Chapter 5 - The Market Dash
The kitchen dropped into absolute silence once again.
Maya’s newly gained confidence threatened to crumble. Three hundred guests were arriving in less than twenty-four hours. The sea bass was the primary fish option for the main course, and the local vegetables were the base for every side dish on her new menu.
"Is the driver okay?" Lucas asked immediately, taking control of the room.
"Yeah, he's fine, minor bumps," the delivery boy panted. "But the truck's refrigeration failed after the crash. Everything inside is spoiled. The supplier says they can't get another shipment from Miami until Sunday morning!"
"Sunday is too late," Maya said, her mind racing. "The wedding is tomorrow at 5:00 PM."
Lucas pulled out his phone, already dialing his high-end suppliers. "I'll call our corporate vendors in Atlanta. We can pay for emergency overnight freight—"
"No," Maya interrupted, grabbing his arm gently to stop him. "Atlanta fish will be twenty-four hours old by the time it gets here, and it’ll cost three times our budget. We are in Charleston, Lucas. We are surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean."
Lucas lowered his phone, looking at her with curiosity. "What are you suggesting?"
"The Charleston City Docks," Maya said, her eyes flashing with determination. "The local fishing boats bring in their daily haul at 5:00 AM every morning. If we go down there directly, we can buy the freshest red snapper and local grouper straight off the boats for half the price."
Lucas stared at her for a long moment, a proud smile breaking across his face. "Can you adjust the menu on the fly to use snapper instead of sea bass?"
"Red snapper cooks faster and pairs even better with my sweet corn succotash," Maya said without hesitation. "And as for the vegetables... the weekend farmers' market on Marion Square opens at dawn. We can clear out every local farmer’s stock of tomatoes, sweet peppers, and fresh greens before the rest of the city wakes up."
Lucas grabbed his leather jacket off the chair. "Get your coat, Chef. We're going fishing."
Four hours later, at 4:30 AM, the sky over Charleston harbor was a deep indigo, brushed with pink and gold sunrise hues. The crisp ocean air carried the smell of saltwater, diesel fuel, and fresh sea air.
Maya and Lucas stood on the wooden piers of the dock as the commercial fishing boats motored in, gulls circling overhead. Maya moved between the fishermen with absolute natural authority, examining the clear eyes and bright red gills of the freshly caught red snapper, negotiating prices with seasoned dockworkers who treated her with immediate respect.
Lucas watched her from a few feet away, entirely mesmerized.
He had spent years dealing with elite, arrogant culinary school graduates who refused to get their hands dirty. Yet here was Maya—standing on a slippery wooden dock at five in the morning in her boots, tossing fish crates with dockhands, laughing softly as the sea spray hit her face.
"We got seventy pounds of wild-caught snapper!" Maya cheered, turning to Lucas with a radiant, breathless smile as two dockhands loaded the heavy ice chests into the back of Lucas’s SUV. "Fresh out of the water three hours ago! It’s ten times better than the frozen sea bass we lost!"
"You're incredible, do you know that?" Lucas said softly, stepping closer to her as the morning sun broke over the harbor behind them.
Maya paused, her heart skipping a beat. "I'm just doing my job, Lucas."
"No," Lucas said, taking her gloved hand into his. "You're saving this event. You're saving my reputation. And you're doing it with grace."
He reached out, his warm hand tucking a strand of dark hair behind her ear. For a brief, lingering second, neither of them moved. The distance between them shrank, and Maya could feel the rhythmic rise and fall of his chest.
Then, Lucas’s phone buzzed sharply in his pocket, breaking the trance.
He pulled it out, looked at the screen, and his jaw instantly hardened.
May you like
"Who is it?" Maya asked, sensing the sudden shift in his energy.
"Celeste," Lucas said, his voice turning cold. "She just posted a video on social media claiming that Reed House is using spoiled ingredients and health-code violations for the Whitmore wedding today."
