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She paused and gazed at me for a moment, and I saw her eyes soften, as if she would open up to me. And of course, at that precise moment, my father walked out, put his arm around my shoulder, and said, “He’s not giving you any trouble, tonight, Miss Dani, is he?”
“No. Not at all but thank you, Mr. Capra.”
“Order up!” Frankie said behind me. One of our waiters walked up to collect the plates that Frankie had placed on the stainless rack to deliver to a table.
“I see you ordered your favorite pizza. Maybe sometime you come in, and I gonna make you my favorite pizza with anchovies, olives, mushrooms, and prosciutto.Deliziozo!
And he kissed his bunched fingers.
“Thanks,” she told him. “That might be nice.”
He turned to me then. “See, that’s how you get a good customer to try another product.”
I grinned, and he patted my cheek like he had since I was two.
Some things never changed.
He turned back to Dani. “He’s hard headed, this one. Thinks he knows more than his papa. Now, you have a good night, and when you come back next time, ask for me, and I’m gonna fix you up.”
“Will do,” she said, but I could tell she was anxious for her escape. I added up her items and handed her the paper bill.
Fortunately, my dad recognized someone sitting at one of our tables. He said his farewell and walked out on the floor to torment someone else.
“Sorry about that,” I told her, wanting to disappear. I felt certain that if there had been even a slight chance with this woman, my dad had now blown it into pieces.
“He seems like such a nice man,” she said, her comment taking me by complete surprise. “Next time Sarah and I want a pizza, I’ll be sure to order what he suggested. It’s just that tonight, I can’t try anything new. I have enough going on in my life. I need comfort food. Especially since Sarah is home, right now, getting my picture and my stats up on a dating site.”
Well, there goes any chance I had with her.
Once a beautiful woman like Dani told the world she was looking to date, she’d be inundated with guys who were a much better catch than me.
Still, I couldn’t let it go. “Oh yeah?”
“Normally, I wouldn’t even think of a dating site. I’m notthatdesperate, but one of my best friends in our hometown, Northern Vines, does the PR for the site. I trust her, so Sarah’s uploading my information. Now that I’m saying it out loud, I probably shouldn’t have allowed it. No telling what she said about me, or what pictures she used. This could be a total disaster. Thing is… I don’t know how you feel about the holidays, but I hate going through them alone. Of course, I shouldn’t be taking up your time with all my issues. Still, I’m sure you know what I mean, or maybe you don’t. A guy like you probably has a girlfriend or maybe even a fiancée.”
I didn’t even hesitate. “I don’t. I mean, I did… have a girlfriend… but I don’t now. I absolutely get it.” I softly cleared my tight throat. “What’s the name of the site? One of my brothers has been wanting to get on a good site,” I lied. None of my three brothers would go anywhere near a matchup site, not that any of them needed it. They always seemed to be dating someone, and most of the time, they were dating a couple of women at once. I could barely keep up with all the women who walked in and out of their lives.
I was always too busy here at work to date more than one woman at a time. I had a hard enough problem dating one girl, let alone two or three, like my older brother Ted and Frankie, the youngest of the tribe. Ted only showed up for work two days a week, if that many. Rocco, hardly ever worked with us unless he was forced to. Frankie was much more consistent, despite his dating status. He liked cooking and especially liked making pizza. But even he couldn’t be counted on to come in when he’d been scheduled. At least he’d showed up for his shift today.
“Order up!” he said once again, for another order. One thing for sure about Frankie, once he got going in the kitchen, he was like a ball of fire. None of us could keep up with him.
“Which brother?” she asked.
“Frankie,” I told her, making the lie even worse. I hoped he couldn’t hear anything we were saying or I’d never hear the end of it.
Frankie was consumed with wooing Amanda Garcia now and had to drag himself into work, but at least he’d learned how to somewhat balance a dating life and a working life. Something the rest of us had a hard time pulling off.
“Well, tell him it’s called Perfect Matchup4U. Like the number four and the letter U. You can jump off at any time, and they’ll take all your info down, so there’s no chance of anyone finding it after you leave.”
She paid with a card, while I slid the pizza box into a foil-like bag to keep it hot until she got home. Once she paid, she proceeded to try to carry everything out herself.
“I can help you out,” I offered, grabbing the six pack and the white bag with her sides and breadsticks.
“Thanks,” she said, and I followed right behind her, while repeating the name of the dating service over and over in my head so I wouldn’t forget it. No way would I allow this opportunity to pass me by.
Dani 3
I’d been attracted to Gianni Capra since the first time I’d seen him throw pizza dough, but one of us had always been in a relationship, which precluded anything romantic happing between us. I didn’t know his dating status at the moment, although he gave no indication that he was free. However, from the way he spoke to me and hung around when the regular counter girl could’ve taken care of my order, he gave me the impression he was a free agent.
