Mauro completes the summer at Les Voltigeurs, losing seven pounds while replenishing his pockets. But when the fall arrives, he tells the owners that he’s leaving. The women’s eyes widen, their jaws drop. They don’t understand: Les Voltigeurs is all about continuity; he belongs to a professional world here, he has a place. They feel betrayed: This kid is so ungrateful! Mauro phones me in the evening to tell me about his departure, and I can sense that he’s anxious, keyed up, and for the first time I hear him say that he can’t stand any more of this grind, that these family businesses where you work from 7:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m. seven days a week, they’re just not his thing: They’re all too emotional—I’m not their kid! I’m not like them. I have a life. What I want is a simple job, normal hours, regular pay, you know?

September 2006. Mauro kisses the two women on their cheeks. They ball their fists on their hips and tease him, laughing: Go see if the grass really is greener, go on, but come back quick—this is your home! They calmed down when he told them what he was planning to do: go back to school, after his post-Erasmus sabbatical year, and earn a master’s at the Institute for the Study of Economic and Social Development. They’re impressed, they nod approvingly: the intimidating, coded world of academia is much easier for them to swallow than another restaurant.

Mauro’s decision also comes as a surprise to his friends, who are beginning to find it hard to understand what he’s up to: I mean, what’s the plan exactly, postgrad studies or being a chef? He explains: going back to school is rooted in a desire to keep several irons in the fire, to spin several plates at once, like a Chinese juggler, so that he will always have something going on if one of the plates falls to the ground and smashes. He’s probably also seeking to develop what is already quite an original résumé, which—he senses—grants him a uniqueness, an open-mindedness, the ability to think more broadly. In a way, the speed of turnover that he has seen in the restaurant industry encourages him to bide his time; he is confident that there will always be opportunities. He thinks he’ll be able to find a few shifts to earn a bit of money—what he wants now is to go to Lisbon in November so he can be with Mia, hold her in his arms, breathe in the scent of her hair.