"All things being equal, no matter what happens with the pizzeria, I want you to stay."
She gave me a quick hug, and smiled at me. "I know you feel that way, but it's nice to hear it every now and then."
Greg came into the kitchen, and when he saw we were hugging, he started to back out.
"Come on in," I said as I broke free from my sister.
"I don't want to interrupt," Greg said.
"You're not," I said. "What can I do for you?"
He looked at my sister and said, "Maddy, if you're finished wrapping things up in here, I could use a hand out front."
"Why, have we suddenly gotten crowded?" she asked.
"You tell me," he said as he held the door open. Coming into the restaurant was a long stream of people, each one sporting a green baseball cap with blue and cinnamon stripes prominently featured.
"Who are they?" I asked.
Maddy laughed. "Can't you tell by their caps? They're fans of the Sparrows. Did you know they were coming, Eleanor?"
"I don't even know who they are," I said. "How could I know they were on their way here? I assume by Sparrows you don't mean actual birds."
Greg shook his head. "How long have you lived in Timber Ridge, Eleanor? They're the middle school soccer team."
"I can't keep track of every sports team and group in town," I said in my defense. "But at least they look hungry."
"Then we'd better get busy," Maddy said as she and Greg went out to face the crowd. I wondered how long I could count on getting so much patronage from the townsfolk with a competing pizzeria just down the promenade, but I was determined that no matter what, I was going to enjoy it while I could.
A dozen pizzas later, all of us were worn out from the intensity of the Sparrows fan-club visit. I glanced at the clock and saw that it was nearly two, the start of our own lunch break, before we had to get ready for our dinner crowd.
"Why don't you go ahead and lock the door," I told Greg as our last customer paid his bill. "We could use an extra few minutes to get a jump on things."
I didn't have to tell him twice. He flipped the sign over, engaged the lock, and stood by the door until our last customer left. Greg never said anything, but it could be a little unnerving for him on sentinel duty there. Even so, it was better than the way Josh reacted when I'd ask him to close a little early. He'd been known to make up stories just to run off any diners he felt were moving a little too slowly for his taste. At least I would be saved from having to deal with his teenage temper reacting to the new pizzeria for the moment. Josh wouldn't be in until later, since he was scheduled to work the evening shift, and I wondered how he'd react to the news. At least I had a break before he'd arrive and I'd have to deal with his outrage at the news.
Once the last customer left, Maddy looked around the dining room and said, "I can't believe how much of a mess they made."
"Don't think of it that way," I said as we all started getting the place back in order. Greg was on table duty, Maddy helped him bus, and I retrieved food and napkins from the floor so I could clear enough of a path to get the vacuum.
"How should I think of it?"
"As dollars in our register," Greg said before I could reply. He looked sheepishly at me and said, "Sorry, I didn't mean to speak out of turn."
"It's not a problem. You said exactly what I was thinking myself," I answered as I picked up an errant soiled paper napkin from the floor. Sometimes I wished I wore gloves, but my hands would be in scalding water soon enough as I washed dishes, and I wouldn't touch anything else until they were clean again. I liked to keep my restaurant clean, and I'd do whatever it took to make it happen.
Like most messes, it wasn't as bad as it had originally looked. We had the dining room in good shape in short order, and Greg took off, with my blessing.
As soon as he was gone, Maddy turned to me and asked, "What do you want to do now? Should we do all of the dishes, or should we forget about them for the moment and do a little more digging into Mr. Sizemore's life?"
I was tempted, but I wasn't all that certain that I could focus on anything else with a sink full of dirty dishes, and more waiting to be washed. "Let's go back and see just how bad it really is. With both of us working, we might be able to knock them out in no time."
Maddy shrugged. "Hey, it's your place. I'm just your number one employee." She looked at me and added, "I am number one, right?"
I laughed at that as I opened the door to the kitchen.
"What?" Maddy said. "Does that mean you aren't going to comment?"
"I thought my reply was on the nose," I said with a smile.
We walked back into the kitchen, and I looked at the mess. If anything, it was worse than I had expected.
I turned to Maddy and said, "I don't know about you, but I don't think I can face another dirty dish."
She grabbed my apron from me and threw it onto the counter. "Let's leave them for Josh, then."
I took my apron, sighed, and put it back on. "We both know that I can't do that, no matter how much I'd love to. I can delegate most things, but I can't make anyone else do something that I'm not willing to do myself."
She grinned. "I can always hope otherwise, but how can I say that I'm surprised by that reaction? Let's get to it, then. You wash, and I'll dry. We'll be out of here in no time."
"Why don't we make something to eat while we're working? That way we won't have to deal with it later."
"That sounds great to me. What did you have in mind?" she asked.
"Surprise me."
As I started on the dishes, I could see Maddy pulling pizza dough out of the refrigerator.
She was just starting to knuckle the dough into the pan when she caught me watching her. "Hey, no peeking."
I turned back to the dishes and, after a few minutes, she rejoined me and started drying the rinsed items from the rack.
I kept waiting for her to tell me about her latest concoction, but when she didn't say anything about it, I finally broke down and said, "I give up. You win. What kind of pizza are we having?"
"I honestly don't know what I would call it," she said, "because I'm not entirely sure anyone's ever made one quite like it before. But I'm hoping it's good."
"That makes two of us," I said.
Whatever it was, it smelled delicious. I found my gaze drifting back to the conveyor oven, wondering what she'd put together. I knew our operation wasn't fancy like having a wood-fired oven and pizza dough flying through the air would be, but our place was friendly and functional and, at least so far, it had allowed me to make a living doing something I'd grown to love. I couldn't imagine my life without A Slice of Delight, any more than I could envision living in Timber Ridge without Maddy.
I was going to have to do something to make sure that the pizzeria stayed open regardless of anything that happened outside its doors, and whatever I finally came up with was going to have to be good.
"So, are you going to try some, or just sit there staring at it all afternoon?" Maddy asked me as I plated a piece of her pizza concoction. We'd knocked the dishes out as the pizza had been cooking, and I had no problem with leaving the few dirty dishes we'd created for later. Now we were sitting in a booth out front looking outside. We'd decided to sit there as we ate and discussed possible plans to combat Italia's. It wasn't that I didn't love my kitchen, but I spent enough time back there working during the course of a day to want to get out of it now and then. We kept the lights off and the sign switched to CLOSED, and no one bothered us.
I got my nerve up and took the first bite.
"It's interesting," I said. "I've had pineapple and ham on a pizza before, but never combined with spicy sausage, mushrooms, jalapeno peppers, and Tabasco sauce. If you had to give it a name, what would you call it?"
She grinned at me as she said proudly, "I don't know about you, but I kind of like 'the Volcano.' Should we add it to the menu?"
I thought about it and realized that updating the menu, and what we offered to our customers, might not be such a bad idea. "Why not? We can create a whole new section on our menu and update our prices at the same time," I said.
Maddy stared at me for a few seconds, and then she finally burst out laughing. "It's really not that bad, is it? I made it as a joke to perk you up a little, but honestly, I kind of like it."
As I dropped the slice in my hand onto my plate, I said, "It's not something I'd ever order, but you never know. Some folks might like it."
"Wow, just think what else I might be able to create if I have the chance," Maddy said.
"Tell you what. Why don't we see how this does before we get too carried away?" I was still hungry, so I took another bite despite the heat in my mouth, and to my surprise, I found it starting to grow on me as well.
Maddy finished another bite, and then said, "It has a little sweetness, a little saltiness, and a little heat."
I must have bitten into a pepper, because my mouth started burning and tears were welling up in my eyes. "More like a lot of heat," I said as I grabbed my water glass and drained it.
"Maybe I'll back off on the peppers a little next time," Maddy said.
"I'd keep it exactly like it is. After all, a lot of folks love spicy food."
"All we can do is offer it and see if we get any takers." She pushed her plate away as she added, "A little of it goes a long way, doesn't it?"
"I'm through, too," I said.
After we pushed our plates away, I asked, "Should we clean this up and get started digging?"
"I don't think we should leave the pizzeria again," Maddy said.
"Come on, don't be such a baby. It's not that cold out. Maybe you just need a warmer coat."
"It's not because of the cold, Eleanor," Maddy answered. "I just think our time might be better spent if we came up with some kind of plan instead of just rushing into this headfirst."
I looked closely into my sister's eyes for a few seconds, and she asked me, "What are you doing?"
"I just can't believe those words came out of your mouth. You're usually the one who wants to stir up trouble and see what happens."
Maddy nodded. "Maybe this time I need to be the sister who offers a reasoned perspective."
I couldn't believe she could say that with a straight face. "I'd love to know how you plan to do that."
Maddy grinned at me and said, "It's easy. I'll just pretend that I'm you."
We sat there going over dozens of possibilities, but we weren't having much luck, and the time kept moving forward.
We were both lost in thought since we still hadn't come up with anything even approaching a game plan when Josh and Greg tapped on the glass door. I glanced at the clock on the wall and saw that we still had ten minutes before we were due to open for our evening shift. It was rare for one of them to come early, but the fact that they were together meant that something was up, and from the expressions on their faces, it wasn't good.
I let them in. "Josh knows what's going on," Greg said.
Wonderful. "I suppose you two are ready to go confront Judson Sizemore again," I said.
"That's one way to go," Josh said, and I marveled again about just how much he looked like his father had at that age. "Can we eat first, though?"
Both young men went straight to the new pizza before I could warn them about its combustible properties.
"What is it?" Josh asked as he took a piece and smelled it. I'd noticed that about him long ago, an odd habit indeed: Nothing went into that boy's mouth until he smelled it first, and if it didn't pass his sniff test, he refused to eat it.
"It's Maddy's new experiment," I said. "You aren't under any obligation to try it."
Josh shrugged, and then took a bite. He chewed it slowly, and then, after careful consideration, said, "I like it."
"You're kidding," Maddy said.
"No, really, it's good."
Greg leaned over and took a piece for himself. He had a bite, chewed it, and then dropped his slice onto my plate. "Man, that's awful. It's way too hot and spicy."
"If you don't want it, I'll take your share," Josh said.
I pushed the platter toward him. "You're welcome to the rest of it."
"Sweet," he said as he took the remaining slices to another table.
"I'm still hungry," Maddy said. "Shall I make us something else?"
"Why don't I take care of this one?" I asked as I stood. I'd had enough of my sister's creative approach to pizza-making to last me a while. "Greg, would you like me to make you something, too?"
"No thanks. I had a burger at Brian's Grill. You all go ahead, though. I'll keep you company."
I went back into the kitchen, and to my surprise, the three of them followed me, including Josh holding the remnants of that abomination of a pizza in one hand as he ate the final slice. I wasn't sure I'd ever be able to get that taste out of my mouth. Something simple was needed to cleanse my palette, the way a sorbet does, so I decided to make a plain cheese pizza for Maddy and me.
As I slid it onto the conveyor, she said, "You're not putting any toppings on it at all? Really?"
"I think I've had my fill of extras at the moment. Something simple might be good, but I can make you something else, if you'd like. What do you think?"
"Maybe you're right," she said after a moment's pause.
"Why are you two so early?" I asked, now that the pizza was on its journey through the oven. It might not be as fancy as the wood-fired one they had at Italia's, but it made good, consistent pizza time after time, and that was all I could ask of it.
"We came to help," Greg said.
I looked around the clean kitchen. "Thanks, but you're a little late. Maddy and I took care of the dishes as soon as you left."
"Not with that," Josh said. "We're talking about the new pizza place."
"I can't believe you bothered him with this before he even came to work, Greg."
"He didn't have to," Josh said between bites. "I heard about it on the radio."
"He's advertising?" I asked, unable to believe he could afford to, in such a small market.
"Oh, yes. It's a regular media blitz. You've got to do something about it, Eleanor. This guy is not fooling around."