Athena didn’t know what she’d expected, stepping into the diner kitchen for the first time in nearly a decade. She felt like an entirely different woman from the girl who’d worked here. But the diner had changed little. The same ancient grill and commercial range had been scrubbed to gleaming, and the worn tile floors still showed the tracks of years of the dance between counter and range and walk-in cooler. A faint scent of grease lingered beneath the sharp bite of lemon cleaner. It smelled like home. In high school, this had been one of her sanctuaries. At Crystal’s elbow, she’d honed her natural culinary skills sharp enough to land her a spot in her first high-end kitchen in London. From there she’d cooked her way across Europe until she earned her way into Chef Ossani’s kitchen—her gat
