Four
W hat are those?” Jake leaned against the back counter in the bakery’s kitchen, sipping his cup of coffee while watching Lauren scoop the cookie dough onto the baking sheets.
The heater was fixed, but Jake insisted on sticking around just to be sure. She didn’t mind. She enjoyed the company. Normally Melody, her friend and employee, but more friend, would have been there to help open, but she had an appointment and was going to be late.
“Pink velvet.”
“What’s that?”
“Like red velvet, except instead of a chocolate base, it’s a vanilla sugar cookie base.”
“So, pink cookies then? What makes them velvet?”
“I add a cream cheese frosting.”
“Not icing?” Jake grinned.
He liked to pretend he didn’t know the difference, and he hadn’t when she first opened the bakery. But now it was his running joke that he didn’t know.
Lauren rolled her eyes. “The cream cheese in its name precludes it from being an icing.”
“Can you believe Dan Brandonson is dead?” Jake jumped topics.
She shook her head. “The man was the picture of health. He’d been telling Dad to cut down on red meat for years. Mr. Brandonson hadn’t touched beef or steak in i don’t know how long and drops dead. On the other hand, my dad thinks red meat is one of the daily food groups and is still going strong.”
“Think Scott might come home for the funeral? Does he even know his dad died?”
Lauren set the scoop down on the cookie tray. “I don’t know. Dad said someone called him, but didn’t tell me any of the specifics.”
“Well, there’s no way his mom is coming back. Won’t the funeral be kinda weird without anyone from his family there?”
Lauren picked the scoop back up and resumed her task. “Won’t it be weird with them there? Scott and his mom haven’t been back to Iron Creek since they both left almost fifteen years ago.”
“It’s Friday!” Melody’s shout came from the back of the shop, interrupting the conversation for a moment while they waited for her to bounce into the kitchen.
She skidded to a halt as soon as she spotted Jake leaning against the counter.
“Honey Badger.”
“Florida Man.”
Lauren rolled her eyes. Her two friends liked to pretend they didn’t like each other, but much like grade schoolers, they called each other names to show their affection for each other. Or at least that’s what Lauren told herself.
“You know, Friday isn’t the start of the weekend for us? Even if I have a high schooler working Saturdays, I still come in to bake for the day.”
“Yeah, but it’s also payday for a lot of people and that means they’ll buy two coffees instead of one and a dozen cookies instead of two or three.”
“And they tip the same. It’s not as if you make more money for twice the work.”
“Yes, but the shop does.” Melody dropped an apron over her head and tied it behind her back.
She wasn’t even five feet tall and redefined the word petite, so the bottom of the apron hit well below her knees. A few people said she looked a little like a fairy with her pixie-like features, but that’s where any resemblance stopped. Assuming fairies didn’t have a ‘mess with me and I will bite your kneecaps’ air about them. Most of the men in Iron Creek flocked to Melody, but that might also have been because she was the newest resident and wouldn’t know their reputations. As far as Lauren knew, though, Melody hadn’t gone out on a date with any of them.
Jake hoisted his cup of coffee towards Melody. “Now that you’re here, mind making me a coffee?”
Melody eyed the Bunn coffee maker, then looked over at Lauren.
“He fixed the heater this morning. He deserves more than drip coffee.” She loved both her friends dearly, but she wished they didn’t bicker so much. If she didn’t give Melody a reason to make Jake his coffee, they’d be trading disparaging names back and forth until the bakery opened.
“Fine. What do you want?”
“A quad.”
“That bad of a morning? Wake up on the wrong side of someone else’s bed?” Melody smiled sweetly while she spoke the stinging words and left the kitchen to make Jake his coffee.
“No. Woke up an hour before my alarm went off because the heater wasn’t working, and you’d be standing behind the counter with your coat on all day if I hadn’t showed up.” Jake called after her.
The espresso machine was one of those Italian monstrosities that cost an arm and two legs, but Melody had found it at some sale for a restaurant that was closing and had grabbed it for a fraction of the cost. So, instead of having three almost broken-down machines where only two would reliably work to make the fancy coffees customers wanted, Beans & Buns had one super nice machine that always worked. And it was thanks to Melody. Of course, Lauren paid her back, but Melody had discovered the sale and the machine at the sale.
Melody had studied the massive manual that accompanied the machine, mostly because she knew Italian and apparently the translated version of the manual was lacking. So, she had become its guardian. She understood the espresso machine the same way Lauren understood her Hobart.
Melody came back a few minutes later with one of the large ceramic mugs they used for lattes and handed it to Jake. “I used cream instead of half and half, Boll Weevil.”
“Tarantula squid.” Jake didn’t miss a beat.
“Do you know why the Bunn home coffee makers have a water reservoir that’s constantly heated instead of one that only heats the water when the machine is turned on?”
Both Lauren and Jake stared at Melody. Neither of them could afford a Bunn home coffee maker and didn’t realize they came with a constantly heated reservoir. The only reason the shop had a commercial Bunn coffee maker was because someone from the family visited a snowbird every summer and visited the bakery the first year she opened. She’d been using two commercial machines she’d bought fourth hand. The family member had questioned why she didn’t have a Bunn machine and Lauren explained that the liquidation sale she bought most of her equipment from didn’t have a Bunn coffee maker, but maybe she’d be able to afford one in a few years.
A week later, a commercial Bunn coffee maker arrived at the bakery, along with an “invoice” requesting a dozen of her special oatmeal raisin cookies that had been a result of a mistake. She added too much butter. But since receiving the coffee maker, every June she made a batch of those cookies just for her benefactor.
Melody waited for one of them to ask why. Jake gave in first, but then he usually did. “No, why?”
“The owner was an alcoholic and when he stopped drinking, he drank coffee instead. He hated having to wait for the water to heat and coffee to brew, so he basically invented the heated water reservoir.”
“That’s…”
“Actually, kind of cool. Necessity actually is the mother of invention.” Lauren enjoyed her friend’s wealth of useless information. “Where’d you learn that?”
Melody shrugged. “Not sure. Must have heard it from someone. Maybe my sister.”
Melody returned to the espresso maker and ran through the quick cleaning routine between espressos.
“Did Bart ever call?”
“Yes!” Melody answered from the front of the bakery. “And she found a reason to be busy every night he asked her to go out. He lasted longer than the others, though. Tried for five different nights before finally giving up.”
“Seriously?” Jake’s eyebrows shot up as he looked at her. “You’re running out of men you can date. Pretty soon, Judy’s grandson is going to be a viable candidate.”
“That’s the point. They’re all from here and everyone knows everyone’s business. Look at Trent and Colleen. The entire town didn’t just witness their divorce, they actively participated in it and took sides. I don’t want everyone knowing everything about my life.”
“You have to leave town to date someone who isn’t from Iron Creek.” Jake deadpanned.
“I still can’t believe you’ve never left Iron Creek.”
“I’ve been to Neenah.”
“Neenah is like the 17th largest city in the state. It doesn’t count.”
The bell above the door rang out, and Judy, the police dispatcher, came into the shop along with the Judge. The Judge had long since retired, but everyone still called him the Judge. It had been a rite of passage in Iron Creek to stand in the Judge’s courtroom and receive a lecture before he would ultimately dismiss the charges. Around ten years ago, he’d begun forgetting things and his clerk and the police chief sat down with him, encouraging him to retire. Now, he admonished the raccoons who continued to raid his garbage cans and weren’t as fazed by his lectures as the teenagers of Iron Creek had been.
Lauren carried a tray of Danishes into the front of the shop and arranged them in the display case.
“Melody, I have the perfect man for you.” Judy said, as she took the cup of coffee from her.
“Who, Judy?” Lauren asked.
“My grandson.”
“Isn’t he in high school still?” Jake hid his smile behind his cup of coffee.
“Yeah, but in three years, he’ll be eighteen. He’s perfect for her.”
Lauren and Melody looked at each other with wide eyes, but neither said anything. There wasn’t anything one could say short of asking whether Judy had lost her ever-loving mind. But knowing Judy, she’d have come up with a perfectly reasonable explanation that side-stepped all the potential land mines.
“Come on, Judge.” Judy wrapped her free hand around the older man’s elbow. “We’ll stop by the station and get you a ride home.”
“Wandering the streets again?” Lauren reached for a small, waxed paper bag and filled it with a few of the fruit Danishes. Folding the top of the back down, she handed it to the Judge.
“Yep. Looking for the old donut shop.”
“The donut shop? That hasn’t been around in years. It closed back when we were in high school.” Jake’s forehead wrinkled in concern at Judy’s words.
“I’m going to reach out to his niece, see what she wants to do.” Judy looked between Jake and Lauren before settling her gaze on Jake. “Think Scott will come home for the funeral?”
Jake shrugged. “No clue. Haven’t talked to him in years.”
“Lauren?” Judy asked.
“Jake would know more than me, and I haven’t talked to Dad about it yet…” She trailed off and Judy didn’t push for more, for which Lauren was grateful. Judy knew her father hadn’t been the same since he lost both his wife and his job at the mine a few years later, but she never let on she knew. Instead, she stopped by the house and got Lauren’s dad to go for walks or took him to bingo at the casino.
“Let us know if we can help with the Judge.” Melody added as Judy led the Judge out of the shop with his bag of Danishes in hand.
Five minutes after Judy and the Judge left, Chief Ellis entered. “Coffee and one of those raspberry Danishes, please.”
Melody fought back a grin as she handed over the Danish and coffee. “Mrs. Ellis has a direct line to Judy, doesn’t she?”
The chief of police nodded as he bit into the Danish. His eyes closed as he savored the flavor before washing the bite down with a gulp of coffee. “The wife has me on a diet. Apparently, the doctor called her in for reinforcement when my cholesterol levels came back.”
“So, we’re aiding and abetting you?” Melody didn’t bother hiding her grin.
“Only if you get caught, and I’m not planning on confessing.” The chief turned around and looked at Jake. “Hear from Scott?”
“How come everyone asks me that? I haven’t talked to him in like fifteen years.”
“You two were inseparable before he left town. If he’s going to reach out to anyone, it’s going to be you.”
“No. I haven’t heard from him. And neither has Lauren.” Jake answered the chief’s next question before he asked it.
“Well, do us all a favor. If he comes back, try not to get up to any of your old habits. I don’t think explaining it away as usual acts of youth will work anymore.”
“Ye of little faith, Chief. You don’t think we’re smart enough not to get caught now?”
Chief Ellis shook his head with a chuckle. “No, no, I don’t. If anything, the two of you getting together now is a recipe for making sure you get caught.”
“I’m resorting to bribery. I don’t know if it will work, but they’re trolling me or genuinely dumber than a box of rocks. And if they’re trolling me, I don’t know whether to be impressed or scared.” Elizabeth McGowan pushed through the front door of Beans & Buns and immediately stopped walking as soon as she stepped into the front room and looked around at everyone there. “Let me guess, you all are wondering if Scott is going to come home, right?”
Lauren considered Elizabeth as one of her closest friends. She’d known Elizabeth since they were toddlers. Or, more accurately, their mothers knew one another and arranged play dates for the girls. Elizabeth was one of the weird ones who made her escape from Iron Creek but came back. Currently, she taught second grade and fourth grade English. Her English class had been driving her insane with their inability to understand the difference between a metaphor and a simile, and it looked like they had pushed her right to the edge.
“The topic might have come up. But in my defense, I needed to know whether I had to prepare for more advanced exploits.” The police chief looked pointedly at Jake.
“Painting the name of our mascot on the train trestle that crosses the highway into town isn’t an advanced exploit? I worked out to the minute how long Scott, Jake, and Trent could hold Lauren over the side of the overpass and Pete studied up on all the different climbing ropes to make sure Lauren had the most secure harness possible. That exploit definitely qualifies as advanced.”
Chief Ellis pinched the bridge of nose while shaking his head slowly from side to side. “Two of those men are now police officers, Lizzie.”
“Doesn’t make the exploit any less advanced.”
Lauren stared up at the ceiling and Jake looked around the front room of the shop, doing his best not to make eye contact with anyone else.
Melody shook her head in disbelief before leveling a chastising gaze at her friend. “You were the one to paint that graffiti on the overpass?”
“It was Scott’s idea.”
“I can’t believe I’m about to say these words, but if Scott said you should jump off a bridge, would you?”
Lauren and Jake didn’t say anything, but they both did their best to avoid Melody’s gaze.
“Pretty much. But then we all did it. And the bridge isn’t that high off the water and the channel under the bridge isn’t shallow. I would have stopped them if it was dangerous.” Elizabeth answered for the both of them.
And then, just to make the situation even more weird, Trent walked into the shop.
Chief Ellis looked around the room, then headed for the door. He stopped in front of Trent and pointed his finger from the hand holding his coffee at him. “Don’t complain about the stupid things you catch the students doing ever again.”
Before Trent could ask why, Chief Ellis walked out of Beans & Buns.
“What was that about?”
Jake bent his head toward Elizabeth. “She confessed to the trestle graffiti.”
“You know that was the worst kept secret in Iron Creek, right? Everyone knew we did it, but they could all live without actually having any confirmation.” Trent grumbled.
“What?” Elizabeth looked around the room not understanding why everyone was staring at her with what could only be described as frustration.
“Remind me never to rob a bank with her. I was worried she’d confess to the Lindbergh kidnapping next.” Melody wiped away a non-existent mark on the espresso machine.
Silence settled over the room for a good thirty seconds before Trent cleared his throat. “When you weren’t confessing to the crimes of the century, did you all figure out if Scott is coming home?”
“No one knows.” Lauren answered, relieved not to have Elizabeth revealing any more of her secret exploits.
“Well, if he does, we should all go down to the boat landing. Kinda like old times.”
“For who? You, Jake, and Scott? I think there was only one time Lauren and I were allowed to join a party at the boat landing, and that was when you guys graduated.”
“I said we all, as in those of us in Beans & Buns right now.”
Trent and Elizabeth fell into their sibling-like bickering that had existed since they were little. Trent had a strange protective streak for Elizabeth, and Elizabeth delighted in annoying him. Lauren always figured the bickering would turn into something more, but it never had. Trent and Elizabeth were fated to live in each other’s friend zone, but it worked for them.
“What can we get you?”
“Coffee and some of those mini cookies. I’m attempting to bribe my English class into learning the difference between a simile and a metaphor.”
“They’re trolling you, Lizzie.”
“If they are, you should be scared. They’re going to be in high school soon.”
“True, but I’d rather have a crop of smart super-villains than a bunch of students who think they are smart, but are anything but, so they always get caught.” Trent shrugged. “Coffee and a Danish, please.”
Trent was the school resource officer at the high school and when he wasn’t complaining about the lack of intelligence with the current students, he was wondering about the future of the country. He claimed that his morning coffee and Danish from Beans & Buns was the only thing that got him through the day, but Lauren knew better. He came in every morning for the same reason Elizabeth did. They wanted to support their friend.
While Melody was loading up a box full of cookies for Elizabeth and Lauren was working on Trent’s order, the conversation between the old and new friends came to a stop. Melody broke the silence with a question.
“Why does everyone think Lauren will know whether Scott is coming home?”
Elizabeth, Jake, and Trent all looked at Lauren, waiting for her to answer. No time like the present to admit to yet another secret from her past. “I might have sorta had a thing for him back in high school. Plus, my dad was friends with Dan Brandonson. Maybe they think I’ve kept in touch with him.”
The bell above the door chimed, and Olivia walked into the bakery with long, deliberate strides.
“What can I get you?” Melody asked.
“Let’s just skip our usual routine and jump right to the end.”
“So, a medium latte?”
Olivia nodded. “As much as I’ll miss our banter, I have more important things to worry about today.”
Lauren heard the exchange and walked around the counter. “What’s going on, Olivia?”
While in high school, Olivia had been one of the mean girls, looking down on any girl who wasn’t in her small clique. Now, fourteen years later, Olivia wasn’t exactly nice, but she was less of a mean girl and no longer looked as far down her nose at others as she used to. She’d also become Lauren’s ally in their attempt to revitalize the town.
“Jeannie’s rent went up. She gave the management company the paperwork that I would be taking over the day-to-day operations, but she would still be responsible for rent, like we planned.”
“But they can’t raise the rent on a whim.”
“New owners.”
“What? When did that happen? I thought Mr. DeLisle owned that side of the block.”
“Apparently, it’s under an LLC that his kids now run. Or at least it was.”
“But don’t the new owners have to honor the leases until the term ends?”
“There was a clause in the agreement. If the buildings are sold, the new owners can raise the rent, but if the current tenant doesn’t want to pay the increase, they can stay for 60 days or until the lease runs out, whichever comes first.”
“And Jeannie signed it?”
“It wasn’t in the previous leases. I checked. They sneaked it in with this last renewal.”
“Does Mr. DeLisle know what’s happening?”
“The man’s eighty-some years old and spends all but one month in Florida. He probably only knows what his kids tell him.”
“We’ll find a grant to help with the rent increase, Olivia. Don’t give up just yet. We can’t afford not to have a salon here during the summer months.”
“I wish one of the houses off Main Street would go on the market. Your loan probably sucks, but at least you own the building and don’t have to worry about random rent hikes every time the building changes hands.”
“Owning comes with its own cons, but the pro of not having my rent go up at a whim out-weighs them all.” Lauren agreed. She wanted to complain about the heater going out and all the other hidden costs, but in the scheme of things, Olivia was right. She didn’t have to worry about rent hikes that would have her closing her bakery’s door.
“Well, owning means you don’t have to search through a filing cabinet that hasn’t been opened since before you were born to just so you can find old lease terms.” Olivia dropped a five-dollar bill on the counter and grabbed her coffee and headed for the door. “I’ll stop by later to let you know what I find.”