An Unexpected Hunger by C. Rosa

he left it to my mom instead.”
    With that accident, I lost everything I knew…my dad, my dreams of cooking with him, carrying on the restaurant he worked so hard to build. I had begged my mother not to sell it, but she wasn’t convinced that I could handle it on my own.
    “Well maybe one day you’ll get another chance ,” he said.
    I smiled. “Maybe.”
    Ricky finished the last bite. “I’m stuffed.”
    I smiled and took his plate to the sink, hoping that he was right.
    * * *
    “Stop at the mailbox a second, I haven’t checked it in a while.”
    Ricky s lowed the car just close enough that I didn’t have to get out to open the mailbox. I shuffled through three days worth of mail full of bills and grocery store circulars. All the envelopes were addressed to my mom. All but one. My heart dropped at the sight of the scraggly handwriting scrawled across the white envelope. There was no name, just a return address.
    “What’s the matter?” Ricky asked.
    I shoved the mail into the side pocket of the door. “Nothing.” My heart was practically beating out of my chest. “Just stuff for my mom.”
    Ricky hesitated before driving off. Every once in a while I caught myself bouncing my foot against the floor of the car. I had to tell myself to calm down since Ricky would steal a look my way every few minutes. He didn’t say any thing to me, but I could tell he knew something was up.
    When we finally got to the bar, Ricky headed home to switch cars with Nick and catch a show er before coming back to work. I thought about what it was going to be like working together after last night. Danny and I were so good at hiding our secret that none of our coworkers caught on. Here, they noticed when someone came in wearing a different kind of deodorant.
    I walked into Ricky’s office, plopping my purse with all the mail onto the shelf next to Ricky’s desk. It was too big for its place in the room, and nine times out of ten I ran my thigh right into it.
    Thank goodness that we were slow because all I could think of during the small lunch rush was the letter in my purse. I tried to think of how Danny would have gotten my address when I remembered I had given him my mom’s name and number for my emergency contact at work. He laughed when he saw that the address was in New Jersey, commenting on how quickly my mom would be able to arrive in time to be any use. I didn’t know anyone else who lived closer.
    Ricky finally strolled into the bar at three o’clock. Heidi rolled her eyes as he wandered over to me and whispered in my ear while I cleared a table. I giggled just to piss her off even more.
    “What’s happening here?” Mia asked from behi nd the bar, her finger waving between Ricky and me.
    “What do you mean?” I asked.
    “You two…you’re both smiling from ear to ear. Something happened, didn’t it?”
    “Back to work!” Ricky teased.
    I grabbed the stack of menus I just finished wiping down and returned them to their holder up front.
    “Dammit!” Ricky yelled from his office. I heard the familiar sound of the metal shelf reverberating through the room , and then the plop of stuff falling on the floor.
    I peered into the doorway to his office.
    “I gotta’ move this fucking shelf,” he said, rubbing the front of his thigh. He bent down to grab the stuff that had fallen, which included my purse with all the mail.
    Before I had time to react, Ricky held the letter in his hands, staring at my name written on the front.
    “For you?” he asked, holding it in between two fingers.
    I nodded my head, trying to think about what I was going to say.
    “Who would be writing to you from California?” His tone was soft and low, which made me even more nervous.
    “I don’t know. I haven’t opened it ye t. It’s probably from Lauren...she was my neighbor. We wanted to stay in touch.”
    “Really? Like pen pals?” he baited.
    “Something wrong with hearing from a friend?” I said, trying to deflect.
    “No.”