The Tiny Kitchen In The Sky

She was naturally a quiet person; she didn’t shout out or raise her voice very often. The only time she ever screamed out loud was when a lizard jumped in her path when she was on a walk or when her Dallas Cowboys scored a winning touchdown. Otherwise, she remained calm and peaceful, keeping her thoughts and opinions to herself. Now have no fear, she had a lot of opinions about everything, but she never volunteered them out-loud in basic conversation, unless she was directly asked about a topic. She kept her aunt Emma’s words to heart, its better to remain quiet and let them all wonder what you are thinking, than to keep on talking and make them wonder if you are thinking at all.

Since this was Kacie’s normal actions to most of her day-to-day activities it was very un-nerving to her when the overwhelming feeling of screaming “STOP, SHUT THE HELL UP” and throw her chef’s hat in the air while she storms out the door, never to return, came over her at least once a day. But every day of the same topic, same argument, and the same points of views day after day was becoming something she could not just tune out anymore. The kitchen at the resort has always been small, but the restriction of COVID have made the walls seem more confining and more like she was being punished rather than living her dream of becoming a chef. Since COVID you are not allowed to leave the kitchen once you arrive for your shift. Some days that task really wasn’t so bad, as Kacie always seemed to be able to make the most of whatever the situation. But in the past month, the non-stop bickering and fighting between the two other chef’s, the Executive Chef Zach and the Spa Café Productions Chef, Hannah had becoming intolerable. Hannah and Zach were in the middle of a brutal divorce that seemed to be lasting much longer than necessary. Everyone in the kitchen staff has been walking on eggshells since Zach caught Hannah taking a mid-night skinny dipping rendezvous with the owner of the local white water rafting company, while the Resort was closed during the statewide shut-down event.

It was an event that didn’t really shock everyone too much, as Hannah wasn’t known to be an overly trusting person, she was however stunningly beautiful. That is what drew Zach to Hannah the first day she was working at the bar outside the pool area at The Blue Ridge Resort. She was young, a little too young for him he figured, but DAMN was she beautiful. That blonde hair shimmered in the sun, as she entered and exited the folding doors between the pool and the bar. He could see her smile was almost blinding when she was talking to the customers, And that is where his downfall began, when she turned that smile in his direction. Zach has worked at the resort since he was in high school. The first two years he worked the summer breaks as a parking lot assistance. When he went to Culinary School he was moved up to Bellhop, where he made killer tips, which helped him do a few extra classes to learn even more about high-end culinary expectations. Over the past fifteen years he had worked his way up doing almost every job at the resort to not only become the executive chef, but also the newest member of the board member for the resort. During all this time of working 80 plus hours a week, Zach had just kinda let his personal life sit on the sidelines. He dated some, but nothing very serious, or for very long. He lived in an apartment, so he never had to worry about mowing his grass or any type of upkeep. His whole life was at the resort, which he still loved but as 35 slowly approached he began to wonder if it was enough.

That was the question bouncing around in his mind the first morning he meet Hannah, and that is why he figured he ask her out that same evening. Now why they got married the next week, he blames all that on bottles of Merlot, the new Oyster Rockefeller recipe he was working on, the ice storm that stranded everyone at the resort that weekend, and the fact a Minister was already at the resort that weekend preforming a wedding. However deep down in his heart, he knew the only one he really needed to blame was himself, and the fact he left the deep green eyes of Hannah make him overlook all the bad vibes he was getting when he was around her. He also allowed the utter fear of being along on the upcoming 35^th birthday, move him toward that I Do more than the Merlot.

As he entered the kitchen that Thursday Morning Hannah and Kacie were already there, the girls were very quiet and really did not seem to have spoken much this morning. It was early and both seemed to be on their first cup of Venetta Latte’s something that all three could actually agree on, it was a necessity of life. Kasie was there washing all the vegetables that they were going to use in today’s menu, and she gave me a smile and rolled her eyes a little as she glanced at the way Hannah was dressed. Zach of course had to follow the glance and he saw why the eye roll was a justified action. She was in proper dress attire as long as she kept her chef coat on, but at this point she didn’t have that on yet, it was draped across the chair that she had her feet propped up in. Her skirt had a slit that was just a little too far up her leg, and her shirt was unbuttoned about two buttons too low. Zach wasn’t sure if she was still trying to get him back, make him jealous, or she was going out after work to make sure she landed her a new man before the ink on their divorce was dry. Either way Zach really didn’t care, and he tried his best every day not to get caught up in another fight with Hannah, but she knew what buttons to push, and after six hours of being trapped in a place he loved with a woman he hated, he broke from time to time. He hated the fact she got to him, and he engaged in rants and fights with her, and he especially hated that fact that his Sous Chef Kasie had to literally be in the middle of the whole mess every single day.

As Zach made his way past her, she moved her phone to a new angle so he could see she was texting with Bill, the recent winner of the state lottery who had become a frequent guest at the Resort over the past few weeks. She had found him halfway through a pitcher of Dos Equis during Cinco De Mayo party. He was a very nice-looking man, but she found his brand-new Bentley to much more pleasing to her eyes. She liked his southern draw but hated his country music he played. She figured as long as it was today’s hits and not that 80’s bullshit about hard rock heart bottoms, achy breaky hearts, she could stand to listen to it, which he drove her shopping every weekend. She could even deal with that fact he preferred his truck over the Bentley, if kept his promise and bought her a BMW this weekend. Bill wasn’t as smart, as funny, and not as good-looking as Zach, but his bank account had many more zero’s on the end, and he was willing to use that money in whatever way she ask. Also, the pocketbook of Zach was about to close, as the divorce was just a few weeks away. She had fought to get some money for her year of marriage, but not as much as she felt she deserved. So, what she was busted in the pool, with the white-water fella. At that point Zach had stopped looking at her, and he was even sleeping on the pullout couch in his pitiful looking apartment. Sure, it was nicer than what she was living in before she married him, but with Zach’s money, he could have done better. Especially once he got with her, I mean she was Miss. Tennessee a year before she got the job at the Spa. I mean true she had been a guest at the Resort a few months before she got her job, but that was when she still had the crown. That little night in Memphis will always haunt her, how was she to know that he was an FBI agent, she just needed a little something to get her though day. He should have just let her go and avoided the whole dramatic event.

Hannah really did generally like her job at the resort, it was the best job she had ever had, and she really did work hard, for awhile. She liked being in charge and her changes to the menu and the layout of the menus really did make a bigger difference. she enjoyed all the time spent learning new cooking techniques with Zach and the other staff members. She really loved being apart of what she felt like was a family, something she didn’t know a lot about, but really had enjoyed the feeling of being included for a short while. Even though she still enjoyed cooking she didn’t enjoy being stuck totally in the kitchen all the time. She was getting bored of seeing those same walls and not being about to see the customers at the spa and see their reactions to her creations. She really missed that part of the job; it made her feel hopeful and successful. Now being stuck in this kitchen with Zach the award-winning chef, and Kasie the girl who was clearly more talented than herself, was making Hannah feel like a trapped mice in one of those cylinders they use to run around in. It was time to move on, but she had to wait until the divorce was final and hopefully good old Bill will be there ready to whisk her away in his shiny new car and give her the life she had seen on the TV while growing up in a trailer with no working heating system.

As Zach stood in front of the small window at the back door looking out on the fog over the mountains, he found a little peace knowing that soon the divorce would be behind him, and he could start to reclaim his sanity. He put his chef coat on and took a deep breathe, like his new mediation videos had shown him, and he turned to assist Kacie with the prep for today’s meals. They had texted overnight about the new menu for today, they wanted to try out a new Lobster Mac and Cheese for the lunch event for the day, he was getting excited about the customers giving their reviews. He enjoyed talked to Kasie, she was a sweet girl, grew up very much like he did, and she had a love for the mountain views outside the resort that not everyone apricated. She was a good friend and a great Sou Chef and he needed both to get though these past few months. Now the divorce was almost finished he had started to reevaluate his life and make a few changes. Hannah was right on one small thing, his apartment was pitiful, it was small and had no feeling of a home. So today on his way into work he had signed papers to own his first ever home, with a yard big enough for a dog and maybe a small garden.

As Kacie finished chopping up the lobster, she thought the air in the kitchen seemed to be a little less tense today, which was an awesome change. She noticed Zach had a peace about him, he had not been able to achieve during the whole time he was forced to be locked into the kitchen with his soon to be ex-wife. In some of the conversation they had in the tiny kitchen over the past week or so she had noticed he spoke about taking some walks on trails outside the resort on his time off. She too enjoyed taking those hikes, they were very refreshing and good for the soul. This job had really helped Kasie find her own groove back after the death of both her Grandparents, and the announcement of her parents that they were getting a divorce after thirty years and moving away. Not just moving like to the next town, but her dad was moving to Texas to follow his obsession of being a cowboy. Her Mom let her know last week at lunch that she was moving to Key West, a place she went on her spring break one year, and as she quoted, “a place she always wanted to return to, but your father never like the beach”. So, with her world being rocked, it was nice to have a good steady job she loved to come to each day. It was not easy with all the fighting and hateful words flying along with the cabbage and carrots at times, but something told her that today was a fresh start, and life was on the way to being more peaceful.

Hannah was putting the dill in her cucumber sandwiches for the pedicure party that was coming to the spa today when she heard her phone jingle. She looked at the text and it was from Bill, he asked if she was willing to leave today and fly out to California. He had rented a house for a month in Malibu, and he had bought her a ticket as well. She looked at Zach and Kasie and told them she was going for a smoke break, as she took off her chef coat and headed toward the door. She never looked back as the door closed and Bill and his Bentley came up the hill ready to take her away from these ugly mountains.

As the back door slammed Zach and Kacie smiled at each other, and both let a horse laugh for no real apparent reason. As Zach put his chef had on, he turned the radio on to an 80’s country station. Blasting from the speakers came on of his favorite bands of all time, Alabama. As he turned up the song, “Can’t Keep a Good Man Down”, Kasie started to sing along changing the word Man to Woman, as they both cut up the Lobster in perfect rhythm.