I was alone in the kitchen doing prep when my phone rang.
Most of the afternoon staff had already left. Leo was upstairs taking a rare break before the dinner rush. The only sounds were the low hum of the walk-in and the soft thud of my knife against the cutting board. I wiped my hands on my apron and pulled the phone from my back pocket without checking the screen.
“Hello?”
There was a short pause. Then a familiar gravelly voice I hadn’t heard in years slid through the speaker.
“Hey, shorty. Miss me?”
I froze with the knife still in my hand. My heart did a slow, heavy flip.
“Caleb?”
A low, rough laugh came down the line. “Still recognize the voice. That’s good. I was starting to worry you’d forgotten all about me.”
I set the knife down carefully and leaned both hands on the stainl
