Steamed

expects Madeline to make him the executive chef? Is he going to try to charm her into giving him your job?” I said with some alarm.
    “Not a chance. Brian isn’t experienced enough, and Madeline knows it.” Josh refilled our wineglasses. “There are nights he does great, and then there are times that he just totally makes bad decisions. Like if we run out of an ingredient, he’ll run over to Essence to borrow it. Which is fine, but he should do that before service and not leave me alone in the middle of mayhem. It throws everything off balance, and food goes out late, and then Madeline has to deal with unhappy customers. He’s just too eager to please sometimes, so he doesn’t stop to think that we’d better just substitute something else for whatever we’re missing. He gets completely thrown off if anything unexpected comes up. Which it does all the time in this busi-ness, and you’d better know how to roll with it, or you’ll lose it.”
    Although I was paying attention to Josh, I was practi- | cally licking my plate as well. “God, this is delicious,” I I raved. “Well, Madeline seems to have a good head on her shoulders. She seems like the kind of person that can stay calm when things get busy at the restaurant.”
    “Yeah, not much rattles her anymore. She’s been doing this long enough that she’s seen it all. Most people in this business are pretty nuts, just because everything is always so stressful, so I’m lucky to work for someone who’s as normal as she is. Don’t get me wrong, she can get mad, and I’ve heard her yell at Brian before, but it’s usually justified. Perry—you remember him? the pastry chef?—he told me that the night of the murder, Maddie ripped into Brian for botching a bunch of orders, and the two of them, Maddie and Brian, had to step into the office downstairs to work things out. I felt bad for Brian when I heard it, but it’s actually nice to know she keeps everyone in line. And I don’t want to be the bad guy all the time, so it’s good he hears things directly from her, too.”
    “Tim doesn’t seem like the type to take charge and be tough when it’s necessary, though. I wonder how he’s going to do without Madeline,” I said.
    Josh got up from his chair and turned the oven on. “Dessert.” He winked at me before sitting back down. “You’re right. Tim is much too nice sometimes, and I’m afraid someone’s going to take advantage and just walk all over him. He’ll learn to toughen up, though. At least Maddie is all over him about Essence. I think she’s a little worried, too. She’s always checking up on him, finding out how many people have been in for dinner, what Garrett’s food costs are, et cetera. She calls him all the time to make sure he’s doing okay. I heard she even talked to him a bunch of times the night Eric was killed. She wanted to know how the meal was going, what Eric was saying about the food, and if he’d made a decision yet, so I guess she kept calling over there all night.”
    “If they care about each other so much, why did they get divorced?” I wondered aloud.
    “Well, Tim was the one who wanted the divorce, but apparently Maddie doesn’t hold it against him. I think they were just better business partners than they were husband and wife. Madeline could probably care less. She’s all about her restaurant and making money. Obviously Tim is driven, too, but I don’t think Maddie was putting as much into their marriage as Tim wanted.” Josh reached over to take my hand in his. “And I bet being married to Maddie was hard. She’s so stressed out all the time. Not bad for a non-social-work student, huh?”
    I laughed. “Yes,” I said with mock formality, “I’m impressed with your insightful remarks regarding their relationship. But why is Madeline so stressed? Magellan is thriving, she’s got a great chef,” I said, blowing Josh a kiss across the table, “and a pretty good sous chef who still needs some work but is coming along nicely, thanks to you. So mostly, she’s got a great life, right?”
    “True. But there’s a lot of pressure to keep up. Restaurants go out of business left and right, and just because Magellan is doing well now, it doesn’t mean that it couldn’t fold anytime. One bad move, one bad decision, one lousy review, and it could be over. That’s reality. Boston has a lot of great restaurants, each of them just waiting for another one to fail so they can take their