beat herself up over loaf after loaf, trying to perfect them and get them exactly like Grandpa’s. But she knew this was what the Italians lived for – waking up to cook with love, to feed the world. She knew the nonnas would be just fine and kept on walking.
Disturbing the silence up the street were the fisherman delivering their catch to the market stalls and restaurants. The salty fragrance of freshly caught squid reminded Louisa of her childhood summers spent fishing with her grandpa. The girls had promised they would be back to fish in the summer; Louisa hoped that with both her sisters being so busy that they would somehow still be able to stick to this promise. She would try and understand if not.
Arriving at her first destination, she snuck in to the back of the bakery and was immediately greeted by Luca’s mamma. ‘Buongiorno cara,’ she said, hugging Louisa and then holding her back at arm’s length, her hands still on Louisa’s shoulders. Louisa was accustomed to this behavior. Luca’s mamma was assessing her up and down, finally resting on Louisa’s eyes. It was the kind of evaluation she received daily from her nanna and zias, usually to check that she had eaten enough and that there was happiness behind her eyes. But before the interrogation began, Luca appeared, and Louisa’s stomach turned into a swarm of butterflies.
‘Ciao bella,’ he said, his eyebrows raised and surprise in his tone. Then he walked over to her and kissed her sweetly on each cheek.
‘Buongiorno,’ Louisa replied, merrily. She then turned to Luca’s mamma, hoping to be excused so she could go and cuddle Luca before she needed to head off.
‘Come, we have coffee,’ Luca said, reaching around Louisa’s waist and guiding her out of the kitchen.
He pulled down two chairs from a small table at the front of the café and gestured for Louisa to sit while he went around the counter and brought the coffee machine to life. Louisa contemplated the street through the gold lettering on the giant window. Only the food vendors were bustling about in their stalls and cafés, getting ready for the morning rush. The other shops remained vacant, void of light and life. Orzoro sure was beautiful at sunrise.
With a whistle and a gurgle, the robust smell of Italy’s finest espresso wafted her way, along with a tall, dark and equally robust Italian man. Louisa took him in once more, smiling when he placed her tiny coffee in front of her.
‘Everything is okay?’ Luca asked, as he sat down opposite her.
Louisa took a sip of the strong coffee and looked Luca straight in his ocean-blue eyes. These eyes had a way of drawing out her fears since the days she had first gazed into them, but today she was full of positivity and exuberant energy, her fears having melted away along with the bowl of butter and chocolate she had mixed together last night.
‘Can I get some of your cinnamon biscuits to add to my box, please?’ she said enthusiastically. For the first time since they sat down Luca took his eyes off hers and looked to the box.
‘What it is?’ Luca asked, touching the box and toying with the lid, sniffing the air as he did so. Louisa chuckled.
‘My family’s secret torta caprese, for Amanda,’ she answered, allowing him to lift the lid and peak inside. Luca’s eyes lit up. He leaned forward to get a better look, eyeing up the cake in the same fashion Louisa had witnessed Amanda doing when they had first stepped into Alfonso’s bakery last year and Luca had given them a box of cakes. It was like he was trying to figure out its secrets just by looking at it. ‘I know I can’t make it to the café opening, but I can still be part of it in some way. Amanda is probably busy and stressing about it all right now, so I think this will make her smile and remember what it’s all about,’ Louisa added, placing the lid carefully back on the box, making sure it was snug against the cake so it wouldn’t break in transit. She would get a bigger box to protect it further once she got to the post office and filled it with more goodies from Luca.
‘You can tell me the recipe, no?’ Luca asked, wiggling his eyebrows, a sweet smile turning up at the corner of his lips as he picked up Louisa’s hand and planted a kiss on her palm.
‘Not a chance,’ Louisa said playfully, though she meant it and he knew this too. Family recipes were sacred in Italy; she couldn’t go giving them away no matter how handsome Luca’s smile was or how mesmerizing his eyes were.
‘Eh, what can I do?’ he said with a laugh. Louisa jumped up, moving to his side of the table to hug him. When Luca wrapped his strong arms around her, she didn’t want to be anywhere else. He already smelt like pastries and vanilla; she wanted to stay in his embrace all day, but she had work to do. She dropped a kiss on his soft locks and stood up, checking her watch to see if the town’s only post office would be open yet.
Ten minutes later, Louisa walked out of Alfonso’s with a flush in her cheeks and a much heavier parcel. Walking towards Orzoro’s town centre, she thought about Luca and his dream of travelling that he had shared with her during a special beach date over the holidays and hoped that one day they could maybe deliver a similar parcel in person, together, to Amanda’s café. The thought made her grin as she headed to the post office. With the smell of rum and chocolate occasionally wafting up from the box, she couldn’t wait to get to work today, feeling inspired by her family and the love in her heart.
Garlic Bruschetta
Ingredients:
Whip up Grandpa’s bread mixture
Garlic
Parsley
Butter
Olive oil
Plum tomatoes
What to do:
Slice bread and lightly toast.
Blend butter (a fork will do to squash, the mix with spoon) with diced garlic and parsley. Add a dash of salt and pepper.
Spread butter onto bread and layer with chunky pieces of garlic and baby plum tomatoes.
Amanda was doing her best to drown out the hammering and the clatter that was coming from the kitchen by squinting really hard at her clipboard to try and absorb the words that were staring back at her. Sabrina had been the one to suggest she get a clipboard. If Amanda could focus on the words, she wouldn’t even notice the noise. It was 7.30 a.m. and Manchester was just beginning to wake, a faint orange glow appearing above the tree tops and houses across the road. Liam had fixed the electrical work a few days ago but there was a problem with the pipes that he was currently attempting to fix, being the handy man that he was. Amanda was ninety-nine per cent sure the initial plumber had made it worse than it was before he arrived. She was getting antsy not being able to cook, but thankfully Liam had proved to be a knight in shining armour with the electricals and she prayed he could save the day again.
‘Kate, how’s everything looking with the register?’ Amanda asked her recent recruit. Kate was Louisa’s age, twenty-four, polite and quiet. She had been doing a great job tailing Amanda and doing what was asked of her over the past few days. Amanda wasn’t quite sure her head would still be screwed on if it wasn’t for Kate. So far, she had organized Amanda’s scraps of paper that held shopping lists and menu ideas and replaced them with colour coordinated notebooks and pens for each such occasion. She had cleaned a small area at the back of the café and set up a table and chairs so Amanda could actually sit down and go through the business plans and have a place to conduct interviews and speak with her team. She had plugged up the register and saw to it that Amanda had Wi-Fi and a landline installed. Amanda was impressed by this woman’s efficiency. It rivalled that of Sabrina’s, yet Amanda still wished her sister were here.
‘It’s all linked up to the Wi-Fi, as is the card machine and your phone. It should be ready to go, boss,’ Kate replied, with a confidence that made Amanda look up from her ‘to-do’ list (which had been Kate’s doing too). She saw Kate smiling in her direction and couldn’t help smiling back. Kate