Page 48 of Love You, Mean It

I laughed in spite of myself. It slightly calmed the stuttery nerve-jangles.

“Did you just call to check on your ancestral wealth, or was there somethingmeaningfulyou wanted to interrupt my day with?”

“Actually…I have some good news.” A hint of excitement crept in. “I just got off a conference call with the leadership team. We patched Ted in—”

“Totally normal form of communication with one’s father.”

“As I wasaboutto say, the team had a call, and I brought up Mangia.”

I hurried into the back corner of the back room, death-gripping the phone.

“And? Did he agree to call off the deal?”

“Not exactly.”

I slumped against the walk-in, limbs immediately sandbagged.

“How is this good news, Theo?”

“I wasgettingthere.” I rolled my eyes. “He agreed to call a board meeting. But first, he wants to throw a party.”

“A…what? Why?”

“For our engagement. He felt it was ‘important to share the happy news before rethinking the Mangia relationship.’ The board is entirely family.”

“He’s such a family man now?”

“That’s how he’d like toappear. Which makes this a clear step in the right direction.” Theo’s voice lowered gleefully. “Publicizing this in the broader business community would make it almostimpossiblefor him to move ahead with the deal.”

“I’m sorry, ourengagementparty is going to be for the ‘broader business community’?”

“If we’re lucky. We want this to be Ted’s affair. It ups our odds.”

“Yes, but that means maximumTed.”

“Trust me, I know. And he wants to have the party soon, most likely this weekend—he’s adamant about it happening before we convene the board, and we have a limited window for that if we really are going to nix the Mangia deal. So…are you free tonight to plan our attack? I know it’s last-minute, but I can be flexible on timing…”

Theo’s offer opened a valve on some previously dammed reserve of nervous excitement, the feeling bursting from my center all the way to the tips of my fingers. Somewhere at the back of my mind a red flag was waving frantically,You can’t trust yourself around him,but that was idiotic—the kiss had been a fluke. The giddy, floaty feeling overtaking me wasn’t about seeingTheo,it was about how close we were to getting what we wanted. It was starting to look like the deli might actually survive. And whatever else he was—and he wasn’t anything tome,just a genetic lottery winner with a more interesting personality than I’d previously given him credit for, which wasn’t saying much, considering I’d previously assumed Theo’s essence was composed entirely of golfing tips, canvas belts with sailboats on them, and a generous sprinkle ofLet them eat cake—Theo was a good teammate in Operation Keep Mangia Out.

Plus, it was probably like…ninety-two percent the wine.

“Tonight works. This is important.”

“I knew you’d understand. Meet at mine around seven? I’ll order food.”

“It’s a date,” I said, cheeks heating as I hung up. He knew that was just a phrase, right? Because that was definitely all I’d meant byit.

The excitement kept me buoyant through the slow hours of the afternoon. I even cheerily offered Ruth Pinsky a taste of the new farro salad recipe I was working on, which seemed to shock her even more than it did me. I was finally in the last-hour stretch, prematurely wrapping the meats people bought less often so closing would go faster, when the bell over the door tinkled. I looked up, smiling brightly—was this what it felt like to be Bella?—but my smile froze when I realized it was…

“Sam?”

“Hey, Ellie. So this is the deli, huh?” She turned in a slow circle, looking it over. “It’s charming. Not that I’m surprised, you’re so stylish.” She moved over to a shelf, turning a bottle of balsamic around to read the label. “Do people realize how hard it is to get your hands on some of this stuff?”

“Definitely not,” I said, pride welling in my chest. Sam complimenting the deli—and callingmestylish—definitely felt higher-value just because of the source.

“Maybe you should start keeping it behind the counter.”

“Or ask for a special password.”

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