Chapter 16
Salvatore
A lot happened over the next two months.
About five weeks after we returned from the UK, the news of billionaire Philip Ashcroft’s death made headlines.
Apparently he’d had a heart attack and drowned in a hot tub aboard his mega yacht in the Mediterranean.
When I told Arie the news, he asked, “Do you think Dante had something to do with that?”
“Probably not, but now we know for sure that we’ll never have to worry about Ashcroft again.”
Although I’d been reasonably certain Ashcroft would leave us alone, knowing it was definitely over brought us a sense of closure. But even before that news report, Arie and I had gotten on with our lives, the time we spent in the UK becoming little more than a faint shadow in our rearview mirror.
After I moved in, Arie insisted that I do whatever I wanted to the apartment to make it feel like it was our place, instead of his.
With the landlord’s permission, I ended up painting the walls a pretty shade of light blue, which was Arie’s favorite color.
Next, I gave the kitchen cabinets a crisp new coat of white paint and replaced all the old, dented mini blinds throughout the apartment with drapes.
I also replaced Arie’s older, smaller bed with a king-size one, complete with new pillows and linens.
I wanted him to feel like his home was a refuge, a place he could truly relax at the end of the day.
He was particularly excited about that change and said it felt like he was sleeping in a luxury hotel.
When Kit and Devon came for a visit, Kit insisted on emptying out his childhood bedroom and taking everything back to San Francisco with him.
I never would have asked him to do that, and neither would his dad.
But he told us, “You two need the space. Besides, Devon and I would prefer staying in a hotel when we come to visit. Not only are these walls paper thin, but we’re totally over trying to sleep in my tiny twin bed. ”
During that same visit, I told Kit and Devon the whole truth about my past. I explained it the way I should have when I first met Arie, and they didn’t hold it against me.
Then Arie told them why we’d spent over three weeks in the UK.
He underplayed the sense of danger and left out the fact that guns were involved, because he didn’t want to scare them.
Understandably, Kit and Devon were concerned, but they believed us when we told them nothing like that would happen again.
All in all, it was a really good visit. I was glad I got to know Arie’s family better, and that they had a chance to get to know me. We made plans to see them again at the holidays, and all of us were looking forward to it.
After they left, I turned my attention to fixing up the now-empty second bedroom. It got a fresh coat of paint, and then I went to work turning it into a combination art studio for me and reading nook for Arie.
One day while he was at the diner, I brought in a comfortable chair, a lamp and side table, and a pair of bookshelves. I half-filled them with books I thought he’d like, but left plenty of room for him to add more of his own choosing.
I hadn’t told him about the reading nook ahead of time, and when he came home from work and saw what I’d done for him, he was so touched that he actually started crying.
That almost made me cry, too. It was such a simple thing, but he was incredibly grateful for it.
It made me wonder how he’d react when he saw the huge surprise I was planning for him.
In addition to sprucing up the apartment, which Arie called “nesting,” I also helped out at the diner and found time to work on a painting—the first of my own since I was a kid.
I had a lot of ideas. Maybe too many. I filled three sketchbooks before finally deciding on what I wanted to paint and starting on a large canvas.
And in between all of that, I secretly worked on Arie’s surprise, which finally came together in early December.
On the day I planned to spring it on him, I went to the diner in between the lunch and dinner rush and found him in his office.
He was there most afternoons, but a lot had changed with his schedule over the last few weeks.
The first thing he’d done when I bought out his son-in-law and invested in the diner was to hire three more employees.
Two of them showed up bright and early every morning to do the prep work and open the place for breakfast. Now that that huge task was off his plate, Arie was working slightly less than forty hours a week, for the first time since he was a teenager.
It had been hard for him to give up that much control, and I was proud of him for learning to delegate.
He still came in Monday to Friday during lunch and dinner, because he loved this place, his customers, and the people he worked with.
But now, he could spend his time doing fun things like working with his cooks to develop daily specials, instead of wearing himself out by working opening to closing.
On this particular December afternoon, he was finalizing the plans for his upcoming holiday event. Four times a year—on Easter, the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, and Christmas—he hosted a free buffet and open house for his customers, and anyone else in the community who wanted to join in.
He’d been doing this for years, even when he could barely afford it, because for a lot of seniors in the neighborhood this might be the only celebration they had to look forward to. It always took a lot of time and effort, but I knew giving back meant everything to Arie.
He looked up from his menu and smiled at me, indicating the sketchpad under my arm as he asked, “What have you been working on?”
“I’ll show you, but first can you take a break for a little field trip?”
“Sure.”
He put on his hoodie and told his cook he’d be stepping out for a bit. Once we were outside, he went straight to the truck I’d recently bought us, but I said, “Actually, we’re walking.”
“Where?”
“You’ll see.”
As we crossed the busy intersection, I pointed at the former bank that was directly across the street from the diner and asked, “Are you familiar with this place?”
“Sure, it’s been here forever. I used to have an account there, but about eight years ago, a huge national bank bought a bunch of local banks and closed most of them.
The building’s been empty ever since, except for a short period about a year ago.
A developer bought it and started to do some work on it, but he ran out of funding.
It’s a real shame too, because it’s a beautiful building, especially on the inside. ”
“Let’s take a look.”
“We can’t,” he said. “I’m sure it’s locked.”
I pulled a set of keys from my pocket with a flourish. “It is, but I have these.”
When I started to unlock the door, he asked, “Why do you have the keys to this place?”
“Hold all of your questions until the end, please.”
“The end of what?”
“That’s also a question.”
“What are you up to, Tory?”
“Another question.”
He sighed, but he was grinning and clearly enjoying this. I held the door open for him and said, “Come on in and take a look around.”
There were huge skylights above the foyer and the main banking hall, flooding them with natural light. The building dated from the nineteen-twenties, and a lot of its art deco details remained. So did the original marble floors. “It’s still really pretty,” he said.
“I think so, too. That developer you mentioned tore out the teller windows and demoed the back offices, but fortunately he left the shell of the building intact. There’s also a massive safe in the back that he didn’t try to remove.
I’m glad about that, because it’s a fun feature.
Maybe we can think of something clever to do with it, now that we own the building. ”
His dark eyes went wide. “What?”
“I bought it.”
“Why?”
“Because I’ve been giving a lot of thought to our future lately. Actually, not just that, but our legacy. Call it karma, but as a reformed criminal, I really want to give back to society. And you told me that you want to help people—”
He looked confused. “So, you want to go into banking?”
“No. I want this.” I handed him the sketchpad, and he folded back the cover as I explained, “I did some drawings to try to show you what I think this place can become. Of course, you and I will have to figure out all the details, but my idea is to turn half of it into a senior center, and the other half into a rec center for kids. It’ll be called the Cortez Community Center. ”
His eyes started to fill with tears as he whispered, “Oh my god.”
“I know how much our local community means to you, and I also know there’s a real need for something like this. You’ve always said many of your senior customers would be isolated if it wasn’t for the diner. This will give them an additional place to come and spend time every day.”
“That’s amazing.”
As Arie turned the pages of the sketchbook, I pointed out some of my ideas.
“I was thinking there could be a game room with cards, chess, that sort of thing. There could also be a few comfortable areas to sit and talk to people, and a counter with free coffee and tea. It would be nice to offer free lunches too, but I don’t know if it’d be better to make them here or have them delivered. ”
“You’ve been giving this a lot of thought.”
“I have, in addition to looking for a location and researching everything that goes into opening a nonprofit. Funnily enough, this was the first building I toured, and the one that ended up being the best choice in terms of size, price, and location.”
“It’s perfect.”
I indicated the sketchpad and said, “This next part is for the kids in the neighborhood. I was inspired by your story of how you used to bring your son to the diner with you, since you couldn’t afford daycare.
A lot of local families are in the same boat, so this would be a place for kids to come and hang out after school, and in the summer.
I was thinking we could offer homework help, fun activities like art classes—whatever these families need. ”
Arie turned the page, and a little, “Oh,” slipped from him. I’d named this half of the center Kit’s Corner, after the spot he’d set up for his son over two decades ago in the diner’s kitchen. When he saw that, he clutched the pad to his chest and began to cry.
“I wish I’d had someplace like this for Kit when he was little,” he whispered. “He would have loved it.”
I threw my arms around him and said, “I’m sorry, Arie. I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“You didn’t. This is wonderful, and it’s going to mean so much to this community. It’ll change people’s lives.”
I leaned back a bit, so I could see his face. “So, you think all of this is a good idea?”
“It’s fantastic, and so much more than I ever dreamed of! But will we really be able to do all of this? It’s going to be a huge amount of work, and I don’t know how we’ll pull it off.”
“By hiring people to help us. We’ll also recruit volunteers, partner with local businesses, and more. This is going to be a group effort.”
“Can we really afford to hire people, and pay for this building, and everything else?” When I nodded, he said, “I knew you were well-off, but I didn’t realize you were quite this rich.”
“I made some smart investments over the years, and a few of them paid off in a big way. Plus, Dante chipped in with a very generous donation, and that’s going to help a lot.”
He dried his eyes on the cuff of his hoodie and said, “That was really nice of him.”
“It was.”
“So, what do we do first?”
“Well, I’ve already hired a lawyer, an architect, and a project coordinator.
Just so you know, it’s going to be a long process.
There’s a lot that needs to be done in terms of zoning, licensing, insurance, setting up a nonprofit, and so on, not to mention actually building out this space.
But you don’t have to worry about that stuff. ”
“What’s my role in all of this?”
“Your job is to dream big, Arie. I want you to write down all of your ideas, the entire wish list of everything you’d like to see in this place.
You understand this community, and you know what it needs.
Everything I mentioned and sketched out was just a suggestion, except for putting your name on the front of the building. That’s definitely happening.”
He grinned and said, “I was planning to talk you out of that.”
“Nope, sorry. That’s my one and only nonnegotiable. I know how humble you are, but I also know you’re an important part of this community, and your name belongs on the building. It’s your legacy.”
“Our legacy. I guess I can get used to having my name up there, but yours needs to be right beside it.”
“I’ll think about it.” He smirked at me, and I said, “Leave the sketchpad here, and let’s take a look at the rest of the place.”
As I led him on a tour, he asked, “What would you have done if I’d told you I hated this building?”
“That wasn’t going to happen. I knew you’d be able to look past what it was and see it for what it could be.” I draped my arm around his shoulders and grinned. “That’s basically what you did with me, now that I think about it.” That made him laugh.
We circled back around and stopped under the skylight in the main part of the building. “I’m so glad we’ll be doing this together,” Arie said. “I’d be afraid to dream this big on my own, but you make me believe anything’s possible.”
I traced the curve of his lower lip and said softly, “Do you know how much I love you?”
His eyes sparkled when he smiled. “I do, because you keep showing me.” He stretched up and kissed me, and then he wrapped his arms around me and rested his head on my shoulder. “I adore you, Tory, and I’m so grateful for this. Thank you.”
“I’m glad you like it.”
As I held him and stroked his hair, he said, “I’m already picturing this place when it’s open and full of people, and laughter, and joy. Can you see it?”
I could see all of that and more.
Infinite possibilities.
And I could see our future unfurling ahead of us—all the years we’d get to spend together, all the memories we’d make, all the experiences we’d share. I tilted his chin up and kissed him again before whispering, “It’s going to be absolutely beautiful.”
The End