At least that’s how Charlie remembers him given what was listed on his profile for the hookup app he uses.
Dennis is a regular. He wears jeans, splattered boots and a stained T-shirt. A toothpick dangles out of his lightly chapped mouth, remains there even as he smiles within the frame ofhis scratchy beard. After they met up last, Charlie had a hard time explaining away the redness all over his mouth the next morning. “Must be an allergic reaction to something I ate,” Charlie said, only to be met with his mother saying, “But you ate here, and we didn’t cook with anything new.” His shrug seemed to stop the forward inquisition, but he was certain she knew what he’d been up to after his shift the night before.
“Rough evening?” Dennis asks.
“You could say that,” Charlie replies, not wanting to get into it. He closes his notebook so Dennis can’t see his sad list. “How are you?”
“Good. Family’s good. Work’s work.” His bulky body built by manual labor bursts from the confines of his T-shirt. Charlie recalls how warm and eager it was against his own, yet also how impersonal the whole ordeal felt. He could’ve been anyone in the back of that Honda parked alongside the trailhead, and Dennis would’ve been just as happy. Charlie could’ve worn a cat suit, a ski mask and black gloves through the whole encounter so long as Dennis finished.
“When does your shift end?” Dennis asks. His true question is as explicit as Drink Dash’s neon signs advertising every alcohol brand known to man.
“I’m closing,” Charlie says.
He nods once. “What’s that? One a.m.? Two? You know I’m a night owl.”
“I’m pretty beat,” Charlie says. His mind is on everything but sex right now.
“Have one of these,” Dennis says, slapping a canned energy drink down on the counter. “My treat. It’ll perk you up before I do.”
Charlie resists the impulse to roll his eyes. “I’m good, thanks.”
“Aw, come on.” He sounds half-defeated. And already a little buzzed.
“Seriously, I’m good.”
“Another night, then?” Dennis asks.
“Another night,” Charlie says as noncommittally as possible.
Dennis sighs, pulls his purchases back through the cubby. “Just these, then.”
Charlie calls out his total.
“Did you get it all?” Dennis asks.
“Friends and family discount,” Charlie says, giving the guy a break alongside a warning. “As long as you promise not to open any of these on the ride home.”
“I’ll take that deal.” Dennis slips him some cash. “And you can keep the change for being so handsome.”
Once Dennis has driven off, Charlie debates what to do with the five-dollar tip. He could put it toward the foreclosure fund he has already begun cobbling together in his mind. But five dollars is a drop in the massive bucket of what those papers said his family owed.
Tonight, he could stand to treat himself.
From the snack display, he selects a fancy Italian chocolate bar called Amorina. He’s loved it for as long as he can remember. The rich bitterness of dark chocolate tinged with vanilla is to die for. He will spread the squares out across the hours of his shift to savor it while he hatches a full-fledged plan.
He rings himself up with the employee discount and skins off the candy wrapping that is bulkier than usual. There is a big red word stamped on the inside that demands his attention.
CONTEST!
Intrigued, he reads on:
For over 100 years, inside every Amorina chocolate bar wrapper, we’ve written you, dear customer, a love note. This tradition began as a nod to our founder and my dearest nonna, Eleanora Amato, who wrote letters to my beloved nonno,Vincenzo Cotogna, using the wrappers of candies just like ours. Now, it’s your turn to share the love.
Charlie undoes origami-style folds that accordion out until the wrapper is as big as an amusement park map.
My grandson, Dario Cotogna, is looking for his love match. He seeks a spouse to share his life and fortune with. If you’re single and twenty-one years of age or older with a valid passport, we invite you to write him your very own note. Tell him what you love about Amorina chocolates and what love means to you in 1,000 words or less. The five most compelling responses, judged by a panel of chocolate lovers and relationship experts, will receive one of five all-expenses paid trips to Perugia, Italy, to tour the newly reopened museum and stay in a luxury villa with a private chef for one week, all while vying for the heart and hand of one of the most eligible bachelors in all of Italy!
More information can be found on the Amorina website.
