“They were words!”
“Yes.”
I nodded.
“And words tell people exactly how you see them.”
Her eyes moved to the identification badge on my dress.
CULINARY DIRECTOR — PARTNER.
Her face tightened.
“You are actually a partner here?”
Franklin Cooper approached carrying a binder.
“Samantha is far more than that.”
Beatrice turned.
“Excuse me?”
“Her consulting company helped form the foundation of this project.”
Beatrice stared at me.
“Consulting company?”
Then she laughed.
“Samantha never had a business.”
“She has run one successfully for years,” Cooper replied.
That was when the rest of the truth finally came out.
Before I married Brian, my consulting practice was already profitable.
When he complained about my schedule, I shifted much of my work from home.
Brian assumed that meant I had stopped working.
In reality, I was consulting for restaurant groups.
Designing menus.
Negotiating purchasing agreements.
Developing culinary concepts for hotel companies.
And earning royalties from kitchen products designed with my father’s forge.