'Hannah, Andrea.' Edna smiled as she greeted them and then she turned to Connie Mac. 'I'm real pleased to meet you. Mrs. MacIntyre. Where's the cake?'
Hannah choked back a laugh. Edna had always been blunt. But it didn't seem to faze Connie Mac, because she just smiled.
'It's in my supply van and my driver is bringing it,' she told Edna. 'It's six tiers high, the decorations are white on white, and I worked on it for simply hours last night. Where do you think we should display it?'
'We could set up a card table,' Edna suggested.
Connie Mac considered it for a moment and then she sighed. 'I'd rather not do that. Card tables are so unstable.' She pointed to the pedestal in the center of the room. 'How about that pedestal? It looks sturdy enough.'
'We can't use that.' Edna shook her head. 'That's where the crowns for the Prince and Princess of Winter are going to be displayed.'
'But we could put them on that card table you mentioned. The pedestal is just the right size for my cake.'
Edna looked as if she wanted to object, but she didn't. That made Hannah suspect she'd been warned to be extra nice to their favored celebrity. 'I'll have to ask Mayor Bascomb.'
'I'm sure he'll agree. After all, my cake is the star of the show, so to speak. I'll have one of my people rig up a spotlight and it'll create a wonderful photo op right here in the center of the room. I think we should pose for a picture together, don't you?'
'Well. . . I don't know about that. I'm going to be pretty busy in the kitchen.'
'It'll only take a few minutes. I'd really like to have a picture of us together, Edna.' Connie Mac paused and looked a bit embarrassed. 'You don't mind if I call you Edna, do you?'
Edna shook her head. 'Edna's fine. That's what everybody calls me.'
'Good. And I hope you'll call me Connie Mac. I'd like to be friends since we'll be working on the banquet together.'
'You want to help me cook for the banquet?'
Connie Mac gave a sweet little laugh. 'I wouldn't dream of interfering, especially since the mayor told me that you're the best cook in the county. Have you heard about my new kitchen boutique at the Tri-County Mall?'
''Course I have. Your grand opening's on Monday. Rod Metcalf ran an article about it in the Lake Eden Journal.'
'I do hope you'll come out to take a peek, Edna. It's going to be our largest store, and you have no idea how many new things I've ordered! As a matter of fact, I went down to our main warehouse in Minneapolis this morning to see what I could find for you.'
Edna looked surprised. 'You brought me something from your boutique?'
'It was the least I could do. After all, you're organizing the whole banquet. I chose a dinner setting for two hundred, including glassware, linens, silver, and some simply lovely decorations for the tables. It's a gift from the new Connie Mac's Kitchen Boutique.'
Edna seemed stunned at this largesse. When she recovered, she gasped, 'Well, my goodness! We could use those dishes, that's for sure. Whenever we throw a big supper like this, Rose over at the caf' lets us use her plates and silverware. Problem is, we have to schedule it after she closes. And since Rose doesn't use tablecloths, we have to make do with the paper kind.'
'Those days are over now, Edna. You'll have your own things.' Connie Mac reached out to give Edna's arm a friendly pat. 'Could we go into the kitchen for a minute? I'd love take a peek at the banquet menu and see if there's anything else you need from my boutique.'
Andrea waited until Connie Mac had gone into the kitchen with Edna and then she grabbed Hannah's arm. 'Did you hear that? A complete dinner service for two hundred! Isn't Connie Mac the sweetest, most generous person you've ever met?'
Hannah grunted, settling for the most noncommittal reply she could make. She was no accountant, but she was willing to bet that everything Connie Mac had donated to the community center would qualify as a tax write- off.
'It's just wonderful to have this time with Connie Mac,' Andrea gushed. 'When we get back to the limo, I'm going to ask her about her recipes.'
'Recipes? Who are you trying to kid, Andrea? You never cook.'
'But Connie Mac doesn't know that. And if I did cook, I'd follow her recipes. There was one last week that Bill would adore, meatloaf with three different sauces.'
'I saw that episode,' Hannah said, and then she clamped her mouth shut. Connie Mac's recipe for a meatloaf dinner was totally ridiculous. There was no way. any busy Minnesota housewife would have the time and energy to mix up a meatloaf, wrap it en cro'te, prepare three different sauces, drizzle them artistically around the lip of an oversized china plate, and arrange slices of meatloaf in an overlapping design that was garnished with piping hot deep-fried parsley.
'Didn't it look just wonderful?' Andrea insisted.
'Yes,' Hannah admitted truthfully. It had been a beautiful presentation, but she suspected that how food looked on television was a lot more important to Connie Mac than how it actually tasted. 'You seem stressed, Hannah,' Andrea said, looking concerned. 'Are you worried about getting back to The Cookie Jar?'
No, I'm worried that my tongue will start bleeding from biting it so many times, Hannah thought, but she didn't say it. Andrea had just presented her with an acceptable excuse for bowing out 'You're right, Andrea. I still have a lot of baking to do. Could you finish the rest of the tour without me? All you have to do is show Connie Mac the Ezekiel Jordan house and escort her back out to the inn.'
'Of course. No problem.' Andrea looked very pleased. 'I'll stop by later to tell you how it went.'
'Great I'll dash back to The Cookie Jar then. Make my excuses, will you?' Hannah shrugged into her parka and practically flew up the stairs, leaving Andrea to cope with the biggest sweet-talker and manipulator ever to set foot in Lake Eden.
'Try this,' Hannah said, handing Lisa one of the blueberry muffins she'd baked for the Winter Carnival judges.
'Gladly.' Lisa took a bite and a rapturous expression spread over her face. 'It's perfect I love blueberry muffins.'
'So do I. I just wish I had fresh blueberries.'
'The frozen ones are almost as good.' Lisa took another bite and chewed thoughtfully. 'My blueberry muffins taste like vanilla, unless you happen to bite into a blueberry. Yours taste like blueberries all the way through. How did you do that?'
'Blueberry pie filling. I mixed some in before I added the frozen blueberries. The dough turns a little purple, but I like the end result.'
'So do I. They're absolutely delicious.' Lisa finished the last bite and picked up the plastic boxes that Hannah had filled with muffins. 'Do you want me to put these in the cooler?'
'They don't need to be refrigerated. Just stack them on a shelf in the pantry and I'll deliver them tomorrow morning.'
Lisa opened the pantry door and stashed the muffins on a shelf. Then she came back and sat down again. 'I still can't believe that Connie Mac asked your mother to repaint the kitchen walls.'
'And I still can't believe that Mother actually agreed to do it.' Hannah just shook her head. Andrea had reported in right after the final leg of Connie Mac's tour, and she'd de- scribed everything that had happened at the Ezekiel Jordan House. Not only had Connie Mac asked Delores to paint the kitchen walls peach so that she could have her picture taken in the first mayor's kitchen, she'd also managed to talk Norman into coming in late this afternoon for a special portrait sitting.
Lisa glanced up at the clock on the wall. 'It's almost six. They must be through with the pictures by now.'
'Maybe, but I have a feeling that Connie Mac was late. I think she likes to make people wait for her.'
'She's on a power trip?'
'That's the impression I got. She sure knows how to make people do what she wants. You should have seen Mr. Purvis cave in when she asked him to reserve the special sleigh for her. He couldn't agree fast enough.'
