Page 14 of A Beach House Beginning

He gave a rueful smile. “I’m kind of a pizza geek. My dad spent a year working in Italy at a pizza place during a gap year of college and he taught me a few secrets.”

“Brie said you were only a child when he died.”

He didn’t like remembering the pain of that time. “Ten. He moved from making pizza to opening his own restaurant in the little town outside Denver where he grew up. One night after closing, a couple of drifters broke in, thinking the place was empty. They shot my dad and took off with what was left in the cash register after he’d already made the deposit for the night. Thirty bucks in change.”

“Oh. I’m so sorry.”

The soft sympathy in her voice, in her expression, seemed to seep through him and he wanted to bask in it.

Embarrassed, he quickly changed the subject as he ripped a couple of basil leaves off the plant he bought at the supermarket.

“I can’t get enough of smelling fresh basil,” he said as he sprinkled the herb atop the two margherita pizzas. “Sometimes I want to just bury my face in it. Amazing, the things you never realize you missed.”

Oh wow. He was just full of brilliant conversation. First he dropped his father’s long-ago murder into the conversation, then he started gushing about herbs. He wouldn’t be surprised if she scooped up her daughter and went rushing back downstairs, away from the weirdo with a basil fetish.

Instead, she was looking at him again with that same soft compassion. “How long were you...in prison?”

“Three years, two months and five days.”

He didn’t look at her as he turned on the oven light to check the girls’ pizzas.

It didn’t matter that he had been cleared of any wrongdoing. The damage was done. He would never get that time back and his reputation would never fully recover.

Guilty or not, he had spent more than a thousand days in prison. Had seen things he couldn’t unsee. Cruelty between inmates, intimidation and abuse by guards, people treated more like cattle than human beings until they gradually began to lose their humanity altogether.

He was a different person than he’d been the day he had been arrested.

“I’m not sure what should be the appropriate response to that,” she admitted after a moment. “I’m sorrydoesn’t feel at all adequate.”

He shrugged. “It happened. It’s done. I’m still trying to figure out what comes next.”

He wasn’t sorry to change the subject again. “Looks like these are ready to come out.”

He pulled out the two pizzas, happy to see the crust bubbly with air pockets, then slid the other two into the oven.

“These other pizzas will only take a few minutes. Since the girls’ pizzas have to cool down first before they can eat them without burning their tongues, why don’t we start with the salad and vegetables?”

He had already prepared a relish plate as it was the only way he could persuade his daughter to eat a few vegetables.

The next few moments were busy finding beverages for everyone and taking the girls’ pizzas to the table.

Soon, his timer went off to remove the other pizzas from the oven. He was delighted by the surprise and pleasure on Jenna’s expression.

“That looks absolutely delicious.”

“I hope it tastes even better.”

The girls chattered away about school around mouthfuls of pizza, while he and Jenna worked on their salads. Finally, she picked up her first piece of pizza. He felt silly, but couldn’t help holding his breath until she took a bite. The sound of delight she made was gratifying.

“Wow,” she exclaimed. “That is really delicious. The flavors come together so perfectly. I’m afraid I might never be happy with pizza delivery again.”

“That’s the problem with making your own pizza. If you do it right, it kind of ruins you for anything else.”

He couldn’t help staring at her mouth as it lifted into a slight smile. What would it be like to have her give him a full-fledged smile? Even better, a laugh?

He shouldn’t be wondering about that, Wes chided himself. He and Jenna Haynes were simply neighbors, though he wanted to think maybe after the past few days, she would no longer watch him out of those nervous eyes, like he was a mountain lion crouched to pounce on her at any moment.

Her life felt so surreal sometimes, the reality often more bizarre than anything her imagination could conjure up.

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