Chapter 8 #2
“No. I knew him before I left. I went to their restaurant at least once a week, and if I was too pooped, Giovanni delivered dinner. So, when I was going on the cruise, I needed someone to take care of my kitty, Bandit, and he agreed.”
“So, you were dating him before the cruise?”
“No. He was engaged to a woman in Italy. Some kind of family thing. While I was away, they broke up, and when I got back, he invited me to dinner at the restaurant. I thought it was going to be a regular night at Marco’s, but it turned out it was a date in disguise.”
“How romantic!” Judith exclaimed.
Frankie didn’t want to get into the nitty-gritty about her former insecurities and happily agreed.
“Italians and romance are inseparable.” Frankie felt a rush of heat crawl up her face.
When it came to Giovanni, she was always filled with warmth, and often jelly legs.
He was the epitome of a handsome Italian with the movie-star looks of Raoul Bova, the actor who played Marcello in Under the Tuscan Sun .
It took a while for Frankie to separate Giovanni’s similar looks of black wavy hair and steel blue eyes from the Marcello character in the movie.
In Frankie’s eyes, the actor was a bit of a cad, but she learned in real life Bova was not only known for his acting, but he was also nominated as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations.
She had to admit he and Giovanni had a lot in common and both could break the thermostat with their warmth, not to mention their charm.
“You’re blushing!” Judith whooped.
“It happens a lot,” Frankie confessed.
“That’s very sweet.” Leonora put her two cents in.
“Where’s the restaurant?” Victor asked. “I can always go for a good Italian dinner.”
“You can go for any kind of dinner,” Judith said, poking him in the stomach again.
“Hey. That’s my love bulge.” Victor patted his slightly protruding paunch.
“It’s some kind of bulge,” Judith proclaimed.
“It’s your delicious cooking, my dear.” Victor figured it was a good save.
Judith rolled her eyes. “If you say so. But I’m not the one who serves you donuts and Big Macs.”
Victor shrugged. “Guilty as charged.”
Leonora addressed Frankie. “Do you come here to watch the tree lighting?”
“I work in that building.” She pointed up toward the windows of her office. “Fourteenth floor.”
“You get to see the tree every day, then,” Marvin spoke.
“I do, but I avoid the spectacle. Don’t get me wrong.
I think it’s great that people are out and about celebrating the holidays, but I can get a little woozy in big crowds.
And I live in New York. Who would have thought?
But you learn how to navigate. So rather than being smushed in a bunch of merry-goers, I have a small party for my staff, and we watch it from my office.
It’s not the best view, but it gets you in the mood. ”
“That sounds like a great plan,” Leonora replied.
“I order the food from Patsy’s, and everyone gets to enjoy the festivities and eat scrumptious food at the same time.”
“So, what do you do in that building?” Victor was curious about his new friend.
“I’m a cookbook editor,” Frankie replied.
“No wonder you’ve got a penchant for food,” Judith said with admiration. “Who is your favorite chef?”
“Besides Giovanni and his brother?” Frankie said, and chuckled. “I have to say Mateo Castillo. Not only is he a wonderful chef, but a great humanitarian.”
“I think I saw him on the TV the other day,” Milton noted. “Some kind of community food thing?”
“Yes. It’s called Share a Meal. He was a rising star in the culinary world and was inspired by José Andrés and the World Central Kitchen.
Mateo’s group travels around the country to small communities and teaches them how to prepare healthy food for the food underprivileged.
They’ll hold an event at a local school or church, cook, teach, and serve. ”
“That’s wonderful,” Judith proclaimed.
“My entire line of cookbooks are with celebrities who donate a part of the proceeds to their favorite charities. We call it Cooking for a Cause.”
“What a fabulous idea,” Leonora declared.
“So far we’ve raised over a million dollars,” Frankie said proudly.
Milton added his thoughts: “Wow. Impressive.”
“Who else do you publish?” Leonora asked.
Frankie ticked off the half dozen chefs who currently had books on sale. “You’ll see them on the morning shows between now and Christmas.”
“I’ll surely buy a few. Great holiday gifts.”
“In more ways than one.” Frankie beamed.
The fivesome looked on as the tree was now vertical and secured.
Frankie began her impromptu lecture. “The first tree was in 1931 and was just under twenty feet high. It was adorned with homemade decorations from the staff. Today the tree is eighty feet high and decked with five miles of lights.” She paused. “The star has three million Swarovski crystals.”
“I wonder how much it weighs?” Victor ruminated.
“Nine hundred pounds, and is worth one-point-five million dollars,” Frankie replied, as if she had just finished doing a term paper on the subject.
“You’re a wealth of information, dear,” Leonora said.
“I’m a bit of a nerd when it comes to the holiday decorations.” She took a sip of her coffee. “But I am really bummed that Saks will not be installing their decorations this year.”
“Really? Why not?” Leonora asked with dismay.
“Cost cutting,” Frankie said, and patted her lips with a small napkin. “It is going to be sorely missed. It made this section of Fifth Avenue and Rock Center so, so festive.”
“At least they’re not eliminating the tree or the angels,” Judith said with a sigh.
Turning the conversation to what they could actually enjoy, Frankie continued her speech. “Speaking of angels, there will be twelve eight-foot luminous, haloed angels on the promenade; each will hold a six-foot golden trumpet.”
“Interesting. I’ve seen them year after year, but never bothered to count them,” Victor said. “You learn something new every day.”
“You’ll note, each angel will be slightly angled toward the tree.” Frankie decided it was enough morning trivia. “That concludes our Rockefeller Center lesson.”
“Another bit of information we can share with the grandkids when we bring them here. They just love all the lights,” Judith cooed.
“Indeed. It’s quite spectacular up and down the avenue with the luminous miniature white lights wrapped around the bare tree limbs. Whoever thought of that was a genius.”
“You seem to be a pretty smart cookie yourself,” Victor added.
Frankie took a bow. “Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.” She let out a long, deep breath. “It was lovely meeting you. Enjoy the holidays. See you next year!”
“Nice meeting you also, Frankie.” Each bid a fond adieu.
Frankie worked her way to her office building, where she was going to start her holiday project for Giovanni’s mother.
She wanted to put together a memory book starting with Rosevita’s wedding photos and pictures of Marco and Giovanni from childhood up to last Christmas.
She knew she was going to have to enlist the aid of Lucia, but she was still unsure how to achieve that goal.
She picked up the phone and called Giovanni.
“Ciao tesoro!” he said when he answered the phone. “Did you enjoy the Christmas tree erection?”
Frankie burst out laughing.
“What’s so funny?” Then he realized his brain didn’t quite translate the situation the way he meant it. “Sorry. So sorry.”
Frankie was howling. “I never thought of it that way, and now I shall never be able to think of it any other way.”
Giovanni couldn’t help but laugh, as well. “ Scusa . I apologize.”
Frankie was still chuckling. She finally caught her breath. “I want to make a memory book for your mother for Christmas.”
“She is gonna love it. How can I help?”
“I want to get in touch with Lucia and see if she has some photos from when your parents were first married, or anything that might be fun to include. Ribbons, postcards, tickets. Did your mother collect those sorts of things?”
“I’m-a sure there is molto remembrances. I can ask Marco. He should have something. Also, I think there is a box of things she didn’t bring back to Italy. I will check the apartment.”
“You are a gem!” Frankie sighed.
“Even if sometimes my translation is not so good?”
“Even if your translation is hilarious,” she said, and chuckled. “Can you send me Lucia’s phone number and email? I’ll text her and let her know about my idea.”
“She will like that you are including her.”
“Now I have to think of something for her.”
“You gave her a beautiful shawl last year. She liked it very much.”
“I’ll try to come up with something, but in the meantime, what do you think about getting them tickets for Radio City?”
“I think they will enjoy it very much. I don’t believe Aunt Lucia has ever been to a show there.”
“Excellent. Let me know when they will be arriving, and I will get the tickets. Any other shows they might enjoy?”
“They arrive on the fifteenth. If Andrea Bocelli is in town, I am sure they will be thrilled to see him.”
“Okay. Get me their travel plans, and I’ll figure out a schedule for them. Will they be staying at Marco’s or the apartment?”
“Ah. Good question. Maybe Marco’s. They will spend more time with the children.”
“Good. I’ll arrange for a car service for them for the show, as well. And we should take them to dinner.”
“Why? My food not good enough for them?” he said, half-teasing.
Frankie laughed, then said, “You are very funny, but maybe a great steak dinner? Keens Steakhouse?”
“That’s a very nice steak dinner.” Giovanni’s mouth was watering at the thought of their rib eye.
“Alrighty. You get the travel plans, and I’ll take care of the rest.”
“You are my special Bossy Pants,” Giovanni said, and chuckled.
“Oh, now you’re calling me that, too?” Frankie remarked. “Just remember, I am not bossy. I just have better ideas.”
“Very true, cara . You always have good ideas, except when you go shoe snowing.”