That should do” you say looking around the small diner.
It had been your dream to open your own little pizzeria and your dream was finally coming true. You had used your entire savings to rent and furnish the small diner in the middle of Hoonah. You spent weeks picking out the perfect tables, menus, and decor to go in the restaurant. Now the day had finally come to flip the closed sign to open.
At 12:00 on the dot you unlocked the door and said a small prayer. As the minutes ticked by and no one came through the door you started to get nervous. By 2:00 you were wondering why you thought you could ever do this. As you stood doodling on your ticket book you look up as you hear the bell on the door jingle.
Through the door walked a group of guys arguing amongst themselves. You couldn’t quite make out what they were saying but it sounded like you shouldn’t interrupt.
Finally, one of the men in the group turned acknowledging you were there. “Excuse me” he said,“you are open aren’t you?”
“Yes, we’re open. First day actually” you proudly answer back.
“You see, I told you it’s new and not empty because it’s horrible” the man turned and said to the other guys.
Trying not to take offense to the comment you grab a stack of menus and take them to the table they had decided to sit at. As you start to pass them out you were stopped by a hand gently grabbing yours.
“Thanks but we don’t need any menus, we’ll just take 2 large cheese pizzas.”
As you follow the hand touching you, you can’t help but stare. The man you were locking eyes with was gorgeous. His big blue eyes, curly brown hair, and muscles bulging out of his tight black shirt had you lost for words. You quickly try to regain your composure and tell them you’ll be right back with their food.
You head back to the kitchen and put the pizzas in the oven. As you wait for them to cook you peek out of the kitchen door and watch the group listening to their conversation. From what you could hear they were brothers and were doing some kind of construction work in town. Great you think, you finally see a cute guy and he doesn’t even live around here.
When the food is ready you take the pizzas and set them down at their table and go back to the register to fill out their ticket. Suddenly you hear a noise that makes you look up.
“Mmmmmm! Ohhh this is the best pizza!!” You couldn’t help but laugh as the cute one seemed to really be enjoying the pizza.
Smiling you take the ticket to their table. “Well, it sounded like you enjoyed your lunch.”
“This is by far the best pizza I’ve ever had. Who makes it?”
“I make it” you say still awestruck by how beautiful this man was.
“So you do everything on your own?” He asks.
“Yes all by myself. But as you can see its not like I can’t keep up” you say looking at the empty tables.
“Well, we’ll definitely be back” he smiles at you standing to leave.
As you watch him walk out the door with his brothers you can’t help but hope he was telling the truth. There was something special about that guy.
As the days went by you got more and more busy. Word had spread about your incredible pizza and business was booming. During your first weekend lunch rush you were completely overwhelmed. All of the tables were packed and you hadn’t stopped running from the kitchen to the tables.
When you hear the door bell ring again you don’t look up from the register you only call out “be right with you!”
“Wow you’re swamped” you hear a familiar voice say.
Looking up you are greeted by those big blue eyes and curly brown hair.
“Yeah, it’s crazy right now.” You answer more tired than you meant to sound.
“Look it’s raining today and we can’t work at our construction site so let me hang out and help. My name is Gabe by the way” he says extending his hand.
Too busy to turn away the offer you shake your head “OK Gabe, just start grabbing dishes and throw them in the back for me.”
The rush never seemed to end and before you knew it it was time to close. Completely exhausted you look around and see Gabe coming out of the kitchen door. He looked as exhausted as you felt. You walk over and pull out a chair and sit down rubbing your sore legs.
“Gabe, I don’t know how to thank you for helping me so much today. I would have been lost without you.”
Gabe walks over to the table sitting down across for you “Nw that is hard work! I don’t know how you do this everyday” He says.
The two of you start talking and the conversation changes from talking about pizza to talking about your lives. The more you heard Gabe speak about his family and his way of life the more you wanted to know. Before you know it, you look at the clock and it was already midnight.
“Wow, it’s really late” you say yawning.
“Do you want me to help you finish the dishes?” Gabe sweetly asks.
“No that’s OK I already owe you for helping me earlier.”
“Well, I have an idea of how you can pay me back” Gabe says. “Let me take you out for dinner sometime.”
You smile putting your hand on top of his “I would love that, as long as it’s not pizza.”
