“I’m heading up a fundraiser for the library. It’s tomorrow,” she said breathlessly. “And I just got a call from Cake-N-Bake that they’re unable to donate anything for the auction. I was counting on them, since they’re the best bakery in town, and it’s such short notice—”
“Okay, I’ll come. Give me ten minutes.”
“Oh, Charlotte, you’re a lifesaver,” she sighed dramatically. “See you in a bit.”
I hung up the phone and checked my rearview mirror for cops before making an illegal U-turn at the next intersection. Yeah, I know, shame on me.
But traffic was light, and my parents lived in the opposite direction. When I arrived at my parents’ house, I pulled a compact from my purse and checked out my face. Mascara made a black river down my splotchy red cheeks. Lovely.
I wiped off what I could with a few tissues I found in the middle console. Hopefully, my mom would be too distracted to notice. Then again, she noticed everything. The garage door was open, so I went in through the door that led to a mudroom off of the kitchen.
“Hi, mom. What would you like me to make?”
She turned from where she was sorting through recipes on the counter. Her gaze landed on my face and gasped. “Charlotte, you’ve been crying.” She rushed over to me. “What’s wrong? What happened?”
So much for her being too panicked to notice my distress. “I’m fine.” Although I wasn’t going to be if she called me Charlotte one more time. “I’m here to bake, so let’s get started.”
Her eyebrows pinched together, displeased. “No, first you tell me what happened.”
I exhaled and walked over to the dining room to drop my purse on a chair. “I ran into Kenny,” I confessed, peeling off my sweater and tossing it on my purse.
“Oh,” was her one-word reply. But I knew what she meant. It was her way of saying I’m sorry and that sucks rolled into one, only she would never say the word sucks because it wasn’t proper. “Where did you run into him?”
“Down at the port,” I replied, walking back to the kitchen to find an apron.
“Oh,” she said again. This one meant, what were you doing there?
I might as well tell her the truth. Well, part of the truth. My mom would unleash a tirade worse than Cole’s if she knew I was talking to potential suspects. “Fern asked me to meet her at the old tea shop, across from the bay.”
My mom’s nose wrinkled. “That place was awful. I went there once after they opened. I always try to support local businesses, but the place smelled like weeds. Not weed, like marijuana, but I’m not sure if I really know what that smells like,” she prattled on. “Anyway, the place had a stinky scent, to put it mildly. I ordered an herb muffin. They didn’t say what kind, and I’m almost positive they put dandelions in it. It was gross.” She finally paused to take a breath. “But they’re closed now, so why were you there?”
I sighed. I had a feeling this was going to be a long afternoon. At this rate, the cakes were never going to get baked, so I got straight to the point. “Fern wants me to move back and open up shop. Said she’d help get me started.”
For once my mom had no words. Not even an “oh.” I continued. “I haven’t decided what I’m going to do, but I told her I would think about it.”
“You would consider moving back?” my mom asked, in seeming disbelief.
I shrugged my shoulders. “Maybe, I don’t know.”
A smile transformed her delicate features. “Well, if I had known this, your dad and I would have offered this to you years ago.”
“Really?”
“Of course. We’d love to have you come home.” She clasped her hands together. “Charlee, I’ve missed you so much. I’ve missed this. Us baking together. Talking like we used to. Are you seriously considering it? Because if you are, we’d be happy to help you get started.
“Why, you’d run the Cake-N-Bake out of business!” She reached for a stack of recipes on the counter and handed them to me. “Although, it sounds like they might be managing that on their own,” she muttered.
“What happened? You didn’t say why they couldn’t bake the cakes.”
“Well, I didn’t hear this from them, but apparently the health inspector found some furry critters living in the supplies storage closet.”
I shuddered. “As in rodents?”
She nodded.
“That’s disgusting.”
“I know, but if you come back, I won’t have to rely on them anymore.” She gave me an exaggerated smile.
“Mom, you’re a great baker. You don’t need them.”
“Charlee, with your dad being the mayor, I have other obligations now, and I don’t have time to bake. I’m too busy organizing everything.” She walked past me into the pantry.
Like my father, my mom also seemed to forget that Rockfish Bay was not a metropolis, and took her duties as the mayor’s wife to a whole other level. I could appreciate their dedication for the town, but the rest of the family knew their motives weren’t entirely altruistic. My mom returned with an armful of baking ingredients.
Taking a minute to shuffle through the recipes my mom had selected, I quickly decided on three classics: carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, triple layer German chocolate cake, and a New York cheesecake. Broad appeal, delicious, and simple enough that I wouldn’t be here all night making them.
“So, what did Kenny have to say?” my mother asked casually, as she retrieved eggs and butter from the fridge.
Darn, I was hoping she’d forgotten about that. “He said… he said a lot,” I eventually got out.
“About?”
“He said he loves me,” I blurted.
My mom’s eyes grew round like saucers. “Oh, dear.” Yeah, that one meant holy crap. But she didn’t say crap either.
“Yeah, I know.” I proceeded to spill the entire conversation I’d had with Kenny, ending with me making a mad dash for my car as he was still trying