On the Wings of Murder Page 7

  “No, not anyone would have. Many people would ignore a couple of strangers in need of help. I want to repay you and—” she held up her hand to keep Linda from interrupting “—I think I know how.”

  She had thought long and hard about what she was about to offer. She had been considering expanding Papa Pacelli’s for a long time. There were roadblocks that she always kept hitting: first, in order to keep from taking business away from the original Papa Pacelli’s, the new store would have to be opened quite a distance away from Kittiport, and she didn’t want to move. The second problem was that she didn’t have anyone that she could trust to manage a new store. Her employees were great, but none of them were ready for that kind of responsibility yet. Linda, however, might be the solution to both problems.

  They sat at their normal booth while she explained her offer. She would buy Oceanside Pizza and Wings from Linda and pay for all the repairs and upgrades it needed. Its name would be changed to Papa Pacelli’s Pizzeria, and Linda would be the manager. Linda would get a portion of the profits, and would have freedom to build her own menu and source her own ingredients as long as they were Papa Pacelli’s quality. Part of the deal was that Linda give Sandra a job there if she was interested.

  When she was done, she bit her lip and waited for a reaction from the other woman. It was true that Oceanside would no longer be called Oceanside, but other than the name, it would still be Linda’s restaurant to run as she wanted. It would be the same restaurant, just with a different name and an unbeatable pizza dough recipe. With a little bit of money and advice, Ellie was certain that Linda could make this restaurant thrive.

  Linda stared at her for a long moment, then broke down in tears. “I don’t know what to say. This is a dream come true. This is the second chance I’ve been hoping for. Thank you. Thank you so much.”

  Ellie shook hands with her new business partner, feeling a surge of excitement as she did. This was a huge step for both of them. Not only was she helping this wonderful woman keep her husband’s dream alive, but she was also following her own dream of opening a second Papa Pacelli’s restaurant. There was no telling where her life would go from here, but she was eager to begin the journey and see where it led.