Page 7 of A Pizza My Heart

“He’ll never settle down.”

“They said that about you too.”

“Yeah, well, look how that turned out,” he says quietly.

I glance at the woman across from him, a million questions rolling around in my head.

Who is she?

What is she doing here?

Where has she been?

Who am I? That’s one secret I’ll—

Okay, fine, this isn’tGossip Girl, but still.

She’s not the woman Foster married. So, who is she?

Furthermore, is Foster here to stay or just visiting?

And what did she want to add to her order again? Onion rings?

“I didn’t—” Foster starts.

“I think that’s all we’ll need,” the woman says, cutting him off and blinking up at me with a thinly veiled irritated grin.

“Right.” I give her a tightlipped smile, picking up what she’s putting down. “I’ll be right back with your drinks.”

“Do make sure it’srightback,” she adds as I turn.

I gnash my teeth together, working hard to not let anything else accidentally slip out of my mouth tonight, and make my way to the drink station to grab her soda.

“I lied before. Randy is a troll compared to that fine specimen,” Drew says in my ear, sliding up next to me and looking out over at the floor. “Who isthat?”

“Crazy. She iscrazy.She ordered a salad withnodressing and then added a side of onion rings. Who does that?”

Drew sighs. “Number one, it’s called balance. Number two, we both know Iwas nottalking about the woman, though she is ridiculously gorgeous. Who is that guy? It looked like you know him.”

“Are you even paying attention to your customers when you’re out on the floor? Or are you spying on me the whole time?”

“Yes.”

I narrow my eyes at her non-answer. “Right. Anyway, Idoknow him. Or I did.”

“Cool, cool, cool. Buthow? And who is he?”

“He’s…”

I stare back out at Foster, trying to find the words to describe him.

Growing up, he was a pain in my ass. Always there to help Winston tease me. Always there to make me feel like the third wheel. Always there to make all my sleepovers extremely awkward because“Oh my god, I didn’t knowtheFoster Marlett was gonna be here!”

He was always there.

But after Mom died, it didn’t feel like that anymore. He was my confidant. He became my best friend as much as he was Winston’s.

And suddenly I was glad he was always there.

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