by Linda Turner
“No, but we’re low,” Stephen retorted. “That’s not a problem—we can send someone to the grocery store if we have to. We can’t, however, send someone to the store for a new oven.”
“What?”
He nodded grimly. “It looks like the heating element went out in the big stove. We can make do with the smaller one, but we’ve got a full house already and we’re not going to be able to work fast. The customers aren’t going to be happy.”
Angelo swore roundly. “How many steaks do we have in the cooler?”
Already guessing where he was going, Stephen said, “Enough to feed every customer in the place, and then some. If we run short, there are always more in the freezer.”
“Good. Then we’ve got a new special for the evening. I’ll inform the waitstaff and the customers, then call around and see if I can get a repairman in tonight.” Cocking his head, he studied Stephen’s weak eyes and pale face and didn’t like what he saw. “You’re sick,n’t you?”
The other man didn’t deny it. “That doesn’t begin to describe it.”
“Then why are you here? You should have called in sick.”
“And leave you with two rehearsal-dinner parties and one oven, all with no notice? I don’t think so.”
Angelo appreciated the thought, but he couldn’t let him stay and they both knew it. “You know you can’t handle food when you’re sick. If the health inspector knew you were here, he’d have a stroke. Go on—get out of here. Take some chicken soup home with you and don’t come back until you’re feeling better.”
“But what about the stove?”
“I’ll call a repairman if I get a chance. If not, I’ll handle it. I started this restaurant with only one stove—I can certainly get through the evening without a second oven. So don’t worry. We’ll be fine.”
Stephen was a loyal employee—Angelo wasn’t surprised when he hesitated. But he was obviously feeling miserable and had no business being anywhere but in bed. “Okay,” he said gruffly. “You win. I’ll go.”
Washing his hands and tying on an apron, Angelo quickly stepped into the chef’s place and went to work, his only thought to avert disaster. He sent one of the kitchen staff to post the new special near the front door and to inform the waiters of the change, then sent one of the busboys to the store for more mozzarella. Avoiding that disaster, he completely forgot about Lily and her lack of hot water until he retrieved some just-cooked spaghetti from a pot of boiling water.
“Damn!” Taking a quick glance at the clock on the wall above the door to the dining area, he swore again. He had steaks on the grill, waiters rushing in every few minutes with new orders, and forty people arriving shortly for the two rehearsal dinners. How was he going to find the time to go upstairs?
“Man, this place is a madhouse tonight,” Tony said, pushing his way into the kitchen through the swinging door from the dining room. “There’s a line out the front door of people waiting to get in. What’s going on? You’ve got that frazzled look, the one you always get when the kitchen sink backs up and the health inspector is eating out front. What’s wrong? Where’s Stephen?”
“I sent him home,” Angelo retorted as he hurriedly slapped steaks on the grill. “He was as green as a gourd. Unfortunately, he couldn’t have picked a worse time to get sick.”
“You’re not kidding,” Tony said, suddenly remembering. “There are two rehearsal dinners tonight!”
“Oh, it gets worse,” Angelo said with a grimace, and quickly told him about the blown heating element in one of the ovens and the shortage of mozzarella. “I’ve sent a busboy to the store for cheese, but I can’t get a repairman tonight. I tried calling, but no one was available, which is probably for the best. How could I cook for a full house with someone taking an oven apart right in the middle of the kitchen?”
“You’re right—you can’t. But man, you’ve got your work cut out for you, trying to pull this all off with only one oven.” Flashing him a grin, he said, “I guess this isn’t a good time to ask for the night off, huh?”
When Angelo’s eyes narrowed dangerously, Tony laughed. “Chill, Unc. I’m just teasing. What’s the status on the party rooms? Are they set up and ready to go? What about the menu? Is it already set or is everyone ordering individually?”
“It was set, but with the oven out, I’m going to have to change that,” he retorted, disgusted. “When the two parties get here, I’ll need you to explain the situation and offer them steak at no extra charge.”
Not surprised that Angelo would make such a costly substitute, Tony had to shake his head in admiration. “It’s no wonder you’ve got customers who’ve been coming here for thirty years. They know they’re going to get treated right.”
“Make sure you remember that when you inherit the place,” he told him. “Everyone has a bad day once in a while, but it doesn’t have to cost you customers. Be honest with them, apologize, and make it up to them. You remember to do that, and they’ll forgive you just about anything.”
“I’ll remember,” Tony said gruffly. “In the meantime, I expect you to stick around at least for the next thirty years or so and take care of your customers yourself. I’ll help, of course, but this is still your baby. So what do you want me to do first? Check the party rooms or help you here in the kitchen?”
“Actually,” he said, “the first thing I need you to do is go upstairs and check the hot-water heater in Lily’s apartment. The damn pilot light seems to be out again.”
Surprised, Tony frowned. “I thought you got that fixed.”
“So did I,” he said grimly. “Lily offered to relight it herself, but I’d rather she not take a chance.”
“Oh, I get it,” Tony said with a grin. “You want me to blow up instead.”
“Remind me,” Angelo told him with a matching grin. “Why am I leaving this place to you? You give me nothing but grief.”
“Yeah, right. I’m your favorite nephew and you know it.”
“You’re my only nephew!”
“Why would you need another when you’ve got me?”
“The more you stand around jawing, the more reasons I can think of,” Angelo said dryly, grinning. “Get out of here!”
He didn’t have to tell him twice. Chuckling, Tony hurried over to the kitchen door that gave access to the apartment stairwell. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
Restlessly pacing her living room, Lily glanced at the clock on the mantel and frowned. She’d already called Abby and told her she was going to be late. Thankfully, Abby was running late herself so her tardiness wasn’t a problem, but she still hadn’t expected to be this late. What was keeping Angelo? If he didn’t hurry, she’d have to give up on a bath—it would just take too long to heater. She hated to call him again and pester him, especially when she could light the damn thing herself.
Marching into the kitchen, she was just searching through a drawer for matches to light the pilot light herself when there was a knock at the front door. “Finally!” The matches forgotten, she hurried into the living room and pulled the door open with a smile. “I was afraid you’d forgotten about me—”
Tony grinned crookedly. “How could I forget a woman who doesn’t want to go out with me? You broke my heart.”
All too aware that she was standing before him in nothing but her terry-cloth bathrobe, Lily felt heat climbing into her cheeks and there was nothing she could do but suffer through it. “I never said I didn’t want to go out with you,” she reminded him as she stepped back to allow him access into the living room. “I said—”
“Maybe,” he finished for her. “So…is today my lucky day?” he said eagerly, teasing her. “It is, isn’t it? You just pretended the pilot on your hot-water heater was out so Angelo would send me up here and you could surprise me. Sweetheart, that’s so thoughtful of you.” Grinning broadly, he opened his arms wide. “Give us a hug.”
Laughing, she sidestepped him. “I don’t think so. The pilot on the hot-water heater really is out. So
rry to disappoint you, but I was expecting Angelo. Where is he?”
“Running the kitchen,” he replied. “The chef got sick, and two different wedding parties are expected any minute for their rehearsal dinners.”
“Sounds like you’ve got a busy night ahead of you. And you wanted to go out,” she chided teasingly. “When were you going to have time? Between two and three in the morning?”
“If necessary. Is that a yes?”
“No,” she said quickly, laughing. “I told you—”
“I know, I know. You’re busy. Damn, I hate it when that happens. Just for the record, I’m not giving up,” he warned her with dancing eyes. “Some things are just meant to be. You’ll see that eventually. In the meantime, I guess I’d better check out your hot-water heater before Angelo calls out the National Guard.”
As she led the way to the kitchen pantry and the water heater, Lily couldn’t stop smiling. So he wasn’t giving up, was he? She had no intention of telling him, but secretly she was glad. Later, she knew she would worry about how easily he was slipping past her guard, but for now she was having too much fun with him to care.
It took Tony all of ten seconds to discover that the pilot light on the hot-water heater had, indeed, blown out. Quickly relighting it, he rose to his feet and grinned. “Okay, you’re all set. Give it a few minutes, and you’ll have all the hot water you need.”
“Thanks for your help. I would have lit it myself, but I think Angelo was afraid I’d blow the place up.”
He chuckled. “Don’t take it personally. He’s old-fashioned. There are certain things a man’s supposed to do, and lighting pilot lights is one of them. Not because he doesn’t think you’re capable of,” he added quickly. “He just doesn’t believe a woman should have to put herself in danger when there’s a man around.”
Arching an eyebrow, she met his gaze head-on. “And how do you feel about that?”
He didn’t even have to think about it. “Pretty much the same way,” he said honestly. “That doesn’t mean I’m a chauvinist. I’m all for women doing anything they want, especially when it comes to education and working. But I’ll admit it—I’m protective of women and children and the sick and the elderly. I’m Angelo’s nephew. It’s in the blood.”
“I think that’s nice,” she said with a soft smile. Wishing he could stay longer but knowing he couldn’t, she walked with him back to the living room. “I guess you’re going to work all evening.”
“It’s going to be crazy,” he agreed. “On top of everything else, the heating element in one of the ovens went out. Hey, what’s this?” he said, suddenly noticing several black-and-white contact sheets lying on the coffee table.
“Homework,” she replied ruefully. “Out of ten rolls of film, I have to pick out one shot that I think is the best of the lot and enlarge it into an eight-by-ten for a class competition.”
“And which one are you going to choose?”
Grimacing, she shrugged. “At this point, I’ve narrowed it down to about fifty.”
“It looks like you’ve got your work cut out for you,” he said. “But look at the bright side. You’ve eliminated a hundred and ninety…if there’s twenty-four on a roll. That’s a damn good start.”
“Good point,” she laughed. “Things can always be worse—just ask Angelo.”
That should have been his cue to leave and return to work. By now, the dining room would be overflowing and Angelo would be wondering what the hell was taking him so long. But the more he got to know her, the more he wanted to know about her. Surely Angelo could get by without him for a few more minutes. She was dressed in a bathrobe, for heaven’s sake. Granted, there wasn’t anything the least bit revealing about it, but she’d twisted her hair up with some kind of clip, and loose curls brushed the delicate lines of her neck. He tried not to notice, but he wasn’t made of stone.
That night he’d waited on her downstairs, she’d captivated him without even trying. He’d have sworn then that she couldn’t get any prettier. He’d been wrong. She wasn’t wearing makeup and she didn’t need it. There was a natural blush to her cheeks, and her lips had a rosy color that he found impossible to ignore. With a will of their own, his eyes returned again and again to the enticing curves of her mouth. Were her lips as soft as they looked? he wondered, only to swallow a groan at the thought. What would she do if he tried to kiss her?
Half tempted to reach for her and find out, he took a quick step back before he gave in to temptation. “Speaking of Angelo,” he said huskily, “I should be going. I’m sure he needs my help.”
“With two private parties and a restaurant full of people, I’m sure he does,” she a
But he didn’t move toward the door, and when she didn’t, either, he felt inordinately pleased. “You know, I hate to repeat myself, but I think we need to talk about that date you promised me again.”
A slow smile curled the corners of her mouth. “Maybe.”
Heat spilled into Tony’s stomach. “Don’t start that,” he groaned, half laughing, only to frown when his cell phone rang, destroying the moment. Cursing silently, he jerked it from the holder attached to his belt. He didn’t have to look at the caller ID to know who it was. “I’ll be right there,” he growled.
“You said that fifteen minutes ago,” Angelo retorted. “What’s taking so long? I’m getting swamped down here!”
“I know. I was just hanging around a few minutes to make sure that the pilot stayed lit.”
If his uncle noticed that his voice was husky or that he didn’t explain what he’d been doing for the last fifteen minutes, he made no comment. Instead, he said, “Tootsie’s coming in for dinner. She was hoping you might have a recent picture of Quentin. She hasn’t see him in ages.”
Tony winced and swallowed a silent groan. He loved his aunt Tootsie dearly, but she wasn’t shy about asking him questions about his love life, and he wasn’t in the mood to be grilled. “School pictures haven’t been taken yet, but I’ve got a few recent snapshots. She can have one of those.”
“Good,” he said, satisfied. “She’ll be here in ten minutes. You can wait on her. You always were her favorite nephew. She doesn’t know you like I do.”
Fighting a grin, Tony said dryly, “I always did think she was one of the smartest relatives I’ve got.”
“Yeah, right,” Angelo snorted.
Tony chuckled. “You’re smart, too. There’s no need to be jealous.”
“Jealous, my eye,” he said. “I’m just as smart as Tootsie, and on top of that, I’ve done everything in life I wanted to do. She’s my sister, for heaven’s sake! I love her.”
“I never doubted it for a moment,” Tony replied. “Family is family. Nothing else matters.”
“You’re damn right. And don’t you forget it.”
Amused, Tony grinned. “Now that we’ve got that settled, I’m going to check the pilot light one more time before I leave. I’ll be down before Aunt Tootsie arrives.”
When he hung up, he turned to find Lily watching him with dancing eyes. The need to kiss her hit him in the gut again, this time stronger than before. But Angelo needed him…and Aunt Tootsie would be here soon. If he kept her waiting, she’d want to know the reason. Once she found out there was a woman involved, he’d never hear the end of it.
Swallowing a silent groan, he quickly returned to the kitchen to check the pilot light, then shot Lily a smile that was little more than a grimace. “I guess I’d better be going. Angelo’s getting antsy. If you have any morell you have to do is call.”
Giving in to impulse, he gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, wished her a gruff good-night and quickly let himself out. Her heart pounding, Lily pressed a hand to her cheek and almost called him back. For the past week, she’d worked hard to convince herself that he was just teasing about wanting to date her, that the attraction between them was nothing more than a game they both enjoyed. But there had been nothing teasing about the kiss he’d given her…or the heat in his eyes.
/> Somewhere on the edge of her consciousness, an alarm bell clanged, warning her to beware, but all through her quick bath, all she could think about was Tony. By the time she finally dragged herself out of the tub and dressed, she had ten minutes to get across town to meet Abby at her hotel. All thoughts of Tony flying out of her head, she grabbed her keys and rushed outside to her car.
“Abby! I’m so sorry I’m late. It’s just been one of those days—”
“Hey, don’t worry about it,” her friend said with a smile as Lily quickly strode across the lobby of the hotel where she was staying. “I just got here myself. Look at you. You look fantastic. I guess I don’t have to ask if you regret quitting your job.”
“Actually, I just took a leave of absence…just in case.” Her smile rueful, she added, “I am, after all, my father’s daughter. I’m almost positive, though, that I won’t be going back.”
“Things are going that well for you? Oh, Lily, that’s wonderful. What about your father? Has he forgiven you yet?”
Her smile fading as they made their way to a corner table in the hotel restaurant, she shook her head grimly. “He’s the stubbornnest man I know. When I called to tell him that two of my pictures were already hanging in a gallery, he didn’t say anything—he just changed the subject.”
“I don’t understand why he can’t see how talented you are,” Abby said with a puzzled frown. “Even in high school it was obvious how gifted you were. The school annual won all sorts of awards that year, mainly because of your photographs. He doesn’t have to like what you’re doing, but he could at least admit that you’re good at it.”
“That’s not his way,” Lily replied flatly. “It never has been. If he doesn’t like what you’re doing, he doesn’t care how good you are at it, he’s not going to praise you.”
“It must have been difficult growing up without your mother,” Abby told her quietly. “Your father was always so stern. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him smile.”
“It’s not something he does often,” she admitted. “He’s been unhappy ever since my mother died. I don’t think he realized just how much he loved her until she was gone.” Sadness pulled at her, but she determinedly shook that off as the waiter arrived to take their order. When he hurried off to the kitchen, she turned to Abby and forced a bright smile. “So tell me what’s been going on in your life since the reunion. Are you still dating Dennis?”