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“I grew up in New York. My brothers were such fans. They had your poster hanging on the wall of their bedroom.”
Hank grinned, and two dimples appeared, one on each cheek. I had never seen them before because his heavy beard had covered them. Seeing them now unsettled me in a way I couldn’t make sense of.
“How are you two related?” Elizabeth asked.
Hank’s face blanched. “Friend of the family.”
Elizabeth turned her attention to me. “Oh, you called him Uncle. I just assumed.”
Hank tugged at the collar of his shirt. “You know what they say about assuming. It makes an ass out of you ...” He pointed to a four-top by the window facing the street. “Let’s sit.”
Once we were seated, he wasted no time with small talk, launching into his story of the restaurant’s origins. I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. I didn’t need him to tell me how it had started. It was my family’s folklore. I tuned out and stared out the window.
“I signed with the Rangers, a lucrative contract. I used some of the money to fund the opening of the restaurant.”
My attention snapped back to the table. “I never knew that.”
Hank cleared his throat. “Well, there were some things your parents didn’t think you needed to know.”
A waitress appeared at our table with a platter of sliced oven-roasted tomatoes sprinkled with cheese. “A new appetizer I want you to write about,” Hank said. “You’ll love them.”
Elizabeth plated one and handed me the dish. She and Hank both watched me eat. The sweet flavor of the tomato filled my mouth, offset by parmesan and mozzarella cheese. There were also hints of garlic, onion, and basil. Damn, I didn’t want to admit it, but it was delicious.
“You like it,” Hank said, grinning.
“It reminds me of pizza.”
“Without the calories!” His dimples seemed to get deeper as his smile grew bigger. I couldn’t take my eyes off them. The tomato left an acidic aftertaste in my mouth. I gulped down my water, staring out the window with a hollow feeling in my chest.
“A knee injury ended my hockey career. I came back to the area for a visit and decided to buy a vacation home here. Gianna and Dom were having trouble with the diner, and they agreed my being here would be good for their business, attract some of the tourists from out of state, so I picked up a few shifts at the restaurant. I ended up spending more time here than in New York.”
His words triggered a partial memory, my father and mother arguing about him working at the restaurant.
“My mother didn’t want you anywhere near the restaurant,” I said.
“You were ten, Nikki,” Hank said. “Too young to understand what your mother wanted.”
I wanted to argue with him. Tell him I knew my mother better than he ever had, but the warning look Elizabeth shot me kept me silent.
The waitress returned with another appetizer, grilled eggplant slices topped with tomato, a creamy sauce, and a fresh basil garnish. I bit into one. Damn, when it came to appetizers, the man knew what he was doing. The sauce tasted like a combination of garlic, parmesan, and mayonnaise. It offered a spicy contrast to the eggplant and tomato.
“Don’t pretend you don’t like it.” Hank’s dimples appeared again. They softened his appearance, made him look like a nice man, a trustworthy man, a man who would have kept his promise to preserve my parents’ legacy.
Chapter 23
As soon as I pulled into the Abramses’ driveway, their front door flew open. Mrs.Abrams rushed onto the landing in her slippers. The spotlight on the front of the house struck her face, making it appear ghostly white. “I’ve been trying to call you all afternoon.” The emotion filling her voice conveyed that something awful had happened.
With one leg still in my car, I froze, not wanting to hear whatever bad news she was about to break but knowing I had to. “Is Mr.Abrams okay?”
Her body went rigid. “The dog is quite ill,” she sputtered.
“Oliver?” I raced across the pavement, not bothering to close my car door. At the bottom of the walkway, I jerked to a stop. A trail of watery dog feces and vomit led from the front stairs to the snow-covered lawn. “What did he eat?”
She folded her arms across her chest. “The food you left for him.”
Zigzagging across the flagstone to avoid the foul mess, I hurried toward the house. “Where is he?”
“Kyle took him to the vet.”
