Reid's Redemption by Sara Celi

Author:Sara Celi [Celi, Sara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Reid's Redemption
Publisher: Lowe Interactive Media, LLC
Published: 2019-05-25T04:00:00+00:00

Dinner with Carter was definitely a date.

I knew it. Carter knew it. How could it not have been? We were both dressed for it. I wore a black sweater dress with over-the-knee boots and carried a year-old Marc Jacobs handbag that I’d snagged from an online auction site. Carter wore a pair of pressed khakis and a blue button-down shirt that did little to hide the muscular remnants of his football days. I caught a whiff of cologne when he hugged me at the front door.

But we drove to Youngstown in silence, and it wasn’t a comfortable one. Does he feel that too?

Agreeing to go out with Carter was a mistake, a big mistake, and I knew it the second he shut the passenger door of his Nissan. The entire way to the restaurant, I searched for ways to let him down easy. I needed to tell him that while I liked him, I wasn’t interested in him as more than a friend.

But how?

Vincenzo’s Italian Bistro occupied a small retail space near Youngstown’s central business square. The restaurant had a small, brightly lit sign outside, and a hodgepodge of tiles on the walls inside. Candles sprouting from wine bottles decorated the tables. A sign on the back wall said Vincenzo’s was the longest continually operating restaurant in the city.

A host led us to a center table and explained some specials for the evening. Carter ordered two glasses of red wine when the server arrived and insisted that we try the best northeastern Ohio’s Caprese salad.

“How often do you come here?” I asked after we ordered pasta bolognese and veal parmigiana. “You know the menu backward and forward.”

“My grandparents used to bring my family here every few months. This was back when Youngstown had a more active downtown. They would make a big deal about it.” He laughed at the memory. “I thought that Youngstown was a really big place.”

“It’s my first time here. To downtown I mean.”

Carter’s eyes widened. “Really?”

“When I used to visit Dad, he didn’t take me to Youngstown. He’s not a city guy.”

“Does Youngstown still qualify as a city?”

I scoffed. “Sure, it does.”

“Don’t tell the national media or the politicians.” Carter grimaced as he drank some red wine. “They always act like Youngstown is a small town.”

“I wouldn’t pay attention to them. They only come here during election season, so they don’t really know.” I sipped my own drink. “Besides, I think part of the region’s problem is how it perceives itself. People think they’re left behind, so it becomes their reality.”

“Well, thanks, Pollyanna.”

Heaviness set in around us, the weight I often felt whenever I talked with people from my dad’s hometown. They might enjoy life a little, and even escape their reality for a few stolen moments, but that was all it ever was—moments. Real life always hovered, waiting to snatch them back to the absoluteness of their situation.

“It’s going to be okay,” I replied, thinking about the conversation I’d had in Reid’s kitchen. I knew

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