Chapter 19
CHAPTER
NINETEEN
Joey sat next to Grams, who wore her Sunday finest—complete with a hat.
It wasn’t a showy piece like what women wore to the Kentucky Derby, but a beautiful, petite cap in pale blue nonetheless.
Joey tried to pay attention as the pastor spoke about gratitude, which went right along with the Thanksgiving season, but her attention kept wandering to her email.
Aunt Faith had gotten her website up and running last week.
Joey had named her pie bakery Rooelle Pies, and at the same time she’d coordinated Adam’s move from Coral Canyon to Dog Valley, she’d cleared with Shawn to use the industrial kitchen at Pork and Beans on Tuesday and Wednesday to bake her pies.
She’d been talking about the pie orders on social media, and all of her aunts had helped spread the word through the bookstore, the furniture store, Ev’s dance studio, everywhere.
Adam had reposted her post to the Country Quad page, and the traitorous hope built up in her as she tapped over to her email again. She pressed her eyes closed, imagining dozens and dozens of emails, all pie orders that had come in in the ten minutes since she’d last checked.
Joey wasn’t sure if she wanted to run a pie bakery full-time, but she’d set a goal of making an additional one thousand dollars this holiday season.
That would be enough for a security deposit on any of the one-bedroom, one-bath apartments she’d seen online.
That too had consumed all of her free time this week.
She almost scoffed at the thought of having free time, as she seemed to run from sunup to sundown and well into the night. Her heart took courage when she saw a single email sitting there, an order for the chocolate silk toffee pie.
A smile spread across her face, and she tapped over to the spreadsheet where she kept track of the orders.
That chocolate silk pie brought her total to twenty.
She looked up, an awful mix of hope and desperation in the back of her throat.
Twenty pies equaled a two hundred dollar profit, and that only comprised twenty percent of Joey’s goal.
She told herself the pie bakery website had been talked about for three and a half days, and she couldn’t expect hundreds of orders within the first hour.
Thanksgiving had come early this year, as the first had been on a Thursday, and she had five weeks to keep selling for holiday parties and Christmas.
She glanced over to Grams, who bent her hatted head down. “What is it, dear?” she whispered, and Joey appreciated that her grandmother didn’t scold her for not paying attention to the sermon. She somehow sensed that Joey needed her, and she would set aside anything to be there.
“Do you think I should post again about the pies?” she whispered. She tilted her phone so that Grams could see the extra pie order.
“Couldn’t hurt,” Grams said, and she patted Joey’s knee as she straightened again. Gramps had not been feeling well this morning, and they’d left him at home on the couch with a football game playing, his glasses perched on his nose and his Bible open in front of him.
Joey glanced up toward Pastor Michaels as he talked about what God expected of them. “A broken heart and a contrite spirit,” he said. “And hands willing to do the Lord’s work.”
An idea struck Joey’s mind, and while it wasn’t exactly religious and had everything to do with her earning more money, she quickly navigated over to her social media.
She found the picture of her in a professional culinary institute uniform of a chef’s jacket and a tall toque.
She uploaded it and typed in: Let my hands do your Thanksgiving pie work!
Hi, my name is Joelle Young, and I’m the owner of Rooelle Pies, and this holiday season, I’m offering full-size pies and mini pies for any occasion, including Thanksgiving, Sunday family dinners, birthday parties, holiday parties.
Whatever you can imagine, I will bring the pie.
Thanksgiving orders must be in by Monday at 4 p.m. and I’m offering four flavors: spiced pumpkin, classic apple streusel, my granny’s famous pecan, and a decadent chocolate silk toffee that will have everyone skipping the turkey and reaching for dessert first.
Check to order!
She added as many relevant hashtags as she could think of and posted the picture. She wasn’t sure why, but a weight felt like it had been lifted from her chest, and she turned her phone over face down on the bench next to her.
Then finally, she was able to tune in to the pastor’s sermon about showing and expressing gratitude year-round. She could definitely do a better job of that, and while she’d heard of people doing gratitude journals for the month of November, she’d never done anything like that.
There’s nothing stopping you from doing it in December, she thought, and she knew Georgia would have leftover gratitude journals at the bookstore.
An hour later, she parked in the condo parking lot and looked over to Grams with a sigh. “I was thinking something fast and easy for lunch today,” she said. “Or are you and Gramps going out to Bryce’s to help with the nursery?”
“Tex and Abby are there to help them with last-minute things in the nursery,” Grams said. “I don’t think we’re going to go.”
“Can we have grilled cheese and chicken noodle soup?” Joey grinned at her grandmother, who nodded. Growing up, Grams had made this meal for Joey plenty of times, always opening a can and pouring out the condensed soup with the star-shaped noodles Joey had loved as a little girl.
But Joey hadn’t eaten canned soup in a long time now, and the moment she walked in the door, she set a pot of water to boil for broth and got out carrots, onions, and celery to make the holy trinity of mirepoix to start the soup.
Joey forgot her cares while in the kitchen, and she told herself that twenty pies would keep her plenty busy, and certainly was something to be grateful for. Her phone chimed with Adam’s assigned ringtone, and Joey wiped her hands on her apron and moved to pick up her phone.
Saw your post. You’re the cutest chef I’ve ever seen. Adam never sent emojis, but Joey would have added a smiley face and a person wearing a chef’s hat right there. I reposted it again. How many orders are you up to?
Her heartbeat skipped a couple of times as she went back to her social media to see if there had been any questions or comments left on her post. When she saw it had over one hundred likes, she leaned back against the counter as if her legs couldn’t hold her body weight.
“What is going on?” she murmured. Joey had never gotten over one hundred likes on anything, and she tapped on the button that told her how many times her post had been shared.
Seventeen.
Joey didn’t even know seventeen people outside of her own family, and her blood raced with excitement through her body.
She tapped there, and she saw Adam’s repost from Country Quad, as well as one from her momma, one from Bryce, one from Kassie, and—“Oh,” she said as realizations fell into place.
Pork and Beans had reposted her post with a caption that said, Joey is one of our fantastic chefs at Pork and Beans. She’s offering pies in her own company this year. And trust us, you won’t be disappointed if you get one. It’ll be the crowning jewel of your holiday meal!
Their post had been reposted a couple of times, including by the Daily Grind, which Michelle owned. She had not posted for Joey a couple of days ago.
A new warmth filled her from the soles of her feet to the tips of her hair.
“Cake Bites reposted,” she said, her heartbeat doing funny things in her chest. She hadn’t exactly spoken to her boss about doing the pies—and Cake Bites didn’t offer pie anyway, so she didn’t think it would be a conflict of interest. She had asked for Tuesday and Wednesday off at the bakery, and now her boss would know why.
She hadn’t gotten any texts or reprimands, and her pulse picked up the pace as she tapped over to her email to see if she had gotten any more orders.
Almost ninety minutes had passed since she had posted from the pews at church, and she pulled in a breath and held it as her email brightened on her phone.
She had seventeen new messages, and she whooped right out loud.
“What in tarnation?” Gramps asked. “Are you trying to give me a heart attack, girl?”
“I got seventeen more pie orders!” She rushed out of the kitchen and into the living room, where Grams had settled next to Gramps and had her knitting out.
“From that post I made in church. Grams, look!” She thrust the device at her grandmother, who surely couldn’t see it before Joey pulled it back.
“Oh, perfect pumpkin pie. Two more just came in. Nineteen orders!”
Giddiness galloped through her, and she tapped back over to Adam’s text. Almost twenty new orders today! she said. I think it’s because Uncle Shawn reposted from Pork and Beans and then Cake Bites picked up on that and posted too.
That’s so exciting, he sent back. I miss you. What are you doing this afternoon?
The scent of chicken broth suddenly filled her nose, and she whipped her attention back to the kitchen.
She quickly stirred the celery, onions, and carrots, which she had been sautéing, and then poured them into the boiling broth.
She’d give them a couple of minutes just to make sure the carrots would be nice and soft, and then she’d put in the noodles.
I’m going to have chicken noodle soup and grilled cheese sandwiches ready in twenty minutes, she said. You should come eat.
I have a surprise for you, he said. Do you want it now or when I get there?
An I miss you and a surprise? Joey’s anxiety couldn’t handle this. Plus, all those pie orders….
My heartbeat is already doing gymnastics, she said. From all the pie orders. Just tell me.
I booked us a horseback riding date on Friday.
She grinned and grinned. Are we going out to Uncle Tex’s or Bryce’s?
Bryce’s, Adam said. Your Uncle Jem said we could ride his horses and he’d meet us there.
That sounds amazing, Joey said. You checked the weather?
No snow in the ten-day forecast, Adam said, and Joey added that to her list of things to be grateful for. Standing in the kitchen, she pressed her eyes closed and murmured, “Thank you, Lord.”
I’m headed out, Adam said. I’ll see you in about thirty-five minutes.
Can’t wait, she sent back, and then she tapped back over to her email just to see if she’d gotten any more orders in the past five minutes.
One, for a full-size pumpkin and a half-bite apple, and Joey felt like the goals she’d set for herself were finally achievable.
Now she just needed to get this soup finished and her grandparents fed before Adam arrived, because she wanted to talk him through their upcoming Thanksgiving dinner with her family, find out more about what his family did for the holidays—and oh right, she needed to somehow convince him to be her pie-baking wingman on both Tuesday and Wednesday… .