“Uh, I think this is where Ellen lives.
Why do you still work at The Pink Door?”
“Well, they don’t really need any employees here.
My dad takes care of everything himself.
And it’s not like we get that many customers.”
“All right, then.
My turn.”
“Huh?
What do you mean?”
“If I’ve answered one question, it’s only fair that I get to ask one too.
Luke, what’s your job?”
“I don’t officially work anywhere.
I invest in stocks from home.”
“Ah, unemployed!
Then what are you planning to do in the future?
Get a job somewhere?”
“I don’t really plan on working for anyone.
I make more than enough to live the way I do.”
“Mmm~ Your family must be pretty well off then.
What about your parents?”
“No, I answered your question.
Now it’s my turn.”
“Fine.”
“Are you in college?
What’s your major?”
“H-How did you know?
Do I really look like a college student?
I’m a sophomore majoring in accounting.”
It was exactly the same as in the Room of Choices.
“Then it’s my question.
What about your parents?”
“Both of them are alive.
I’ve already moved out and live on my own.”
“What about yours, Ellen?”
“The man at the register is my dad.
The one making the hamburgers is my mom.
My mom’s cooking is better than Dad’s, by the way.
Here, try that burger.
It tastes nothing like McDonald’s.”
Mmm.
The burger was every bit as good as its reputation.
Good enough that I could eat it every day and never get tired of it.
Ellen’s mother— the woman who would one day become my mother-in-law— was an excellent cook.
She passed away fifteen years after Ellen and I got married.
Even now, I still missed her stew.
“Now for the most important question.
Why were you waiting for me today?
Because you liked me?
Yes or no?”
This isn’t the Room of Choices.
This is real life.
“It is.”
“Then why did you say you’d give me your phone number earlier?
We only met today.”
maybe it was fate or something.
I just had a feeling.
A man willing to order food three times just to wait for me…
There’s something kind of romantic about that, isn’t there?”
“All right, then.
You and me.
Dating or not dating?”
Was Ellen serious?
“Dating.”
“So, Ellen.
What are you going to do now?”
“What do you mean, what am I going to do?
I’m going to date you!
Luke, you just said it yourself.
Dating.
So let’s date.
The moment you ordered lasagna and Sangiovese at The Pink Door, I had a feeling.
This is the one.
And then a guy willing to wait eight hours for me practically walked right into my life.
Why would I back away?
I’d be crazy not to grab him right away.”
I had heard those words before.
They were almost the same as what she’d told me the first time she called me an idiot.
The food was different.
The amount of time I had waited was different.
But the rest of Ellen’s answer was almost exactly the same.
“Then, Luke…
Today officially becomes Day One for us!”