by Alex Bailey
“What’s this?” she asked.
He moved easily among the boxes, and said, “It’s for storage. I had thought at one time that I might expand and open it up for more seating, but that’s never going to happen. My hands are full with what I’ve got.”
Ann gazed at a wooden crate with a faded advertisement on its side. “I remember my grandfather having a crate very similar to this one.” She bent down to get a closer look.
“They were a popular means of transporting goods back in the day.”
She was fascinated with all the old boxes surrounding her. She dusted off a lid of one of them, “Rocky Pit Georgia Peaches”. There was a colorful drawing of a peach with its leaves intact on the side of the box. Ann wondered what it must have been like to live in a time when wonderful tasting peaches were delivered in thick wooden crates, rather than tasting like the cardboard boxes they were now delivered in.
Daniel broke her reverie, “It’s not what it appears. During prohibition, moonshine was delivered in crates like this.”
“Really? That’s fascinating!” She glanced up to see Daniel’s grin and knew he was just pulling her leg, “Okay, you got me.”
“Yeah, Old Ben leaked out you’re a bit on the gullible side.”
“Oh he did, did he?” She was only slightly embarrassed, more annoyed that Ben had talked about her behind her back to Daniel again.
“But seriously, Ann, what do you think?”
“I think it’s great, and yes, I think you should expand!”
“No. I told you, my hands are full. I meant what do you think about you using this space?” he turned to pick up an old menu that had fallen onto the floor.
“What do you mean me use this space?” Ann was not following his train of thought. Was he kicking her out of his kitchen?
“Come on, Ann, you gotta’ve seen the demand for your cookies. You’re outgrowing the tavern very quickly. You need to set up shop in your own space, where you can bake and sell all day long.”
She couldn’t wrap her mind around Daniel’s suggestion. “You want me out of the tavern?”
“Ah, hell no. Your cookies have been the biggest draw for my business since I opened. But you can’t keep up with the demand.”
Ann sat on the crate she had just wiped clean. She was confused to say the least. Daniel had just said her cookies were a big draw for his customers, so why would he ever want her to leave?
“Look, here’s the way I see it. I’ll still put your cookies on the menu. Be happy to keep some in the basket to sell as take-outs too, but you gotta expand. And this is just the space you need. I’m not being totally selfless here, Ann. You’d figure out eventually that you needed to open a store, and when you did, you’d be gone. This way, I get to keep you close by. If you’re bringing in the customers to your bakery, then I’ll benefit too. See?”
She wasn’t sure what she was supposed to see, but she was sure she didn’t see it. There were more questions than answers in her head now, and she didn’t know where to begin but she threw out, “What bakery?”
“Your bakery! Right here. In this storage room,” Daniel spoke quickly as he walked around the room. “See, you can open this window and get some nice light. It’s a big window. But I was getting too many vandals, so I had to board it up. You can knock an opening in the front and add a door. Put in counter space about here,” he walked on the wooden floor to the center of the room and stretched his arms out wide.
Ann’s head was swimming. She didn’t know the first thing about a bakery or running a business or knocking holes in walls.
“And don’t worry, you can still use the kitchen all you want. You do your baking in the morning before I even open up, so it works out perfectly, and if you need to bake during the day, it’s still available.” He searched her face, but Ann’s blank stare convinced Daniel to explain further.
“The place will clean up nicely. It just needs a little TLC. And I’ll get rid of these old prohibition crates,” he said as he bent over and picked up an armload of boxes.
“Don’t you dare!” she ordered.
Daniel set the crates back in their place.
“I love these old crates. They give the place character and I can use them,” Ann’s mind spun as half-formed questions and ideas started to flow. She was beginning to like the idea of having her own bakery, even if she didn’t know the first thing about it. She knew she had some great recipes and she wanted to keep the crates. And that’s all she knew. But she was willing to find out more.
“How much are you gonna charge me to use this space?”
“Nothing. I wasn’t using it,” he said matter-of-factly.
“What if you decide one day you want to expand?”
“I’m never going to.” He picked up a crate and dusted off the logo. “I’m satisfied with what I’ve got.”
Ann wondered if that was true and wanted to change the subject. She needed time to mull this idea over. “Are you sure about that?” She looked as if she knew something he didn’t know.
“Yeah, why? What’s that look for?” He set the crate back down.
“I just wondered about you and Gloria. I mean, you two seem so—”
“Okay, you keep bringing this up and I’m going to be totally blunt with you, so you’ll get off my ass. It’s none of your business. But that doesn’t seem to stop you. But if we’re going to keep working together, I need you to stop.”
Ann could feel her face flush. It was true and she was embarrassed to hear it. She’d always been a meddler, even her best friend, Alex, had told her that one day her meddling was going to get her into trouble.
“I’m crazy in love with the woman. She knows it. I’ve told her. I’ve asked her to marry me, have my babies, and be a real family. But she’s never going to get over her husband. She’s told me she’ll never marry again. So, that’s my sad story of love unrequited, so you can just drop it. Forever.” He set the crate down and picked up another one.
Besides being terribly embarrassed, her heart raced for she certainly hadn’t expected that answer. She didn’t understand it either, because she had seen how Gloria looked at him. It was an adoring look, not one of a woman still in love with her dead husband. She lowered her eyes and nodded. She was not about to bring this up to Daniel again.
Ann wanted to rid the awkwardness hanging in the air, so she switched gears and steered the conversation back to the bakery business, “Okay, but I won’t do this unless we can agree on rent.”
Daniel seemed as happy as she was to change the subject and to get back to the conversation about the bakery. He protested, “Ann, do you know how many small businesses fail in the first year of operation?”
“No,” she fired back, “do you?”
He grinned, “Okay, you got me this time, but I hear it’s a lot. So, do you really want to put this burden on yourself? I mean, you’re being offered a free place to sell your wares. Why would you turn that down?”
“Let’s just say I like the challenge.” She returned his grin. She really just wanted to be fair to Daniel. He’d been very helpful to her, and she didn’t want to take advantage of his kindness. In fact, she owed him everything she’d built so far, even if he was taking half the profits.
“Alright, we’ll work something out, but how about we talk about it once the place is operational? Deal?” he stuck out his hand to seal the deal.
While he nodded in agreement, Ann grabbed his hand and shook hard. She knew the meaning of a strong grip.
* * * * *
Ben entered the kitchen just as Ann was cleaning up the mess she’d made. She knew not to clean up too much, so she stacked the bowls next to the sink. The cookies were all done, wrapped, and sitting in a large box on the counter.
Daniel grabbed Ann’s arm and scorned, “I told you to leave the mess.”
Ann cringed from being grabbed.
“Hey man,” Ben directed toward his friend, “she really doesn’t like when someone grabs her arm like that.”
Daniel let go and apologized immediately.
“It’s okay.” She was thankful that Ben saved her the embarrassment of having to say something to Daniel herself. “I just have this thing about it.”
She smiled at Ben.
Daniel scurried out of the kitchen.
“Benjamin! What are you doing here?” Ann asked.
Ben was dressed in jeans and a plaid shirt and carried a large duffel bag. “I’m here to work.” He meandered over to his new girlfriend. He set the bag down on the floor and something inside rattled. He then took her into his arms and embraced her.
She looked into his eyes and said, “I’m done, there’s nothing left to do.”
“You think so, huh?” he reached down and gently kissed her.
“I know so, huh,” she kissed him back.
Daniel burst through the door and stopped short when he saw his friend making out in his kitchen. “Okay, enough of that. I’m going to be cited by the Health Department for violating Article 69 of the Penal Sanitation Code. I gotta get started on today’s feast. Out! Both of you!”
Ann giggled as Ben picked up his bag. It rattled again, “What’s in that bag?” she wondered aloud.
“Tools.” Ben glanced at Daniel who’d already started darting around the kitchen pulling out pots and bowls and ingredients galore. “See ya, buddy.”
“You two kids have fun now,” Daniel said.
Ben led her toward the back door with his arm around her waist.
“Hey, where are we—”
“We’ve got a lot of work to do if you’re going to get that old ratty closet in shape,” Ben said with a smug grin.
“How did you know…When did…What the…” She turned around to see Daniel wearing the same grin as his friend. It suddenly dawned on Ann they’d ganged up against her for her own good.
* * * * *
“I think this bakery venture is a fabulous idea.” Gloria sipped on a cup of tea in Ann’s kitchen.
Ann was thrilled beyond her wildest dreams about opening her own business. She and Gloria had been talking for hours about how to run a small business. Ann trusted Gloria’s business savvy seeing as she had been running her own real estate firm for many years.
“I’m so happy you’ve decided to have a go at it,” Gloria said. “I do so believe once you get started on your own, things will just have a way of sorting out for the best. Don’t be nervous. You have me. You have your quite good-looking beau, who also knows business strategies. And you’ve got our dear friend, Daniel, who, I might add, is the culprit in all of this. That sly man.” Gloria’s face lit up.
“Yes, yes, I’m thrilled. Really excited. Ben and I worked on the closet, as he calls it, all weekend. I was just about dead on Sunday night. But can I ask you something. Something about Daniel?” Even though she’d embarrassed herself with Daniel, Ann didn’t feel that way with Gloria. She wanted to help Gloria, since she’d been such a good friend to her. Ann just didn’t believe Gloria was still in love with her husband. She hardly made mention of him. But when she talked about Daniel, her entire being illuminated.
Gloria’s expression didn’t change, “Certainly. Are you curious about his management style and that sort?”
“No, uh…this is serious,” Ann glanced up to see if she was still given the green light, but Gloria either didn’t notice the tone or dismissed it.
“You do have feelings for him, don’t you?” Ann blurted out, and then took a huge gulp of her coffee.
Gloria stood, pretending to need something and searched around the kitchen. But Ann wasn’t about to let her divert the attention. Gloria wandered aimlessly until she found a napkin and sat back in her seat. “He’s a fine chap,” was all Gloria would divulge.
“I know he’s a fine chap,” Ann said. “But how do you feeeel?”
“I feel…I feel…Oh hell, Ann dear, I don’t quite know what you’re aiming at,” Gloria seemed quite frustrated that Ann could see right through her guarded secret.
Ann wanted to divulge what she already knew to be true, but hesitated. She’d rather Gloria tell her in her own time. “You love him, don’t you?” she said in barely above a whisper.
Gloria’s eyes darted around the room, avoiding Ann’s stare. “I do.”
“Then what’s stopping you?”
A tear swelled in Gloria’s eye. “Ann, I don’t normally talk about these things. To anyone. But, I feel a close connection to you in the short time we’ve known each other.”
Ann felt the same way.
“Daniel’s one of the finest men I’ve ever known. It’s one of my greatest pleasures to have become acquainted with him. But he desires a family. You see, he was engaged to a quite lovely Italian girl in Poppi, where he interned. But she was killed in an automobile crash. She was pregnant at the time. His whole world caved in on him. I can’t possibly hurt him again.”
Ann quietly gasped. “How horrible for him! I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.” He hadn’t revealed any of his past when Ann had pried into his personal business. It was a good thing, too. As red as her face had turned when learning his feelings for Gloria, Ann’s whole body would have turned scarlet had he told his tragic story.” But I don’t see how that has anything to do with you.”
“I can’t give him what he wants.”
Ann laid her hand over her friend’s hand. “Gloria, honey, I’m so sorry you can’t have children. But I think if you explain things to Daniel, he’d be okay with it. He loves you—”
Gloria sniffed back tears and gave a slight chuckle, “You think I am unable to conceive? Whatever gave you that idea?” She dabbed at her eyes with the napkin she had stuffed in her hand.
“You said—”
“I said I cannot give him what he wants.”
“And you said he wants a family.”
“A family consisting of a wife and children, Ann. I may or may not be able to provide the children. After my miscarriages, I am not sure. But, I cannot marry Daniel. Or any man.” Gloria turned away, then stood and held onto the back of the chair.
“Why not? Are you still in love with—”
“I was. For the longest of times, I was still in love with my dear Charles.”
“Then what’s the problem? Why can’t you marry Daniel?”
Gloria turned abruptly. “Sorry, we cannot discuss such things.” She grabbed her purse from the counter. “I must be running along. I’ll see you tomorrow night.” She gave Honey a hearty pat and scurried off, leaving Ann to wonder what on earth was stopping Gloria from living the life she yearned for.
Chapter 22
When Ann arrived at the knitting club, Gloria exclaimed, “Ann! So glad you’re here early. Do set that platter down, I’m famished.”
“I brought snacks for the dogs. Sorry I don’t have anything for Diablo,” Ann said to her friend.
“That’s quite all right. He meow-ed me into giving him a treat before we left. But these biscuits do look so lovely.”
Ann was proud that others thought so highly of her baked goods and she enjoyed feeding the ladies each week. She remembered something her grandmother had told her when she was a young girl, “There’s no better way to show your love than through a fine baked good, even if it does bulge out your hips, thighs, and butt.” She thought how the quote would make a great slogan for her bakery as she unwrapped the platters.
When Ann took her seat, Dona jumped up to use the restroom on the other side of the basement.
“Glad she’s gone,” Gloria said. “She’s been giving me looks ever since I got here.”
“What kind of looks?” Ann asked. “Like she needed to use the restroom type of looks?”
“Quite funny. You know the look to which I’m referring. The nose stuck so far up in the air she can smell what they’re cooking in the fifth-floor flat when you’re on the first floor.” Gloria crossed her arms in front of her.
“Yes,” Ann chuckled, “I s’pose I do know that look.”
“How’s the b
akery coming along?”
“There’s so much to do. Ben’s a huge help, but there’s much more than I ever thought to owning a business.”
Gloria reached down to the coffee table in front of her and broke a piece of her cookie off to nibble on. “You don’t need to tell me. I remember those days when I was opening my own business. I bought this dilapidated old place with the dream of turning it into a shining new real estate office.”
“And look! It’s gorgeous. I’d never know it was once a run-down building,” Ann said.
Gloria laughed with a straight face. “You think that beautiful Victorian I’m in now was the weather-beaten building I’m referring to?”
Ann wasn’t sure what to say, so she just blinked back blankly.
“Ha! It was the very building you are trying to renovate!” Gloria said. “Daniel offered it to me cheap, so I bought it and started to work on it. But I didn’t get far when I realized it simply wouldn’t do, not at all. I sold it back to Daniel and bought my current location for a song from a realtor who was retiring and moving out of state. He just wanted to dispose of it, so I snapped it up.”
Ann didn’t know if she was happy Gloria had left Daniel’s closet for her or furious Gloria had left it for her, but said, “I guess that’s my good fortune, then.”
Gloria smiled a knowing smile about exactly how much work Ann would be going through to turn that building into a suitable space.
Ann thought Gloria was being a bit too smug, so she threw out, “Well, Ben said he’d hire a crew for me if I wanted.”
“Did he now? That can be quite pricey. What would the cost be for the labor?”
Ann didn’t respond right away, but when Gloria smirked, she said, “The same price I pay every night. A nice back rub and a comfy bed—”
“To shag him.” Gloria and Ann fell forward laughing.
Dona appeared from around the wall. Her face said it all, eyes closed into slits, jaw clenched. Yes, she’d heard the entire repartee.