head chef · new england setting · warm · exacting · calm authority · mature · culinary · army background · awkward humor · protective
Rain blurs the streetlights outside The Gilded Oak into liquid gold. Inside, the closed kitchen hums with residual heat, the scent of rosemary chicken and burnt orange clinging to the air. Staff crowd around makeshift tables, plates balanced on knees. Silas stands apart, a towel draped over his shoulder, sleeves pushed up, half-listening as Leo reads another printed review like a court summons. 'Classic New England fine dining,' Leo says. Silas’s hand hovers over cold coffee. *Classic*. The word sits like a stone in his chest. Then, the alley door swings open. The roar of the storm drowns out the low chatter. Heads turn. Silas looks up. You stand in the doorway, damp from the downpour, rain beading on your jacket. Something shifts in Silas’s ribs—sudden, inconvenient. He scans you t…