AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I checked the board for any notes he might have left me and saw that he was planning ahead for personal lunch pizzas today. It was listed as the special and added to the already monumental number of orders we got for his pizzas. It meant I would likely not be making much of anything else today.
Once Papa made it down into the restaurant, I decided to take a break until more tickets were in for lunch. The doors usually opened the second Papa was in, and today was no different, a line of people waiting to get in. I probably had about five minutes before more tickets would start coming in, and no matter how much prep I had done, I would be in the weeds immediately.
I stepped out of the back door and rolled my eyes at the trash Leo left behind. Empty soda bottles, a cigarette butt, and a candy wrapper were all piled up on a milk crate. I was about to grab them and toss them so I could sit when I saw a familiar face walking down the street toward the restaurant. I smiled and waved and met her halfway.
“Afternoon, Helen,” I said, offering a hug as a greeting. She gratefully accepted and smiled wide.
“Afternoon,” she said. “How are things with you? I heard you burned yourself pretty badly.”
“You heard about that, huh?”
“Well, that Leo boy comes in for lunch a lot. He mentioned it when I asked about the family. Everything okay now, though?” she asked.
“Oh, yeah, I’m good,” I said. “How’s the diner?”
“Same as always. Busy, busy, busy. I figured I’d take a break and come pick up a pizza for lunch. What better way to improve a Monday, right?”
“I suppose,” I said, shrugging. “I get enough pizza as it is.”
“I’m sure,” she laughed.
“Hey, do you know anything about the fair coming up?” I asked, taking a shot and hoping I didn’t rope myself into too long of a conversation considering the tickets should be coming back any minute now.
“Not much,” she said. “Is your dad doing the pizzas this year?”
“No. That’s actually why I asked. He decided to take the year off because of the bar expansion. He’s too busy, and he said doing the fair takes up so much time and resources he can’t justify it.”
“Ah, yeah, I’m probably too busy to do something like that myself,” she said. “I’ve done a few booths for other things and running one of those is very time-consuming and stressful. Can have big rewards, though, so if you can manage it, it’s worth it. I might see if Tony would want to do something, though.”
“Tony?”
“One of my cooks,” she said. “You know him. Funny kid, always with the desserts. He does most of my Sunday menus now. Anyway, he might be up for doing a booth at the fair if your dad isn’t going to have something. Seems like a shame if they have to bring in an out-of-town vendor.”
“It does,” I said, trying to work up the courage to ask what I really wanted to ask. Finally, I figured I needed to just give it a shot. The worst she could do would be ridicule me for an idea that I was fairly certain wasn’t stupid. Fairly certain. Not completely. “Well, I had an idea.”
“Oh?” she asked, one eyebrow raised.
“I was thinking you and I might want to collaborate and do a chili cook-off. They used to do them all the time when I was a kid, but then they just kind of stopped. Then Papa took over and started serving pizza, and we never went back.”
“A chili cook-off?” Helen asked, her eyes growing wide and round. “I love that idea. I bet I could get Tony in on that too. If we play it right, we could use it to advertise for both our businesses.”
“See, that’s what I thought,” I said, feeling relieved and excited. “We could open it up to anyone, though. See who else would like to throw their hat in the ring and give it a shot. It’s been years, but I’m sure the last reigning champion has to be out there, champing at the bit to defend their title.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Helen laughed. “The average age in Ashford is like sixty-five. It’s likely the cook-off stopped because no one could remember to take their heartburn meds beforehand.”
I laughed.
“Fair enough,” I said. “I was wondering if you knew anyone up at the fair, though. I don’t want to mention it to Papa until it’s a definite thing.”
“I do, actually. A friend of the family, Brett, is on the committee for it. I’ll give him a shout this afternoon and see what he says.”
“That sounds great. Give me a call when you know something.”
“Will do,” she said. “Now, I’m going to go get my pizza before my break time is over and they kick me out of my own office to work the floor.”
