| |
I unloaded the empty coffee carafes into Bitter Beans and smiled.
Granny was practically dancing around the shop. She picked up Captain. He purred loudly as she nuzzled his fur. "Our Paige sure did pick a good one, didn't she Captain? We like this Nate. We like him a lot."
I laughed loudly.
She deposited Captain back on his cushion by the front door, but it was dark out, which meant his day was just getting started. He leaped off delicately to begin his evening patrol of the bookcases.
"This is exactly what this island needs, Paige!" Granny exclaimed. "And that boyfriend of yours is doing more for us than that Edward family ever did in the past. You hang onto him with both hands. I had a couple good catches that slipped out of my clutches. I mean, things ended up exactly as they were supposed to, but these good ones don't come around every day."
She grabbed the carafes and headed into the kitchen. I could hear the water running as she set them to soak.
I know she was just excited about things, but I had to admit, I was dreading the day I was going to have to make a decision between Seaside, Nate, and this dream I had. Things were never easy...
Captain suddenly dashed across the room. He found a loose button and batted it across the floor, causing me to laugh and brush aside those deeper thoughts.
Gotta just stay in the moment, like Captain, I thought.
Granny sashayed out of the kitchen her arms full of three-ring binders. She flipped on a few of the overhead lights, illuminating the shop in a soft, golden light of the hurricane chandeliers. She put down her load onto one of the worn maple tables. Captain streaked past again, his nightly crazies kicking in hard. She sat down and opened up the cover.
"What are you looking for?" I asked her as I watched her flip through.
She placed her hands lovingly on the pages. "I have a chocolate cake in here that will knock the socks off any of those mainland judges. It's a real prize winner. Launched my career as a baker. I've been so busy with food for the masses, I haven't made it for years. But this was the one that changed the course of my history. Come, help me look for it."
Captain mistakenly thought she was talking to him. He leaped up and decided we needed him to sit directly on the page she was reading.
"Not you," she said, picking him up and giving him a kiss on the head. She set him back down on the ground.
I grabbed one of the books. Inside were recipes, lovingly written out in the spidery penmanship of ancestors. "Where did you get all these?" I asked.
"My mother. Her mother before her. These are our family treasures," she informed me. "The way to a man's heart, the way to keep a family fed, the magic of the women in our family. Someday, they will be passed on down to you." She patted my hand. "We're in it to win it. Besides," she said, turning the pages and getting lost in the ingredients. "Bitter Beans needs this."
My mouth dried. "Needs it?"
She waved off my concerns. "We're fine. But I'm not as young as I used to be and, I have to admit, sometimes I wonder if it's worth digging out of another financial hole.” She sighed. "Maybe it's time for me to retire."
I couldn't imagine my Granny without Bitter Beans. She had owned it since before I was born. It was like a part of her. But as we sat in the dim light, I realized that despite her impeccable style, she was getting older. And just as I dreamed of learning in Paris, maybe she had some dreams she wanted to explore, too.
She caught the shift in mood. "Don't worry your pretty head about it!" she insisted. "That day is still a long way off. Just things that you think about when you're faced with a tough time. Quitting would be the easy way out, and I'm no quitter. Especially if I could tout a blue ribbon cake chosen by judges as the best on or off the island!" Her face suddenly lit up and she pushed the book my way. "Here we go! This is the one!" She rested her chin on the palm of her hand. "This is our ticket to fame and fortune. Now, how about you?"
"How about me what?" I asked.
"What are you going to bake?"
I swallowed. She wanted this so badly. Did I really want to be in competition with my own grandmother?
"I was thinking maybe I would sit this one out," I informed her.
"Really?" she asked, suspiciously. "Two is better odds than one..."
"Did we learn nothing from Founder's Festival?" I asked. "Someone needs to mind the shop. The whole reason for this bakeoff is to help the local business and it certainly isn't going to help Bitter Beans if we don't take advantage of all the people who are going to be here." I shook my head. "Plus, if I lost? It might do irreparable damage to my reputation."
She laughed and closed her books. "You keep telling yourself that. I'm betting before the week is through, you'll find yourself having caught bakeoff fever."