“Your Nonna is a wise woman!”
“You’d love her.” And Mary wished she could bring her entire family here to experience the warmth of the people she had befriended in Cedar Falls.
When the music turned to the Beastie Boys, Mary and Ted took a break and the twins started rapping along to Jay-Z’s “Brooklyn’s Finest.” Harper danced in the middle of their circle.
“What’s Brooklyn like?” Danny asked Dot.
“When you’re in the city, Brooklyn feels far away. Like you need a passport to go there. People who live there love it. That’s where Harper grew up.”
“I went to Brooklyn once. I visited a friend from England who had moved there to work at a publishing house in Manhattan,” Jeanie said. “They have the cutest bookstores.”
“I should go check them out,” Dot said. “When I was young, I always thought about owning a bookstore one day. A place where I knew everyone that came in and could help them find the perfect book. I even wrote that down in my third-grade career day workbook.”
“You never told me that,” Danny said. “I thought you’d have grown up wanting to work in the White House.”
“If only the White House were in New York,” she said.
“Dot only wants to work for Democrats, but maybe we’ll talk some sense into her in the next couple of months.” Jeanie winked.
Ted poked Jeanie in the ribs. “Don’t think you can get a tiger to change its stripes. The girl’s got a big mind and an even bigger heart.”
“Hey now. No politics at this party!” Dot said. “That’s the new rule. Let’s have dessert instead!” She led the way back to the buffet.
The Jankowskis had invited Fletcher and Rose from the FTW office, and of course Mimi from the bakery. They were already in line, ladling Christine Russo’s Sunday sauce onto bowls of rigatoni that Grace had cooked.
“I saw you posted the dating profile,” Fletcher said. “I have a bunch of texts from friends saying it’s awesome.”
“Thanks. Let’s hope it works. Or that it doesn’t flop,” Dot said, nervous about how it was playing. She was dying to check her phone in the back where it wouldn’t look rude to their hosts.
Harper walked up to the table. She leaned into Dot and whispered, “Did you have the pizza? I mean... it was sweet of them to try.”
“Oh yeah, it’s not Joe’s. Let’s just pretend to love it,” Dot said quietly. She looked for Mary and said more loudly, so that Ted and Jeanie would hear her, “Mary, your mom’s sauce is unreal. And welovethe pizza, too, right?”
Catching on, Mary said with a wink, “Oh, so good. I had two pieces!” She had not had two pieces. Mary could play poker against seasoned professionals.
Frank Sinatra was playing through the speaker, and Ted and Jeanie started dancing again.
“Hey, we should all meet up in New York after we go back!” Harper said, thinking that sounded like great fun.
“Let’s not talk about going back to New York,” Tommy said. “I mean, I know you’re going, but we’ll miss you. I’ll miss you.”
Harper blushed and leaned into him. “You’re right. Forget I said anything.”
“It’s a good idea, Harper,” Mary said. “But we’re here for a couple more months and we’re going to make the most of it, aren’t we?”
Jake put a protective arm around Mary, Danny looked away, worry crossing his already sad eyes, and Tommy scrunched up his mouth thinking of something to say to change the subject.
“Let’s not think about goodbyes,” Grace said. “Come, let’s have some cheesecake. I picked one up today from Piggly Wiggly.” She wielded the knife expertly and placed narrow slices on small paper plates for everyone.
Harper took a bite. “This slaps.”
“Remember when you were lactose intolerant?” Tommy laughed, and she playfully punched him in the arm. “Think of what you were missing.”
Dot smiled, but she took Tommy’s sentence and put it in the future tense.
“Think of what we will miss,” she said to herself.
Chapter 57