Page 19 of Grateful in Watch Hill
EIGHT
SETH
“How was the rest ofyour weekend?” I asked Kyle when I arrived at Watch Hill Pizza on Tuesday afternoon. After a few days away, he looked refreshed and well-rested for the first time since I’d started helping with the place. He was in the kitchen making a large pizza for one of the lunch orders. I hadn’t planned to work that day until the dinner rush, but he’d called me about a half hour before and begged me to come in early.
“Great? Yours?”
“It was nice.” I bit back my glee. “Simple.”
“Sometimes that’s the best kind.”
I left my jacket on the row of hooks in the office and tied a fresh apron around my waist. “Let me take care of those,” I said as I approached the sink near the prep station. I ran my hands under the faucet and scrubbed my fingers with the industrial grade soap on the ledge. “Then you can take care of the front.”
“Thanks, man.” Kyle finished placing pepperoni slices atop the sauce that covered the dough. “Did you see Tyler staining the wood outside? We’re almost done.”
“The patio looks fantastic. I think a lot of people will come to the opening.”
“I hope so. You should be proud; we got it done because of you.”
I held up my drying hands in mock protest. “I’m just the ideas guy.”
“Everyone needs somebody like that.”
I crossed the kitchen and took the pizza pan handle. “Does this one need any other toppings?”
“No.”
I slid it into the nearby stove. “On its way then.”
“Thanks.” Kyle took a few steps toward the main dining room but turned around when he reached the doorway. “Remember how Ashley told me she saw Kendra at the food drive?”
“Yeah, I do.” I sighed. “Sad.”
He crossed his arms. “Was she also one of the FoodSwap drivers that showed up to help over the weekend, when I was gone?”
I nodded.
“Figures. Kendra isn’t that common of a name.”
“Working for FoodSwap is better than not working at all.” I looked down for a moment as my thoughts turned to Nancy and the conversation we’d had the day after she got my text. “But I think she’s going to be all right. Just needs a stroke of luck.”
