CHAPTER 3
Tay
They’d gone too far.
Tay hadn’t realized it at the time, but when Guilia walked into the room and saw all of her delicious ice cream, gone, and Tay saw the look on her face, it hit them pretty hard.
They tried to brave it out, but when Sadie and Holly got punished, that just felt unbearable. Partly because they felt guilty about dragging their friends into this mess in the first place, and partly because Chef Guilia had focused on the others.
She’d ignored Tay.
“I never said you weren’t going to be punished.”
The words floated around in Tay’s head and they shivered in anticipation. Chef Guilia was known for being quiet, placid, calm. Nothing Tay had ever done had annoyed or frustrated them before, but this might have just broken the aforementioned calm.
They had no idea what was in store, and they weren’t sure whether they were nervous or excited.
They followed her down the hallway, into the elevator, and down to their kitchen.
Neither of them said a word.
The freezer door stood open, accusing, and Tay wanted to hide. They wanted to slip under the counter and conceal themself amongst the pots and the pans.
“What’s my punishment?” they asked.
Chef Guilia sighed. “I don’t know, Tay. I don’t know what to do. I’ve been waiting for you to come and speak to me, to tell me what you want, to ask me what I want. But instead you just push and push and push. And that’s not a healthy way to communicate. I could spank you, but that feels like more of a reward than a punishment, because it’s what you want.”
Whatever Tay had expected, it wasn’t this. Their stomach sank, and hiding under the counter didn’t seem extreme enough. Nor did hiding in their bedroom. Maybe running away from the Ranch? Perhaps that could alleviate whatever the hell feeling this was in their body.
They felt physically ill.
Literally.
They ran to the restaurant bathroom and barely made it in time before they threw up.
“Tesore.” Chef came up behind them and put her hand on their shoulder. “Would you like some water?”
“Yes, please,” whispered Tay, before throwing up some more ice cream. They could definitely dismiss this as due to eating too much of the sweet treat, but they really knew that it was because they felt so guilty, so awful about what they had done.
And because they had let down Chef.
Guilia came back and squeezed down to sit on the floor next to Tay, handing them a glass.
Tay swilled the water around in their mouth, and then spat it out into the toilet, before taking another sip which they actually drank.
“I didn’t mean to let you down,” they said. “I just had all these big feelings, and I didn’t know how to communicate them.”
“I am told,” said Chef Guilia, “that people rarely brat those they don’t like. If they do, it’s not bratting, it’s just being atesta di cavolo.”
“Cavolo…?” Tay could only think ofcavolo nero,the Italian words for Tuscan kale, and that didn’t sound like the right sentiment.
“Si, a cabbage head. It is an insult.”
Tay giggled. It was a pretty good insult.
“What I mean to say is perhaps you do not dislike me?”
“Dislike…” Tay looked at the woman in horror. “Of course I don’t dislike you! You’re amazing. You’re smart and talented and you’re the best head chef I’ve ever worked with. You don’t throw things around and yell.”
