LITTLE ITALY

12

After ending their dinner date abruptly, or just dinner, Louis went straight to bed. Next morning he decided to join his parents at the shop, thinking he might as well do something he loves while he's stuck in the country.

He enters the shop through the back door with the cleaned plates in a tray, Jessie coming forward taking it from his hands.

"I'll take that."

"Thanks, Jessie." Louis gives her a smile and turns to find Franca daydreaming, a fresh pot of tomato to be squeezed into sauce sitting in front of her untouched, which is unusual. "You squeeze the love out of every tomato as if it were the last." Louis says in an accent his Nonna always used while telling him the same thing.

Franca jumps a bit at the sudden sound and kisses the back of Louis' hand he placed on her shoulder. She goes back with a gentle smile on her face, giving no reply to his teasing. "Nonna, what's wrong?"

"I've been thinking about your nonno." Franca shrugs peeling the tomato that has been in her hand for more than ten minutes.

"Missing him?" Louis asks softly, smiling seeing her give a small nod. "What was he like?"

"The biggest ladies' man in all of Napoli." Franca says with a dreamy twinkle in her eyes, the one Louis has seen multiple times in her wedding pictures. "The charm of ten Italian men."

Louis chuckles at the description. "What made him settle down?"

"I hit him over the head with a piece of prosciutto." Franca says with a straight face. "Out of love, of course." She adds rolling her eyes. "Have you ever been in love?"

Louis bites his bottom lip letting out a breath flustered. "Maybe."

Franca sighs dropping the tomato and cleans her hand. "You take over, bella."

"Okay."

"You tell your papa that..." Franca ponders for a few seconds, "...I went out."

"Okay." Louis takes a seat on the stool Franca was sitting, soon starting with the tomatoes.

🍕

"Figs?" Carlo hums as Harry places the pizza inside the oven using the paddle. "Your father sees this, he's gonna blow a gasket." Carlo chuckles, Harry laughing along with him. "How was your date last night?" He leans back on the table with one hand, looking at Harry with a smug face.

"How'd you know that I, uh..." Harry stammers looking anywhere but at his Nonno.

Carlo smiles knowingly. "Little Italy. It's little." He says pinching his forefinger and thumb together.

"Look, it wasn't a date, but..." Harry smiles shyly, hugging the paddle to his chest. "..it was nice."

Carlo raises his eyebrows, crossing his hands infront of his chest. "Meaning?"

"Nice, you know." Harry shrugs. "It was- it was." He sighs rolling his eyes at his Nonno's teasing look. "It was very nice. But I don't know, Nonno. It's complicated with Louis."

"Harry, here's what I learned about love, life and cooking." Harry nods in an attentive manner. "Learn from your mistakes. Be fearless. But above all, have fun."

Harry smiles but says nothing as he turns around and takes out the pizza, placing the paddle on the counter. "I don't know. I think maybe he's outgrown this place."

Carlo clicks his toungue disagreeing. "Harry, you can take the boy out of Little Italy, but you can't take Little Italy out of the boy. Show him what he's missing." He says placing a hand on Harry's shoulder.