“Really?” she looked down her nose at my wrinkled shirt, cargo pants, and sneakers. “You wouldn’t like a moment to...ahum…freshen up?” She made no move to stand. I darted my eyes to the camera boy who inclined his head, eyes wide, as if telling me to hurry and go now.
I smiled broadly to show that I was perfectly comfortable with my appearance. “Not at all. Please, I’m quite ready and I’m certain you are a busy woman with things to do, as am I.” I wouldn’t be intimidated by the likes of miss-prissy, not when I’d been nearly murdered twice in as many days. “Would you prefer to set up inside or outside?” I asked, the sugary sweetness of my own voice tasting sour in my mouth.
“Inside. The heat out there is dreadful,” Missy stretched her long legs and got to her feet. Immediately, the camera boy jumped to attention.
As I ran my tongue around my dry mouth, I wished I had been a little less stubborn; maybe grabbed a drink and one of the advertisement flyers when Missy had offered me extra time. Too late now.
Once the camera and I were positioned exactly as Missy dictated, her pinched and annoyed expression transformed into one of charm and happiness. She nodded at the camera boy. A red light flared to life on the camera and we were rolling.
“Good evening, Seashell Bay!” Missy glowed, reveling in the spotlight. “I’m here this evening with Ooey Gooey Bakery proprietor Piper Rivers. Piper,” her head swiveled to me for two seconds and then back to the camera. “It’s my understanding you want to share some exciting news with the residents of Seashell Bay?”
As she was speaking, I noticed Flo had walked in and stood behind the camera boy. Flo held up one of the mixed bouquets and I smiled. Thank goodness.
I took a deep breath and launched into the announcement I had been practicing repeatedly in my head when we were setting up to film.
“Good evening, Missy. Thank you for being here.” I turned to the camera, my palms sweating and my heart rate thumping out a whole new rhythm. A few customers now stood and watched as well, having trickled in behind Flo. I thought of the courtroom full of people. I thought of Flo’s business and of Sam in the hospital. I planted my feet a little wider apart and waved. Here goes nothing. “Hi, friends, neighbors. Thank you for watching as well. I am excited to have this chance to tell you about our biggest sale this season which also happens to be a cross-promotional sale with Flo’s Flowers.” I reeled off a few facts about the sale and the coupons and then described the mixed flower-cookie bouquets. “Here to demonstrate one for you is Flo herself. Flo, would you join me?” I asked, ignoring the slip of Missy’s smile as I brought Flo in front of the camera and crowded Missy a bit out of the center frame.
Flo held the bouquet up in front of her face, making me relax the last little bit as I stifled a laugh. I might not be the only publicity shy person around. Gently, I pushed the bouquet down a few inches while pointing to and describing a few of the cookies: Party Sparklers, a treat filled with PopRocks for a fun sizzle and fizz; Strawberry Shortbread; Blueberry Shortbread; Fun-Loving Flag Cookies, a simple sugar cookie decorated with frosting to look like the country’s flag.
“Flo, would you tell us about some of these flowers. I notice this bouquet has way more than a bunch of flowers dyed artificial colors.”
Flo took a faltering step backward. I recognized that deer in headlights look and drew her attention to a specific flower. “Tell me about these delicate little blue ones.”
Her eyes followed my finger. “Oh! Those are Forget-Me-Nots.” Flo smiled up at me. “I thought they were more than appropriate for an Independence Day centerpiece when we are celebrating the day the Declaration of Independence was adopted in 1776. That is a long way back to remember, after all.”
“That is so true, and how thoughtful that you chose those flowers for that specific reason. Do all flowers have meaning?” I asked, genuinely curious now.
“Well, yes, traditionally speaking there is meaning behind most flowers though some aren’t well-known or acknowledged. I enjoy learning about them and incorporating the absolutely perfect flowers into the orders that people bring in, whether they want to convey love, thankfulness, well-wishes, or maybe just friendship,” Flo added slyly. We shared a laugh over that, remembering her surprise at my request for breakup flowers.
Having shared her space long enough, Missy stepped in front of us to close out the segment. In seconds, the camera light was off and Missy was snapping commands like an army general at the camera boy. I hurried to the counter and came back as they were leaving, managing to sneak the poor kid a to-go bag while he held the door open for Missy to exit.
“Thank you,” he said.
“You looked like you could use a few more,” I smiled.
“I don’t know what I could use, but these will definitely help.”
I turned away from the door and saw Gladys waiting for me at the counter. Flo waved and headed back to the flower shop, with several potential customers tagging along beside her and asking questions.
“Flo wanted to leave this here for a display,” Gladys scooted the mixed bouquet over to me.
“Perfect!” I scooted it to the center of the display case where it would be sure to draw attention. “Do we have anymore…” I smiled my thanks as Gladys pulled a stack of flyers from under the register before my sentence was finished. Scattering them around the bouquet, I stepped back to survey my work. “There we go,” I said.
“Why is Sam in the hospital?” Gladys asked.
“Let’s close up early and I’ll tell you everything.” Closing at eight instead of nine couldn’t hurt and I for one wasn’t up for a bout of customer service right now anyway. I felt like I had lived three days squeezed into one, so much had happened.
~
In the kitchen, we found Victoria putting BeeBee to work as a taste-tester. “Gladys, this is BeeBee. BeeBee, my friend Gladys.”
When I asked about Landon, BeeBee told me that he had left after making sure she was comfortable with Victoria. With introductions out of the way, I gave Gladys and Victoria the general rundown of our afternoon.
“I’m going up there right now to see Sam,” Gladys untied her apron strings. “Do you want to ride with me?”
I shook my head. “Griff is picking me up for dinner.”
“Good.” With a firm nod, Gladys grabbed her purse from a hook on the wall. “You two deserve a bit of a rest. You’ve been through more than enough these past few weeks.”
I couldn’t agree more. I hugged her, and with a tip to take a different route in case there was still clean-up going on from the fire, unlocked the front door for her to leave. Relocking the door, I surveyed the café. There wasn’t too much that needed to be done in the way of cleanup. Just a quick sweep would take care of it.
Victoria must have read my mind. “Piper,” she said as I returned to the kitchen. “Do you want me to clean up while you take BeeBee next door to meet Flo?”
“Do you mind?” I asked.
“No, I’m waiting on Millie to finish up anyway. We’re going to get burgers and milkshakes for a late treat; we skipped supper.” Victoria turned to BeeBee. “You should come, too. Unless you have plans?”
Oh gosh – I’m such a horrible person that I hadn’t even considered what to do with BeeBee while Griff and I were on our date. Of course, I wouldn’t simply abandon her; besides, Griff would understand if she needed to come. Still…. “If you want to go with Victoria and Millie, then I can meet y’all after and pick you up,” I told her. “We’ve had a long day though and if you want a raincheck, I’m sure the girls would understand.”
“We definitely would,” Victoria nodded. “You two go to Flo’s and BeeBee you can decide before we all leave.”
BeeBee smiled. “Okay.”
We used the back door and walked the few feet over to the back side of Flo’s Flowers. I knocked on the door. With everything going on lately, we had both gotten into better habits of keeping things locked up tight.
Flo answered and welcome
d us inside. The fragrances floating in the room were so different from that of the bakery. Both were incredible and sweet, but unique; the bakery smelled delicious while Flo’s Flowers could be described more as invigorating. The Ooey Gooey Bakery could make your mouth water and your stomach growl; Flo’s Flowers made me want to run barefoot or dance in the rain.
“BeeBee, this is Flo and Millie.” I pointed to each in turn. Millie smiled and waved the greenery she was holding.
“Nice to meet you,” Flo reached out a hand for BeeBee to shake. “I’m so glad you’re here.”
“Thank you,” BeeBee brushed hair behind her ears. “I don’t really know anything about flowers,” she told Flo, “but it smells very nice in here.”
“It does, doesn’t it? Don’t worry about what you do or don’t know. To be honest, it might be most helpful to me if you started out working the front and taking orders from customers. At least while we’re busy. After that, if you want to learn, I can show you some of the things I’ve been teaching Millie about arranging the flowers themselves.”
I stayed to chat with Millie while Flo took BeeBee up front and went over the basics of the cash register, how to run cards, questions to ask when customers filled out the order request, and so on.
When they came back, Flo said it was past time for the flower shop to close as well. We would all be back very early in the morning to get some more work done, though I didn’t plan to open the bakery to customers until one tomorrow afternoon. BeeBee and I bid Flo good night and gathered Victoria up from the bakery.
“I think I will go with Victoria and Millie. If you’re sure you don’t mind?” BeeBee looked to me for an answer.
Griff’s truck rumbled into the parking lot right then. “I don’t mind at all, but let us give you a ride around front to your scooters. I’m not comfortable with you walking all alone with dusk settling in.”
The girls agreed and piled into the backseat of Griff’s truck. He simply raised a good-natured eyebrow at me. I bet if I had told him they were all joining us for dinner he wouldn’t protest a bit. Tightness squeezed at my chest; I didn’t know where I’d gone and had the good dumb luck to attract this wonderful man, but I couldn’t be happier about it. Even if he was a bit of a worry-wart and overprotective sometimes. Or all the time.
“Can we drop the girls out front by their scooters, please?” I watched his face.
“Absolutely,” he grinned and winked. “Unless they’d rather go to dinner with us?”
Chapter 19
“What would you have done if they all said yes?” I asked Griff.
He glanced over at me and back to the road. “Found a cheap place to eat I suppose,” he joked.
“Where are we going?” I watched yet another cluster of restaurants blur by the window as we passed without slowing.
“You’ll see.”
A sneaking suspicion took hold as Griff continued to leave downtown behind. The city traffic disappeared soon as we turned on smaller and smaller roads. Before long, Griff pulled up at a small public beach on the outskirts of a residential neighborhood, far away from the larger areas where summer tourists could be found.
“I thought you might prefer a little peace and quiet to lobster and wine.”
“You thought right!” I wiggled my toes, eager to get them out of these shoes and into the sand. “I wasn’t too hungry anyway,” I said not wanting Griff to feel guilty for not taking me to dinner.
“That’s too bad,” he said as he stepped out of the truck and walked to the back.
I hopped out of the passenger side and peered closer as he opened the bed of the truck. My eyes widened as he slid out a large red toolbox and a checkered blanket.
“Did you pack a picnic?” I jumped up and down in the sand, clapping. This was too good to be true. Seriously, a kind, decent, honest man AND a romantic? Gladys would just die when I told her.
“Don’t worry,” Griff walked past me and down the gentle slope of sand toward the water. “You don’t have to eat any since you aren’t hungry and all. I’m more than capable of taking care of a handful of mozzarella sticks, a few mashed potatoes, snap peas, and freshly-fried salmon patties.”
I glared, earning a sharp laugh.
“I will eat the fish, or you will be fed to the fishes,” I tried out my best mob impersonation.
“Okay, okay,” Griff held up the toolbox. “Here, help me set this up and we can eat before any of it gets cold.”
I took the folded blanket and spread it out on a somewhat flat area of sand. I removed my shoes and sat one in each of two corners to help hold it down, before getting comfy on the blanket. One nice thing about summer by the beach, the light of the sun stretched long into the evening.
Griff sat too, placing the toolbox-come-picnic basket on a third corner. From a sliding drawer, he handed me paper plates and real forks. He opened the lid and delicious smells tickled my nose and enticed my tummy. He unpacked multiple containers and then dished all of the food up onto the plates that I held out to him.
“This looks amazing,” I told him. “Let’s say grace and then dig in.”
As I bowed my head, Griff reached over and gripped my hand. There was nothing in the space of those few seconds but the beautiful, rhythmic crashing of waves. “Father in Heaven,” he prayed, “thank you for this food and more for someone to share it with. God, thank you for protecting my sister, Piper, and BeeBee today. We pray the madman is caught and we can put all of this behind us. Amen.”
I swallowed down the emotion, thick in my throat, and shoved a giant bite of potatoes, the ultimate comfort food, into my mouth. The sunset blazed across the water, turning the ocean into a living mirror, reflecting the gorgeous colors and reaching up to hold more with each swell.
Griff lifted his fork, then put it down on the plate and jogged to the truck. He returned with two bottles of water. “Sorry,” he ducked his chin.
“You don’t get to apologize when you successfully pulled off the best date a girl could dream of,” I shook my finger at him before accepting the bottle of water. The salmon patties were crunchy and full of flavors; I tasted garlic and pepper and could see large crystals of sea salt on the top.
Griff snuck most of the mozzarella sticks onto his plate before I caught on and slapped his hand. “Hey now, I plan to eat my fair share of those, too.” He knew I wasn’t playing, but he laughed anyway before handing two of them back.
At last, we both cleared our plates. Griff took them and our napkins to the nearest trash can while I stowed the other items back in the toolbox. Even looking at our make-shift picnic basket made me grin. Only Griff. It was so funny and yet so perfect. I spent a little more time than needed placing the empty Tupperware carefully inside, rifling through every drawer in the process.
At last, I struck gold.
Or at least gold wrapping. I palmed the little nuggets and hid them behind me as I slid back to my seat on the blanket before Griff could see.
Sitting down beside me, Griff leaned back on his elbows and we watched the ocean for a few minutes.
“I almost forgot,” he said. I looked on as he pulled out the compartment on the toolbox and searched amongst the wrenches in varying sizes. He went through a few more places, coming back to look in the same drawer each time. He turned with narrowed eyes and I whipped my gaze to the sky, trying but failing to tamp down the massive grin on my face.
“Did you eat my dessert?”
“Look how beautiful the stars are,” I continued to crane my neck away from him.
“Lady, where is my dessert?” he tried again.
I turned at his stern tone and saw his eyes crinkled in humor. Giving over to the laughter, I pulled the small truffles from underneath my leg and held out one to him. Rather than take it, he grasped my whole hand and brought it to his lips for a kiss.
My breath hitched. The truffle in my other hand would probably be smushed flat, and yes, I am the kind of chocolate-obsessed woman for whom that thought did cross my min
d even in this romantic, heart-beating-out-of-my-chest type of moment. Still, truffle or no, I found I couldn’t look away from him, as he lowered my hand back down.
I jumped away as my phone beeped, shattering the quiet.
Holy pancakes, cell phones might be the worst invention ever. Or at least the rudest.
Griff stood and carried the toolbox to the truck while I checked my messages. “The girls are done eating; they texted to say they will be in Babbling Books when we are ready to pick BeeBee up.” I popped my hazelnut and chocolate truffle into my mouth. Delicious. Then I stood. “I guess we may as well go now; we do both have to be at the bakery and Flo’s early in the morning. Plus, I kind of feel like I need to keep an eye on her until the trial is over.”
“I’m going to head to the hospital early in the morning to check in on Sam,” Griff said as he bent to help me fold up the blanket. I snatched my shoes up and carried them to the truck, shaking the sand out as we went. Griff stepped over and opened my door for me, giving me a hand in. When he removed his hand from mine, he left his truffle, without a word, nestled in my fingers for me to eat. In my book, if you share your dessert with someone, that is a giant gesture. I did a little happy dance in the seat, not even hesitating before I popped the candy into my mouth.
Chapter 20
My alarm went off at four o’clock on Sunday morning. I stretched my arms overhead and gave myself a few minutes to fully wake up. I reached for my phone and my hand swung through the air; Sam’s nightstand was on the opposite side of the bed than I was used to.
After picking up BeeBee last night from Babbling Books, Griff would only agree to deposit us at my truck if we followed him home and stayed the night in Sam’s duplex, where we would have been anyway if she wasn’t in the hospital. Too tired to argue, and frankly concerned about putting BeeBee in danger if we went to my apartment, I hadn’t taken much convincing.
Finding my phone eventually, I dressed and brushed my teeth quickly. I went down the hall and tapped on the guest room door.
Ooey Gooey Bakery Mystery Box Set Page 40