Kate burst through the door of Flowers Maximus. “Break out the champagne, and fire up the ovens—we passed!”
“We passed?” Maxi asked, astonished.
“We passed. Ninety-nine out of a hundred. We did it. All of us. The whole town. The Cookie House can open for business.”
“Oh, Sam will be so happy,” Tears welled up in Maxi’s eyes.
“I know,” Kate said, handing her a tissue. “It’s bittersweet. But we can make sure he keeps the bakery and has a good income. That way, he can keep fighting.”
Maxi dabbed her eyes. “You’re right. One battle at a time. And this we won.”
“Yes, we did, didn’t we, Oliver?” Kate said, rubbing his back, then scratching his belly as the fuzzy tail thumped happily. “Oh, you were such a good boy! Yes, you were. And the first thing that comes out of that kitchen will be a batch of your A-number-one ginger snaps. Because you were so good.”
“How about me?” Maxi said, hands on hips. “I did the smuggling and the hauling. And that little puppy is heavy. He’s been gobbling up the groceries, for sure.”
“Any treat you want, just name it.”
“I dunno, a few of those ginger snaps sound pretty good. Especially with a glass of lemonade.”
“That’s a deal. I’ll take lunch to Sam. Then I’m going to start baking. I figure, if I begin now, we can stockpile a supply for tomorrow. And maybe I can get the hang of the whole sourdough thing.”
“How’s that coming?”
“Burned one batch. Another came out OK, if you could get through the concrete crust. And a third one just wouldn’t brown. Maybe Francine misses Sam.”
“And maybe the Cookie House, too,” Maxi said. “Seriously, it’s got to be easier to bake that stuff in a professional oven. So maybe we should return Francine’s granddaughter to her real, permanent home?”
“Definitely,” Kate said. “But I think we should leave a bit at your house, too. Just in case.”
“You can’t really believe the burglar is Carl? That one, I don’t think so.”
“Honestly, me neither,” Kate confessed. “But this way, we have a little extra insurance. We protect Francine. No matter who it is.”
“Fine by me. But if Javie eats her, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Twenty minutes and one wobbly bike ride later and Kate was sitting on a metal folding chair in front of Sam’s cell. Turns out riding a bike wasn’t exactly like riding a bike, she mused as she watched the baker devour his second lunch. And she had a near miss with a newspaper delivery van to prove it.
“I always got one hundred,” Sam said. “What happened to the other point?”
“We’ll get ’em next time,” Kate replied. “They’re promising a surprise inspection in the next couple of weeks.”
Sam nodded as he spooned some of Esperanza’s pork and pepper stew into his mouth and mopped up the sauce with a piece of roll. “Good yeast rolls.”
“We’re making them for Sunny’s morning classes, too. They seem to like them. She has some extra students during the summer, so she’s increased the order.”
He nodded again.
“About the sourdough,” Kate started. “I mean, I know it’s a very technical bread. Very unforgiving. I haven’t made any in years, but I’ve been reading up on the process. You know, brushing up on the finer points. I even hit a couple of the baking sites and picked up some good strategies. I want it to be absolutely perfect. But I was just wondering if you had any tips or secrets you could share?”
For some reason, in spite of her degree and eight years of experience, she felt like a gold-plated phony.
“Won’t be perfect.”
“Well, I know it won’t be as good as yours,” she said. “Everyone in town loves your sourdough. And mine’s not going to be exactly the same. But I’m striving to get it as close as I can. So the customers keep coming back.”
He slipped a crumpled piece of paper through the bars. A page from the crossword puzzle book. Down one side was a handwritten recipe. For sourdough.
“Make it every morning. Never exactly the same. Never perfect. Whatever that is. Wrote down the mix, best I can remember. No secrets. Just love it.”
She looked at him, perplexed. Had she heard him right?
He paused.
“Francine knows,” he said finally. “The dough knows. If you love it. If you want to be there. Baking. If you do, you’ll do fine. Rest of it is nonsense. Buncha noise.”
With that, Sam resumed eating.
Galvanized, Kate felt a spark of hope. She just might be able to pull this off after all.