on more staff, both in the kitchen and out front in the restaurant. From now on, every meal coming out of that kitchen – be it breakfast, lunch or dinner – has to be of the absolute best quality. That goes for your days off, too. Everyone needs to be at the top of their game.”

“Of course.” He opened and closed his mouth a couple of times. “Who knows about this?”

“Just us. And Erin.”

“You haven’t told the rest of your family?”

“No. I didn’t know if you’d want to tell Anna yourself.”

“Yeah.”

“You don’t mind me telling the rest of the family?”

“No.”

“I thought we might hold off on telling the kitchen staff. Wait until the guide comes out, and it’s all official.”

“Sure. Whatever you want. We should celebrate, though. Maybe we can do something with the family this weekend? I can get Liam to take care of the kitchen.”

“That’s the other reason I don’t want to mention it to the rest of the staff yet. Erin and I are away in Madrid for the weekend.”

“Oh, yeah.” Warren shook his head – he knew about that.

“So we’ll tell the staff next week and then organise a proper celebration. I don’t want to tell them and then fly off to Spain – I’ll look like a pretty crappy boss.” He grimaced. “Sorry I can’t celebrate with you this weekend. If it were anything else, I’d cancel, but we booked the trip ages ago and we’ve been looking forward to it.”

“No worries.”

“I got you something,” Lewis said, reaching under his deskand producing a bottle–sized gift bag. “I know the star is awarded to the restaurant and not the chef, but it’s really down to you, and I want you to know how much I appreciate all your hard work and dedication.”

“Thanks,” Warren said, slipping the champagne out of the bag.

Maybe he had more in common with his dad than he liked to admit, because he couldn’t help but think that if Lewis truly appreciated him, he would have chosen a decent champagne and not a cheap supermarket brand.

“When do you leave for Madrid?”

“Tomorrow morning. I hope we get a bit of blue sky. I really need a break from all this grey and drizzle.”

Warren frowned. He’d just found out he was being awarded a Michelin star and Lewis was drivelling on about the weather. It all felt slightly surreal. “Yeah,” he muttered. “Have a good trip.”

“Thanks.”

In a daze, Warren headed back to the kitchen, then felt utterly lost. What was he supposed to do now? Just carry on with work as normal?

He stepped out of the back door intent on calling Anna, but was distracted by Lewis posting on the family messaging group. The picture of the letter from Michelin popped up, along with the caption,‘Exciting news! Guess who’s getting a Michelin star?’

The flurry of replies made him smile.

He tried to ignore the niggling annoyance that Lewis hadn’t given him time to tell Anna himself.

His phone rang before he could think too much about it.

“Oh, my goodness!” Anna sounded slightly breathless. “How long have you known about this? Why didn’t you tell me yourself?”

“Good question. Apparently because your brother beat me to it. I only just found out. No one else knows.”

“It’s so amazing! I’m not at all surprised, though. Haven’t I been saying all along that you’d get a star?”