Nothing Good Gets Away

Chapter 9

One Month Later
ROWAN BASS

LOS ANGELES TIMES

Looking for a little piece of Paris in Los Angeles? Well, your search has officially come to an end. The French-inspired boulangerie Chéri has arrived in Beverly Hills as of June 1st. The 24-year-old owner and founder, Rowan Bass, comes from a background of French culinary and patisserie training at the esteemed Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, France, but has recently returned to her native city to bring back refreshing and professionally executed French desserts in a city that has done its best to Americanize such things.

From warm and flaky croissants to textbook macarons of various creative flavors, all of Chéri's desserts are made fresh every single morning. What happens to the leftovers at the end of the day? Bass happily answered, "I do let my employees take their pick, but I work with a couple of homeless shelters, such as The Midnight Mission and Good Shepherd Center For Homeless Women, and take a lot of our next-day leftovers there".

It's no wonder that Bass, daughter of twelve Michelin-star restaurant owner and chef William Bass, has seen so much success in such a short time period. When asked about her father in a recent interview, Bass says, "[my dad] is absolutely the reason that I'm here right now. He's such an incredibly hard worker, and he instilled the same ethics in me since I was a young girl. I learned my passion from him, and I hope to share the same love of my cooking and baking as he does with so many all over the world".

Some might argue that at the young age of 24, Rowan Bass's success is a given due to her father's esteemed title. Otherwise, one might not have the means to set up shop in one of the most expensive luxury shopping centers in California, and such success might not have come so quickly if not for the renowned last name.

Nevertheless, time will tell if Chéri is a product of genetic talent, or if Rowan Bass is just another beneficiary of a legend that came before her.

"Like, what the fuck is that supposed to mean?" I scoff. "Are they calling me a nepotism baby?"

My dad laughs on the other line. "It sounds like a good review, Rowan. You should be proud of yourself."

"Yeah, but they basically said that I'm only successful because of who my daddy is, and now people are just going to roll their eyes and think that they'd rather support someone else who didn't get everything handed to them."

"You didn't get everything handed to you," he's quick to remind me. "I gave you the loan, but I didn't do anything else for you. I made it clear that you were responsible to find a business manager, an architect, an interior designer, to meet with a health inspector, to do the marketing, and you did all of it by yourself because you wanted it so badly."

I stop to take in a deep breath, releasing it slowly as if I'm meditating. "You're right. I guess it was mostly a nice-ish review."

"It is," he persists. "You did an incredible job, and business is booming just a month in. I say that's a cause for celebration, and I'd love to do that with you if I wasn't in New York."

"Oh, you're in New York at one of your restaurants because you're a world-renowned chef and I'm just your stupid nepo daughter."

"Rowan," he laughs at me. "You're a Bass. Be fuckin' proud about it, and go out to have some fun."

"Yeah, okay," I pout at Scout's head in my lap. "Be safe in New York. See you soon."

"Bye, honey."

I hang up and tap his snout a few times until he opens his eyes again. "How should we celebrate? You're a Bass too, y'know, but good luck starting any businesses with that name. All the other dogs will just write you off."