Page 49 of All's Fair in Love and Pizza
“I run a bagel shop, not a bar,” she retorted. “Throw me the ball, Robbie.”
I obeyed, chuckling as Amber whooped gleefully, waving her arms above her head.
And right then and there, I was overwhelmed with a sense of belonging. What had started as a rivalry of sorts had blossomed into something I hadn’t known I needed—a team, a community. I met Mateo’s gaze and smiled.
“You holdin’ up okay?” he asked, sidling close.
I shoved my hands into my pockets and nodded. “Yeah, you?”
“Eh, I’m tired. I think I like your bed better.”
“And this is where you tell me it’s nothing personal, it’s my mattress,” I deadpanned.
Mateo bumped my elbow. “Mine’s not so bad. We can try it out later tonight. Want to come over for dinner? I’ll heat up my mom’sBolognese.”
I lifted my brows. “Sounds like a date.”
This was usually where he’d punch my biceps, sneer, and change the subject.
Not today.
Today Mateo looked me square in the eye and said, “It’s a date. Seven, okay?”
18
MATEO
My mother stepped onto the stoop with her hands on her hips, surveyed the scene in the alley, and let us have it…in Italian. The gist was, “What do you think you’re doing? We have customers. So many customers! You can’t all be out here. Get your butts inside and get to work and…” and so on and so on.
Yeah, it was probably a good thing my cousins had never learned the language.
I patted Rob’s shoulder—because I couldn’t not touch him—and strode toward my mother. “Leave ’em alone, Ma,” I scolded. “We’ve been going hard for days now. We needed to blow off a little steam.”
Her eagle-eyed gaze landed on Rob and Amber, who waved politely.
“Mrs. C, I have a new herb seasoning for you to try,” Amber called out. “I think it goes well on the everything bagel.”
“I will come over…as soon as these boys put their ball away,” Ma replied in her lilting accent.
“We’re coming, we’re coming,” Sal grumbled, pausing to kiss Ma’s cheek before heading into the restaurant, his brothers trailing behind him. “Let’s go, Teo.”
I didn’t move, though. Truthfully, I was a little worried about Rob. It didn’t take a genius to realize that international interest in our tiny town’s bake-off was taking a toll on him.
I felt protective for reasons unknown and wished I could do or say something to ease his mind. That wasn’t like me. At all. But I couldn’t do anything here. We could talk tonight at my place.
Christ, was that really a date?
What was wrong with me?
“Roberto, I will walk with you,” Ma called to Rob.
Rob cast a curious glance our way and smiled patiently. “Of course.”
I frowned. “What are you doing?”
Ma squeezed my cheeks, then patted them…hard. “I am quizzing yourragazzo. But don’t worry. I will be cool.”
“He’s not my boyfriend,” I whisper-hissed. “And since when are you cool?”
