Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 76656 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 383(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76656 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 383(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
“No. I need to be in her section.”
“Okay, this does look good,” Silas says after we sit down, and he has a chance to peruse the menu. “Did you say something about a special?”
“It’s just the pizza I always order,” I tell him. “They make me what I like.”
“Ah,” he says. “I think I’ll try the pesto primavera. Have you had that one?”
I shake my head. “I get the same one every time.” In spite of my heartbreak, this is still my favorite place in Brooklyn. No—it’s my favorite place outside Finland.
Chiara’s heels click towards us, and I already feel better. I take her in, and my heart lifts as a smile curves across her face. “Ivo! So you do have friends.”
“One friend,” I say as my face reddens. “He likes pizza a lot.”
“You have that in common, then.” She pulls her phone out. “Okay, are you ready to play?”
I nod my head. “Let’s do it.”
She holds up a picture on her phone. The deal is that I get four questions—each one something I might see in New York. If I get them all correct, my dessert is free.
I always tip a lot, so the money is not really the point. But I do enjoy the game. And the first picture is one I can do. It’s a koira. “Dog,” I say in English.
“Good! Next one.” She swipes.
“Train.”
“Yep. Although I also would have accepted subway.” She flips to the next picture, and it’s easy.
“Taxi! We say it the same in Finnish.”
“Good to know in case I ever visit Helsinki.”
That is, of course, my dream. But she can’t know that.
“Okay, last one?”
She flips and I see… Oof. “We call it sateenvarjo. I don’t know the English for that.”
“Oh, ouch. It’s an umbrella.” She gives me a big smile, and her eyes grow warm. “Better luck next time. It’s a damn shame, too, because the special dessert is lava cake.”
I make a pouting face. “I’ll pay double.”
She laughs, and clicks her pen. “You want your usual?”
“Of course.”
“And you, sir?” she turns to Silas.
“No quiz for me?” he chuckles, handing over the menu. “I’ll have whatever Ivo is getting. He has big opinions, and my gut says to trust him on this.”
“Suit yourself, dude. Drinks?”
We order a couple of beers, and she trots off toward the kitchen, while I try not to stare at her ass.
Silas chuckles, sitting back in his chair. “That is more English than I’ve ever heard you speak in an entire day before. Actually, I think I know why you like this restaurant so much.”
“The pizza is very good.”
Silas laughs harder.
The pizza is very good, though, and after our salads, Silas is forced to admit it. “I had my doubts, but this crust is terrific,” he says. “She brings you this half-and-half pie every time?”
I nod, but I have a question. “If you are the master of pizza, why have you not tried this place before?”
“I like the little old school joints,” Silas says. “The uglier the better. Di Fara, for example. Or Jo and Pat’s on Staten Island. I’m a purist.”
Then Silas tells me about all his favorite pizza restaurants all over the country. I like hearing about them, and it’s probably good for my English.
Even though I am a loner, I can admit that this is more fun than going home alone and watching Finnish TV, which is what I often do.
And the restaurant is lovely tonight, with little candles on every table. Chiara is more beautiful than ever.
In a perfect world, I would like to take her out to a restaurant like this sometime. Not this one, of course. Somewhere else, just the two of us.
“Why don’t you ask her out?” Silas says in a low voice as I watch her open a bottle of wine for another table.
My chin snaps back in his direction. “Sorry?”
“You should ask her out,” he says. “On a date.”
“No,” I say in response.
“Why not?” he asks with an irritating smile. “Why wait? I asked my girl out practically the day we met.”
“She said yes?” I ask.
“Nope. She said no for weeks.” He shrugs. “But you can’t hear a yes unless you ask.”
“I will not hear a yes at all.” I shake my head. “That chain around her neck now holds a diamond ring. She does not wear it on her finger while she works.”
His face falls. “Really? She’s engaged?”
“Yes sir.”
He sits back in his chair, as if shocked. “You missed your window! How did this happen?”
I shrug. “He got there first. I wanted to learn the language before I asked her out…”
“Why? You two could just speak the language of looooove.” He wiggles his eyebrows. “But in all seriousness, I don’t get it. It’s mutual, my dude.”
“It’s…what?” I don’t understand that word.
“You like each other. It’s not my imagination. She wants you.”