Love by the Slice (Valentine’s Sweethearts)

Chapter Fourteen

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

VALENTINE’S DAY. HOORAY.

Lacey and Ezra were both working today because of the “loveless pizzas” sold only on February 14th. Loveless pizzas were the opposite of heart-shaped pizzas. Ezra said heart shapes were a pain to create anyhow, so instead, they worked magic with the toppings. In the past, Ezra had claimed the “loveless pizzas” were topped with sadness and spite. This year, the loveless pizza would have the toppings spread in the shape of a sad face or a mad face, depending on which option the customer ordered.

An engaged couple shouldn’t be making broken-hearted pizzas, but Greg probably felt nothing like heartbreak. He was probably in front of his gaming console, telling himself it was all right and he’d get over it, so the only one to feel disappointed was her. And, well, she would be all right, and she would get over it. This Valentine’s Day, the warm loveless pizzas could be delivered by someone with no love whatsoever in her stony cold heart.

Ezra had asked Shelly to meet him at the pizzeria half an hour before her normal start time, and he stepped into the alley before she even had the engine off. “Great. I need you to run this delivery real quick.” He shoved the thermal bag at her along with an order sheet. “It shouldn’t take too long, and they know this is early so the tip will make it worth your while.”

She snorted. “What, a divorce pizza?”

Ezra looked solemn. “You’re functioning as the process server for their divorce papers, which are taped to the lower lid of the box.”

She rolled her eyes. “Sounds good to me.”

GPS showed this delivery as just beyond the edge of the delivery zone, on unfamiliar streets. Didn’t matter. Ezra wanted it delivered, and they’d promised to tip. Money was money, whether it came from Hartwell or Juniper.

Also, if Shelly had been turned into a de facto process server? That fit perfectly with her Valentine’s Day.

She reached a subdivision from the 1980s, all the houses identical, the streets curvy, every home with an identical azalea bush in the yard. At the correct house number, she pulled the pizza from the front seat and marched it to the front door. Maybe she should bang on it while screaming, “Bounty hunter! Open up!” but instead she pushed the doorbell.

Greg answered, smiling.

Oh, for crying in a rusty bucket… Shelly stepped backward. “No.”

He offered a tentative, “Happy Valentine’s Day. Can you come inside?”

Shelly shoved him the pizza, then stalked back to the driveway. Before she got in the car, though, the phone in her pocket sounded off with Ezra’s ringtone. She snarled at him, “This had better be good.”

Ezra said, “It’s good. Go inside.”

She said, “And how did you know where I was?”

“I’m your brother. I know everything. Also, Greg may have texted me that you arrived in the driveway, and I knew without a doubt you’d shove the pizza at him and leave”

Shelly huffed. “You said I was getting a good tip for this.”

“Go back and get it.”

Shelly muttered, “It had better be fifty bucks,” and she marched to where Greg stood at the door, then past him into the dooryard were she waited with her arms crossed.

Greg said, “Thank you. There’s something I want to show you.”

He led her to the kitchen she’d seen before, with its stainless steel appliances. He put the pizza box into the oven to stay warm, then sat at the table with a stack of papers. Shelly sat across from him, still scowling.

Greg said, “First off, I owe you an apology for not listening to you. Just because I thought things would work out didn’t mean I should blow you off when you said they wouldn’t. That’s entirely on me, and I promise to do better from now on.”

Shelly glared at the table top. “There’s nothing to do better with. We went on one date and baked one batch of cookies. That’s not a relationship.”

Greg said, “Not to be that guy, but it wasn’t a relationship because even though you were relating to me, I wasn’t relating to you. What I’m talking about needs to change no matter what happens between you and me, and thank you for showing me where I was messing things up.”

Shelly sat back in the chair and uncrossed her arms, but her fists were still tight and she still didn’t look up at him. “Why am I here?”

Greg snickered. “I pulled in every favor I ever had with Ezra to get this chance, plus now I owe him five favors more. That’s why you’re here. Now, as for why I wanted you here, I wanted to show you this.”

He started laying out the pages from the stack in front of him. “You’re right about a lot of things, but the thing I wanted to talk about is the pizzeria. Ezra and Lacey offered me the management of the new branch, and I was fine with letting things ride. But you’re right that what I’m doing now is coasting. I was coasting with you, and the more I thought about it, the more I realized, I’m coasting with everything. I’m working with my dad because it’s easiest. I have a part time job at the pizzeria because Ezra asked me, and when I figured it out, that was easy, too.”

Shelly bit her lip. “Did you ask me out because it was easy having me right there?”

Greg said, “No, I asked you out even though that shook things up a bit. But you’re going to shake up my life a lot more because I realized what you’re saying, that a life coasting is easy, but it’s not good over the long term. It doesn’t get anywhere, and you’ve seen too many people who just skate along without taking their responsibilities seriously. So instead, I made up a business plan.”

Shelly jerked her head up and took the first page from his hand. “You made a business plan…for your life?”

Greg nodded. “I’ve written these for my father, so I did it for me. My resources. My time. My goals. What it would take to reach those goals.”

Shelly muttered, “I’m surprised you have any goals.”

Greg said, “Not as surprised as I am,” which made Shelly sputter a laugh. Greg continued, “I took the whole week to go through this, and here we are. If my goal is to do more than live with my parents and play video games at night, then I’m going to have to get it in gear. I’ll take the full time job with the second location. I’ll begin reducing my hours at the machine shop where I never really wanted to work in the first place. I’ll put in the effort and the time, and after, I can launch the way you did. I’ll start using my college degree. I’ll be fully alive.”

Shelly took the second page. So help him, Greg had put together graphs and a budget. He’d outlined short term goals and long term goals, estimates of income and expenditures, all on a five-year timeline.

Oh, but did he…

Then she saw it: the emergency fund. Greg, who only ever saw goodness and positive things in the world, had built in savings for an emergency fund. Savings for the car breaking down even though it would be fine, or savings for getting really sick even though that would never happen, or savings for when the pet he didn’t have yet needed veterinary care even though the imaginary pet was perfectly healthy…?

For some reason, that made Shelly breathe. Just a little bit.

Greg handed her the next of the pages. “That’s just for me. But I’ve also built out the budget in case there are two.”

Again, here it all was. Greg and someone else, illustrated in numbers and hours and long term plans. Soulless—but in a way, also the kind of hardcore pessimism that Shelly had come to expect from the world around her.

He’d given her a job as a town planner. That was a reach, but he’d figured out her salary and how together, they could support each other.

And then the last page. “This is the budget in case there are three.”

Three. A budget including childcare and diapers and maternity leave.

She said, “I…have no idea what to say.”

Greg said, “I admit, this isn’t a very romantic Valentine’s Day pitch. But if you’ll allow me another chance, I’m going to give you my best. We’re going to look ahead together for bumps in the road. You can pick out the problems. I can help find the solutions. We can put the best of ourselves together, and I think we can work it out.”

Shelly said, “And if you behave for two months and then go right back to coasting?”

Greg drew himself up short. “You keep seeing potential problems, don’t you?” and Shelly nodded. Greg said, “Point taken. If I behave for two months and then start coasting, I would hope you’ll tell me to listen up, pay attention, and get my act together. Or else you’ll roll up my business plan, secure it with a rubber band, and bop me over the head with it before walking out the door.”

Shelly thought a moment. “Other than the violence part, that works.”

Greg stood from the table. “No matter what you decide, I still need to tip you for the pizza delivery before you go.” But instead of opening his wallet, he opened the oven and pulled out the box he’d been keeping warm.

Inside was a heart-shaped pizza, and in slivers of pepperoni, Ezra had written a message:

Say yes

already

She laughed and shook her head. “You two are such jerks. Yes. I’ll give you a shot. If you’ll keep an eye out for problems, then I’ll give you a chance to prove it will all work out.” She took Greg’s hand, and then she gave him a quick kiss on the lips. “Happy Valentine’s Day, and here’s to a less-than-loveless pizza.”