Chapter Six
“Okay, I’ll be honest.” Joshua glanced around the interior of Pizza Carrello’s, with its round pine tables and painted wooden chairs. “When you said pizza, I thought we’d be going to Pizza Hut or maybe a Domino’s.”
Alex laughed. “I hope you’re not disappointed. This is my favorite pizza joint. I’ve never had a bad meal here, and the choice of pizzas is amazing.”
Joshua peered at the card menu. “Oh my God. I’m drooling just looking at it.” He was spoiled for choice. “Okay, how about you give me some recommendations, because this all looks awesome.”
“That all depends on how hungry you are. I had a light lunch today because I knew we were coming here.” Alex pointed to the menu.
“I’ve worked my way through all the appetizers, and they’re all good.
If you like wings, they’re terrific. The chicken bacon ranch stuffed pita wrap is my personal favorite, however.
And as for the pizzas….” He flipped the card over.
“You got all the classic toppings here, plus some more…adventurous varieties.”
Okay, that got Joshua’s attention. He scanned the list of Signature pizzas, and came to a dead stop on one of them. “Pineapple chipotle chicken? With cilantro and lime? That sounds like something I gotta try.”
Alex chuckled. “Okay, my turn to confess. If you’d chosen the Margherita, I would’ve been really disappointed.”
It took them a couple of minutes more to nail down their choices, but finally they had an list they were both happy with. The server took down their order, and it wasn’t long before he was back with two large glasses of soda.
“Have you ever made pizza at home?” Alex asked him. “I’ve learned, the trick is to pull your dough roughly into shape, then throw your toppings on it. Never mind carefully placing them. Do it fast. It tastes fantastic.”
Joshua cleared his throat. “Ah. Well. My cooking skills are legend at home.”
“Really?”
He bit his lip. “Yeah, but the kind of legend where everything ends up burned to a crisp.”
Alex smothered his laugh. “I see.”
“Greg bought me a cookery book for Christmas last year, and it took me until this month to actually try to make something.”
“How did it work out?” Alex sipped his soda.
“It was meatloaf, and not only was it edible, it was delicious.”
Alex let out a sigh. “There’s nothing like cooking to relax me. It’s my idea of heaven.”
“Seriously?” Joshua snickered. “Whereas for me, it’s hell.”
“My ex hated cooking, so it was a good thing I did, or we’d have lived permanently on takeout.” He flexed his fingers. “I like being adventurous in the kitchen.”
“But what if it tastes disgusting?”
Alex gazed at him with an amused glance. “Then you don’t eat it. But nine times out of ten, it ends up tasting glorious. Take my recipe for white chocolate cheesecake as a for instance.”
Joshua winced. “Ugh. Too sweet.”
Alex grinned. “Not this baby. The cream and the Greek yogurt cut the sweetness of the white chocolate. What I really like about this recipe? It’s not heavy, like some of the store-bought ones. I serve it in thick wedges, drizzled with raspberry sauce.”
Joshua was close to drooling again. “Sounds like something my kids would love. Me too, if I’m honest.”
Alex gave him a speculative glance. “Here’s an idea. Why don’t I show you how to make it?”
Joshua blinked. “Seriously?”
Alex nodded. “It’s the most simple recipe.” He cocked his head to one side. “You got any birthdays coming up at your place in the near future?”
Joshua laughed. “Actually? Yeah. Mine. I’m gonna be forty-seven next weekend. Saturday.”
Alex’s eyes lit up. “Perfect. Then Friday night, come to my place. I’ll have all the ingredients ready, and we’ll make a cheesecake that you can take home for the boys.”
It took a moment for his words to sink in. “You’re serious.”
Alex arched his eyebrows. “Why not? I love cooking.”
“Sure, but…” Joshua was at a loss to frame his thoughts without offending Alex’s kind gesture.
What puzzled him most was why Alex would offer to do such a thing in the first place.
Then it came to him. He feels sorry for me.
Of course he does. He recollects our conversation about me being on my own, and he’s doing this out of pity.
As much as Joshua appreciated the offer, taking advantage of Alex’s generous nature felt… wrong.
“I’ll be honest with you,” Alex said quietly. “You’d be doing me a favor.”
“How? By taking up your time, your evening?”
Alex shook his head. “Remember I said I had a guest staying? Well, when it came time for her to leave, I was a little surprised by how much I’d enjoyed her company—and how saddened I was that she was leaving.
In all the time I’ve lived in Gillette, it’s just been me in that house.
I guess I never realized until that point how…
quiet the place was with only me in it.”
His thoughtful expression told Joshua immediately that this was no line, and his heart went out to a fellow sufferer. “Guess I’m not the only one who feels lonely sometimes.”
Alex’s breathing hitched, and Joshua knew he’d nailed it. “As long as you’re sure I wouldn’t be imposing on you…”
Alex smiled. “I promise, if it was an imposition, I wouldn’t be offering.”
Joshua’s stomach unclenched. “Okay then. Looks like I’m making a white chocolate cheesecake then.”
“Are you going to tell Micah and Greg?”
He snickered. “Hell no. I’m just gonna turn up with it, whatever state it’s in.”
Just then, their food arrived, and Joshua dug in.
His stuffed pita wrap also contained pepperoni, and combined with the chicken, bacon, spinach and red peppers, it was a whole realm of different flavors.
The pizza was delicious, the crust absolute perfection, and the toppings were an amazing mix.
He snuck a slice of Alex’s Firecracker, an interesting concoction of cream cheese, bacon, mozzarella and jalapenos, and Alex made sure to steal a slice of his.
Joshua leaned back in his chair, comfortably full. “You were right, their pizza is divine.”
“Wait till you check out the desserts,” Alex said with a gleam in his eye.
“Uh-uh. No way. I am stuffed.” Joshua patted his belly. “Trust me.”
Alex lowered his gaze briefly and smirked. “And yet there was I, about to ask where you put it all, because I was sure pizza was regenerative food.”
“Huh?”
Alex chuckled. “It means it reforms its original shape in your stomach, so by rights you should be a whole lot fatter than you are.”
Joshua narrowed his gaze. “Regenerative—you made that up.”
Alex widened his eyes. “No, really. Think about it. All those fat cops you see on the TV…all those donuts… makes perfect sense.” He plucked the dessert list from behind the ketchup and placed it on the table in front of Joshua.
“I only have three little words for you, and then I swear I’ll shut up on the subject.
” He tapped the menu. “Apple. Pizza. Pie.”
Joshua perused the dessert card, and his mouth started watering.
“Lord, but you’re an evil man. Spiced apples, Philadelphia cream cheese, roasted cinnamon, almonds and powdered sugar?
” Alex raised his eyes heavenward, but Joshua burst out laughing.
“And don’t you go giving me that angelic crap, ’cause I got a hunch you’re nothing like an angel. ”
Alex laughed out loud. “All right, you got me. But it really is amazing. And you know you want to try it.”
Joshua speared him with a look. “Only if you’re sharing it with me. Because if I try to eat a whole portion, I’m gonna bust right out of these jeans.”
Alex beamed at him, and signaled to the server.
Joshua shook his head. It had been a long time since he’d had such a fun evening, and it wasn’t even over yet.
A lot of that was due to Alex. He has this knack of making me feel comfortable, of putting me at my ease.
Maybe it was what made him so good at his job, because he dealt with people on a daily basis. Definitely a people person.
Whereas I am most definitely not. In which case, Alex was right. He needed more friends, if only to keep up his social skills, and lessen the likelihood of him turning into a hermit in his old age.
There I go again with the old crap. The fact was, right that second? He felt younger than he had in years.
~ 0 ~
“I really liked that. It was goofy,” Joshua said as they exited the movie theater.
Alex snorted. “Other adjectives spring to mind, like dumb. Pointless. Loud.”
“All right, so it was kind of a CGI-heavy movie, but—”
“Ya think?”
Joshua rolled his eyes. “Let me finish, why don’tcha? I was going to say, but the acting was really good. Better than I expected.”
Alex stopped dead in the middle of the sidewalk. “Okay, I have to ask this. What did you expect Pacific Rim: Uprising to be?”
Joshua shrugged. “More your sort of ‘go straight to DVD’ than your ‘epic blockbluster’ movie.”
“Hey, you chose it, remember!”
Joshua folded his arms. “Sure. Because hello? Did you see what the other choices were? Some horror flick set in a trailer park. Hell. No. A movie about Stalin. See previous comment. Tomb Raider. Want me to continue?”
“A Wrinkle in Time was still showing,” Alex said, affecting as much innocence as a fifty-year-old guy could muster.
Joshua nodded slowly. “And now we have it. You wanted to go see the Disney movie, didn’t ya? With Oprah, and Reese Witherspoon?” The twitch of his lips said more than Joshua’s words, however: Joshua was enjoying himself.
“Well, I’d seen the first Pacific Rim movie, and I—”
“This was a sequel?”
Alex tried not to laugh. “You didn’t see the first one?”
“I didn’t even know there was a first one. I don’t go to the movies, remember?” Joshua paused, staring at Alex. He sighed heavily. “Why didn’t you say something?”
“What—and miss out on this great discussion?” Alex smiled. “It didn’t matter what movie we saw. The important thing is that you went to see a movie. And had fun.” He tilted his head to one side. “You did have fun, didn’t you?”
“More than I’ve had in a long time,” Joshua said, smiling.
“I’m glad.” They resumed walking toward the parking lot. Alex chuckled. “I can tell you spend a lot of time with younger guys.”
“How?”
“It’s the way you talk. I think you pick up on their intonation and idioms. Not that it’s a bad thing,” Alex added.
He liked Joshua’s way of speaking. “And I’ll text you my address for Friday.
I generally get home about five-thirty, so if you want to join me for dinner before we make the cheesecake, you’d be more than welcome.
Although I warn you, Fridays are usually a ‘let’s see what’s in the freezer nights’ rather than a cooking from scratch night.
I tend to shop for groceries on the weekend. ”
Joshua snickered. “I lived off the contents of the freezer when the boys went to California for a week. I think I’ll survive.
” They reached their cars, and Joshua fished in his jeans pocket for his keys.
“Tell you what. Text me the list of ingredients, and I’ll get them in.
” When Alex opened his mouth to protest, Joshua held up his hand.
“You just said it yourself. You shop on the weekend. I can shop whenever. So it makes sense for me to buy the ingredients.”
Alex knew when he was beaten. “Fine.”
“Now, are you sure about—?”
“Yes, I’m sure. No, you’re not imposing, and no, I won’t change my mind.” Alex got out his own keys. “Besides, I had a great time this evening. It was fun.” So much fun, that he couldn’t wait to share another evening with Joshua.
At least I don’t have long to wait.
Alex was grateful for whatever impulse had made him invite Joshua to the movies. In fact, the way things were going, he was thankful he’d met Joshua in the first place. It had taken both encounters with him for Alex to realize that if Joshua needed a friend, so did he.