Page 1 of My Infatuation with Isabella

1. Dylan

February 10, 2027

With a small smileplaying on my lips, I switch off the radio and call an Uber. Listening toThe Crude Awakeningon KRXM is the best way to start my morning. I don’t even leave the house until the show is done. Between the upbeat music and the hosts, I’m generally in a good mood for the rest of the day.

The Uber drops me off twenty minutes later. The waitresses are already bustling about, cleaning and setting up the tables when I walk into the restaurant. We only start serving at eleven, so I have no idea why they are always in such a hurry when it’s only nine. I constantly have to tell them to slow down and enjoy the morning before the lunchtime rush hits, but our staff atPiatto Pienoare dedicated on another level.

After I graduated from high school, my dad handed over the reins of the restaurant to me and my mom, so he could focus more on the franchisees and building the brand.

Akeem bombards me with orders and invoices to sign the second I step through the door. “We’ve got requests for a wedding and a birthday party. You need to?”

“I need coffee,” I cut in. “Before anything else, I need coffee.”

“Your morning coffee, boss,” Melanie says, appearing out of nowhere to hand me a steaming cup.

“Thanks, Mel.” I awkwardly accept the cup because Bella kindly informed me that Mel wants to get me naked, and I just can’t see her niceness the same way anymore. “You didn’t have to do that.”

She smiles sweetly. “I don’t mind.”

I drink half the cup before I’m ready to tackle customer orders and sign off payments. We go through those, then take inventory to make sure we have what we need for the week. My parents have taught me all the tricks of the trade, and in this business, good inventory management makes all the difference.

Akeem steps into the large walk-in fridge. “Looks like we have enough beef, so?”

“Don’t we have a wedding this weekend?” I remind him.

“Oh, yeah. We do,” he replies with a nod, then makes a note to order more beef.

The aroma of garlic and thyme wafts through the air as we get closer to lunchtime. It’s still relatively quiet, but the rush will hit soon. I walk from the kitchen to the payment counter just in time to see my sister bounce through the front doors.

She runs from the entrance to the payment counter at the back, then hops onto my back and slaps a kiss on my cheek. “Good morning, brother.”

“Why are you so chirpy?” I ask, tallying up the cash float before the day officially starts.

“Mom said I can get a puppy, and I want another Labrador, just like Fluffy.”

Dana may be twenty-three, but a lot of her behavior is still very child-like. Chunks of her teenage years are a blur and she’s making up for it now. It took hours upon hours of intensive therapy to get her to this point. It was a rough road, but she’s in a much better headspace now. She’s still very wary of men and doesn’t trust easily. She still gets violent when she’s triggered because her built-in fight-or-flight mode is something no therapist can reverse. But she’s learned to deal with those triggers, so her acts of aggression are very few and far between. Unfortunately, she’s still nowhere near independent and relies on my parents a lot because she refuses to go anywhere alone, but they are all too happy to oblige. They’re making up for lost time, too. I don’t think they’d mind if Dana never left home.

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