Natalie had also convinced a local company to deeply discount the cost of the dishes and cookware to complete the transformation. Well, strong-armed was a better description, but that was her job as head of her grandfather's charitable foundation. She was rather proud of what they'd accomplished in what would be the heart of the community center.
She wove her way through the others in the kitchen to reach Rosalie. "I'm here. Put me to work."
Rosalie held up a finger to acknowledge that she'd heard her. Natalie hadn't realized she was talking on the phone she had stuck in her other ear and stepped back to afford the other woman some privacy. A few seconds later, Rosalie ended her call.
"Sorry about that, but I've been talking to some other restaurants in the area where we might be able to order food for future work parties. I think it's important to spread our purchases around the neighborhood."
"Good. I'm sure they would all appreciate the business."
Buying locally only made sense. The practice also encouraged local businesses to get involved with other projects the foundation might sponsor in the area. A lot of them made nice donations when she needed them for auctions and other fundraising events.
"Is everything set for lunch?"
Rosalie nodded. "We should be ready to go at the stroke of twelve. I'm assuming you want to serve the pizza again, so I've saved that spot for you."
"That's great. By the way, I promised Clarence I'd set aside a couple of the brownies for him. Where can I stash them?"
Her friend rolled her eyes. "He can come get his own brownies if he wants some that bad."
But even as she spoke, Rosalie grabbed a small paper plate and stalked over to the counter where the desserts had been set out. She picked out three of the brownies, two of the chocolate chip cookies, and a lemon bar. After covering the goodies with plastic, she wrote Clarence's name on a sticky note and stuck it on top.
Natalie hid a smile. Rosalie and Clarence circled each other like a pair of feral cats trying to establish their territories. Natalie suspected that there was more to it than that. Like maybe they were both fighting a strong attraction that neither of them was ready to acknowledge. She knew for certain that Clarence was a widower and Rosalie was divorced, so there was nothing keeping them apart except for sheer stubbornness. It was tempting to play matchmaker, but she didn't want to risk her own friendship with each of them if things didn't work out.
One of the other women called out, "Heads up, everybody. The hungry mob has arrived."
Natalie took her usual spot at the head of the line and put on her plastic gloves before opening the first three boxes of pizza. They always ordered an equal number of pepperoni, cheese, and vegetarian pizzas. The volunteers weren't normally picky about what they were served, but she preferred to offer them something they actually liked.
It would be interesting to see which one Tino would ask for. She was betting a big guy like him would go for the pepperoni, the only one with meat on it. She spotted him making his way toward her as the line snaked forward. He noticed her looking at him and nodded with a smile. She smiled back. At the same time, she had to fight to keep from checking her hair to make sure it was behaving itself.
When his tray was finally in front her, she asked, "What kind of pizza do you want, and how many slices? We always order more than we need, so don't hesitate to take as much as you like."
He studied the selections. "In that case, I'll have two pieces of the veggie."
Okay, so she would have lost that bet. She dished up two of the bigger slices and handed him the plate. "There you go, and thanks again for volunteering today, not to mention the lesson in repairing drywall."
"Anytime. Let me know if there are any other skills you'd like me to demonstrate."
One problem with having such fair skin was that she blushed too easily. Right now, she suspected her cheeks were bright red, because the skills that came to mind had nothing to do with fixing up the community center. He knew it, too, because he winked at her as he moved on down the line to the salad bar.
"He's new, isn't he?"
Natalie glanced over her shoulder at Rosalie. "Yes, today is his first day here. I'm hoping he comes back. He's definitely got the kind of skills I could really use."
When her friend started laughing, Natalie replayed what she'd just said. Once again, she wanted to bang her head on something. "Lady, you have a wicked mind. He said he knows basic carpentry, plumbing, and stuff."
Rosalie patted her on the shoulder. "You just keep telling yourself that's all you're interested in if it makes you feel better. I might be old enough to be that man's mother, but I'm not blind to his particular … skill set."
Normally, Natalie loved Rosalie's husky laugh, but not at this particular moment. For one thing, she was pretty sure she was blushing again, not to mention Tino had just glanced back in her direction. Had he figured out that he'd been their topic of discussion? From the small grin tugging at the corners of his mouth, she suspected he had.
To make matters worse, she'd fallen behind in her duties. Time to get her head back in the game. She turned her attention to the next person in line. "Thanks so much for coming today! What kind of pizza would you like?"
-
Tino had a call to make. As he waited for his brother to answer, he guarded the empty spot next to him and kept an eye on Natalie Kennigan. The long line of volunteers was finally winding down, and he wanted to see if she would make good on her promise to join him for lunch. When he'd glanced back at her while he'd still been filling his tray, she'd looked almost guilty, like maybe he'd caught her and her friend talking about him. If so, he wondered what they'd said. Something interesting, for sure, considering she'd also started blushing.
He realized he'd missed hearing his brother answer. "Tino, I'm guessing you called me for some reason other than so I could hear you breathe in my ear. Because, I'm telling you straight up, that's kind of creepy."
"Stuff it, Jack."
His brother laughed, something he seemed to do a lot more lately. Tino tried not to envy his brother's newfound happiness with his wife and adopted teenaged son, but it was hard. Once again his gaze wandered over toward Natalie, the reason he'd called his brother in the first place.
"So what's up, Tino?"
"I wanted to let you know that I don't think I'm going to make it today. Something's come up."
There was a second or two of silence before his brother responded. "Is everything okay? I thought you were putting in a couple of hours of volunteer work at that community center just to keep Mom off your back."
"Yeah, I was. It's turned out to be more complicated than I thought."
More silence. "Any chance the complication is female and attractive?"
No way was he going there, not with his brother's tendency to give him grief every chance he got. "They don't have anyone else here today who can do a decent job patching the walls. I'd like to finish what I've started. If I get the drywall taped and mudded, next week they can finish painting the gym."
"Need a helping hand? Ricky and I could be there in twenty minutes."
Oh, hell, no. Considering Jack now ran their family's construction company, he definitely had the necessary skills. What he didn't have was the ability to keep his nose out of Tino's business.
"No, I don't want to take you away from Caitlyn and the kid on your day off. I can handle it."
"Okay, if you're sure. Ricky will be disappointed that you're not coming over. He mentioned something about kicking your ass at that new video game you got him. He's been practicing."
"Tell him I also bought a copy for myself, and my avatar will eat his for breakfast. Apologize to Caitlyn for me for ducking out on dinner."
"Not a problem, little brother. See you on Monday."
Tino bit back the need to remind Jack yet again there was only a four-month difference in their ages. "I'll be there."
Jack did the bulk of the work in the family business, but Tino had been helping out on some of the bigger jobs whenever his brother needed an extra set of hands. He'd also taken on all the paperwork that their mother had done when their late father had run the business. As always, a sense of loss washed over Tino when he thought about the man who had been his anchor in this world. Joe Lukash's sudden death several months back had left a big hole in all their lives.
"Is that seat for me?"