Page 16 of Leo
No matter how tempting it sounded for the first snooze alarm cycle.
Showered, dressed, and out the door with a very grouchy Bethany in tow, I hadn’t let my thoughts drift back to Leo until she was at school for zero hour and I was tucked behind my desk with my file of recipes opened on my laptop.I hadn’t realized how far I’d zoned out until I reached the end of my collection of autumn-centric recipes and had nothing else to click on.“Shit,” I muttered, and moved back to the start of the collection.Instead of focusing on the way Leo’s voice got all husky when he was tired, or how I could hear the smile in his words when he talked about Edward or his bestie Naomi, or even how he’d tried a bit of flirting with me before we finally hung up, hours past my bedtime.It was early enough where only our most dedicated local customers and maybe a few die-hard beachgoers were coming in, and Catherine was manning the till so I had some time to get my shit together before the rush of the day started.
I was able to drag my thoughts away from Leo long enough to finally pick a few recipes that felt fresh (well, as fresh as they could be, considering some of them were nearly or over a hundred years old) and I was excited for people to try.Most could be easily veganized, but a few weren’t going to be easy to make gluten free.I tried to keep options available as much as possible, even when it meant dealing with some excess product for certain items.Grimacing, I remembered the rep from Sugar and Spice chiding me for offering the options on almost everything in the case out front.It’s not your problem if they have restrictions.Just have a few basics—they’ll be grateful for that, and you won’t be scraping the bottom of your bank account every month trying to make sure you can pay your suppliers.
I knew it had been a guess, reaching to see if I’d react, but it’d been too damn close to the mark for my comfort.
I marked the recipes I’d chosen and started making the list for the suppliers so I could get that off by the afternoon to make sure the ingredients arrived in time, then decided to go out front and check on Catherine.
She startled when I came out, shoving the order binder back under the counter and smiling nervously, her hands fluttering around her collar, then her hair as if to smooth it back down.“Ambrose!I thought you were working on the menu for October!”
“I was but I got it sorted.Shoofly pie, apple crumble cupcakes, bacon-peach cake with options, and the usual Halloween stuff.”Nodding in the direction of the binder, I raised a brow.“Did an order come in or something?I didn’t hear the phone ring.”The online portal was still being wonky, and it was driving me nuts.We didn’t get a ton of business through online orders, but we got enough that it was a serious thorn in our side income-wise for the portal to be screwy.I made another mental note to bug Ira to see if he could fix it again, otherwise I’d have to cave and hire someone to handle it.Having a dedicated IT person was an expense I’d managed to avoid so far, and I was starting to realize I was paying for it in ways I hadn’t anticipated.
She nodded, smiling a bit too wide.“Sounds good!”
“Everything okay?”Moving closer, careful not to corner her, I pulled out the order binder and opened it to the recent page.The most recent order was from the day before, an order for a dozen candied fruit buns and a Yule log cake for the Rotary Club’s holiday party in December.Something felt off, though, between Catherine’s fluttering nervousness and the way she’d been futzing with the order book.“Hey, I meant to ask, do you happen to remember who placed the order for Delia Dennis’ funeral?Mr.Morris came by with the entire damn order the other day to return it.I ended up having to freeze a lot of them and handed the rest out to some of the shop owners up and down the strip.”That had been weird but amusing, most of the other shop owners thinking it was some strange promotion I was doing.I felt bad saying they’d been meant for a funeral, so I just rolled with it, laughing it off as I dropped off a half dozen at each of the shops within walking distance.
I had a feeling, though, that Bethany and I would be eating the rest of them for the next year and a half of desserts.
Catherine made a startled noise and shook her head.“I don’t recall the order coming in,” she said, glancing at the book.“What was the name on it?Maybe I know them from town.”
“Seymour Buttz,” I replied dryly, and Catherine’s cheeks flushed a deep pink as she looked away, pressing her fingertips to her lips.
“Oh!”
“Mmmm.Well, I’ve got a call in with the credit card company, trying to trace back who made the order.Probably going to end up eating the cost since I’m betting the card was stolen or used fraudulently.”
Catherine made another bird-like squawk and started fussing with the cake display case.“Well, that’s just terrible.What about the funeral?Were the, um, mourners disappointed?”
“It was for Delia Dennis,” I reminded her.“From what I understand, she didn’t have any family.Or friends.”
Catherine’s hands paused mid-fuss.“Well.That’s notentirelytrue.She had friends at one time.She just did an excellent job of driving them off when… Well.It’s not my place to say.”
Oh, now my curiosity was piqued.“Did you go to her services on Saturday?Mr.Morris said a few people stopped by, but he didn’t say who, and I didn’t feel it was my place to ask for details.”I opened the far side of the case, down the counter from where Catherine was repeatedly smoothing a paper doily into shreds behind the display of brioche rolls.As I began rearranging the tray of devil’s food cookies to minimize the gaps between them, I shot her another glance.“Whoever wanted to send those cupcakes really didn’t like her, it looks like.I thought it was some sort of a family in-joke or something, so I didn’t even question it.Hell, when my parents died, Aunt Sharon made Christmas cookies and eggnog even though it was July, just because my parents loved Christmas and we wanted to relive some good memories, you know?I’ve heard of loved ones doing some wild things for the departed and—”
Catherine made another one of those noises and slid the case shut, her hands going to her face and patting rapidly.“Oh, I’m sorry, Ambrose.I need to sit down a moment.I must be having one of those surprise hot flashes about thirty years too late!Pardon me!”She disappeared into the kitchen and I heard the sink turn on a moment later.
“What the actual fuck,” I muttered, rocking back on my heels and staring after her.I’d been hoping she could tell me about the order, and maybe find out why she was acting so skittish.Making her cry wasn’t on my list of things to do!Pushing to my feet, I followed her into the kitchen, waiting until she was done drying her face with one of the brown paper towels we kept near the sink.“Catherine?”I asked gently.“I’m sorry.I didn’t mean to upset you but I’m not sure what I did.”
She shook her head, waving me off.“Oh, just having a day, hon.I’m sorry.It’s nothing you did.I’m just…” she trailed off and waved her hands again.“It’s just a day!”
“Want to take the rest of the day off?I’ve got it if you need to go.”
I mean, I’d be neck-deep in the shit but I’d rather her have the time to deal with whatever was going on than stick it out and be miserable.
She nodded hesitantly.“If you really don’t mind?I think I need to make a call or two,” she said.
I nodded.“Go on.I’ll call Bethany if things get rushed but it’s a Thursday so,” I shrugged.“Not our busiest day usually.”
Catherine nodded again and eased past me, scooping her purse from beneath the counter and then striding, practically running, for the front door.I shot off a text to Bethany, letting her know I’d be at the bakery till close and to come by after class let out, then settled in behind the counter with my laptop to deal with some admin things and wait for customers.The day’s bakes were long done so that was one less thing to worry about, but it also meant I was kind of bored.When my phone chimed, I glanced down, expecting to see a message from one of my vendors or even Bethany.Seeing Leo’s name instead made me do a little happy wiggle as I thumbed the message open.
Leo:Weird question but did Bethany go to elementary school here in GB?
Me:We were living in Pendelton until she was nine, so only for the last few years.But I know a few of the teachers from PTA parties and the like, when they’ve placed orders and we’ve had some conversations.
Leo:Ah.Sorry.Just curious.
Me:No, come on.I’m bored and it’s a slow day here.Talk to me.
