When Ronda walked back into the restaurant after giving her piece to the camera out in the parking lot, she found Hunter standing near the doorway, waiting for her.

"Ronda, have you got a minute?" the Head Chef asked.

"Sure," Ronda agreed, managing to hide her surprise as she looked around the room at the wait staff, including Daniel and Stephanie, who were in the process of cleaning the tables, although Stephanie didn't seem enthusiastic about it at all. Right now, the dining area was not the place to have a private chat. "Shall we go in the kitchen?" she suggested.

"Alright," Hunter said, turning and leading the way across the restaurant. Ronda and the camerawoman followed closely behind. Whatever was about to happen was going to be recorded for the show.

When they walked into the kitchen, Ronda saw Bayley hard at work cleaning the cooker. "Bayley, can you give us a minute, please?" she asked.

"Okay," Bayley agreed pleasantly, tossing her cloth onto the nearby work surface and heading for the door. It seemed like she was eager to make herself scarce.

"What can I do for you?" Ronda asked Hunter once the camerawoman had taken up her position to film the exchange.

Hunter shifted on his feet, looking awkward as he tried to decide how to put what he wanted to say. "I think it went well tonight, once we really got down to work," he ventured.

"After our shouting match, you mean?" Ronda asked with a grin.

"Well, yeah," Hunter said. "We started getting the orders out in good time, and we hardly had any food coming back. That's the way it should be."

"It is," Ronda said, encouraging him to go on, still wondering where this was going.

"Honestly, tonight, I actually enjoyed cooking for the first time in months," Hunter said. "I know you think I'm a lazy, good-for-nothing asshole, but I really am a very good chef. I won my award legit, and I'm very proud of it. I just, kind of lost my motivation for it."

"Hunter, yesterday you served me frozen food that you heated up in a microwave," Ronda pointed out. "That tells me you've lost you've lost your passion for what you're doing. I don't pretend to be a trained chef, but what I do know is, a chef without any passion is a waste of space."

"You're right," Hunter sighed. "I've been coasting along, not giving a fuck about this place or enjoying cooking. I can see that if we carry on this way, we're going to have to close down. I don't want that. Tonight, I realised just how sick I am of working the way I have been recently. That's why I asked you to come in here now. I want to say that I'm going to get back to working to the standard that I'm capable of. I'm going to start coming in to work early to do my prep, and I'm going to make sure that all of our meals are made fresh. There won't be anymore frozen, microwaved shit sent out of my kitchen."

"That's great news. Well done, Hunter," Ronda said genuinely. "If you want the truth, I think one of the biggest problems you have in this kitchen is your wife. She's so negative all the time, it makes the atmosphere in here toxic. I don't think I've ever experienced anything quite like it."

Hunter grimaced. "Steph hates being a waitress. I got her the job here after she was made redundant at her old job, but she's never liked it."

"What did she do at her old job?" Ronda asked.

"She was a PA for some lawyer. He had a heart attack and died."

"A PA?" Ronda wondered aloud. "So she would maybe be more at home working the reception desk, if that job became available?"

"Nikki works the reception desk," Hunter said, not answering the question.

"I know. I'm thinking of having Daniel and Brie reorganise their staff," Ronda revealed. "My question was, do you think Stephanie's attitude would improve if she worked the reception desk? Because right now, I'm seriously considering telling the owners to fire her, you know that? If she worked a shift in one of my hotels with that kind of attitude, her feet wouldn't hit the ground on her way out the door, you know that?"

"I get that," Hunter said. "Honestly, I think Steph would like that change a lot."

Ronda nodded, then said, "There's something else I'm going to need you to do, too."

"What's that?" Hunter asked.

"Cooking is only part of the job for a Head Chef. This is your kitchen, Hunter. You don't need me to tell you that. You're responsible for everything that goes on in here, as well as every order that goes out to a table." She pointed to the door. "That girl who just walked out the door? Bayley? You've got a really talented, hard working girl right there. She has just the right kind of attitude you should want in a trainee chef. She likes to put ideas of her own forward, and more importantly, she can cook. And you've been treating her like shit. Watching her last night, she was so scared of the reaction she might get if she screwed something up that she tried to hide away as much as possible. Do you know how wrong that is?"

"Yeah, you're right," Hunter mumbled, looking down to avoid eye contact in embarrassment.

"You're the Head Chef," Ronda reminded him again. "It's your job to nurture the talent that girl has. It's up to you to help her develop. You should let her try out some of the suggestions she has for the menu, and you should take pride in her if she manages to pull them off. If she doesn't? Then you need to help her to do better next time. Don't shit on the girl, help her."

"You're totally right," Hunter said, nodding to emphasise his agreement.

"If you really mean what you're saying right now, and I truly hope you do, how about we get Bayley back in here and you apologise to her face for how you've treated her," Ronda suggested.

"Okay," Hunter agreed, but he didn't sound particularly committed to the idea.

"Look," Ronda said, doing her best to keep her cool while also wanting to be assertive to get her point across. "Right now, you hold that girl's career in your hands. Tell me, what was it like in the kitchen where you trained to be a chef? Did your Head Chef take you under his wing and teach you? Or did he kick your ass all the time?"

"Both, actually," Hunter said, managing a smile.

Ronda returned the smile, the first truly positive moment of the day between them. "I understand what you mean," she said. "And I bet you love him for it now, am I right?"

"Yeah," Hunter said reflectively.

"That's what you need to do now for Bayley. She's not here to wash dishes and clean the fridge all the time. She's your understudy now. Are we agreed on that?"

"We are," Hunter confirmed. "I'm going to need another chef as well. Remember, we fired Kane today."

"You're right," Ronda acknowledged. "I'll speak to Daniel and Brie about it. Now, before I invite Bayley back in here, I have one more question for you."

"Shoot," Hunter invited.

"What is the one thing you think Brianna's needs the most to become successful right now?"

Hunter grunted a laugh. "You, that's what we need. Or at least someone who could manage the place like you could. You've done more as a manager in one day here than anyone else has since we opened."

With that confirmation, Ronda glanced at the camera and grimaced, raising her eyebrows. She then walked over and opened the kitchen door. "Bayley," she called out. "I need you to join us in here for a minute."

Bayley quickly walked into the kitchen, a nervous expression on her face as she looked back and forth between Hunter and Ronda. "Everything okay?" she asked timidly.

Ronda looked at Hunter and raised her eyebrows again, prompting him to take centre stage.

"Bayley, Ronda and I have just had a positive conversation," Hunter began.

"Okay," Bayley said, still just as nervous.

"One of the things we talked about was your promotion to full time chef," Hunter went on. "I have to apologise to you, Bayley. The way you've been spoken to and treated sometimes in my kitchen, by me and by other people, has been unacceptable. I'm sorry, and I'm going to make sure it stops. I've just told Ronda that I'm committed to start acting like a proper Head Chef, and part of that means helping to develop the talent that I know you have. I'm looking for you to step up and become the sous chef that I need."

Bayley looked down at her feet and gulped, trying and failing to hold back the tears.

"Say something to the man, Bayley," Ronda prompted her gently.

"Thank you, Hunter," Bayley said quietly, managing to look up at him. "All I've ever wanted is to be a chef, and I really want to do well for Brie and Daniel. I'll try my hardest to learn, if you'll teach me."

"Fresh start?" Hunter asked, extending his hand. "I'll teach you as best I can. You need to know that I will still kick your ass in here, but only when you actually deserve it for screwing up. For"

"A fresh start," Bayley agreed, accepting his handshake.

"Well done, both of you," Ronda said. "For the first time, the two of you have just given me real hope that this place is going to make it, you know that?"

"We still need another chef," Hunter reminded her.

"Uh, I actually have a friend who's a chef, and she's currently looking for work. Her name is Sasha," Bayley said quietly, clearly worried that she might be told to shut up.

"We can give her a trial shift," Hunter suggested, looking at Ronda.

"I'll speak to Daniel and Brie about it," Ronda said. "There are a few things I need to bring up with them now. I'll leave the two of you to get the kitchen cleaned."

With that, Ronda walked out of the kitchen. As she walked across the restaurant, she spoke for the benefit of the show's audience. "Fucking hell. We might actually be getting somewhere. Hunter has some balls after all, and I've seen tonight that he can actually cook. The kitchen might stand half a chance of being successful if he can follow through on everything he's just promised me. In Bayley, he has someone with a lot of potential."

She stopped walking when she reached the exit of the restaurant and looked at the camera with a stern expression on her face. "Now it's time for Daniel and I to have words." Looking across the room to where the owners was wiping a table down with a cloth, she called out, "Daniel! Come out here, will you?"

Daniel finished cleaning the table he was working on, then walked over to Ronda.

"It's time we had a serious chat," she told him as he approached. "We need to talk about what I think is the biggest problem this hotel has right now."

"Oh? What's that?" Daniel asked.

"You."