Page 1 of Cookie
Annie
“That one!” my favorite little customer presses his face against the glass cabinet and taps his finger excitedly, pointing to the triple chocolate cookie with colorful M&Ms dotted throughout its fudgey soft and chewy center.
“The rainbow triple-choc. Good choice,” I say as I bag up the oversized cookie and hand it over. Jayden bounces on his toes, licking his lips dramatically as he looks inside.
“Yummy, yummy, yummy.”
His mom, Molly, hands me a ten-dollar bill while we laugh at her son’s reaction to his weekly treat. “That boyloveshis cookies,” she says as I hand over her change.
“I hope he never changes. Cookies are one of the best things in life.”
“I’ll say.” She smiles. “I’m partial to the raw dough, if I’m honest. But I know it’s not the safest thing to eat.”
“Since we’re being honest, I’ll admit I love the cookie dough too. My gran always let me have a spoonful when we were baking together.” I run a hand over my curvy hips, developed during twenty-four years of cookie testing. “Tasting the dough is tradition.” I look at the photo of Gran and me that hangs on the wall and let out a wistful sigh.
“You must miss your gran a lot, huh?”
“I do. Every day.” Gran raised me from the age of eight until she passed away last year after a long battle with the big C. She was more of a mother to me than my mom was. Which wasn’t hard since my mom wasn’t around much at all. My mother’s number one goal in life was to find herself a sugar daddy to keep her in the kind of style she couldn’t afford with a regular job and a kid dragging her down. So she hitched her star to the brightest wagon she could find and left town, jumping from well-off man to well-off man as often as I get my car serviced—which is a lot because I’m a safety girl. She keeps me updated via an occasional message on Facebook but mostly, I learn about her antics via the public feed like everyone else. Some days I wonder if my mother invented the selfie since she’s so good at them.
“Well, you’re doing your gran proud with the way you’ve kept this shop going. I hazard to guess she’d be blown away by what you’ve achieved.” She nods toward the plaque on the wall that proclaims me the ‘World’s Greatest Cookie Creator.’
“Oh, that’s just for fun,” I say, waving it away. “A customer sent a sample of my cookies away to a magazine and I won the taste test. I’m sure I’m not theWorld’s Greatest.” Although, I have to say the award has been great for business. The magazine came out and did a whole story on me and now people come from all over to get a box of my baked treats. I even had to hire someone to help me run things.
“Well, I saw Nina in the grocery store and she said some bigwigs have been offering you buckets of money for your recipes but you won’t give them up.” That’s true. Since winning the taste test, I’ve had at least five offers. I’ve knocked them all back—not that Nina should be telling people that. She’s my best friend and the help I hired to run things, but she does enjoy to gossip. In our small lakeside town, she’s the local herald.
“That’s because the recipes aren’t mine to sell. They belong to my family to be passed down. One day, I’ll teach my son or daughter how to bake just like Gran taught me.” I press my lips into a small smile, feeling warm and wistful. “I can’t do that if I sell our secrets to some big manufacturer to mass produce.”
“I get it.” Slipping her change back into her purse, she smiles as she watches her son lick the chocolate from his fingers. “Family and tradition is important.”
“It is.” If only I had the prospect of a family in my future. At twenty-four, I’m yet to hold down a single steady relationship. Sure, I’ve been on dates but they’ve never made it to the special third date I hear so much about. I’ll be the old maid of Falton Falls if the man of my dreams doesn’t wander in here soon. Gran used to change the lyrics of ‘Milkshake’ to ‘My cookies will bring the right man to my yard…’She’d sing it and I’d laugh until I didn’t feel so lonely anymore.
But I feel lonely now.
“See you at the New Year's Eve festival?” Molly interrupts my walk down memory lane.
“What? Oh, yes! I’ll be there with cookies galore.”
“We can’t wait to see what you come up with this year.”
“Bye Annie!” Jayden waves as Molly ushers him out the front door. They almost collide with a harried Nina who’s running late for her shift.
“Sorry, guys!” She says, out of breath as she holds the door for them then bustles her way through. “Sorry, Annie. I lost track of time.” Nina always loses track of time.
“Don’t sweat it. Just make it up to me by putting the rest cookies on the cooling racks?”
“Done.” She grins then rushes around the counter and into the kitchen while I grab a cloth and my bottle of glass cleaner. Jayden is a cute kid and all, but healwaysleaves the cabinet covered in chocolatey fingerprints when he goes home.
Baxter
“Where are you now?” The voice fills the interior of my rental via the Bluetooth in the sound system.
“No ‘hello’? ‘how was your flight?’ Nothing to show you care? Dad, I’m hurt,” I tease.
“I’m your father. Not your mommy,” he barks. “And you didn’t answer my question.”
I release a chuckle, loving the tinge of annoyance in his tone as I follow the gps by taking the next right. Riling up my father is one of my favorite pastimes. “Two miles out,” I say, hoping this bakery he’s sending me to also sells sandwiches. I’m so hungry I could take a bite out of a tree right now.
“I expect daily updates. Don’t let me down, son.”
