She laughed nervously as tears filled her eyes.
“I was terrified.”
“You can be terrified and brave at the same time.”
Alaric pulled out the empty chair beside us.
“May I?”
Mom nodded.
For several moments, the three of us sat quietly.
Then Alaric looked at the unfinished tiramisu.
“That’s all you ordered?”
“It came before dinner.”
He raised an eyebrow.
Mom shrugged.
“I’m sixty-five.”
Alaric laughed.
“That definitely sounds like you.”
I looked around.
“So this really is your restaurant?”
“For twenty-three years.”
Mom slowly studied the room.
“You actually did it.”
“Eventually.”
Then Alaric pointed toward the wall behind us.
