Okay, fine, the shower felt amazing. And with the water cascading over me, my mom’s words coalesced in my gut into something wonderful.
I can have my future, and Kai can be in it. Will it be easy? Nope. I might have to start from scratch in terms of establishing myself as a chef in Vancouver, but as Mom said, I have family and friends to help. And two of those friends are waiting for me.
As soon as I’m dressed, I drive to Piatti with the windows down, soaking in the warm, late summer sun.
I let myself in the back door and hear Gianni talking to one of his staff. I timed my arrival so that the lunch rush should be over, and the trattoria will be closing for a few hours to get ready for dinner.
“Bella!” Gianni abandons his staff member, walking over to me and kissing my cheeks enthusiastically. “You are glowing. What is different?”
I half snort, half laugh. “I washed my hair.”
His brow furrows in confusion, and I wave him off. “Never mind. Hi, I’m hungry.” I give him a grin, and he answers it with one of his own.
“Excellent. My two favourite words. Paul is out front, he’ll join us. We can take food up to the roof and enjoy.”
“Excuse me, what? You’ve had a rooftop space this whole time and never showed me?” I slap his chest.
“That’s because it was a total mess until this past weekend. Someone decided it needed to be cleaned up before you left,” Paul interjects, coming up and giving me a quick hug.
Gianni shrugs, his expression looking mischievous. “I want to throw you a party. Show you everything you are leaving behind when you go home.”
I clear my throat. “Ah, about that.”
They both look at me with slight frowns. I reach down into the wine fridge that’s conveniently in front of me and pull out the first bottle my hand touches. “Let’s talk over lunch. And wine.”
Gianni grabs a platter from the fridge, and Paul a stack of napkins and some wine glasses. Then we all traipse up a staircase I never knew existed until Gianni manages to open a door one-handed onto an outdoor oasis.
“Oh my God, this is incredible. You could do so much with this! Private parties, weddings, or just overflow seating.” My brain is already envisioning all sorts of ideas as I take in thespace. It’s empty, for now, but clean, with a raised concrete ledge around the perimeter.
So maybe oasis is a stretch, but the potential is there, in front of us, in the shape of the amazing view.
“You’ve got the mountains, the water, and the city.” I spin to Gianni. “How have you not made use of this before?”
He shrugs and sets the platter down on a small table Paul procures from somewhere. “We haven’t had the time. When I took the restaurant over from my parents, it was essentially a storage space. Then things became so busy, we forgot about it, to be honest.”
“But a party to say goodbye to our new friend was the perfect motivation to clean it up.” Paul sets up three folding chairs. “Just say yes, and we’ll handle the rest.”
Gianni scoffs. “She cannot say no, I’ve already ordered half of the food.”
I sink down on one of the chairs, tears brimming in my eyes again.
“I’m not going back to Italy,” I blurt out, and two sets of eyes land on me. “At least, not right away. I’ll have to at some point, but I won’t be staying.”
“What are you saying?”
“Pour some wine, would you?” I ask Paul with a shaky laugh. He does so and hands me a glass. I take a large sip before continuing. “So, I’ve told you about Kai.” They both nod. I confessed my past with Kai to them over a platter of oysters and one too many glasses of pinot grigio a few weeks ago. “Turns out, we’re both still wildly in love with each other and I don’t think I can leave him a second time. So I’m staying. Don’t suppose you need a dishwasher? Because staying here means I’m also out of a job.”
I finish and look at my friends, only to find them staring at each other, smiles growing wider and wider on their faces.
“Yes,mi amor,” Gianni says in answer to a question I never heard Paul ask.
He nods as well, then at the same time, they turn and face me.
“We will not hire you as a dishwasher, Bella.” Gianni’s somber tone is at odds with the excitement etched on his face, or the way his leg is almost vibrating. “But we would like to offer you a partnership? Cook with me. Run the restaurant with us. Please?”
My mouth falls open as I stare at them in shock. “What?” I never anticipated this. Sure, a part of me had a fleeting hope that maybe they’d offer me a job, but this? This is beyond my wildest dreams.
Paul takes over, reaching out and taking one of my hands in his. “We’re serious. We’ve actually been talking about it over the last week or two. About how well you fit here, how easy it’s been to connect with you and work with you. There’s a lot of details to consider, and maybe it’s smarter to do a trial basis, or something less major of a commitment than partnership.” Gianni scoffs, but Paul keeps going, ignoring him. “But we want this. We want to work with you. We just didn’t know how we’d ever convince you not to go back to Italy.”