Surprise Dad by Daly Thompson Read Free Book Online

to a group of toddlers. The bored teenager behind the desk checked Allie out and said, “That’s a cool shirt.” Nothing else.
    It was a first for this town. Maybe things were improving.
     
    M AURY would be leaving in a few minutes for football practice, and he was wielding the chef’s knife in a rapid, rhythmic motion, chopping onions as if no one else in the world could get those onions chopped.
    Mike watched him for a moment and saw he didn’t look like his usual contented self. “Don’t like chopping onions?”
    Maury didn’t turn around. “Sure I do. I like thin-slicing better, but chopping is fine.”
    Mike tried again. “You let a ball get past the line yesterday?”
    “Nope.”
    Subtlety wasn’t going to work, so Mike said, “Hey, something’s wrong. The sooner you tell me what it is, the sooner we can fix it.” He moved toward Maury and put his hands on the boy’s shoulders, feeling the tension in his muscles.
    “Something’s happening around here,” Maury said, “and I don’t know what it is.” He kept his eyes fixed on his work, and the knife chopped on steadily, as if it were on remote control.
    Mike knew he had to be honest and open with this boy. “Well, I’ll tell you what’s happening, Maury. A company in New York wants to franchise the diner. You know, open some more like this one. Like the fast-food franchises.”
    “If that happens, everything will change, right?”
    Mike knew he meant “everything will change for me.” He was aware of Maury’s background. His parents had moved from one place to another, looking for a job his father could succeed at, until one day his father gave in to despair and shot Maury’s mother and then himself. However stoic, however oblivious to anything but cooking Maury pretended to be, he feared that the unexpected phone calls and the occasional worried expression on Mike’s face meant his life was about to be turned upside down again.
    It took Mike a split second to decide how to deal with Maury’s worry. “I haven’t decided what to do yet,” he said cheerfully, “so relax for now. I’ll keep you updated so you won’t have any surprises.”
    Maury’s chopping didn’t slow down, but his shoulders seemed to lose some of their tension.
    “If I do say yes, all it means as far as you’re concerned is that after culinary school, I’m going to hire you before anybody else snaps you up. Whatever happens, you andI are a team, okay? Where I go, you go with me as long as you want to.”
    Maury finally turned around. “That’s what I want, to work where you do.”
    The simple statement touched Mike’s heart. “I don’t know what I’d do without you, that’s for sure,” he said. “Especially next Wednesday and Thursday nights, because that’s when I’m going to New York to find out what these people are offering and tell them yes or no. Think you can hold down the fort here?”
    Maury gazed at him with his St. Bernard eyes. “I’ll handle it. What’re the specials?”
    “You tell me,” Mike said, and in a few minutes they’d picked out dishes that were less labor-intensive than the ones he and Maury made together.
    “How’d you like to make out the list of ingredients and place the order with the wholesaler?” Mike asked.
    He watched the boy’s face light up. “You think I can do that?”
    “You bet,” Mike said. He didn’t care what Maury forgot, what he ordered too little or too much of. All that mattered was the look on his face. Now that Maury was okay again, he could go back to worrying about the lawyer.
    Then it hit him that the only people he’d told about the franchise offer were his brothers, Barney and Maury. What that meant was that they’d become his family, and that felt good.
     
    A LLIE LEFT the library feeling better. She had a few books to read, and maybe something in them would catch her interest. At least she’d taken a step toward planning her future.
    She strolled aimlessly toward home, moving in a