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Jay dropped the pry-bar he’d been using to pull nails out of the studs in the ceiling. By the time it hit the floor, he was halfway done peeling his shirt off.
“Save it,” Jenna chuckled, waving his shirt back down. “Tonight I’m just here to lend a hand.”
I smirked back at her, knowing there might be a bit more to it than that. Jenna and I had dated long enough that I knew her habits, her expressions, the little tells she gave off when she wasn’t being entirely truthful. She’d also put makeup on, despite having just ‘jumped in the shower before bed’. I handed her a claw hammer anyway.
“You can start on that wall,” I pointed.
For the next twenty minutes we worked on the foyer, pulling nails and talking about the wildly successful week at the pizzeria. I couldn’t believe the crowds! Even more touching was the response from the customers, some of whom were almost in tears as they told me about their best, most nostalgic memories of the place.
This of course brought me back to my foster parents, who’d been so good to me in the end. I’d gone through a half-dozen or more foster homes since my parents had both abandoned me at age three. That part didn’t bother me. I couldn’t even remember them. Buteveryoneremembered Luna and Giacinto, the happy old Greek and Italian couple who’d built the restaurant from scratch.
“Chinese food is here,” I said, as there was another knock at the door. I elbowed Jenna. “Come help me grab plates and napkins.”
Jenna glanced around and laughed. “You guys have plates and napkins?”
“Only when there’s company,” I winked.
A minute later we were in the kitchen, setting the piece of plywood that acted as a makeshift kitchen table with the flimsiest paper plates known to man. I pulled a round of cold water out of the fridge. Luca really needed to go shopping.
“WhereisLuca by the way?” Jenna asked, as if reading my mind.
“He took a roofing job out of town,” I answered. “Should be back tomorrow. Jay and I weren’t even gonna work here tonight, but I needed to get the hell out of Aegean for a while and this seemed constructive.”
“Constructive, huh?” she chided me. “You’re allowed a day off, you know. You don’talwayshave to work.”
I smiled back at her. “If you know me, I do.”
We finished unpacking the fragrant cartons of fried rice and lo mein, alongside a generous foil-wrapped order of spare ribs. With the boxes open and the steam rising up, everything smelled absolutely delicious.
“Where’d you get all those ideas anyway?” I asked gently. “Kickstarter to move the ovens. Facebook. The newspaper ads…”
Jenna chuckled, and I couldn’t believe I’d forgotten how cute her laugh was.
“Actually, I majored in marketing.”
“You did?”
“For one semester, yeah.”
“I thought you were going for physical therapy?”
Jenna nodded, but her expression had gone bitter. “I went from a business major to marketing to psychology to—”
“Psychology?”
She shook her head. “Don’t even ask.”
“Okay…”
“By the time I got around to declaring PT as my major, I’d already lost a ton of credits,” she explained. “Graduating on time wasn’t an option. Doubling up on courses would’ve cost too much, and then, well… there were some other reasons why I couldn’t finish.”
I unwrapped and crunched down on a fortune cookie. “What reasons?”
My beautiful ex-girlfriend hesitated for a moment. Eventually she shrugged, but her shoulders were stiffer than normal. “Stupid shit.”
I could sense there was a lot more to it, but I didn’t want to press. Instead I took her gently by the waist and pulled her in, waiting until she tilted her face upward to look me right in the eyes.
“Whatever the case, I really wanted to thank you,” I said genuinely. “As you predicted, Aegean’s getting one hell of a sendoff. With a little luck, we might even be able to move everything over and start fresh.”
