Chapter 5 #2
Back at the computer, she reviewed the accounts.
Sam and Rick gave her a generous budget for updates and supplies.
Tuesday afternoon she’d hired Cole Danner’s company to strip the hardwood floors and replace the cracked vinyl benches out front.
Cole promised to send a crew and get started next week.
The new sheet pans, muffin tins, and cake pans she’d ordered arrived yesterday.
She and Ruby washed and stacked them on the shelves.
There was a gorgeous vintage chandelier hanging in Roseanne’s Vintage shop she had her eye on.
She wanted to hang it over the display case, but since it was a tiny bit over-budget, she planned to save for it.
Eyeing the cracked leather scrapbook peeking out from under the mail, she reached for it.
Donna had insisted on leaving it, saying it was part of Haven’s history and should stay with the bakery.
The first picture was a faded sepia, but she could see the pride on the man’s face as he pointed to the Haven’s sign over the door.
Hiram Conway, 1929. Donna’s grandfather.
A browned news article from the Hearts Bend Tribune had been glued to the opposite page.
It told how Hiram purchased the former feed store with the intention of opening a bakery.
He had a gas oven shipped from Chicago. The Depression hit, bringing lean times, so Hiram sold bread at cost, or gave it away if the customer, a fellow citizen, didn’t have the change.
When times got better, folks rewarded him with their loyalty, buying their weekly baked goods from Haven’s.
Chloe flipped the pages, leaning forward when she came upon a wedding picture of Bob and Donna.
1975. On the opposite page was another Hearts Bend Tribune article.
This one about Bob and Donna joining Hiram at Haven’s.
Bob’s business mind expanded the bakery to deliveries around town—to Cooper’s Market, Ella’s Diner, the Hearts Bend Inn—and staked a claim at the Saturday Farmer’s Market.
Chloe loved Haven’s history and now she was a part of it. She would continue the history. The photobook even had blank pages where she would add her story.
Chloe’s phone chirped a reminder about Mom’s chemo appointment in the morning. She got up to tell Ruby she’d be out for a bit tomorrow.
As she walked by Laura Kate, Chloe picked a drooping piece of icing from her hair net. “Let me know when you’re done. I’ll come and show you some new decorating techniques.”
“Sure thing.” Laura Kate didn’t even look up. Just hovered over her work with the tip of her tongue resting on the corner of her mouth.
Chloe watched for a second. Yeah, once she got the recipes straightened out and the supply ordering streamlined, she was going to teach Laura Kate the theory behind mise en place, having everything at hand, measured and in its place.
Then the ever-important CAYG—clean as you go.
Only then would she move on to more advanced baking and frosting techniques.
But LK had some skill. Chloe wanted to learn her technique for the flower design she iced onto a batch of cupcakes.
Yeah, life was good at the bakery. Other than the missing cookie recipe. She hadn’t realized how much she needed this job until she started waking at two a.m. to go to work every day. It gave her purpose. Which she desperately needed.
“Ruby?” Chloe found her in the dining area chatting with the same four ladies who came into Haven’s on Friday afternoons for the famous and elusive cookies in addition to every Tuesday and Thursday morning at eight.
The grand dame, Mrs. O’Shay, and her ladies in waiting.
“I have to take Maman to her treatment tomorrow. I’ll leave at ten and be back before noon. ”
“Darling, you take care of that mama of yours. I’ll be here holding down the fort.”
“Thank you.” And she meant it. Having a solid team made the load so much lighter.
“Chloe.”
She turned toward her name as Mrs. O’Shay stood. “I understand the TCFC recipe is missing.”
“It’s not missing so much as it never existed except in Donna’s head. Nothing I’ve tried seems to work.”
“Well, the annual O’Shay Shirts Employee Appreciation Day is next month, and the Triple Chocolate Fudge Cookie is tradition. And we love tradition at O’Shay Shirts. You must make them for us.”
Despite all efforts, Chloe’s cheer sank straight to her toes. “I’m doing my best to replicate it, Mrs. O’Shay.”
“We do appreciate it. You know, we give Haven’s a lot of business, well, all of our baked goods business.”
“Yes, ma’am, and it’s greatly appreciated.”
She didn’t say they’d take their business elsewhere, but Chloe heard the implication in her tone. Which made no sense. The new bakery that Mrs. O’Shay chose wouldn’t have the TCFC recipe either.
She’d just returned to her office when her phone buzzed with a text from Mom.
Mom: Don’t forget the appointment tomorrow.
Chloe: On my calendar.
Mom: Eleanor said she could take me if you’re busy.
Chloe: I’m not busy. I’m taking you.
When Mom said Chloe didn’t have to come home from Paris to help her, she wasn’t kidding. Mom’s friend Eleanor called last night to see if she needed a ride to the doctor.
“I’m not doing anything, and Chloe should be at work.”
But Chloe insisted she would take Mom. She wanted to know how they were treating her, how to take care of her at home. She’d done well with her two treatments so far, save for being tired and weak.
Chloe began cleaning out a desk drawer. It looked like Bob hadn’t purged his files in quite possibly forever. She pulled a stack onto her lap and looked through each folder before returning it to the drawer or tossing it in the trash.
Inventory May 1985. Trash.
Menus 1997. Keep. For the scrapbook if nothing else.
Donut Heaven. Trash. She didn’t need a glossy brochure from the coffee and donut mega chain extolling the virtues of owning a franchise.
After finishing the accounting tasks and cleaning out one file drawer, she headed back into the kitchen and reached for her chef’s jacket.
“Laura Kate, finish what you’re doing, because we’re baking cookies.”
“Yes, Chef. That’s the last Styrofoam layer coated. What do you need?” The young woman tucked her hair into the net with her spatula, leaving a smear of icing across her temple, as she rolled the cart with the fake cakes into the walk-in.
Chloe smiled and shook her head. She couldn’t help but love her assistant baker. Icing smeared all over her face didn’t seem to bother her.
By early afternoon, they’d made three sample batches, none of which measured up to the elusive prized cookie. Chloe was cleaning up the mixer and utensils for another try when she noticed a small wooden box pushed against the wall on the lower shelf of the workstation.
“Laura Kate,” she said, stooping over and pointing. “Grab that box, will you?”
Laura Kate reached under, pulled out the box, and set it on the table. “Do you think it’s the box of recipes? How did we not see it before?”
“Great question. We practically took this place apart looking.”
Chloe’s heart thumped in anticipation as she lifted the lid and peered inside. Shoot. She slapped the lid closed and shoved it toward Laura Kate.
“No recipe?” Laura Kate looked inside and laughed. “Empty yeast envelopes. That’s so Donna. She saved them for some unknown reason. Ruby and I found a trash bag full of them in the storage closet last fall.”
Chloe instructed her to throw them out and to put the box on her desk. Might as well keep it as part of Haven’s history.
“Chloe,” Ruby said, peering through the kitchen doors. “Mrs. O’Shay would like a word.”
“Tell her I still haven’t discovered the TCFC.”
“No, it’s not about that…something else. But she didn’t say what.”
Mrs. O’Shay waited just beyond the kitchen doors. There was a good chance she heard Chloe’s comment, but it was too late now.
“My granddaughter is coming home from Lauchtenland next week and I’d like a half dozen of those beautiful flower cupcakes.” She pointed to the case at Laura Kate’s oversized cupcakes decorated with dahlias and roses. “Scottie’s coming with her sister-in-law. Gemma’s visiting her parents.”
“We’d be happy to make them.” Cupcakes for a real-life princess. Local gal Gemma Stone had married the crown prince of Lauchtenland last year. Chloe had never made a pastry for a prince or princess while living in Paris. A duke, but not a prince. A check in the plus side for Hearts Bend.
“Also, I was a bit hard on you about the cookie. You know us small-town Southerners. Traditions die hard, which is why I give you my promise of support with the town council. Haven’s is a Hearts Bend staple, a landmark, an artery in the heartbeat of this town and I’ll not let the town council cater to the whims of modern chain restaurants and money grubbers.
” She ended her impassioned speech with a wave to her ladies-in-waiting and walked out the door.
Chloe stared at Ruby. “What was that about?”
“I have no idea. I didn’t hear a word after she said the crown princess of Lauchtenland was coming to Hearts Bend next week.”
Love helping @SamHardyQB15 recover from knee surgery. ;-) #Everready
– @CurvyCarla on Twitter
Titans need a QB at 100%, not a washed-up has-been. #DumpSamHardy
– @No.1TitansFan on Twitter
Looking forward to getting back on the field! Knee feels great and #thisseasonwillbeawesome has a nice *ring* to it. My therapists are the best! Highly recommend @DrJMorganSportsMedicine in Hearts Bend.
– @SamHardyQB15 on Twitter
Sam finished his last set of foot slide exercises at his Thursday morning session at Dr. Morgan’s clinic. As soon as his therapist, Jimbo, released him, Sam planned to head for the bakery.