2. Cayson

CAYSON

It wasn't even nine yet, but I locked the door anyway and flipped the sign to closed.

I was done. D.O.N.E. Done.

We'd been busy all week with a conference in town, and my feet were killing me. I also needed some more Ibuprofen. I'd downed my last two at lunchtime, so I couldn't even go straight home. I needed to stop at the store to pick up a few things and then crash, so I could start this all over again on Saturday.

At least the morning wouldn't be so bad. We had a kid's party scheduled from eleven to two, so the first few hours would go by fast, and then we wouldn't get busy again until about five. Thank God my niece and nephew were always looking for extra hours. I needed to just start giving them more.

"Angie!" I untied my apron and pulled it off. "Can you and Chris get everything put up tonight?"

Angie turned the corner, already pushing the mop bucket. "Yeah, we got it, Uncle Case. Go home already. You look dead on your feet."

"So you're saying I look way better than I feel. That's what I figured." I balled up the apron and shoved it under my armpit. "You two need anything before I bail?"

She leaned on the mop and looked around. "Nah, Chris is packing up the kitchen, so we'll be done soon. Just go."

"Geez, I'm going, I'm going." I dragged my sorry ass through the kitchen toward the tiny office in the back. "Chris, call if you need anything. I'm heading out."

"I'm good, Uncle Case. And I'm opening tomorrow, so take your time coming in. We can handle the party if we need to."

God, I loved these kids. My sister did a good job raising them. "Thanks, kid. I'll let you know if I need to take you up on that, but…" I chuckled and shook my head. "You know I won't."

"Yeah, I know you won't." He laughed too. "But if the kids have started arriving when Nonna drops off her special tiramisu, you know she's gonna want to stay here and help. She loves when we host kids' parties."

Yeah, my mom missed working at the shop, but she still brought over her famous tiramisu every morning and stayed for a few hours when she didn't have anything else going on. It was nice to see her so often, but I wished she'd make some friends and maybe even meet a man to travel with.

Since my dad passed, she was lonely.

And as someone who could relate, I hated that for her. But there wasn't much I could do about it. I had enough trouble meeting a man for myself. There was zero chance I'd be able to meet one for my mom too. "All right, Chris. Call if you need anything, and make sure you walk your sister to her car."

He rolled his eyes as he nodded. "Yeah, I always do."

"I'm fine without a babysitter!" Angie called from the dining room.

Whoops. She hated when I went all possessive uncle on her. "Good night, Ang."

I quickly grabbed a few things from the office and went out the back door to the parking lot. With every step I took, my head pounded a little bit deeper, and by the time I was in the quiet cab of my truck, I was almost nauseous.

Fuck.

I had to have something around here somewhere. I opened up the glove box and dug around in there, looking for anything that might help. No painkillers, but there was a pack of Tic Tacs, so I tossed half the box in my mouth and started up the engine. It wasn't exactly food, but the boost of sugar actually felt like it cleared my head a bit.

I started driving, heading home on autopilot like I did every night. And it wasn't until I was turning onto my street that I remembered I wanted to stop at the store.

Dammit.

The closest place to pick up aspirin and some snacks for later was just down the street. The twenty-four-hour minimart had just about everything, including frozen cinnamon rolls that were delicious at this time of night. Thirty seconds in the microwave, and it was like Ma used to make them.

Annoyed at myself for forgetting and adding an extra twenty minutes to my trip, I drove right past my house and kept going, ready to put this week behind me and start the weekend. Since my pizzeria was in a business district, weekends were generally quiet.

We still got a good number of takeout requests, but very few people came in and sat down, at least not the way they did during the week when they were working in nearby offices.

I was grateful for the breaks, since I ended up working almost every day of the week. Whoever said running a family-owned restaurant was easy work was a liar. My grandfather started this place more than fifty years ago, when he came to this country with my grandma and a whole gang of children.

He named it Papi's Pies because everyone called him Papi. And when he was too old to run it, he passed it down to my father, and two years ago when my dad died unexpectedly, I gave up my career as a bodybuilder and personal trainer, and moved back home to take over the business.

I'd always planned to take over at some point, but I guess I thought it would be after I had settled down and started a family.

That was then.

Now, I was pretty sure I would never meet anyone because I had absolutely zero time or energy to get out and meet people. Seeing Jay with his boy Max was a painful reminder of what I didn't have. What I might never have. I was happy for my friend because he was visibly happier and more content than I'd ever seen him, but knowing it would probably never happen for me left a sour taste in my mouth.

And in my gut.

Great, my headache was traveling south. Just what I needed.