“Okay, Sal. I want to personally thank you for the donation to the Foundation. You remain anonymous to the public, but as the founder, I need to know such things for tax filings.”
“Happy to do it,” said Sal. “I figured the anonymous bit might leak. I just didn’t want any hoopla over it. And I must say, it was Nick’s idea.”
“Your son is full of surprises.”
“That kid has always done things everyone said he couldn’t.” “How’s that?” Shelly asked as they made their way to the center
of the house, her head slowly swiveling left to right.
“Well, he was kind of small as a boy, so they said he wouldn’t be good in sports. He proved them wrong and became captain of the basketball team. They said he never had a chance to be involved with the high school yearbook because he lacked creativity in art class. He became the publisher. No one thought he was good enough to be on the debate team—instead he became class president. Hell, he even got the prom queen to go out with him. And she didn’t really like him at first.”
“At first?”
“Well, they were quite the item for a few years.”
“Oh, really? Why’d they break up?” As soon as she spoke the words, she reprimanded herself for asking such a silly question and for sticking her nose where it didn’t belong.
Sal glanced toward the stairs, then turned to Shelly and leaned in. “She was killed by a drunk driver in her first year of college,” he said in a hushed voice. “They went to the same school. Poor thing. She will always be twenty years old. I bet Nick still thinks about her every day.”
“Oh, God, that’s horrible,” Shelly said in the same hushed tone and hung her head slightly as Sal had done. They stood looking at framed photos on a round wooden table in the living room. She picked up the one of Nick at his prom, presumably with the girl Sal was talking about.
“That’s her,” Sal said. “Her name was Kristen. With an e.” “Kristen? Really?”
Sal nodded. “Nick lost his brother when he was seven, then his girlfriend, and then his mom. But he never lost the mindset that he could make a difference each day he woke up.”
“He must have got that from you, Sal.”