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CHAPTER28
Matt
Aknock on the door had Zara exclaiming that she wasn’t expecting anyone that early. It was only Emma, dropping in to see if Zara wanted to share a bottle of wine and some corn chips. Everyone looked at Chloe expectantly, who promptly invited her to dinner, and Emma laughingly accepted.
“Okay, girls, now for thereallyfun part.” Ally sprinkled flour on the counter and dropped the ball of pizza dough in the center of it so it puffed up in a cloud, making the girls giggle. “You have to give it a really good squeeze, like this…” The girls set to work, their earnest expressions making us all smile.
“What are we having? Can I help?” Emma took the bowl I passed her and dumped the corn chips in, adding the salsa to a smaller one.
“I’m thinking spinach and feta cannelloni, a salad, and judging by the amount of pizza dough Ally’s making there, some garlic pizzas.”
Ally, grinning, snapped her fingers and pointed at Zara. “Great idea. Relax, no help required, Emma. We’re going to get the girls sorted first, just as soon as they tell us what they want on their pizza.” She took over the kneading, shaping the dough into a big ball and placing it in an oiled bowl. “We’ll leave that to rest for a bit. You can help me roll it out when it’s rested. Tell Zara what you want on your pizza, and we’ll start getting it all ready.”
“What do we have?” Emma murmured quietly, following Ally to the sink to wash her hands.
“Do you like ham?” Zara asked, pulling a pack of ham out of the box Ally had brought. “How about tomato sauce, ham and cheese?”
“We don’t have to have vegetables?” Chloe asked hopefully, allowing Ally to scrub the dough from her hands.
“I won’t tell your mom if you don’t.” Zara said with a conspiratorial wink. The girls cheered. Zara reached for the ham, wrapped in butcher’s paper, handing a thick end slice to Emma. “See if Bess wants this.” Bess, lying on the mat in the fading sun near the sliding door, shot up at the sound of her name and the smell of the ham. Zara grinned at me as I rolled my eyes.
Zara handed Bess another piece of ham. “Someone else is here.”
“I’ll get it.” I went to the front door and opened it to reveal Gabe, Jake and Lucy, bearing more food and drink.
“Auntie Lucy, we’re making pizza!”
“I can see that. Amazing!” They all lined up on the other side of the kitchen counter to watch the impromptu cooking show.
Ally spread more flour on the counter and broke off a piece of dough, helping the girls to roll it out. “Okay, now time to flip it.” She picked up the circle of dough and with a flick of her hands, had it flying in the air high above her head. The girls stared, open-mouthed.
“Again! Again!”
Ally threw the dough in the air twice more, then sent it whizzing across to Zara, who caught it expertly. “I knew you were going to do that!”
“Just like old times, hey?” Ally said with a laugh, rolling out a second piece of dough. “Emma, you wanna see if you can find some baking sheets for these somewhere?”
“Sure.”
“Can you help the girls oil them? And then you can leave them here, next to me.”
“Okay.”
Ally rolled out the third portion of dough, leaving a small amount still in the bowl. “Right, Munro, over or under?”
“Over.” Zara hefted her circle of dough high over the girl’s heads to Ally, who threw hers a moment later, back to Zara.
They threw the dough back and forth for a few moments before Ally asked, “Ready?” Zara nodded and Ally snapped up the third circle of dough, flicked it at Zara. Now, much to everyone’s amazement, they had three circles of pizza dough whizzing through the air between them at once, constantly growing bigger, as they stretched them out before each throw.
When they were done, Zara flipped them one by one into the trays Emma had laid out. She dropped a curtsey as everyone clapped and cheered, her eyes twinkling as she caught mine. I felt my heart squeeze tight in my chest and had to force myself to take a deep breath. It was only when she looked away when Gabe asked her where they’d learned to throw dough around like a flying pizza circus, that I felt that I could breathe normally again. She couldn’t seem to gather her thoughts, either, staring at Gabe blankly.
Ally seemed to notice too, because she answered, “Zara used to work weekends at my parents’ restaurant. Sometimes we got bored.”
Pulling herself together, Zara smiled fondly at Ally. “Poor Papa D’Angelo.”
“He survived. Just barely. Okay, girls, you wanna have a try?” Ally grabbed the small ball of dough left in the bowl, rolled it out, and handed it to Mila. Concentrating as if her life depended on it, she tossed the dough up just a little, laughing when she managed to catch it again. “Good job! Now throw it to Chloe.” She did, everyone laughing when it fell through Chloe’s hands and landed on the counter with a splat.
“You do it again!” Chloe handed the dough to Ally, who threw it in the air a few times before laying it out on a tray. Zara helped the girls arrange their toppings, placing the whole thing in the oven just as Claire and Jen arrived.
