He ran his hand lovingly over the beat-up wooden surface. “It needs some TLC, but I’m going to work on it. Watch this.” He tapped a small drawer in the center of the hutch, causing it to spring open.

Tessa laughed. “That’s amazing.”

“That’s not even the best part.” Leo opened the drawer and pointed inside. In the back was another hidden drawer.

“Exactly what did your grandfather do that he needed secret drawers?” Tessa asked.

“When he first started out, he had a pizza shop, and he used a sauce recipe his family brought with them from Italy. Except until the day he died, he wouldn’t give it to anyone.”

“No one?”

“Not a soul.”

“So did he hide it in the drawer?”

A long, slow grin spread over his face. “That’s the best part. He left a letter for my dad with the recipe, telling him to use it as he wanted. That it was a symbol of our family’s creativity and adaptability. That food feeds people but it also helps us make a living. And he left some photos of him and my grandma.” He reached into the drawer and pulled them out. “She was the love of his life.”

Tessa examined the old photos of a young couple, laughing, with their arms around each other, clearly very much in love.

“Together they started the restaurant. One of my dad’s dreams is to make pizza again.” He looked a little dreamy, like maybe that was part of his dream too. “Someday, maybe.”

A pang hit her as she wondered if great loves could happen to people like her. “That’s a wonderful story. These are sweet.”

She handed the photos back, and he replaced them carefully in the secret drawer. “In her later years, my grandma got Alzheimer’s, but Gramps visited her every day.”

One thing was clear: Family was important to Leo Castorini. Regardless of his ability to make a quick sham marriage. “Funny how our families are both so family oriented, yet they let the feud go on for so many generations.”

“I’ve tried to understand that for years. It’s beyond me.” He sat leaning his elbow on the desk and looking at her, amusement suddenly lighting up his eyes. “By the way, you looked pretty today. So learn to take a compliment, okay?”

He seemed serious for once. And he was being…nice. “Okay,” she managed.

Maybe it was the emotion of the day, or the fact that her life had turned as topsy-turvy as a jar of marbles that had spilled and scattered and rolled everywhere, but she found herself staring at him. Swallowing past a lump in her throat. Wanting to…confide in him? Kiss him? Murder him? All three?

And then a little yellow blur flew by, meowing loudly.