Bittersweet: A Star-Crossed Lovers Small Town Romance (Ashton Family Book 1) by Carrie Aarons

Author:Carrie Aarons [Aarons, Carrie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-07-06T16:00:00+00:00

18

PATRICK

Mom sings and taps her foot in time, a bunch of the lunchtime customers laughing as they wait for their takeout orders.

“A regular world-class singer over here.” I chuckle and roll my eyes as I ring up an order for Mr. French, the town councilman.

“A song and a stromboli, I’m a happy man today.” He rubs his stomach.

Mr. French stops in for his pepperoni stromboli every Thursday for lunch, and I see Mrs. Katten and her toddler twin girls waiting for their weekly plain pizza. We converted the space next door to Hope Pizza into a takeout counter about six years ago and have been doing the to-go orders from there ever since. This side boasts a glass display case with all our pies of the day, a few strombolis, and some of the appetizers we make. It’s a much more casual setup than the formal dining room, with a few first-come-first-served tables and a machine full of sodas.

“All we had was pancetta, so that’s what he made you,” Mom informs Mr. French.

“Even better. Ingrid doesn’t like when I have ham, but oh God, is it good.” He winks at us, and we all laugh.

Alana usually helps Mom with the lunch counter but had a doctor’s appointment today, so I’m on the hook. I don’t mind; getting out of the office every once in a while is a nice change of pace.

“Prosciutto for me, all day every day.” My mouth waters for lunch.

“This boy would eat melon and prosciutto for every meal when we took him to Italy in high school. I’d never seen anything like it.” Mom laughs.

“I can’t wait to travel with the girls.” Mrs. Katten, or Haley, sighs dreamily. “Brett keeps saying when they’re potty trained.”

“Take them to Rome and then out to the sea, maybe Positano, although it’s so many steps but it’s worth it.” Mom sighs as she rests her elbows on the counter.

I check Mr. French out at the register. “Mom would live in Positano if she could. It’s pretty spectacular, I have to admit. Been meaning to get back there myself.”

“Nowhere like Hope Crest, though. Listen to you small-town folk trying to dream big.” A condescending voice comes from the door.

Nikolai Drafter walks in, blue uniform wrinkled and nowhere near the code I usually see most of the other officers in the small Hope Crest police department wearing theirs. Nik and I were good friends in high school, always running in the same crowd and playing the same sports. He was a pompous jerk back then, but so was I, teenage hormones and ego running rampant. It wasn’t until I went off to college and he sat on his parents’ couch for two years that I realized those were his only personality traits.

Nik comes from a construction family and always talked about following in his father’s footsteps—until Butch ratted his dad out to a competitor in high school and the senior Mr. Drafter was eventually put out of business because of his shady dealings.

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