Page 144 of A Chef's Kiss for Christmas

He tried to contain his smile. “I think you should congratulate me, not say, ‘I told you so’.”

“Sorry!” She laughed loudly. “Congratulations! We need to celebrate. Let’s get everyone together over the weekend. Liam and the rest of the kitchen staff must be over the moon, too.”

“They don’t know yet. Lewis wants to wait and tell them next week. He’s off to Spain tomorrow.”

“Oh, yeah. I forgot about that. I’ll call Carla and my parents and we can do something with them at the weekend.”

“That sounds good.”

“Let’s have a drink tonight as well.”

“I have a really bad bottle of champagne we can drink.”

“A what?”

“Never mind.” He shook his head. “I’ll see you after work. Can you meet me at my place? I want to tell Edie.”

“Yes. She’ll be so excited.”

And shewasexcited. Sadly, he didn’t get to see her immediate reaction to the news, since Anna had accidentally told her before he arrived.

The week went on like that – with everything just a little underwhelming. Considering he’d genuinely never thought he’d get a Michelin star, it was funny how his expectations suddenly weren’t being met.

The proper excitement would come the following week, though, when it was officially announced and splashed all over social media. Not telling the rest of the kitchen staff felt fairly excruciating, but at least he had their reactions to look forward to. It was their achievement too – once he could share it with them, he’d no doubt stop feeling so flat about the wholething.

Walking into Anna’s place after work on Thursday evening, he immediately spotted the trepidation in her features.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, giving her a kiss and sitting beside her on the couch.

“Don’t freak out,” she said, gripping a cushion in front of her.

“That’s never a good start to a conversation.”

“Mum called this morning to say she’s got the flu.”

“Maybe that explains why she hasn’t been in touch to congratulate me,” he said under his breath.

“What?” Anna frowned. “She’s messaged you, hasn’t she?”

“Yeah.” She’d sent him several messages – he just thought the situation warranted a phone call, but that was the mood he’d been in since he got the news about the Michelin star. No one seemed to react quite how he’d like them to.

Anna narrowed her eyes. “So Mum won’t make it for dinner tomorrow, after all.”

“Us and your dad then,” he said sulkily. At least Nicholas had called him and made a big fuss.

“Carla feels terrible, but she can’t just cancel when she’s agreed to dog sit.”

“Yeah, I know. It’s fine.”

“So I thought maybe we’d just do something completely different.”

“What’s the plan?”

“Remember, I said not to freak out…”

He lifted an eyebrow and waited for whatever was coming next.

“Your parents are very excited.”