A Pizza to Die For (18 page)

“Are you kidding? I’m fine with it. It’s my sister that you might have a hard time convincing,” I said as I added a pizza-melt sandwich onto the conveyor. I had a gap in my oven schedule, and I’d been trying to come up with new sandwiches to match the deep dish pizzas we were going to start offering. If I had to revamp my entire menu to stay in business, I’d do it.

“You don’t think she loves me, do you?” Bob asked. It was as though I’d just told him he was going to die before sunrise tomorrow.

“Are you kidding me? She cares more about you than she did for at least two of her ex-husbands, and that’s really saying something.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

I frowned at the oven, willing it to finish a pizza I could cut and bring out, anything to spare me from having the conversation I was currently embroiled in. “You don’t want to know.”

“Trust me when I tell you that I do.” There was no denying the plea in his voice as he said it.

“Bob, I think you two are wonderful together, and if you asked my sister under a lie detector test, she would have to agree. But that doesn’t mean that she’s ready to get married again, no matter what she might say under oath.”

“I just assumed that she is joking when she makes all those cracks about wedded unbliss,” he answered.

“Maybe she is, and maybe she isn’t. I can’t speak for her, but if you are determined to ask her to marry you, be prepared for either answer, because I’m not even certain she knows what she’d say if you asked her.”

Finally a pizza came out, and I pounced on it as though I was starving and it was all for me.

“So, what do you recommend?” Bob asked.

“Folks seem to really like the deep dish I just started serving,” I said.

“That’s not what I’m asking, and you know it.”

“I do, but it’s the only answer you’re going to get from me.”

He pulled a small felt box out of his pocket, weighed it in his hand, and then asked me, “What am I supposed to do with this?”

The door opened, and I saw Maddy coming.

“I’d put it away quickly, for now,” I said as I handed the pizza to my sister, providing a distraction at the same time as it required a delivery.

Maddy looked at me, then at Bob, and finally back to me. “What are you two talking about back here?”

“My menu,” I said.

Maddy raised an eyebrow as she looked at me. “Really?”

“Among other things,” I amended. “Now, would you mind delivering that pizza to its rightful owners while it still has some semblance of being hot and fresh?”

“You got it, boss.”

As she left, she winked at Bob, who didn’t react one way or the other, an odd reaction coming from him. Maddy glanced at me and gave me her best quizzical look. I just shook my head, and she walked out looking bewildered.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t be more help,” I said.

“It’s not your problem. It’s mine,” Bob replied.

As he headed for the door, I asked him, “Is that why you came back here, to ask for permission to marry my sister?”

Bob looked startled by the very idea of doing anything like that. “No, not at all. I learned something you might find interesting today. Funny, I nearly forgot all about it after our little conversation.”

“Believe me, information is one thing I’m lacking these days. I’ll take whatever you’ve got to give me.”

“A friend discovered something today and passed the news on to me. It was given to me in trust, and I hope you’ll respect that.”

“I won’t tell a soul,” I said as I took another pizza out of the oven. This one was for Karen, and it had to go through one more time before it was ready to be served.

“I mean it. I could lose a great deal if this information was ever traced back to me, Eleanor.”

I looked at him for a moment, and then said, “Bob, you’ve given me information before without making me swear some kind of oath of honesty to you. It all boils down to this: either you trust me or you don’t. If you do, tell me whatever is on your mind, but please, if you think I’m going to blab it all around town, you’re best off if you just walk away right now.”

“Eleanor, why do you and your sister both have to make things so hard on people who are trying to help you?” he asked, the frustration coming out in his voice.

“Are we still talking about me, or did this conversation just take an abrupt shift back to my sister? I’m fine, either way. I’m just trying to keep up.”

He laughed and shook his head, and then actually managed to find a smile for me. “You’re right. I shouldn’t be taking my aggravation with your sister out on you. I trust you, Eleanor.”

“You’re sure?”

“I’m positive, and I make a great portion of my living being a good judge of character.”

“Then tell me what you’ve got,” I said.

He was about to say something when the kitchen door opened again, an act that shut him right up again.

I was beginning to wonder if I’d ever hear what he had to say.

Chapter 16

“E
leanor, I’ve got a request for six more pizzas before we close,” Greg said as he came through, “and I need to know if you can fill it.”

“Let me check my dough first,” I said as I poked my head into the refrigerator to take a count on available balls of dough.

“I can come back later,” Bob said.

“You stay right there,” I commanded, popping back out for one second.

As I looked for more dough, I heard Greg say, “She’s scary, isn’t she?”

“Nothing like her sister, though,” he said.

“I can still hear you both,” I said from inside the fridge. “Yes, we can handle it. What is it, some kind of party? I thought those didn’t start in earnest until Halloween tomorrow.”

“I guess they’re getting a jump on things,” he said.

“How do they want them?” I asked.

“Your choice,” he said. With a grin, Greg added, “I’d make them all garbage pizzas so you can charge them the max.”

“It’s always good to get your opinion,” I said with a fake smile.

“So, you’re going to do what you want, anyway,” Greg answered.

“You’ve got it. Now go.”

After he left, Bob asked, “Do we really need to do this now? I can come back later when things aren’t so crazy around here.”

“I’d love to hear what you have to say, but then again, I’m not the sister you really need to worry about pleasing, am I?”

He grinned at me. “You’re probably the only one I have a shot with.”

“Trust me, you’re going to have to try a lot harder with me than you ever have with my sister,” I said.

“I didn’t mean it that way,” Bob said, and then he finally saw my smile. “But then you knew that, didn’t you?”

“Sorry, I guess I’ve got a cruel streak.”

“I won’t comment on that one way or the other, but I will tell you what I found out. Gina Sizemore’s credit debt was paid off in full as of one
P
.
M
. today.”

That was right before we’d had our meeting with Nathan, Gina, and Nancy, and I wondered if Gina felt she could speak a little more freely now that her debt was gone. It could explain why she’d been so vocal with her uncle, but it didn’t explain her willingness to alienate his affections. I was certain she was counting on a great deal more money once he was gone. What I wasn’t at all sure about was if she was willing to help that time come early.

“Does that help you and Maddy in your investigation at all?” Bob asked, and I suddenly realized that he was still standing there watching me.

“It might. Thanks for sharing,” I said as I began to work on pizza crusts.

He nodded. “It was the least I could do.”

“Don’t kid yourself. You could have kept it to yourself. Thank you.”

Bob nodded and then started for the door.

I couldn’t let him leave like that. “Bob?”

He stopped and turned back to me. “Yes?”

“Don’t give up, on either one of us. You’re special to Maddy and me both. You know that, don’t you?”

“But not in the same way,” he answered with a smile.

I threw a towel at him. “Dream on, sport.”

After he was gone, Karen’s pizza came out of the oven for the second time. It was a bubbling pan of goodness, and if I hadn’t made it special for her, I would have been tempted to sample it myself.

I grabbed a few hot pads and took it out to her personally. “Here you go, compliments of the Slice.”

She nodded with a little less enthusiasm than I expected.

“Is something wrong, Karen?”

“No, not at all. I just realized that I have so much to do if I’m going to help you, I’m not sure I have time to eat it.”

“Please, stay and enjoy it.”

“Only if you’ll join me,” she said.

I knew I surprised her when I said, “Let me clear it with Maddy, and then I’ll grab another plate.”

Maddy wasn’t thrilled about being banished to the kitchen again, but at the moment, I didn’t care. She had a date tonight, and I didn’t have a single plan other than to go home, take a shower, and read a good book. It wouldn’t kill her to do a little more kitchen duty, and I had to eat something before I went home, or the cookies in my pantry there wouldn’t stand a chance.

When I came back, I served us both slices of the delightful pizza, and then we began to eat. The tastes and textures were getting better and better, and I was beginning to be proud of my new addition.

After I’d finished a bite, I said, “You have a lot of interests, don’t you?”

“I don’t know. I come across something when I’m reading, and that triggers something else, and then I’m off to the races.”

I took a sip of my soda. “What made you interested in genealogy?”

“I’ve never had much of a family,” she said solemnly. “I thought it might be nice to know that there are other people out there I’m related to that I haven’t met yet. I envy you and your sister,” she said.

“Really?”

“You’re both such important parts of each other’s lives,” she said. “Not everyone has that.”

“I guess you’re right,” I said. Our tone had gotten rather intense, so I decided to change the subject. “That explains that, but what about auto mechanics and law? You were taking a class on money management as well, right?”

“That’s next semester,” she said. “I’m not sure about that one. The class is overbooked, so I’m going to have to get a waiver from the professor.” Karen looked around the restaurant at our meager attempts to decorate for the Halloween festivities. “I like what you’ve done with the place,” she said with a smile.

I looked around, too. “It’s got that certain something, doesn’t it? We decided to go minimalist this year.”

“It works for you,” she said. “You’re dressing up for the Blowout tomorrow night, aren’t you? It should be fun.”

“I haven’t even thought about a costume yet, but I’ll come up with something. How about you?”

She looked at her pizza, and then said softly, “I was thinking about being Cinderella. Is it tacky for a grown woman to dress that way?”

“It depends. Is your princess going to be the least bit sleazy?”

“No, never. I could never imagine doing that.”

“Then you’ll be a delightful Cinderella,” I said as I touched her arm lightly.

My approval seemed to mean something to her, because she smiled.

“I think you should go all out,” Karen said.

“That’s my sister’s area of expertise,” I said.

I saw Maddy waving at me from the back. “As a matter of fact, it appears that she needs me in the kitchen right now. Will you excuse me?”

“I’ve got to run, too,” she said as she stood and collected her books. “I had a delightful time, Eleanor.”

“As did I. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

As Karen left, I made my way back to the kitchen.

“What is it?” I asked Maddy.

“Oh, nothing, as long as you don’t mind me ruining those pizzas you’re making. You send the deep dish ones through three times, right?”

I raced past her. “Twice,” I said as I pulled one out on its third trip, smoking and topped with a black substance that was unrecognizable.

Oh, well. My break had been fun while it had lasted. As I made a replacement pizza for the one Maddy had just ruined, I wondered if I’d ever get out of my kitchen for more than an hour or two a day.

Maddy came back into the kitchen after we locked up. “Anything I can do to help make this go faster?” she asked me.

“You can go ahead and send the guys home,” I said. “I’ve got this covered.”

“Got it.” She leaned out through the doorway and said, “Okay, the coast is clear. You can go home.”

When there was no response, I said, “You already let them go, didn’t you?”

Maddy looked a little embarrassed when she admitted, “I knew we were nearly finished, and they both had things to do tonight. I’m sorry, Eleanor. I don’t mean to keep overstepping my bounds.”

“Why don’t you go, too?”

She looked surprised. “You’re not firing me, are you? I said I was sorry.”

I had to laugh. “Maddy, there’s nothing much left to do here, and Bob told me you have a date tonight yourself. Go home. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m pretty certain that’s what he said, but you can call him and ask him yourself if you’d like.”

“I mean about leaving,” she said.

“Go. Now.”

She kissed my cheek. “Thanks, Sis. I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

After Maddy was gone, the Slice seemed awfully quiet as I balanced out the cash register and put the deposit in our safe. I lingered in the back, trying to find things to do, but finally I had to admit that I was finished.

Why was I suddenly so reluctant to go home?

And that’s when it hit me. I was getting tired of being alone. Having David Quinton join me after work had already become something that I looked forward to, and the first night he was going to be absent, I was shocked to realize that I was feeling lonely.

After giving myself a pep talk, I left the Slice and drove home. I was a grown woman.

I could spend the evening by myself if I had to.

I just didn’t want to.

When I woke up, I said, “Happy Halloween” to myself, and got ready for a very big day. We’d have our regular opening time for lunch, but our dinner shift would be hit or miss, serving our little ghost pizzas for a dollar each and contributing the profits to the Helping Hand Fund, a program set up to relieve some of the burdens of the very poorest in our community. It was a charity I fully supported, and I was happy for the opportunity to contribute my little bit to it. I completely understood the desire of some folks to help others in foreign countries, but I had a hard time doing it when I knew that kids within ten miles of me were going to bed hungry at night, or being forced to do without much-needed medications. Giving them my time and money made me feel as though I was making a difference, no matter how little I managed to contribute every year.

After my shower, I realized that in the rush of everything that had been going on over the last week, I’d forgotten to get a costume, and for the first time in years, I felt like dressing up. I went through my closets, trying to come up with something I could put together, but I wasn’t having much luck when my telephone rang.

“Happy Halloween,” Maddy said.

“The same to you. What are you dressing up as this year?”

“I’m going to be Tinkerbell.”

“Excuse me? You’re kidding, right?”

She laughed. “No, I picked up some gossamer wings, and I’m doing the coolest makeup. The outfit shows off my figure, too.”

“Not too much, I hope. We’ve got kids coming to the Slice.” My sister had been known to get carried away in the name of Halloween.

“It’s in perfect taste,” she said. “Well, it should at least pass inspection. How about you? What did you come up with?”

“I haven’t,” I reluctantly admitted. “I forgot to do anything earlier, and now it’s too late.”

“Nonsense,” she said. “Give me twenty minutes, and I’ll be right there. We can come up with something together. It will be like old times. We made our costumes at the last minute more than once in the old days, remember?”

“See you then,” I said. When Maddy and I were kids, we couldn’t always afford the latest and greatest in costumes, so we’d started a tradition of making each other’s outfits for Halloween. In our own little world, the sister who helped the other achieve the best look got a third of that sister’s candy, so it had been serious business between us. Sadly, Maddy usually won. She had a knack for seeing the potential in a pile of junk, and I almost always had a costume cooler than anything we could have bought at the store.

I grabbed a yogurt and added some cold fruit to it, and then scanned the newspaper as I waited for her.

When Maddy showed up, she looked absolutely adorable. Her costume shimmered as she moved, and her eyes were highlighted by a skilled makeup job. Something was missing, though.

“Hey, where are your wings?”

“I had to take them off. They’re murder to drive in. Do you like it?” she asked as she twirled around, her skirt flaring as she did.

“It’s perfect. You’re going to have all the boys in town chasing after you.”

“It’s not the boys I care about,” she said with a wicked grin. “It’s the men I’m after.”

“Not just one in particular? What’s Bob going as?”

She shrugged. “He won’t tell me, but he bought his costume at a big shop in Charlotte, and I can’t wait to see it.”

“You’re really good for him, aren’t you?”

She shrugged. “Honestly, we’re good for each other. He’s probably a better man than I deserve.”

The admission was unusual for her. “I find that hard to believe.”

“It’s true,” she insisted.

“Then why don’t you treat him better than you do?”

Maddy bit her lip, and then said, “I wonder that sometimes myself.”

“Could it be that your heart can’t take being broken again? It’s almost as though you don’t want to get your hopes up this time.”

She thought about that, and then said, “I honestly don’t know. You could be right, Eleanor.”

“He loves you, Maddy,” I said.

She looked as though she wanted to cry when she heard me say that, something I didn’t want. Making my voice lighter, I asked, “But then, who doesn’t? You’re going to be the hit of Halloween.”

“Not if I can help it. Now let’s see that closet of yours. Not the good stuff, either. I want the things you’re ready to take to Goodwill.”

After going through every item of clothing I had in my possession, Maddy frowned at the lot of it. “There’s not a great deal here to work with, is there?”

“Sorry. I suspected that it was too much to ask.”

“Nonsense,” she said. Maddy frowned at it all, and then looked intently at me. “I’m going to suggest something to you, but if it’s a bad idea, tell me up front and I’ll drop it. Will you promise to do that?”

“I’m listening,” I said. It was hard to tell what my sister was about to suggest, but her warning gave me more than a little pause.

“Do you have anything of Joe’s that you kept?”

“No,” I said firmly. “I won’t do that.”

“Fine, it was just an idea.”

I explained, “Maddy, the things I’ve kept aren’t for mocking, and that’s what would happen if I wore them for Halloween.”