Henry Appleby has an appetite for life. As a recent high school graduate and the son of a wealthy family in one of Chicago’s affluent North Shore suburbs, his life is laid out for him. Unfortunately, though, he’s being forced to follow in the footsteps of his successful attorney father instead of living his dream of being a chef. When an opportunity comes his way to work in a real kitchen the summer after graduation, at a little Italian joint called Fiorello’s, Henry jumps at the chance, putting his future in jeopardy.<br><br>Years ago, life was a plentiful buffet for Vito Carelli. But a tragic turn of events now keeps the young chef at Fiorello’s quiet and secretive, preferring to let his amazing Italian peasant cuisine do his talking.<br><br>When the two cooks meet over an open flame, sparks fly. Both need a taste of something more -- something real, something true -- to separate the good from the bad and find the love -- and the hope -- that just might be their salvation.

Dinner at Fiorello's

Outside, Henry didn’t know what to do. The world went on around him, oblivious. Traffic flowed. ‘L’ trains rumbled in and out of the station above him, heading north and south. Two kids about his own age tossed a Frisbee back and forth at the corner of Greenview and Jarvis.


And Henry heaved, finding it difficult to breathe. His mind was going in a million different directions at once. He thought he should go back inside the restaurant but couldn’t bear the thought of their concern and sympathy, of trying to get through even a few seconds more of pretending to be normal when his world was crumbling all around him. He just could not bear it. Even if he risked losing his job, he needed to be by himself.


For what? What was he going to do? He walked a little east and pulled the towel gently from his thumb. The white fabric was stained with brilliant crimson, and the tip of his thumb was still oozing copious blood.


Chapter 62