Chapter 119: Chapter 119

Alex walked in just then and sat by his wife, dropping a kiss on her forehead.

Ava unknowingly turned expectantly to the older man as if she had been expecting him to take the offer up or do something else about it.

The offer was too good to be true! To be the main chef in one of Thornston’s outlets would be a dream come true. In fact, Ava would have believed it if this was happening in her dreams, as anything could happen there, but in the real world? That was a totally different ball game!

But they did not look like they were joking. She had heard the rumours about the immense scrutiny one had to undergo to secure such a position, but it was just being handed to her?

It was Alex who looked to have seen her direction of thoughts.

"We don’t play favourites here, young Ava. You are not being handed a job just because you are Shelby’s friend. Your work speaks for itself. So, if it makes you feel any better, your offer, at the moment, is a probational one, and the dinner tonight will be your test...."

"But-" Geneva started, but her husband placed a gentle hand on hers, and that is when she also saw the confusion on the younger girl’s face. However, for Geneva, that spoke volumes about Ava and made her like her even more. It proved that Ava was not vain in anything and was a very objective girl.

At that statement, Ava visibly relaxed and said, "I will do my utmost best not to let you down, Mr and Mrs Thornston."

Geneva nodded in satisfaction. "Since your current job is part-time, it’ll be up to you, but I don’t think that you can juggle all three roles... I’ll leave that decision up to you."

Ava looked pained, but the offer from the Thornstons was an offer from above that she could not afford to miss. No talks of remunerations were spoken about, but she did not think much about it, for she knew there would be no issues.

"Are you done?" The deepest of all male voices Ava had ever heard sounded, sending ripples of shudders through her.

She turned to see the most giant and muscular man she had ever seen. She did recognize him from his pictures, though. Ava never imagined him that big of a man! His long black hair was held at his back somehow, away from his face, perfectly trimmed beard and startling grey eyes that looked at no one but her friend. One needed no introduction to see that Ian was smitten with his wife!

Shelby turned to him and nodded. Then she pulled Ava up,

"Ava, meet my husband, Ian," she said shyly and then introduced Ava to Ian, too. Ian only nodded at Ava and held out his hand for Shelby,

Ian nodded and then guided Shelby out, with Ava following them because Katie did, too. Ava turned and thanked the older couple for her opportunity before they left.

"This is so surreal!"

That is when she saw him, Rocky!

They were out of the estate by then. She noticed that Shelby let go of Ian and ran to him, hugging him tightly. Ava froze! Her memories rushed back to her.

The way Rocky had kissed her spoke volumes. Ava could no longer bring herself to call him a boy anymore... that would be lying to herself. Rocky’s move had been intentional and savage. With that kiss, Ava could not help but lightly touch her lips as if re-living that moment.

’He is one hell of a damn good kisser!’ That was for sure!

With the kiss memory, the audio file she had deleted also came.

’Rocky had gone through so much to get that for me, and I just deleted it?’ Ava bit her lips and contemplated, not liking herself at that moment.

"What if he just wanted to smear Josh’s reputation?" She asked herself....

"It’s already done! I can’t do anything about it...." But then, a voice in her head added,

’You know? Deleted files take about thirty days to be fully deleted... if you want to listen to them, you know where to find them....’

Talk of not giving oneself the chance! That inner voice always acts smart!

Rocky’s eyes looked in her direction suddenly, and Ava stepped back into the estate,

’I can’t let him see me now....’ She thought while wondering, ’Just how long can I keep this up!’

"Welcome to the family, Ava..." Ava turned to Katie, who still had the same prim look.

"But I thought that I was under probation for a bit..."

Katie looked straight into her eyes, making her squirm.

"Don’t worry about that, unless you do not trust your own culinary skills...."

"I do!" She shouted almost immediately, causing Katie’s mouth to draw up slightly but without a smile. It was a bit of an awkward look. It made Ava wonder if the woman had never had the need to smile in her life and had forgotten how to do that.

"Then, we have no problem.... Suzie will get you settled in."

"Yes, you’re free to come and go as you please, but with the nature of your work, you’ll be given one of the rooms in the estate as you may need to stay over sometimes. Consider that it’ll be for the convenience of you and your employers if they need you at odd hours."

Ava had not thought deeply past the offer that she had been given. The Thornston estate was miles off her own place and it would be near impossible for her to commute daily if she was really going to work in there.

She nodded solemnly just as Suzie appeared.

"Miss Ava! It’s so great to see you! I missed you so much!"

"Yes!" Suzie bobbed her head up and down so hard that her pigtails started flying around, making Ava laugh out loud.

"You make the best food in the world! I am so happy that you will be here from now on. Gabriel and the others are also going to be over the moon! So, I also heard...."

Suzie talked non-stop, and Ava just let her. A small smile remained on her face as she gazed fondly at the girl who had been introduced to her as Shelby’s handmaid.

"Can you show me where the kitchens will be?"

With such a big estate, Ava never assumed that they had one kitchen to serve their needs.

Suzie nodded vigorously and started skipping ahead of her.

"Where does she get that much energy from?" Ava asked herself as she followed her, only to have Suzie stop abruptly.

"Oh shoot! Miss Ava, let me send you to your sleeping quarters first. The children just vacated their old room today, which would be perfect. Katie already had it cleaned out for you..."

Ava half-listened as she studied her surroundings and was led to what would be her room. There were a few workers putting the finishing touches there, but then Ava stood frozen!

"Who will I be sharing this with?" She asked Suzie.

"Come on, Miss Ava! This is all yours!"

Without the three beds from the kids, the room looked gigantic! They had placed a single, double bed in the middle of it, a dresser to the side and a few necessities around, but Ava was sure that she could fit their old house where Marvin lived in that room.

She walked around a little, opening the door to the outside and then the bathroom. She was simply amazed.

"How do I find my way back? This place is too big, and it’s like a maze!"

"Don’t worry, I’ll help you around."

Ava nodded and put her small purse on the bed, only pocketing her phone.

"Since the dinner is this evening, we only have a few hours left. Can you take me to the kitchens?"

"Sure, Miss Ava, this way..."

Ava did have an idea that the kitchen would be big, but nothing prepared her for what she saw. "This is a full-blown professional kitchen in an estate!" She exclaimed, getting chuckles from all around as well as scorns from others.

The people in there had all gotten their places through merit. They had worked up the chains only to hear that a friend of the new mistress had just been handed the position they were craving. She was not even made a sous-chef but a co-chef? That was unheard of!

The chef himself was pleasant enough, but a lot needed to be said about the rest in there. Ava had her work cut out for her even before she started, but she was one who had had a lot of trying times in her life, and that was not a situation that would deter her from doing anything!

"Welcome to the family...." The chef warmly greeted her.

"You will be henceforth in charge of the snacks that the family will consume..."

"Chef! You can’t just do that!"

"If you have reservations, sous-chef, please take it up with Mr & Mrs Thornston!"

That was enough to shut them up and for Ava to start her work. She settled in quite well, winning over most of them with the first few batches of grape-like meat she whipped up.

Suzie never left and hung around just to get a taste of that as well. Very soon, all was set for the dinner banquet.

However, just as they all sat down, an unexpected visitor made their presence known!

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