Tag: Valentine’s Day

Fred slung his too-heavy bag off his shoulders, dropping into the rolling chair behind his uncle’s cherry stained desk. When his mom told him his uncle needed him to help out for a few hours a night leading up to Valentine’s Day, he’d imagined something more glorious than answering the phones. At the very least, he imagined a task that would let him work on his assignments that were piling up by the day.

Still, as long as his uncle was willing to slip him a crisp Benjamin at the end of each night, he supposed it was worth giving up his free time. His elbow smacked painfully onto the desk when the phone shrieked to life. He pressed the down arrow on the volume even as he picked up the phone. Now that he was here, there was no need to have the volume up loudly enough to be heard through the clattering din of the kitchen.

“Thank you for calling Rizzolini’s, this is Federico. How may I assist you?” His ear still smarted from the twisting his uncle gave it the first time he was caught answering the phone as Fred. Such an American name would never convince customers they were an authentic Italian restaurant. He was to go by the name his father put on his birth certificate—or else. (more…)