Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 59647 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 298(@200wpm)___ 239(@250wpm)___ 199(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59647 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 298(@200wpm)___ 239(@250wpm)___ 199(@300wpm)
We exchanged another friendly hug, and she went to the front door while I went in the back. Papa didn’t seem to notice me sneaking back in, and when I appeared on the line beside him, he didn’t react then either. He just pointed to a ticket and made a sound that I understood to mean “do that, please.”
After a long lunch shift, I went into prepping for dinner before clocking out to go home. Tonight was one of the nights Papa had another old Italian guy come in to work with him in the kitchen. His name was Sal, and he’d apparently moved to Ashford to keep an eye on one of his nieces after she had some rather scary stuff happen a couple years back. He met up with Papa one night in the restaurant, and they spoke to each other for hours in Italian, seemingly delighted to find someone in town to hang out with.
Sal was terrible in the kitchen, but it didn’t matter. He was more there to occasionally chop up an onion and put toppings on pizzas before they went into the oven. It was easy work, while Papa did all the other stuff. But if you dropped by, you would probably be able to hear Sal and Sergio in the back, laughing, singing, and joking together every Monday and Thursday nights.
I headed home, hope filling my mind as I started thinking about the possibility of a chili cook-off. A chance to not only show my own skills as a cook, but also to really experiment with heat and flavor in a way I wasn’t allowed to at the restaurant. It was all so enticing, so much fun to think about, that I was deep in a vision while cooking and listening to music that I almost didn’t hear the phone ringing in the living room.
I shut off the music and went to grab the phone, swiping it open and sitting heavily on the couch. Helen’s chipper voice greeted me on the other end.
“Hi, Sofia,” she said in a sing-songy way. “I just got off the phone with some of the other fair people. They love the idea of doing a chili cook-off again. Especially since Sergio isn’t doing pizzas. They were apparently really contemplating asking me to cater it before they went to find vendors. I am so glad I don’t have to do that all on my own.”
I tried to contain the squeal building up in me and remain calm. I brought the phone with me into the kitchen and stirred the chili. It smelled delicious.
And spicy.
“I am so glad,” I said. “I cannot wait to try my hand at it.”
“Good,” Helen said. “I just got a text from Brett. Apparently, they already have a couple other people throwing their hats into the ring too.”
“Really? Like who? The reigning champion?”
She laughed.
“No, I asked. That was Mrs. Bigelowe, but she passed away last year. No, this was a couple of the ladies at the church, a guy from the other side of the mountain named Winston, and the new assistant fire chief. Apparently, he won a bunch of awards for his chili up in Nashville and is super excited to compete.”
I felt like my heart was going to pound out of my chest when she mentioned the fireman. But I had to know. Was it the same guy? Maybe there was another new fireman with a taste for heat. Crossing my fingers, I asked.
“What was the fireman’s name?” I asked.
“I think it was Kieran?” she said in a questioning way. “Something like that. Duggan. Duggan was his last name.”
The man could cook too? Suddenly, the room felt very hot, and it had nothing to do with the spice in my chili.
6
KIERAN
“You’re kidding,” I said into the phone as I pulled off my rubber boots and sat them beside me.
“Nope,” Tony replied on the other end. “I thought for sure you would be interested. I’m going to do something for it, I just don’t know what. I might enter it on my own, I might see if I can collaborate. I don’t know. But you said you won some awards for yours, right?”
“I did. I placed three years running and won first place one year in Nashville. Did a bunch of other small ones that I either won or placed in the top three.”
“See, you should do it! It’ll be a blast.”
“Yeah, you’ve got me. I’m in,” I said.
“Alright,” Tony exclaimed. “Then I’ll make sure your name gets put on the list. This is going to be great, man. Are you entering as you or as a representative of the fire department?”
“I’ll have to talk to the chief about it first,” I said. “I can’t even commit as just being me until I get a go-ahead from him to work on my recipe here.”