Page 4 of Tart
Two
The bell rang overthe door of the bakery, and I stood up from where I was packaging bread to see a woman walk through the door.
“Momma!” I exclaimed, limping around the counter to hug her.
She chuckled while she hugged me tightly. “Hi, baby girl. I wanted to stop in and say goodbye.”
My parents were heading down to Florida to see my sister and her family. They would drive their RV down and camp out in my sister’s backyard. You were never going to find me in an RV in Florida, but my parents loved going down to visit the grandkids.
“Did you get everything packed?” I asked, handing her a pastry from the case to snack on while we visited.
She took a bite, and her eyes rolled back in her head. “Damn, Haylee sure knows how to make a cream cheese Danish.”
“Mrs. Larson!” said baker said from the doorway as she came bustling into the room. “I’m so happy I got to see you before you left.” Haylee hugged my mom just as hard as I did. My parents had practically raised her, and even in her formalness, Haylee considers my mom her mom.
“Girl, you’ve known me for twenty-five years. Call me Phyllis, or better yet, Mom,” she scolded, hugging my best friend. “What are you going to do, introduce me to your children as Mrs. Larson?”
“Wait, I’m having children now?” Haylee asked with laughter in her voice.
“Yes, lots of them. Little mini-bakers to keep this town in cupcakes for generations. I miss seeing you. How’s that man of yours?” she whispered in Haylee’s ear. “Is he treating you right?”
“You don’t have to worry, Mrs. Larson,” Brady said from the doorway of the bakery with a huge grin on his face. “No one is going to hurt her ever again.”
“Especially not him,” I added, my eyes rolling. “Haylee can’t sneeze without him taking her to the doctor.”
“Ha-ha,” he said from the doorway, but his smile was sheepish because I wasn’t that far off. “I love her. What can I say?”
“You can keep saying that,” my mom said as she patted Haylee’s face. She then held up the pastry. “I’ll keep saying these are amazing. I need some to take with us for the trip. It’s going to be a long summer without any cupcakes from The Fluffy Cupcake.”
“You’ll be too busy to care,” I promised, boxing up some of their favorite treats to take along on the trip.
“Well, I just wanted to stop in and let you know we were leaving, so keep an eye on the house,” Mom said when she took the box from me and offered a second hug. “Your dad is in the RV by the lake, or he would have come in, too.”
“I saw him last night, but hug him for me and tell him I love him. Keep me posted on your whereabouts as you go.”
“Always do,” she promised, kissing Haylee’s cheek again on her way to the door. “I put the rest of our milk and juice in your fridge to finish up. There’s plenty of meat in the freezer for you.”
What? I live with my parents, okay? It’s not like I live-live with my parents. I have my own apartment and rarely see them since they are always running around the country.
“Thanks, Mom, but I know where the grocery store is. I’m not going to eat your food.”
“You most certainly will!” she scolded. “If you don’t, it will be freezer burnt, and I’ll have to toss it when I get back. Have Haylee and Brady over for a cookout and go wild.”
I chuckled and shook my head. “Okay, momma,” I promised.
Brady walked around the store and stopped next to her, holding out his arms while wearing a smile. “You might need some of Able Baker Brady’s bread for the trip, too,” he said, handing her two artisan loaves wrapped and ready for her.
She hugged it to her chest and purred. “Thank you, Brady. There has to be some perk to having two girls who own a bakery, right?” she asked with a wink. “Bye, my girls. Love you, see you in August!”
She waved after another hug, and I closed the door behind her, a smile on my face. When I turned around, Haylee and Brady were stripping off their aprons.
“We’re going home. You got the cleanup?” Hay-Hay asked, throwing the apron in the dirty laundry as I followed them to the back.
“Sure, I’m going to start closing up. I’ll deliver the day-old goods to the soup kitchen and head home. I’ll see you tomorrow,” I said on a wave as I grabbed a basket to put all the day-old goods into as I went through the shelves. If we have product left at the end of the day, we mark them down for the second day, and at the end of the second day, whatever is left goes to the soup kitchen or food pantry. During the winter, we always have a lot left, but not in the summer. Brady always made sure to provide them with whatever they needed for their meals at the soup kitchen during the summer, so their patrons could take the day-old items home with them.
I was checking dates on the bread when the bell over the door dinged again. “I’ll be right with you,” I said without turning, wanting to finish the shelf I was on so I didn’t have to start over.
