A Pizza to Die For (15 page)

“I suppose that all depends on what you’re looking for,” he said so softly I barely caught it.

“What are you looking for, David?” I asked.

He took so long to answer me that I wasn’t sure he’d heard my question, but finally, David said, “Once upon a time I thought I knew, but lately that seems to keep changing on me.”

“Don’t worry, you’ll figure it out,” I said, happy and yet a little disappointed that he hadn’t said me.

“I suppose you’re right,” he said. After a few minutes, he stretched in his chair, and then stood. “I hate to break this up, but I’ve got a dozen interviews scheduled for tomorrow to find a new manager.”

“Is there any chance you’ll have time for dinner again tomorrow night?” I asked hopefully, amazed by how quickly I’d grown to look forward to our meals together.

“I’d love to, but two of the candidates can’t make it until late, so I’ve got interviews scheduled a great deal later than I wanted.”

As I stood, he added, “Tell you what I’ll do. If one of them cancels on me at the last minute, I’ll give you a call, if you’d like.”

“I’d like that very much.”

He looked at me for a few lingering seconds, kissed my cheek lightly, and then said, “Good night, Eleanor.”

“Good night,” I said.

The mood was special and heartfelt, a moment to remember, until he tripped over the garbage bag on the sidewalk.

Instead of being upset, he just laughed it off. “And that’s why they call me Mr. Smooth.”

“Clearly they haven’t seen your act up close,” I said.

“See ya,” he said as he collected the bag and stowed it in the trunk.

“Right back at you.”

After David was gone, I went inside. It felt cold in there, cooler than it should have been, but when I checked the thermostat, it was exactly where I’d left it that morning. I wasn’t sure if it was a sign that I missed David, or if I was just chilly, but I cranked it up a few degrees before I went to bed and dreamed of picnics on the porch, surprising dimples, and, most important of all, a heart that was finally beginning to thaw.

The next morning, Maddy was at the pizzeria before I made it in, though I was twenty minutes early myself.

I found her in the kitchen working at the prep table.

“Good morning,” I said as I grabbed my apron. “You’re here early.”

“I couldn’t sleep, so I decided to get a jump on things.”

“What happened to you and your crafts and your mystery novels? They used to fill your time.”

She shrugged. “It’s not what it used to be. My favorite mystery writer quit writing craft-based cozies awhile back, and I’ve kind of lost the desire to do anything more at the moment.”

“I wonder why he stopped. Did he just get tired of writing them?”

She shook her head as she waved her knife around in the air. “Trust me, I wanted to know the exact same thing, so I wrote him an email.”

“I’m sure he doesn’t have anything better to do with his time than to correspond with you, Maddy.”

“That shows you how much you know. Actually, he answered me right away. It appears that he was happy to keep writing them, but his publisher decided not to do any more, so he’s kind of out in the cold at the moment.”

“I hate when that happens,” I said as I started measuring out flour, water, yeast, olive oil, and salt for my basic crust recipe. “He should write some of those food-oriented mysteries. I hear they do really well.”

“He’s a real wizard with crafts, but I don’t know if he can cook or bake, so that might be a disadvantage for him,” she said, laughing.

“Come on, it’s all fiction, right?”

“You’d think so. At least I hope so. That’s a lot of murder we’re talking about.”

I paused before I turned on the mixer. “Can you imagine how many bodies Agatha Christie alone was responsible for?”

“I don’t have a clue, but I’m willing to bet there’s a website on the Internet that’s got every last one of them listed.”

“Somebody’s got too much time on their hands.” I flipped the mixer on to stir the dry ingredients while I waited on the yeast to proof.

“Ask a question, get an answer.”

“Hey, I was just curious. I didn’t expect a full-blown lecture,” I said with a smile.

She just chuckled as she shook her head. “I figured you’d learn someday, but it hasn’t happened yet.”

“Give me time,” I said. “I’ll get there sooner or later.”

I thought I heard something out front, so I flipped the mixer off. That action was followed by a sudden silence.

“Did you hear that?” I asked Maddy.

“Hear what?”

I listened more, shook my head, and then turned the mixer back on. Just as I did, the pounding started again.

As soon as I turned it off, the pounding stopped.

“Are you saying you didn’t hear that, either?”

“Maybe the mixer’s going bad,” she said. “If there’s something wrong with the motor, it might cause the whole thing to thump.”

At that moment, the pounding resumed.

“Thank goodness it’s not the mixer,” I said as I wiped my hands on my apron.

“Don’t answer it,” Maddy said. “We’re not opening for another few hours, so they can wait like everyone else.”

“What if it’s important?” I asked as I moved toward the kitchen door that led to the dining room.

“What if it’s not?”

It was too late to stop me, though. I had a thing about letting telephones and door knocks go unanswered.

When I looked outside, I saw Gina Sizemore, and from the expression on her face, I was willing to bet that she didn’t have good news for me.

Chapter 13

“W
e don’t open for a few more hours,” I said through the door as I approached Gina. I made no move to unlock it. I hoped she wasn’t under the impression that I was going to let her inside.

“I’m not here for pizza. I figured you had a right to know what I’m doing. Trust me, you’re going to want to hear this.” She looked annoyed that I had shown no interest in letting her inside where it was warm. “Do we really have to keep talking through this door?”

She certainly had my attention. Against my better judgment, I unlocked the door, but Gina stayed out on the sidewalk. “I’ll make this quick. I’ve decided to open Italia’s in honor of Judson. We’re going to be holding our grand opening tomorrow night.”

I was shocked by the news. Was I going to lose the Slice after all? “You’re doing it at the Halloween Blowout? Are you kidding me?”

She smiled brightly at me. “What better time to announce ourselves to the community than when everyone’s gathered together on the promenade.”

“I thought the pizzeria was your brother’s dream,” I said as I took the new flyer she presented me with.

“It was. That’s why I’m doing it. It’s the best way I can think of to carry on in his honor. He would have wanted it that way.”

I looked at her for a second before I asked, “Are you telling me that’s not going to creep you out at all?”

“What are you talking about?”

I couldn’t believe that she hadn’t even considered the ramifications of what she was about to do. “You’re going to make pizzas on the exact same spot where your brother was murdered. You’ll see it every day when you go to work, have to look at it the entire time you’re there, and then it will be the last thing you see when you leave.”

“I can deal with it,” she said, though at least some of the sunshine had faded from her expression. “I’ve made up my mind, so there’s no use trying to change it.” She started to go, and then turned and looked at me. “You and your staff are welcome to come, but I’d appreciate it if you didn’t enter any of the drawings we’ll be having. I want to reserve those for my new customers. We’re giving away some exciting stuff. Have a great day,” she said as she walked toward Paul’s Pastries with her handful of announcements. I wondered how my friend was going to take the news that his former girlfriend was going to be running a business so close to his own. And, in a perfect world, I probably should have warned him that she was on her way, but in all honesty, I had problems of my own.

Maddy came up front with a puzzled expression on her face. “Your timer went off, so I turned off the mixer.” She looked closer at me, and then added, “Eleanor, is something wrong? You look as though you’ve just seen a ghost.”

“Maybe I did,” I said as I handed her the flyer. “If not of a person, then of a business that’s probably going to slaughter us.”

Maddy was clearly upset when she read the flyer. “Of all the nerve of that woman. Are you kidding me? She can’t be serious.”

“I don’t see it as a joke,” I said.

“So she’s saying she can walk back in there and not think of her brother’s body on the floor every time she turns around?”

I nodded. “I asked her the same thing, and she didn’t seem all that concerned about it.”

“She’s either lying, or she’s delusional, then.”

I couldn’t disagree with anything my sister said, but I didn’t see how saying it would help us. “Either way, we have to face this threat again.”

“Don’t worry, Sis, we’ll handle it. Judson may have been a problem, but I’m guessing the pizzeria won’t be Gina’s idea of a good time. She’ll probably keep it open a few months, and then shut it down and move onto something else.”

The future wasn’t as rosy as my sister seemed to think, and I hated to bring her mood down, but there was something she hadn’t taken into account. “That wouldn’t be a problem if I thought we could last two months with no business to speak of.”

There was another pounding on the door, and I glanced out and saw Karen Green standing there with a flyer in her hand.

I didn’t want to let her in, but Maddy said, “You’d better go ahead and let her vent, or we’re going to have to buy another front door. That woman has some serious anger built up inside.”

“Can you believe this?” Karen said angrily the second I opened the door. “We can’t let her get away with this, Eleanor. It’s just not right.”

“Karen, do me a favor and take a second to catch your breath before you pass out on me.”

She nodded, and then took a few deep breaths until I could see the color start to leave her cheeks.

After she’d managed to calm down a little, I said, “That’s better. Now listen to me. Don’t worry about this. We’re going to be fine, okay?”

“You sound so confident,” Karen said hesitantly.

“I am,” I lied. “Everything is going to work itself out.”

She let out another deep breath, and then finally said, “I’m so sorry about that. I just got so peeved when she had the audacity to hand me one of these. As if I’d ever go anywhere else for my pizza but A Slice of Delight.”

“Thanks, we appreciate your support,” I said. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to get back to work, or no one’s having pizza today.”

She grinned at me. “Then you’d better get to it. I’ll be back when you open, don’t you worry about me.”

“That’s good, because I’m counting on you,” I said as I locked the door again.

Maddy was in the kitchen, smiling broadly, when I rejoined her. “Karen really gets worked up about things, doesn’t she?”

“Sometimes I wish I had half her passion,” I said.

As I added the yeast mixture to the blended flour and salt, Maddy said, “Speaking of passion, how was yours last night?”

“Excuse me?”

“Come on, don’t hold out on me. How did things go with David?”

“We had a wonderful time,” I admitted.

“Eleanor, we both know you can do better than that. I want details.”

It was nice to see the smile on her face, but I wasn’t about to tell her more than I wanted to. “I brought the pizza home, but then you already knew that. He brought Coke, paper plates, and plastic champagne glasses. Oh, and candles, the oddest mishmash of tapers you’ve ever seen in your life.”

“It sounds adorable,” my sister said.

“You know what? It was.”

Maddy smiled. “Are you getting together again tonight?”

“I suggested it, but he can’t.”

“Why not?” She honestly looked more disappointed than I had been when I’d gotten the news.

“He’s got some late interviews he couldn’t move,” I admitted. Then, just to keep Maddy guessing, I said, “He did ask me the other night to save him a dance at the Halloween Blowout.”

“What did you say?” Maddy asked.

“I told him if I had time, I’d try to squeeze him in.” I couldn’t keep my laughter contained any longer and let some of it slip out.

She laughed along with me. “Good for you. I’m proud of you, Sis.”

“Yes, I’m just the perfect picture of good mental health, aren’t I?” The timer went off again, and I pulled the beater out so the dough could proof.

Maddy said, “My part’s already finished, so while we wait on your dough, why don’t we do a little sleuthing?”

“What did you have in mind? I can’t leave this dough, and you know it.”

Maddy shook her head. “Eleanor, nothing’s going to happen to it. The least we can do is walk over to Paul’s to see how he reacted to Gina’s news.”

“Would that be detecting, or just being nosy?” I asked as I washed my hands and dried them on a towel by the sink.

“Why can’t it be both? Are you game?”

I looked at the dough and realized Maddy was right. There was nothing I could do for nearly an hour. I set the timer on my watch, and then smiled at her. “Why not? Let’s go.”

“All right, that’s the spirit,” she said with obvious delight.

We locked up the pizzeria and started toward Paul’s Pastries. He was inside, but instead of his usual smile, the poor man looked as glum and unhappy as I’d ever seen him.

“Maybe this isn’t such a great idea after all,” I said as I touched Maddy’s shoulder lightly and pointed toward Paul.

She just shook her head and kept going. “It looks as though he could use a friend right now, and if one is good, just think how great two will be?”

Before I could stop her, she walked on into the bakery, and I had no choice but to follow her.

Paul looked expectantly toward the door as we walked inside, but his face fell a little when he saw that it was us.

I just hoped Maddy didn’t comment on his reaction to our presence.

“You look as though Hurricane Gina just hit you,” Maddy said.

Paul nodded sadly. “I thought I was over her, but evidently I was wrong. Can you believe she’s going to do this?”

“What ‘this’ are you talking about?” I asked.

“She’s going to go ahead and open Italia’s,” Paul said. “What did you think I meant?”

“Exactly that,” I said. “Don’t worry, we’ll be all right.”

“I’m not absolutely certain you’re the only ones I’m concerned about right now,” he admitted. “If I reacted this way to just seeing her again this morning, imagine how difficult it will be having to see her every day.” He took a deep breath, and then added, “If it comes to that, I may have to shut the bakery down and move somewhere else.”

“You can’t do that,” Maddy wailed.

“We need you,” I said. It was disastrous news realizing that we might lose Paul forever. I’d like to think that our reaction was from the thought of losing a dear friend, and not just the loss of all those delightful treats, and the sandwich rolls for the pizzeria he provided.

Paul looked startled by our reaction. “It’s nothing to be concerned about yet. I’ll probably stay in town, at least for a little while,” Paul said.

“But if you go, who’s going to bake me my treats?” Maddy asked.

Paul looked at her to see if she was serious, and when he saw her smile, he managed a faint one of his own. “You’re too much, you know that, don’t you?”

Maddy put a hand on her hip. “Why does everyone keep telling me that?”

“Seriously, though, we don’t want to lose you, Paul,” I said. “At least that much is sure.”

He lowered his head and then said, “I don’t know what I’m going to do right now, and that’s the truth.”

“Promise me one thing,” I said.

He looked up at me, saw that I was serious, so he nodded. “I will if I can. What do you want?”

“Think about it long and hard before you do anything rash, and come talk to me before you make any final decision.”

Paul frowned, bit his lower lip, hesitated for a few moments, and then finally said, “You’re asking a lot of me.”

“I know. I wouldn’t presume to do it if we weren’t such good friends. I’d hate to lose you, Paul.”

“And I’d hate to lose the two of you,” he admitted. “I can’t tell you how many times you’ve come by here and made my day.”

“It wouldn’t surprise me in the least,” Maddy said with a big smile. “Would you be startled to hear that we feel the same way about you?”

At that comment, Paul nodded, and then gave us a little brighter smile than he had before. “Okay, I’ve had enough. I hate it when you two gang up on me.”

“That’s a smart move. It pays not to go against us,” Maddy said.

“Let’s leave the poor man alone,” I said. “Paul, I shouldn’t have to even say this, but you know that we’re just down the promenade if you need us.”

“Thanks. I might just come by later, if you’re sure you don’t mind.”

I smiled broadly at him. “You’re always welcome at the Slice. If you do come by, you can redeem one of those ‘free pizza’ coupons you’ve been saving up.”

He looked confused. “I never got any coupons.”

I laughed. “I never got around to making them, but you’ve earned them just the same. All you have to do is ask.”

“Thanks, ladies. You’re both good for my spirits.”

We left the bakery, and I was surprised to hear someone calling our names once we were out on the promenade. I’d half expected Gina to be lurking in the shadows, but it was her unwilling roommate, Nancy Thorpe, who was hailing us.

“I’m glad I caught you,” she said as she ran toward us. There was no sign that her pregnancy was slowing her down any, but then again, I didn’t see her every minute of the day, either.

When she caught up with us, I asked her, “What can we do for you, Nancy?”

“You were so nice to me yesterday,” she said, “that I wanted to come by and thank you. Could I take you out to lunch?”

“We’re kind of tied up here until two,” I said.

“That doesn’t work for me. I eat at eleven, and then again at four,” she admitted as she patted her belly, which was still fairly flat.

“Perhaps another time, then,” I said as her cell phone rang.

I motioned to Maddy, and we started walking away, when Nancy called out to us, “Hang on a second, this won’t take long at all.” Then, into the phone, she said, “Okay, I’m with them now. I’ll ask them.”

She held the telephone to her shoulder. “Nathan needs to see you both at two-fifteen, and he won’t take no for an answer.”

I thought about all the reasons we had to refuse him, especially since he was again financing our latest competitor, but as I was trying to word my response, Maddy surprised me by jumping in and saying, “Tell him we’d be delighted.”

“Wonderful,” she said, and then as she spoke into her phone again, she walked off, completely forgetting us.

“Have you lost your mind?” I asked my sister as I unlocked our door.

“Have you? I could see it in your eyes. You were about to say no, weren’t you, Eleanor?”

As I led us inside and locked the door behind us, I said, “You’d better believe it. I have no desire to see Nathan Sizemore at the moment.”

“Sis, look at the big picture. We’ve been wanting a chance to talk to the man again, and Nancy drops an opportunity right in our laps. We can’t say no.”

“Even with everything that’s going on?”

“Especially because of it,” she said. “This is an opportunity that we can’t afford to miss.”

I could see Maddy’s point, but that still didn’t mean I wasn’t upset with everything that had gone on since Judson had first announced the opening of his pizzeria. Nathan Sizemore was behind it all, if only with his money, and I wasn’t happy about seeing him again, but I knew that didn’t mean that Maddy was wrong.