Page 55 of All's Fair in Love and Pizza
“I got it, Cuz. You’ve got a few more selfie requests.” Vanni gestured to two couples, an older gentleman, and a family of five lurking nearby.
I schmoozed and smiled till my face hurt. It was…exhausting. I didn’t put up much of a fight when my mother called for me. She pulled me through the kitchen, where Sal, Jimmy, and a few other cousins and part-timers prepared pizzas over the din of a Billy Joel classic, and outside onto the stoop. I sighed in relief at the relative quiet.
“What’s up, Ma?”
“Nothing. Come sit. You need a break.” She sat on the steps and pointed to the space beside her.
I obeyed, too tired to argue. Too many late nights and early mornings had caught up with me. “I’m tired,” I admitted.
Ma set her hand on my knee. “I know. This is bigger than expected, yes?”
“Yeah. You could say that.”
“Your father would have loved this.”
I turned my palm to squeeze her fingers. “You think so?”
She nodded. “He was a ham.”
I chuckled lightly. “He was.”
“Not shy of the camera, always shaking hands, making friends.” Ma bumped my elbow playfully. “Like you.”
“Dad was better at this than me.”
Ma shrugged. “Different, maybe, but not better. Your papa would be very proud of you, Teo.”
When her voice cracked, I put an arm over her shoulders and tugged her close. “Thanks.”
“And he would like Rob.”
“Everyone likes Rob.”
“No, I mean it. Don’t give me the off-brush,” she scolded.
“Brush-off.”
Ma swatted my arm. “I’m trying to be serious and tell you something. Something maybe you need to hear.”
“Ma, I love you, but I’ve got a store full of customers and I can’t?—”
“Your cousins can handle pizza for ten minutes, eh? That is all the time it takes for me to say what I want to say. So listen.”
I threw my hands in the air. “I’m listening.”
She stared straight ahead. Her dark eyes fixed, unseeing, at the brick wall and the industrial trash bin beyond. In profile, my mother reminded me of an aging Hollywood movie star. Someone like Audrey Hepburn—graceful and serene and with a lot of spunk. She tilted her proud chin in my direction, inhaled deeply, and spoke in Italian.
“You have made this store everything he wanted it to be, and for that he would be proud. But if it all went away, your papa would still be very proud of you. I think in your heart you know that.” She waited for my nod of acknowledgment and continued. “He loved you, and nothing would change that. Nothing, Teo.He could be opinionated, that’s true, but at his core, he was filled with love. And if he’d known you were gay…he would have supported you. No questions.”
I bit the inside of my cheek to keep rogue tears at bay and huffed. “No questions?”
“Okay, maybe some questions,” she conceded. “But curious questions, not ugly questions. You were his everything, Teo! His pride, his joy, his reason to get up in the morning and put on that apron and greet the day. His son. Everything you did was magic to him. Your first step, your first haircut, your first tooth. He couldn’t wait to show you how to ride a bike, how to make dough, how to throw a football. Every accomplishment was…well, I think our customers got a little tired of him bragging all the time about his successful son.”
I smiled wanly. “Hmm.”
“When things didn’t go your way in Tennessee, he hurt for you. We both did. That’s what parents do. He worried about you and he thought you might be happy here. At least for a while. But his time was up…too soon. And I think you’re angry with him that you didn’t get to say what you wanted to say.”
I swallowed around the lump in my throat and swiped at my eyes. “I…”
