Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 98789 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 494(@200wpm)___ 395(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98789 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 494(@200wpm)___ 395(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
Her hand in mine. Her head on my chest. Her kiss, her kiss, her kiss.
But I felt other things too, things that weren’t physical. I felt the urge to protect her. To help her. To watch her succeed at her dream. To play whatever role I could in her happiness.
Just like that, I could see it stretching out in front of me. A life side by side. Not without bumps, not a straight line, not without peaks and valleys, but a road taken together. Dreams shared. Love. Loyalty. Family. My entire body warmed like I’d just stepped from the shadow into the sun.
I stood up. “Oh my God.”
“You see it,” Delphine said, sitting back.
“I see it. I fucking see it.” I shook my head in disbelief.
“Because you’re open to it. It’s not a prediction, it’s just a possibility.”
“Doesn’t matter. If it’s possible, I’ll do what it takes to make it reality.”
She smiled. “You really fell hard for this girl. What is it about her?”
“God, I could name a thousand things—her sense of humor, her kindness, her devotion to her family. Her work ethic, her honesty, her generosity. Her cooking—her fucking cooking could make me cry. She’s beautiful and sweet and she makes me feel so good. She’s like a soft place to land, you know? When things are hard, she just makes them better. She makes me better.”
Delphine nodded slowly. “Go get her, Dash. The future is all in your control.”
I raced through the curtain before remembering my manners. Parting the beads with my hands, I stuck my head back into the room. “Thank you, Delphine. I’m sorry I barged in here like that. It wasn’t nice. I hope the universe won’t hold it against me.”
She laughed. “You’re welcome, and it’s okay. The universe is forgiving, and so am I.”
Grinning, I rushed out of the shop and jumped in my car. On the drive back to my house, I made a phone call I hoped would set everything in motion.
And give her a moment that would change everything.
TWENTY-FIVE
ari
“Hi, Dad.” I smiled at him as I entered his hospital room Saturday afternoon. “How are you feeling today?”
“Like I’m ready to go home,” he said, scowling at the nurse checking his vitals.
She laughed. “Another few days or so, Moe. You’re almost there.”
I stayed out of the way as she finished up and smiled at her as she left the room. “I saw Mom at the diner as I was leaving. She said she’ll be up later.”
My dad sighed. “I don’t know why. It’s so boring here, I’m gonna lose my marbles. Come sit by me and tell me something exciting.”
I kissed his cheek and took the chair by his bedside. “I don’t have anything very exciting to tell you.”
“How’s the diner?”
“It’s fine, Dad. Same as always.”
“You sneak any new specials on the menu this week?”
I shook my head. “Just the old favorites.”
“Cook anything new at home lately?”
“No.” I studied my hands, clasped in my lap. “I haven’t felt like cooking much.”
He studied my forlorn face. “What’s wrong, angel?”
“Nothing, Dad.” Forcing a smile, I said, “Just get better, okay? When you get out of here, we’re going to start taking some walks together. And I’m going to share some recipes with you that have more heart-healthy ingredients.”
“I’d like that. You can make anything taste good, even kale.” He adjusted one of the pillows behind him and settled more comfortably. “But why don’t you tell me what’s going on with you? We haven’t had a good talk in a while.”
“Nothing is going on with me. I wish there was something, but there’s nothing. Same old, same old.” I looked out the window. The rain had finally let up after a few days, but the sky was still overcast.
“Maybe that’s the problem.”
“There’s no problem, Dad.” I’m just in love with a guy who doesn’t want to be in a relationship with me. It’s fine. I’ll get over it someday.
He was silent for a moment. Then he exhaled. “Trattoria DeLuca.”
I shifted my focus from the window to him. “What?”
“Da Maurizio. That’s what I was going to call my place.”
“What place?”
“The place I wanted to open instead of running Moe’s Diner.”
“I never knew you wanted to open your own place.”
“I did. I had a space all picked out and a menu planned. I had a vision.”
“What happened?”
“My father got sick. And my mother needed me to run Moe’s. My sister had just gotten married and had a baby on the way—she couldn’t handle it. My mother said if I didn’t take it over, she’d sell it. She refused to hire anyone outside the family to run things, and we couldn’t really afford it anyway because of all the medical expenses. So my choice was Moe’s Diner or Da Maurizio.”
“And you chose the diner.”
“I had to, didn’t I? It had been in my family for decades. It was beloved in the community. It had been my grandfather’s dream.”