Page 92 of A Chef's Kiss for Christmas

“Yes. That was my plan for a long time.”

“Really?” She shook her head. “What exactly is the family business, by the way?”

“Private equity. They essentially buy companies that aren’t performing well, restructure them and sell them on.”

“And you were going to do that?”

“It didn’t feel as though I had much choice,” he said with a shrug. “I grew up being told I’d join the family business and I didn’t particularly question it.”

“Until when?”

“Until I got a job in a restaurant when I was at university.”

“You decided you wanted to be a chef?”

“Pretty much. Working in the kitchen interested me far more than my degree in economics, or my parents’ business talk. Even when I was only doing food prep.”

“What happened? Did you finish your degree, or switch to a catering course?”

He ran a finger up the side of his glass. “I continued with the economics degree until about halfway through the final year. Then I dropped out of the course.”

He paused, looking thoughtful. “I’d known for a while that I wanted to become a chef. I didn’t dare say anything, or do anything about it, but I knew that once I finished my degree, I’d have to go and work with my parents. That was the plan, anyway. The closer I got to that reality, the more I panicked. Eventually, I told them I wasn’t going to work for them. Whichwasn’t actually the worst thing. If I had some other dream that they approved of, it would probably have been fine.”

“But they didn’t approve of you being a chef?”

He shook his head. “They thought it was beneath me.”

“That’s crazy.”

“Maybe. But remember that they employ a full-time cook. To them, my job is on the same level as the household staff.”

“I don’t even see why that’s a bad thing.”

“Yeah, but you’re not like them.”

She wouldn’t argue with that. “How come you didn’t finish your degree if you were so close to the end of it?”

He rubbed his forehead. “Because my dad said that if I didn’t finish it and do something worthwhile with my life, that he wouldn’t pay off my student loan. That was the deal, you see… they wouldn’t support us financially through university because they believed their kids shouldn’t get used to having things handed to them. But when we graduated and joined the family business, they’d pay off any student debt.”

“But if you were so close to the end of your course, why not just finish it and join the business for long enough for them to pay off your loan?”

He turned his glass on the mat. “Because I knew it would annoy my dad more if I didn’t.”

“You quit your degree out of spite?”

“Yeah. Admittedly, not the greatest idea I’ve ever had, but in my defence, I was young and angry.”

She sighed as a thought occurred to her. “That’s why your dad mentioned you being in debt.”

“Yes.”

Not an entirely random comment then.

“Which I’m not, by the way.”

“You paid it off?”

“Yes.” His eyebrows twitched. “The perks of living for cheap in someone’s garage. I saved money.”