A Wood-Fired Christmas (Mistletoe Kisses)

Epilogue

EPILOGUE

“WE’RE GOING TO sell out,” Lacey said as she pulled a pizza from the oven, then started slicing.

Ezra called from the assembly station, “Santa’s going to be here in ten minutes. Should be fine.”

Lacey plated up pizza slices for the family at the window of the food truck, the kids laughing at the mozzarella snowmen centered on each slice. She glanced up the line and decided they’d probably have enough pizzas to get through this—but Santa had better come to town soon, otherwise there would be a bunch of disappointed would-be pizza eaters.

She and Ezra had worked for the entire Hartwell Christmas Eve festival at the town park while families looked at the displays, and music played at the gazebo. Kids were excited and their parents looked tense, but most people seemed to be having a good time. Further out, couples walked around the pond on a path strung with lights. It would be nice to walk that path with Ezra, but instead they were here, at what she’d affectionately dubbed “food vendor alley.”

What a difference a year had made.

Ezra had been right about the food truck. It had taken a bit of coaxing to get the loan they needed, and then a little longer to get the truck, but here it was, with a wood-fired oven the same as at the Loveless kitchen, and their logo across the front. They sold pizza by the slice, and as an interesting side effect, she actually got to talk to their regulars.

“I love your social media,” the next woman gushed. “You make it fun to order dinner.”

Lacey said, “It’s all Ezra.”

Ezra passed behind her, saying, “It’s half Ezra, and half Lacey.”

Once word got out about the food truck, they’d gotten booked nearly every weekend of the summer. One town had requested they show up for every performance of their summer concert series, and another town had them serving lunch for the first day of school.

Also—yes—sometimes they got booked for their farm-to-table pizzas. And (ahem) when they offered farm-to-table premium pizzas? They sold out.

Lacey chuckled to herself as she ran a credit card. Take that, Ezra!

Tonight, customers came to the window with gloves on their hands and their breath visible. The pizza steamed as it left the oven-warmed truck, and Lacey alternated between too hot and too cold as she moved between the pizza oven and the sales window.

Ezra moved about the truck, too. They’d learned to work together so well, each anticipating the other’s moves, each working around the other while creating, cooking, and serving the pizzas. They made a great partnership.

Ezra squeezed her hand as he moved back past her again. They made a great partnership, but they also made a great couple.

Jingle bells began sounding, and Lacey sighed because that meant Santa—and Santa’s arrival meant half the line dispersed so the kids could watch Santa’s grand entrance into the park. They’d make it to the end of the evening.

When they cleared the line, Ezra stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. “I told you we’d have enough.”

“We cut it pretty close.” She turned toward him, and he kissed her. “How do you think Greg and Shelly are doing back at the shop?”

“They’re fine. Greg’s always fine.” Ezra chuckled. “It’s Shelly I’m worried about.”

Lacey hesitated. “Driving all over the place?”

“Her and Greg. I think something’s up.”

Lacey straightened, and he held her closer. Now that they weren’t moving, it was getting chillier inside the truck. “Is she crushing on him?”

“She won’t admit it.” Ezra bent toward Lacey, and his breath against her neck didn’t do anything to diminish the chills running over her. “And Greg’s oblivious in general, so this might get interesting.”

Across the park, Santa was yelling “Ho, ho, ho!” into a loudspeaker, and the kids were chanting it back.

Lacey said, “Do we need to do another special pizza? An engagement pizza?”

Ezra murmured into her ear, “Do we dot it with little onion rings?”

He ran his hands up her arms to her shoulders and then back down. Lacey felt abruptly warmer.

Ezra nuzzled her neck. “What would you want on your engagement pizza?”

She said, “I’m traditional. The man should make the engagement pizza for me, and then he should get on one knee to serve it.”

Ezra laughed, and then Lacey turned to him, putting her arms over his shoulders. “It’s been quite a year, hasn’t it?”

“So many things changed,” Ezra said.

She chuckled. “And you didn’t want anything to change.”

He frowned. “They haven’t all been bad changes.”

She arched her eyebrows. “Any good ones?”

He thought. “Well, snowman pizzas seem to be a good change,” and she chucked him in the shoulder. “I don’t know, I just can’t come up with—”

She stepped back and folded her arms. “You’d better be careful with whatever you say next.”

Ezra reached for her hands, and she let him. He said, “You stepped into my pizzeria, and you changed my life. You recognized things about me that even I didn’t know, and you were brave enough to take a chance on me. You wanted to work together with me even though we started out at odds with one another. This past year has been the most amazing year of my life, and it’s all because of you.” He squeezed her hands. “Will you marry me?”

Lacey started. “Marry you?”

He tugged her toward him. “Marry me. We’re already business partners. Let’s be partners through and through. We’ve had one amazing year. Let’s have an amazing lifetime.”

Lacey stepped into his embrace. At her back was the warmth of the wood-fired stove, and all around her was the work they’d created together.

“Yes,” she said. “I’ll marry you.”

He kissed her, and she closed her eyes to savor the moment.

When he released her, she said, “Wait, don’t I get an engagement pizza?” and Ezra burst into laughter. “I’m sure I was supposed to get an engagement pizza!”

Just then, the lights flared on at the town Christmas tree, and the kids cheered. A pair of customers approached the truck, and Ezra stepped toward the window.

She slipped up behind him just before the customers arrived, and gave him a hug. “I destroyed Loveless Pizza after all—because we’re no longer loveless.”

Ezra took the customers’ order while Lacey slipped another pizza into the wood-fired oven.