Page 127 of Small Town Swoo
I laughed. “You don’t have to do that.”
“I’m proud of you, Ari. You’re too talented for Moe’s, I know that.”
“Not at all, Dad.” I put my hand on the blanket and leaned forward. “That’s the thing. Comfort food doesn’t have to be cheap or unsophisticated or unhealthy or unimaginative. It just has to taste great and make people feel good. Maybe remind them of something they’ve had before but presented in a new way.”
“I like that,” he said. “Let’s go for it. Where do we buy a truck? How much do they cost?”
“Well, I’ve only looked at one, and the sale price is about forty thousand dollars. And that’s before the exterior paint job.”
He pursed his lips. “Forty K, huh?”
“Yeah, I know it’s a lot. So maybe this isn’t the right time to?—”
“We can do it.”
“I just think maybe we ought to wait and see?—”
“I don’t want to wait.”
“But Dad, you’re going to have a massive hospital bill, and more medical expenses as you recover, and Mom thinks?—”
“I know what Mom thinks,” he said. “In fact, I know what Mom thinks before she even thinks it. And it’s not that she’s wrong, she’s just worried about us and wants to protect us. So she’s thinking from a place of fear.”
“But there is a lot of risk,” I pointed out. “We should be scared.”
“Well, I’m not.” He lifted his chin. “How many good years do I have left? I want to do exciting things, take chances, watch you go after something you want and succeed. I want you to have the chance I never did.”
I smiled, my throat growing tight. “There’s no guarantee I’ll succeed, Dad. I could fail in a big way.”
“Chi non fa, non falla, angel,” he said. “My grandmother used to tell me that when I was learning to cook. It means ‘he who makes no mistakes makes nothing.’”
“I like that.” My eyes filled. “I’ve made plenty of mistakes, and I’m sure I’ll make more. But I want to make you proud.”
“That’s a given, angel.” He reached for me, and I came into his arms and gave him a hug. “You go see if that truck is still for sale. I’ll talk to your mom and the bank. If we have to take out a loan against the house, we’ll do it.”
“You’re the best, Dad,” I said, tears falling freely. “I don’t know how to thank you.”
“Get me out of this place.”
Laughing, I let him go and wiped my eyes. “I’ll give it my best effort.”
He gave me a tired smile. “You always do.”
I didn’t waste any time. As soon as I got behind the wheel of my car—which ran much better these days—I pulled Ellie Lupo’s card from my purse and called her.
“Hello?”
“Hi, is this Ellie?”
“Yes, it is.”
“Hi, this is Ari DeLuca. We met?—”
“Ari, hi! How are you?”
“I’m good.”
“How’s your dad? We heard what happened while we were up at Snowberry. That’s so scary.”
