Page 44 of Accidentally Yours
“Will do.” Harris waved to Paige and Alice. “Call me if you guys need anything.”
Paige waved back. When Harris turned to leave, she climbed up onto the step stool and hung Gigi’s wooden sign on the front of the tent. It was hand-painted with her business name, “From Nonna, With Love,” and slogan, “Handmade. Heart-filled. Nonna-approved.” Noodles, a wooden spoon, and an Italian flag surrounded the words. Once Paige had the sign hanging from the metal hooks, she stepped down and admired the booth.
“Looking good,” she said, crossing her arms as she assessed.
Alice was setting up the chalkboard menu, which detailed the dinner and dessert offerings for today—saucy meatball spaghetti and a three-pack of chocolate, vanilla, and pistachio cannoli.
“You two are the best.” Gigi stood from where she was crouched next to a cooler. She wiped her hands on her apron. A tomato-red scarf held back her dark hair. “That went so much faster with four people instead of two.”
“Anytime,” Alice replied, arranging flowers in the vase she’d set next to the menu. “Happy to help. Plus, I’d be here, anyway. It’s nice to get early access.”
Paige grinned. “I love that we get paid in pasta and cannoli.” Her stomach rumbled at the thought. Scoring a stash of Gigi’s cooking was like winning the lottery.
“How long before this is your full-time gig?” Alice asked, twisting her long auburn hair into a high bun as the sun warmed the tent.
“Probably another year,” Gigi beamed, and all three of them squealed.
“Really? That’s amazing!” Paige said.
“I mean, I’ve really been enjoying my director position at SheTime,” Gigi said, “but it’d be a dream to have my own business, especially doing something I love.”
“And you’ll be ready to make the change in a year?” Alice asked.
Gigi nodded. “My bonus from last year was enough to start up the business and invest in an app that Harris is working on for me.”
“An app?” Paige asked, getting even more excited for her friend. Harris had created the dating app she used, GambleOnLove. He was really savvy in that area.
Gigi nodded. “We’ve been working on it together. It’ll be the main driver of the business. A way for people to order home-cooked Italian meals straight to their homes, delivered through a car service. It will interconnect with Uber.”
“Cannoli that comes straight to your couch?” Alice breathed. “That’s genius.”
“I’m sold.” Paige grinned.
Gigi beamed, smiling from ear to ear. She turned to the crates filled with boxes. “Let’s get these in the coolers. Then we’ll be ready for the crowd.”
They made an assembly line, unloading the crates and packing coolers full of plastic to-go boxes filled with noodles, sauce, and golf ball-sized meatballs. As they did, they chatted and caught up on the happenings of the week. Quickly, the conversation turned to Paige and Ethan.
“What’s the status on the hunt for the clue?” Gigi asked, shifting a few boxes in the cooler to make them fit.
“We haven’t found it yet,” Paige said. “But spending the week at the library has been super productive for the book. We’ve been there every day. One of us writes while the other hunts for the clue.”
“Writing at the same place every day isn’t giving you writer’s block?” Alice asked.
Paige shook her head. “We’ve been picking a different spot in the library each day to use as home base. The Children’s section, the hallway outside the music practice rooms. Yesterday we were in the garden atrium on the top floor.”
“Mmm,” Alice replied. “My favorite. It’s so gorgeous up there.”
“Isn’t it?” Paige nodded, thinking of how she and Ethan had set up camp at a table in the sun. They’d sipped coffee and pecked away at their laptops together. “The writing has been weirdly easy.”
“It has?” Alice replied, surprised.
Paige nodded and shrugged, because she hadn’t expected it, either. With their different creative processes, she figured there would be obstacle after obstacle. But writing with Ethan had cracked open something inside her. Plot ideas came fast, dialogue was snappy, and writing alongside him—bantering, brainstorming, challenging each other—was kind of magical. “We’re already halfway through the first draft.”
“Halfway?” Gigi’s mouth popped open.
“Wow, that’s so fast!” Alice said.
“I know, right?” Paige replied, hoping the ease of their writing would last. “We’ve only been writing for three weeks. I’ve never written a first draft that quickly.”
