Perfect Love Story (Love 1)

His hands go to his hips. “Can we finish this today, please? I have a shit load of stuff to do this afternoon.” His voice comes out a little harsh as he jumps into the back of the truck and hands down a box.

“Holy shit,” I whisper to Crystal. “Your boss is fucking hot.” I look around, making sure no one heard us as I see Delores and Heidi open the cabinets and start placing plates inside.

“Why is he so angry?” Crystal asks in a soft voice, and I shrug my shoulders, but Darla adds in her opinion.

“There is not enough tequila in the world for me to get through that story,” she says and then goes back to the kitchen as we watch two men bring in a loveseat.

For the next four hours, our little quiet home comes together. “Where are the car keys?” I ask Crystal, looking through her purse and then finally finding them. “I’m going to go get the boys pizza,” I tell them, and they all cheer. Well, almost all. Gabe just glares.

I park in the back of D’Amore and walk to the front. The aroma of tomatoes hits me right away when I walk in. I look at the front counter and the man behind it pounding away at the dough in front of him. Another man adds wood to the big brick oven behind him. “Can I help you?” asks the lady standing at the hostess stand on the left.

“Yes.” I smile as I walk over. “I’d like to order five pizzas,” I say, counting off to make sure it’s enough in my head. She hands me the menu so I can look at the different options except there are only three—cheese, pepperoni and cheese, and meat lovers. “Well, this is a hard choice. I’ll take one cheese, two pepperoni, and two meat lovers.” She smiles at me, then yells the order across the room, startling me.

“It will be about ten minutes. You can have a seat here.” She points at the two chairs beside her. “Or you can sit at the bar in the back.” She motions to the small rounded bar in the back corner of the restaurant. Wine glasses hang from the racks above the bar as the guy works quickly to keep up with the orders that come in. The restaurant is almost full. Where most restaurants have individual tables, D’Amore only has long tables with stools, and you sit where you want. Bags of flour line the walls as well as boxes of what look like tomatoes stacked halfway up the wall. I’m looking around when I see Mila stand on a stool and wave at me, calling my name. “Hailey.” Pizza sauce all around her mouth. I smile at the her, then she looks down at her father and he turns his head to look at me. I wave to the her and then turn my head to look outside, forcing myself not to see if she got off the stool. I feel someone poke my leg, and I turn to see the little girl in question. I squat down in front of her. “Well, hello there, Princess Mila,” I say to her as she smiles and giggles at the nickname I gave her. “You came out of your castle?”

“Yes.” She nods. “Poppa just picked me up, and we get pizza when he picks me up at Grandma Norma’s house,” she informs me as her father now approaches. “Ready to go?” he asks Mila, not even giving me a glance. Mila looks up. “Can we go walk on the beach and find shells?” she asks her father, who just nods. She grabs her father’s hand as I hear the man behind the counter call my name. “Have fun, Princess Mila.” I tap her nose with my finger as I stand and go to grab the boxes.

The young man behind the counter smiles at me. His white baseball cap on backward makes his green eyes pop. The white t-shirt he is wearing is smeared with tomato sauce. The apron he has on just as dirty. “You’re new?” he asks, and I nod. “I’m Luigi.”

“Nice to meet you, Luigi. I’m Hailey.” I introduce myself as I reach out and grab the five boxes of pizza, not expecting them to be so heavy. Who knew. “Wow. That’s heavy.” I laugh as he reaches back to grab them from me.

“I’ll help you carry them to your car.” He is about to turn around, stopping only when he hears a gruff voice.

“I got it.” I turn to see Jensen reaching past me to grab the boxes. “Mila, hold on to my leg, okay?” He looks down, giving his daughter the instruction, and then waits until she nods.

“It really isn’t necessary. I can carry them; I was just surprised they were so heavy,” I say to them, but Jensen is already outside. “Thank you so much, Luigi.” I walk to the back and find him standing next to my car, waiting for me to unlock the doors. I take the key from my pocket and unlock the door. He opens the trunk and places them inside, then closes it. Grabbing Mila’s hand, he walks away. “Thank you,” I say, but he doesn’t turn back around. Instead, he opens his truck door and buckles Mila in, then turns to get in and takes off, leaving me standing in the middle of the parking lot. “Asshole.”