Chapter Sixteen A CHANGE OF PLANS Charlotte
Chapter Sixteen
A CHANGE OF PLANS
Charlotte
Charlotte had seen little of Julian since their fight.
His delivery must have arrived as scheduled because the queue outside his shop had returned, but Charlotte could see little point in asking him about it.
He’d made his position clear enough the last time they spoke.
He still hadn’t answered their window display challenge, but he had taken so much of their sandwich trade that Mrs. Knox had considered giving it up altogether in favor of sweets.
So when she spotted him on her way to the inn after a visit with the korrigans (in which she caught up on all the latest gossip regarding the korrigan Senara and her new beau Mezec, the fairy apothecary of Herot’s Hollow), she wasn’t sure whether to say anything.
She settled for watching him from a distance. He was out in front of his shop, unloading something heavy from a cart with the help of the hobgoblins Marty and Gary from down at the inn. He’d gotten help from the right people; they were strong despite their diminutive size.
Of course, since it was Julian, he hadn’t asked them for help at all—he’d hired them, as Charlotte saw when he paid them. And Marty and Gary, like Mr. Rainey, would not refuse payment if offered, even though they gladly would have done the task for free.
Perhaps Charlotte ought to look in his shop for the swindler Mr. Craig. If anyone around here was likely to get taken for a ride, it was Julian.
Marty and Gary waved to Charlotte as they brought the cart back to the inn. They had unfortunate timing—Julian had just returned from inside the store to pick up a paper he’d dropped, and he spotted her lurking in the shadows.
Charlotte turned and headed towards Orchard Lane.
“Charlotte, wait,” he called after her.
She stopped, trying to decide whether to turn around. He jogged down the cobblestone street behind her, then came around her to face her when she refused to look at him.
“That stove I ordered, it’s ‘lectric,” he said. “I had one back in the city. They can bake a bit unevenly, but it’s easier to control the heat in them. Perfect for tricky things like cheesecakes.”
What was the point of telling her that? “That’s nice,” she said, although her face said quite the opposite.
Julian stiffened. “I thought I’d give you fair warning. Now that the ‘lectrics are being installed, I’m sure you’ll be doing the same soon enough.”
“We will,” said Charlotte, although she didn’t actually know if Mrs. Knox had ordered a stove or planned to do so anytime soon. The ‘lectrics hadn’t been installed yet on their side of the street.
“Good,” said Julian.
“Is that all?” It definitely was not all Charlotte wanted to say, so she doubted it was all Julian wanted to say.
Standing here in the street with him, she could so easily forget the decades that had come between them.
She wanted to ask him if he would race her to the inn, if he would come with her to the stone circle by Alison’s cottage to watch for falling stars, if he would help her play a prank on Keir.
But even if time apart had meant nothing, this rivalry wasn’t so easily put aside, especially when it seemed nothing had changed. He would not bend.
He had said nothing, but Charlotte was sick of waiting. She sighed and moved past him.
“Wait,” said Julian, grabbing her arm.
The gesture wasn’t forceful, but it shocked Charlotte. “What are you doing?”
“Sorry,” said Julian, quickly letting her go. “Sorry, that was too familiar. For a minute, I felt like we were children again. I’m sorry. I know we aren’t.”
Charlotte looked at the ground, trying not to think of the thrill that went through her at his touch. “What did you want to say?”
“I don’t know,” said Julian, holding his head in his hand and looking up at the sky. “I just. Gods, I don’t know, Charlotte. I don’t want it to be like this.”
“It doesn’t have to be!” said Charlotte. “You’re making a choice. You could choose to trust me instead. We could help you. We could work together—”
“I can’t. I want to believe you, but I have too much to lose. I worked so hard to build this for myself. I can’t let it go, not without—”
“I’m not asking you to let it go. We could work something out.
Make a list of what you bake and what we bake.
Or a schedule. Something to stop this pointless competition.
Don’t you see how that would be better for you too?
It’s not a zero-sum game. If we win, you don’t have to lose.
We can both win.” Charlotte sighed again; she couldn’t let it go unsaid any longer.
“I don’t want to be your enemy. Julian, I… I missed you.”
Julian leaned forward suddenly and pulled her to him, kissing her on the lips.
Before she could even react, he pulled away. “Gods, I’m sorry. I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”
This time, it was Charlotte who called for him as he hurried away. “Wait!”
But Julian kept going, leaving Charlotte standing there alone.
Gods, what the hells was that?
It was difficult to focus on her work at the bakery after what had happened with Julian, but it wasn’t a good week to be distracted: it was the week of Keir and Alison’s wedding.
Charlotte made a note to berate Keir for his decision to get married during the celebration of Lupercalia, the busiest time of the year for the bakery apart from Winter Solstice.
She and Mrs. Knox had been working around the clock to put together boxes of truffles and macarons and other sweet treats for the villagers, leaving them little time to practice and perfect the wedding cakes.
But the worst was yet to come.
“Mrs. Knox. Mrs. Knox!” Someone was banging on the door to the bakery more than an hour before opening.
Mrs. Knox was up to her elbows in bread dough, leaving Charlotte to see what was going on.
It was the postman. “Urgent pigeon arrived for Mrs. Moira Knox,” he said, placed a letter in her hand. “Will you see that she gets it?”
“Of course,” said Charlotte.
Charlotte carried the letter to the back, regarding it nervously.
“Is that a blue envelope?” asked Mrs. Knox. The blue envelopes of urgent deliveries were expensive and rarely held good news. “Can you read it to me?”
Charlotte hoped this would be one of the rare blue letters with a happy surprise in it as she tore it open.
Moira,
I hate to trouble you like this after so long, but I’ve had a bit of a fall.
“Who is it from?”
Charlotte flipped the letter over. “Martha?”
“My sister.”
The doctor said my hip will heal, but I’m meant to keep off my feet for a time, and I don’t have anyone around who can help.
But first, I have to get through the operation on Saturday.
They said it would be good if I could have someone who can help me home, and I’m afraid with Arthur gone, I didn’t know who else to ask.
I know it’s an imposition to ask you to come all this way and on such short notice. But the operation itself is costing me dearly, and I just can’t afford the kind of care they say I’ll need with what’s left of Arthur’s coin.
I hope you’re well and that the new apprentice is ready to take on a bit more for a short time. Do let me know if you’re coming.
All my love,
Martha
Mrs. Knox stopped kneading the dough and looked up.
“It’s been twenty years since I’ve seen her.
I never left, but she used to come here.
” She scraped the dough off her hands and from between her fingers.
“Charlotte, I know I’m asking a lot of you, but you can do this.
I wrote all the instructions down. There are timings for everything.
Add a couple of hours to the prep and decorating time since you’ll be on your own. ”
“You’re leaving right now?” asked Charlotte. She had known when she read the letter that Mrs. Knox would go, but she thought she’d wait until after the wedding cakes were baked.
“Martha lives in Arcas Dyrne. If I borrow a horse from Mr. Rainey and leave now, I still may not make it in time for her operation. I’m so sorry to do this to you, but it’s why you’re here. I know you can do it, Charlotte.”
Charlotte looked out over the countless containers of ingredients and the empty pans. She knew the steps. She’d practiced the techniques. But the wedding cakes were going to be huge. All that piping, and nowhere to hide her mistakes…
“Don’t worry about Lupercalia. We should have enough chocolates to get us through. And if the bread doesn’t get baked tomorrow, well, Julian has his shop. I never thought I’d be happy for that, but here we are. No one in this town is going hungry, that’s for sure.”
Mrs. Knox was taking off her apron. She really was leaving, and Charlotte was really going to do this on her own.
“I’m heading up to pack and get changed. Breathe, Charlotte. Take it one step at a time.”
“Take care,” said Charlotte, coming out of her daze. “I hope Martha’s operation goes well.”
Mrs. Knox grinned. “She’s a tough old thing. I know it must have killed her to have sent the letter. In truth, I’ll be glad to see her again. Twenty years is far too long.”
It was. Charlotte knew that firsthand.
Charlotte read through Mrs. Knox’s notes while she packed upstairs, grateful that she was so detailed in her instructions.
Maybe she could do this. She’d made plenty of cakes, and she’d been practicing the decorations for weeks.
And Keir and Alison were unlikely to be critical, although she still didn’t want to disappoint them.
Not after everything they’d done for her.