Rest in Pizza by Chris Cavender Read Free Book Online Page B

to be baked on a stone by the fire to be authentic? “There’s actually one on the square, but it’s in another restaurant.”
    Oliver nodded. “May I see that one instead?”
    “I’m sorry, but the owner is out of town until further notice.”
    It was true. Nathan Pane had left town after losing his nephew, a man who had opened a rival to our pizzeria, and as far as I knew, the pizzeria’s true owner had no immediate plans to come back.
    “That’s too bad,” Oliver said. As he looked around, he said, “I suppose this will just have to do.”
    “It works for us,” Maddy said coldly, clearly not enjoying Oliver’s take on our kitchen. Whatever goodwill he’d amassed so far was now gone, and what’s more, he could tell it from our expressions.
    “Please, don’t misunderstand,” Oliver said. “I learned to cook in a kitchen a great deal like this that my parents owned when I was a young boy. I personally think that it’s just about perfect. Chef is the one that is so hard to please.”
    “He’ll just have to learn to live with a little disappointment, then,” Maddy said, some of the coolness easing out of her voice. But it was still clear that she wasn’t happy about having me, or Oliver, in the kitchen when she worked.
    “Thanks, Maddy,” I said as I led Oliver out. “I’ll talk to you later.”
    “It was truly nice meeting you,” the chef’s assistant said.
    “You, too,” Maddy said, and she even managed a slight smile.
    “I’m sorry about that,” I said as we walked out into the dining room.
    “About what?”
    “We tend to take things personally around here, and my sister doesn’t mind expressing her feelings when she’s not pleased about something,” I explained.
    “There’s no need to apologize. Actually, I thought she was quite charming,” Oliver said.
    “Boy, you really are used to abuse if you think my sister is pleasant,” I said with a smile.
    “What can I say? We all have to put up with things we don’t like in order to do the things we do.”
    “Wow. So, you’re a chef and a philosopher,” I said.
    “No, I’m a cook. Just a cook,” he repeated as though it were a mantra. “We should get back the bookstore and see how Cindy is doing.”
    “Do you think Chef will approve of our kitchen?” I asked. Blast it all, now he had me doing it.
    “Don’t worry about it too much. He’d complain if you had a culinary institute at your disposal instead of a pizzeria. It seems to just be his nature.”
    “I won’t sweat it then,” I said. “Listen, no matter what, this event is really important to Cindy, so if there’s anything I can do, just let me know.”
    “I will,” he said.
    His smile turned into a frown when we got back to the Bookmark and saw the new demonstration kitchen’s layout. “What happened? This doesn’t follow the plan at all. It’s all wrong. We have to redo everything.”
    Cindy was about to break down, but I stepped in and said, “Then let’s do it. Why don’t you go tell them exactly what you need, Oliver?”
    I gave her a quick hug as he talked to the moving men, who were thankfully still on site packing up their equipment.
    “Do you really think that it’s going to be all right?” Cindy asked me, the hope bright in her eyes.
    “I can’t guarantee that, but at least it will be quick,” I said with a grin. “In three days, it will be just like he’d never been here.”
    Only I was wrong saying that then.
    I just didn’t know it at the time.

Chapter 4
    “I ’m truly sorry about all of this,” Oliver said to us as Cindy and I worked with the installation people to get everything in order for the demonstration the next day. “I just know that if we don’t get it right the first time, Chef is going to be insufferable, and you don’t want to see what that man can do when he’s not happy. It’s bad enough when he’s in a good mood.”
    “Any examples you might like to share about the man at his worst?” I asked as Cindy and