Free Fearless Love by Meg Benjamin

caught her breath. He’d been right there. He must have seen what Dietz had done. Why was he asking her what the problem was?
    “Break time.” Darcy’s hand came to rest on her shoulder. “Back in a few.”
    “No more than fifteen minutes,” Fairley snapped. “We’ve still got a lot of prep here.”
    Darcy gave him a curt nod, not bothering to look back. She pulled MG through the hall and out the back door to a picnic table overlooking the rolling greens of the golf course. “Sit,” she ordered.
    MG flopped down on the bench. Darcy took a seat on the table beside her. “What did he do?”
    “He grabbed my ass, that son of a bitch. I ought to give his nuts a twist. See how he likes it.”
    Darcy shook her head. “You do that and you’ll be out of here in five minutes. It’ll be your word against Dietz’s. And the Beav will say you’re disrupting his kitchen.”
    MG clenched her jaw, fighting the tight feeling in her chest. “But Dietz is the one who started it. If there’s a disruption in there, it’s him.”
    “You know it and I know it. Hell, even Jorge and Leo know it. But nobody saw what happened. And you’re the one who yelled.”
    MG closed her eyes, trying to breathe evenly. “Actually, somebody else did see it.”
    “Yeah? Who’s that?”
    She glanced up into Darcy’s narrowed eyes. “Fairley. He was right there behind me. He had to have seen it.”
    Darcy stared down at the ground for a moment. “Interesting. Looks like the Beav has it in for you.”
    “You think he told Dietz to grab me?”
    Darcy shook her head, grimacing. “I don’t think anybody has to tell Dietz to be an asshole. It comes naturally. But it looks like the Beav has been keeping his eye on the situation. And he’s not doing it to keep Dietz in line.”
    “So he wants to fire me?”
    “Possibly.”
    MG stared at her. “Why?”
    Darcy shrugged. “Got me. Maybe he wants Dietz to get more hours.”
    MG blew out a long breath. “So I’m screwed.”
    “No you’re not.” Darcy stood up again. “You’re doing okay, considering you started at ground zero. And Joe won’t let the Beav fire you for no reason—he’s the one who hired you in the first place. Just do your job. And stay away from Fishhead.”
    MG’s lips edged up. “Fishhead?”
    “Hey, works for me. The Beav and the Fishhead. Natural pair.”
    As they headed back into the kitchen, MG realized it was the longest conversation she’d ever had with Darcy. Also, it was the first time Darcy had ever treated her as something other than a speed bump on the road of her life. Maybe there was hope for her yet.
     
     
    Joe knew something had happened in the kitchen, but he didn’t know what. And it was driving him nuts. He’d seen Darcy and MG go outside to the picnic table, but they didn’t look like they were taking a break. The conversation was too intense. Then he’d heard Leo muttering something to Jorge that included the word pendejo. Joe’s Spanish included a wealth of insults, and he knew that one.
    It was the first time he could remember that something had been happening at the Rose he didn’t know everything about. From the time he’d arrived at the restaurant he’d been in the kitchen for almost every meal—although since they’d only been open for lunch originally, that hadn’t taken all that much of his day. One of the reasons he’d found a sous chef was that he didn’t want to do that anymore. Actually, it wasn’t so much that he didn’t want to as that he couldn’t if he wanted to stay sane.
    Having already gone off the deep end once in his career, he wasn’t all that eager to take the plunge again. Better to give himself time to get all the extra stuff done—the menus, the meetings with visiting VIPs, the promotional work—and let somebody else look after the kitchen and do the basic ordering for part of the day.
    Still, it meant he wasn’t around for a big chunk of the restaurant’s serving time, and he had a feeling