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“Which is what makes me old! Come, come! We have to load all of this stuff into the van and get over to Catalino’s to start whipping up desserts!”
“We’re not cooking here?”
“Oh, no! With this many orders, I need the industrial sized mixers, it’d take me years to do one batch at a time.”
“How many orders do we have exactly?” My brows furrow, this sounds like a lot more work than I expected.
“I don’t know… maybe two hundred.”
“Wait… two hundred orders?” My jaw drops to the ground as I stare at her.
“Oh, hush. It’s not that many. Are you going to be a big baby the whole time?”
“Probably.” Shrugging a shoulder, I take the first box out to the van.
It takes us almost thirty minutes to load everything up, then we’re off. When we get to Catalino’s, Donny helps us unload the van and there’s an entire second kitchen set up for Carla.
“When did you build this?” I ask, scanning the room. “It wasn’t here the last time I was back here.”
“Well, that’s what happens when you disappear for years on end.” Donny scowls, but there’s a twinkle in his eyes. The man loves to tease everyone.
“I'm here now. That’s all that matters anymore.”
“That’s right, son. Time to right all those wrongs.”
“Starting with learning all the Catalino’s cooking secrets.” Rubbing my hands together, I step closer to the counter.
“I'm not teaching you my secrets in the two days before Thanksgiving.” Carla giggles. “You help me cook on Thanksgiving and you have yourself a deal. I’ll teach you until you can make everything just as well as I can.”
“I don’t mind, I have nothing else to do.”
“You’ll need this, she’s going to run you ragged. It’s best to stay hydrated.” Donny hands me a bottle of cold water, before turning his attention to Carla. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. See how he does today before you ask him for more help. Remember when I asked Nixon to cut our grass that one summer?” Donny crosses his arms over his chest, leaning back against the steel countertop. His gaze tracks his wife’s movements and his face lights up. I’ve never met a couple more in love than Carla and Donny.
“I’ll never forget. He ran over every one of my flowers and cut Savvy into the grass, but never actually cut the entire yard.” She grins at the memory.
I take a sip of the bottle of water, thinking about that summer. I spent the entire time trying to figure out how to tell Savvy I was in love with her. I wanted to ask her to be my girlfriend, I just didn’t know how to go from what we had to more. I’ve always wanted more.
I planned to ask her to be my girlfriend before I shipped off to boot camp, but then I chickened out.
“That’s when I knew for sure you loved my daughter.” Carla clasps her hands over her chest and swoons.
“What?” I choke on the sip of water.
“Oh, please. You think I didn’t know even back then? You followed Sav around like she was the light in your world of darkness. That woman,” he gestures to Carla, “Started planning your wedding before you ever knew what love was. I swore she was going to let the two of you get married before Savannah even turned eighteen.”
“You never said anything… you let me sleepover in Savvy’s room.”
“I knew you’d never disrespect me like that, Nixon. You were a good kid… until you broke her heart. She loved you too.”
“She never loved me. And she definitely has no love for me now.”
“Now, I'm not sure. She thinks she loves this Chad guy, but seeing you might stir up some old feelings. And you’re wrong. My daughter looked at you like you hung the stars.”
“Wouldn’t that be lovely? Seeing the two of them happy and together again.” Carla lets out a happy sigh, placing a hand over her heart again.
“I’ll leave the two of you to your work. Call me if she works you too hard, Nixon.” Donny sweeps his wife into his arms, kissing her like it’s the first time all over again. He hurries out of the kitchen without another word.
“Alright, let’s get baking. Point me in the right direction. I'm here to work.”
