Page 82 of New Beginnings on Railway Lane

The customers seemed delighted with this idea and were even eager to tell Katy how cheap or expensive their bottles of wine were!

Each plate of pizza as she carried it out looked superb and gained the same reaction from the customers.

‘Delicious!’ declared everyone. ‘Amazing!’

Best of all, Bob and Eddie were among those giving the praise. ‘It’s just wonderful,’ declared Bob, putting down his knife and fork on the empty plate with a clatter. ‘Like being in Italy!’

When Katy went back into the kitchen, she saw Ryan’s slightly tense expression as he waited for feedback and stepped forward to give him a hug. ‘They all love it,’ she whispered. ‘Absolutely love it.’

‘They do?’ he asked.

‘Of course,’ she told him. ‘Trust me.’

He nodded and she was pleased to see his face relax into a relieved smile.

But there was no time for celebrations now as it was time to deliver the dolci course which brought about even more murmurs of appreciation.

Ryan had created a dessert plate for each customer, each offering three tiny desserts – a torte, a mousse and a pastry. Katy’s mouth was salivating just looking at it. Thankfully, as chief taster during the week, she already knew how delicious the food was.

When Ryan peeped out of the kitchen to see the reaction, the restaurant customers burst into a spontaneous round of applause.

Katy breathed a sigh of relief and smiled at Ryan. It was a success.

After that, they could both relax a bit and chat to the customers before they began to leave.

‘Well done, son,’ said Bob, giving Ryan a hug as they left.

‘It was brilliant,’ said Eddie, giving both Ryan and Katy a hug too.

Finally, they were alone and once he had locked the door, Ryan turned to look at Katy with blazing eyes full of pride and emotion.

‘I told you!’ she said, beaming from ear to ear. ‘It’s a success!’

‘It was, wasn’t it?’ He swept her into a hug and spun her around. ‘I can do this,’ he carried on. ‘I can actually do this.’

‘Of course you can,’ she told him when he finally put her down. ‘Your food is amazing.’

He kept her in his arms as they stood there, reaching out to smooth a lock of her hair away from her face before letting his hand fall to his side.

‘I just want you to know how grateful I am that you’ve tried to help out the family,’ he said. ‘And me.’

‘We’re not done yet,’ she told him, reaching out to take his hand with hers. ‘I was thinking, what about a takeout service? Or even pizza delivery within, say, three miles?’

Ryan groaned. ‘Katy! Give me half a chance!’

Katy laughed and squeezed his hand. ‘We can do anything if we set our minds to it.’

‘Even save a home?’ he said, glancing around the waiting room.

‘Even that,’ she told him, giving his hand a squeeze. ‘Come on, let’s get tidied up and head upstairs. You must be shattered.’

‘More like numb,’ he replied, suddenly looking tired. ‘I’m not sure I can feel anything ever again.’

She couldn’t stop herself from leaning up to brush her lips against his. It was a gentle, reassuring kiss, but she knew as soon as their mouths touched that it was more than that. She was falling for Ryan. His pain was hers to share. His worries belonged to her as well. And hopefully his joy was shared too.

When she leant back, she found that he was studying her, his eyes searching hers.

‘Well, I certainly felt that,’ he finally said, with a smile. ‘Come on. Let’s go home.’