Michael’s face pulled into a grimace.“A Hawaiian pizza?No.Fruit is not a pizza topping.At least in my opinion.And don’t ever mention pineapple and pizza in the same sentence to an Italian.It’s barbaric.”Michael gave a shudder.
“Got it.I was only teasing by the way.”She looked back over the toppings.The man did have a large assortment.“I’ll do pepperoni, sausage, and green peppers.”It was what she normally ordered for herself.
“Good choice.”
“Would the Italians approve of that?”
“They usually just have sauce, cheese, and vegetables.”
“How long were you in Italy, or can you not talk about it?”Andrea didn’t know much about the military, but she assumed in reconnaissance, you couldn’t talk much about what you did.
“I can talk about it, just not specifically what I was doing there.I was there a few weeks.”
She wondered what other places he had been to.What other cooking secrets he had learned.The man had seen so much of the world, and she had seen so little of it.A fact that hadn’t bothered her much until recently.Michael was opening her eyes to a whole world right in her own backyard.
He and Maya were right.She was just existing instead of living.Andrea could see that now.But could she change?Could she get out of her shell and stop living in fear and just live?
“What are you putting on your pizza?”she asked as she assembled her pizza.Carefully applying the sauce to cover all edges and corners so there was no part that wasn’t covered.
“Sauce, anchovies, olives, and capers.”
“Anchovies as in sardines?Eww.”That sounded like a horrible pizza.And the Italians frowned on fruit?Fish didn’t belong on pizza.
“Have you ever tried them?”he queried, turning to face her with a fist planted on his hip.
“No, and I’d like to keep it that way.”
“You don’t know what you’re missing out on.”
“I have a guess, and I can’t say I’m missing out on anything.I can’t imagine the Italians approve of that.”
“They started it.It’s popular in some provinces.”
“How unfortunate for them,” she mumbled to herself.If that was her only choice for pizza, she would forgo it.
“Don’t knock something until you’ve tried it.”
“Fish pizza is not something I’ll ever try.”Ever.That just sounded horrible.
“Suite yourself.”He gave her a side glance then a double take.“Oh, don’t put your sauce all the way to the edge.”
“Why not?”
“Because as the dough rises, it’s going to burn those edges and spill over into the oven.Here.”Michael stepped closer, their hips brushing as he took the spoon she’d used to apply the sauce and pushed it an inch from the edge.
“Do I need to do something specific for the toppings?”
“No, decorate to your heart’s content.”
Heart’s content, huh?Andrea scattered the cheese and pepperoni around with no design in mind but made sure to keep it from the edges as Michael instructed.
“There you go,” Michael encouraged as he assembled his own pizza.She couldn’t even look down at it to see the tiny fish strewn around it.Gross.
Andrea grabbed the bowl of sausage crumbles and started scattering them around.
“But it’s missing something.”
“What?”She looked down, studying it.The peppers hadn’t been added yet, but that was all that was missing.
