Kneading Love

by Jaime Russell

  “Nice dance moves. Do you have more holiday coffee cups?”

  “Yes, in that room right there. The boxes are marked with the sizes. What are you doing out there?” She asks me, as I tell her that everything is about done out there.

  “I’m almost ready to start helping you bake. Once we get everything filled, and one of your employees comes in, then you need to go upstairs and sleep. I can handle the morning rush, and you can cover the nighttime.” I walk out of the room, as she starts to argue with me. The front looks festive and beautiful, all lit up. As I walk back into the kitchen, I begin to wash my hands, so I can start making some baked goods.

  “I remember GG always yelling at me about washing all the way up to my elbows.” I laugh. “She would slap my fingers.”

  “She loved being in the kitchen surrounded by all of us, baking with her and listening to her stories. I miss her, especially around this time of year.” She starts crying, as I pull her into me, letting her cry on my shoulder.

  “She was something,” is all I can say, or I might start crying, too. I kiss her on the top of her head, before saying, “I’m sorry that I wasn’t man enough to be here, when GG got sick. Let’s make her proud by letting everyone taste her recipes. GG’s memory lives on with every bite.”

  “You trying to make me swoon, Mr. Smith?” She says, looking into my eyes.

  “Is it working?” I ask.

  “Since my homemade donuts are better than yours, I’ll make them.” She scoffs, trying to argue with me, as I put on my apron. Lucy stands there, trying to stop me from kneading the dough, but I keep pushing her hands away. She gets tired of trying to stop me, so she throws flour into my face to get my attention.

  “Really? You want to start that?” I say, picking up a big handful of flour.

  “Now Ty, I only did that to get you to look at me. This is not a flour war.” She points at me. “Ty, I mean it.” I laugh.

  “Okay. I’ll behave, this time.” I smirk, and she sticks her tongue out at me, and then suddenly starts coughing, as she inhales a mouthful of flour.

  “Bastard.” She finally catches her breath. “Paybacks a bitch.”

  We spend the next three hours making cookies, donuts, bread, cupcakes, cakes, and pies. The alarm on my phone starts to go off. I set it, so we could get the bakery ready for opening up.

  “I think this might be a good place to start this morning. Now, what do you want me to work on?” I ask her.

  “Can you help me with carrying these out?” She points to the food we just made. I pick up a couple of trays, and then follow her out. I set them down on the counter, so I can start making coffee and the hot water for the tea. Once I get all of those started, I head back for more trays. The case gets loaded up in minutes. “What time do you open the door?”

  “In about twenty minutes.” She mumbles, as she puts money into the register. “Why?” She asks, as I point to her face. She grabs her phone to take a selfie, seeing her reflection.

  “Oh, I’m going to kill you.” I turn around and stalk back to the kitchen, as she follows me. “You let me go out like this!” Lucy waves her hand over her face, like John Cena does, as I bust out laughing.

  “Oh, my God. I forgot about that. I wasn’t even paying attention. In my defense, my back was turned, when you went out. At least, I told you, before you opened up the bakery.”

  “Oh, how thoughtful.” She throws a towel at me, as she heads up to the apartment.

  I clean up some more, as I look at her order board. She has almost a hundred orders from now until Christmas Eve. Most of them are due about a week before Christmas, and the week of it, too. I’m going to put in for some days off, so I can help her. I look at the clock, and Lucy still hasn’t come down yet, so I decide to go open up.

  There’s no one out there, but some of the other storefronts are starting to open up. I make sure all the lights are on, as I look around the bakery, seeing that it looks great. The outside looks kind of nasty, so I head to grab a shovel.

  “There’s someone who comes and cleans the sidewalks for everyone,” Lucy says, as she hands me a coffee, while I’m shoveling the snow that’s fallen.

  “I wanted to get a head start on it. Come here and look at this.”

  “Have you ever seen anything so beautiful?” Lucy comments.

  “Yes, I’m looking at her.” I kiss her with as much feeling and passion as I can. “Lucy, I love you.”

  “Oh, Ty. I love you, too. I always have, and I’m so glad that you’re here with me.” I lift her up off the ground, twirling her around.

  “You’ve made me so happy,” I say, setting her back down. “I do have one piece of Christmas that I didn’t hang up in the store.” I take the mistletoe from my jacket pocket, as I hold it up above us. She smiles the biggest smile that lights up her whole face, and then we kiss under the mistletoe, falling snow, and Christmas lights.

  It’s just the perfect time to be with her.

  “I love you.” She whispers into my lips. “I’m freezing. We need to go inside.”

  “Yes, I didn’t realize how cold it was,” I laugh. “My coffee is now an iced coffee.” Lucy starts to look around, chewing on her fingernails. “Get out of your head. We can do this while taking it slow. I love you, and I can’t wait to get to know those boys that are asleep in the apartment. I want it all and want it with you. I can’t imagine life without you. I’m sorry it took me so long to get here. I’m a little slow on the uptake.” Lucy laughs through her tears, before quickly changing the subject.

  “What if I made a mistake opening at four a.m.?” She asks, and just as I’m about answer her, the bell rings, as people start to come in.

  Lucy Avery Smith

  This is all very magical right now. The snow, twinkling lights, and mistletoe. I could die a happy woman right at this very moment.

  “What if I made a mistake opening at four a.m.?” I ask Ty. He starts to say something, when the door opens, and people start coming in.

  “I’m so glad that you are open. I’m about to do some major damage to my credit card.” One customer comes in, stomping her feet on the rug.

  “Good morning. Welcome to Mistletoe Bakery. Are you new to the area?” I don’t think I have ever seen her around here.

  “I’m here for a couple of days. My kids read about the Santa village here in Mistletoe. They wouldn’t stop talking about this place, so my husband and I just had to say yes. I decided to check out the shopping, while the kids slept.” The customer tells me.

  “Oh, the village is so much fun. You’re going to love it. I’m hoping that I can take my kids this year. Last year, they went with my parents. What can I get you this morning?” I ask.

  “Cranberry nut donut holes. Oh, that sounds heavenly. I’ll take a dozen of them. I’ll also take a dozen mixed donuts and also a few dozen of those sugar cookies. Can I also have a piece of that cinnamon swirl bread, so I can have it here, and then a large coffee? I’m going to eat that and some of the donut holes, before the monsters descend on all things Santa.” She laughs, as I ring her up and get the order together, while she makes her coffee. I take the order over to her, and she thanks me. “This is so good. I’m going to come back every time I can. Ugh, I’m going to gain so much weight this weekend.” I smile at her. I notice Ty, sitting at a table, talking to a couple of regular customers. They’re laughing and having a good time talking about sports.

  Once the customers are all taken care of, Ty comes around behind the counter and starts to write down things. “Do you want me to start making what needs to be filled?”

  “If you could, that would be great. I don’t know where Jack is, but he was supposed to be here at six.”

  “Okay. No problem, but I could use a kiss for some motivation.” He teases, as he puts his arms around me.

  “Oh, really now? I guess I could do that.” I kiss him. “Now, get to work.” I slap his ass, after I make sure no one is paying attention. I yawn, as I walk over to get some more cof
fee and make sure that everything is fresh. Jack never showed up, so I didn’t get any sleep, like Ty had suggested. Alice is set to come in at three, and the new workers are coming in then too, but I’m going to need to continue to bake.

  Finally, Alice comes in, and I bow down to her. “Thank God.”

  “Rough day?” She asks, after coming from the storage room, where they put their jackets.

  “Jack never showed up or even called me to let me know he wasn’t going to be here,” I tell her. “Liam’s off for another week. He’s on a plane right now to Colorado with his girlfriend.” Alice scoffs. “Ty has been in the back baking for me, while I ran out front. It’s been nonstop, since four-thirty, and I was here before midnight.”

  “You need to go get some sleep. I can handle the new workers that are coming today. It’s part of my job anyway, and if Ty’s baking, let him do it. You look like death.”

  “Thanks for the compliment,” I laugh.

  “I mean it. Let me handle this, and if there’s a problem, I’ll come get you. Go upstairs and sleep, please, and call someone to watch the boys for you.” Alice forces me.

  “I can’t do that. I’m constantly pawning the boys off on people this holiday season. I miss them.”

  “Lucy, being a parent is hard work, and you’re single, building a business, and having to do it without your partner, so of course, it’s difficult. Wait, my daughter needs to make some extra money this week, and she’ll be done with classes.”

  “Do you think she’d want to be an on-call babysitter? Clara’s getting burned out by it. Plus, she’s tired of me calling on a moment’s notice.”

  “If you feed her in baked goods, then she’d love you forever. The boys aren’t bad to watch. I can even watch them, when you need me. I’m here to help you.” She follows me into the kitchen to talk to Ty. “Hi, Ty. I’m sending this girl to bed. You and I can handle this, right?”

  “Yes, we can. Baby, go to bed. I’ll be up after I get done here.” Ty kisses me, as he pushes me out the door. I walk up the stairs slowly, as I forgot to come out and shovel them. I need to call the snowplow guys to remind them about it. I remove my clothes and walk into the hot shower. Once I’m done with the shower, I climb into the bed, removing the towel and getting warm under the covers. It doesn’t take me long to fall into a deep sleep.

  ******Black Friday night******

  I wake up, and it’s dark outside. “How long did I sleep?” Reaching for my phone, I can’t find it, but there’s a piece of paper lying there. I turn on the light, so I can read it.

  Luce,

  I took your phone, because knowing you, you had three alarms set, and Alice and I wanted you to sleep. Everything is going great downstairs. We’re busy, and the workers are enjoying themselves. When you wake up, come downstairs, and we’ll figure out something for dinner. Andrew has the boys for a sleepover. They’re going to be decorating their house, and the boys couldn’t wait for it. I love you.

  Ty

  He takes such good care of me, even before I was whatever my title happens to be. Ty has always cared about me because I was Liam’s sister and always around. I get out of bed stretching, as I try to find the towel, but he probably took that, too. I stand up, knowing that I’m the only one in the apartment, as I start going through the dressers. I grab a t-shirt and leggings because I want to be comfortable. Once I feel comfortable that I won’t scare away the customers or new workers, I head downstairs to the bakery.

  I smile, walking into the kitchen to see Ty kneading the dough. “Nothing sexier than a man who knows how to work those fingers.” He looks up to me. “Can I help?”

  “No, you can go out and talk to your workers and customers. I’m working on some cookies right now.” I kiss him quickly, before walking out to the bakery. Alice is standing behind Molly, one of the new hires, as they work on an order.

  “Well, look who looks happy now that she got some sleep,” Alice smiles.

  “I feel so refreshed. I never thought that eight hours could feel so damn good. How are things here?”

  “Busy. It’s been a constant stream of people. It was a great idea that you had about opening up today. I’ve been rotating the kids around, so they each get an idea of how things run around here. Molly’s doing good so far at just about everything. Jarred is enjoying being out with the customers more than running the register and coffee. He cleans up after them, talks to them, and makes them smile. Matthew is good at the register, but he gets flustered, when there are more than three customers in line, but I’m sure it’s just first day jitters.”

  “Sounds like you have everything handled,” I tell her, as I begin walking around to talk to some of the customers. I notice William sitting alone, as I go to sit with him. “Hi, William. How are you?” He looks up with tears in his eyes. “What’s the matter?” William is a man in his late fifties/early sixties. He’s been working as a host at a local restaurant.

  “I lost my job. It wasn’t much, but it got me out of my house a few hours a day, since my wife died.” I grab his hand, as I look around the business.

  “How are you at making coffee and doing dishes?” He looks at me.

  “I could use the help, and you can strictly make sure the coffee and hot water are fresh, and help with doing dishes, when things slow down, or even help to sweep in between the rushes. What do you think?” He smiles at me, before standing up and pulling me into a hug.

  “I say, yes. When can I start?” He asks me with a smile on his face.

  “When is your last day at the restaurant?” I ask him.

  “On Sunday. They wanted to keep me on for the weekend rush.” He smiles.

  “Okay, Monday morning be here about five a.m.” He hugs me again, and then kisses my cheek. He leaves the store with a smile on his face, whistling a Christmas song. I start to gather up his garbage, when Jarred comes around, taking them away from me.

  “Hello, Jarred. Are you having a good day?” I ask.

  “Yes, ma’am. It’s been fun, and the customers are nice.” He smiles at me.

  “They are, but sometimes, there are rude ones, so don’t take it personally, okay? If it gets to be too overwhelming, just come find me.” He nods, as I walk over to the counter, where the coffee is, and Matthew’s wiping it down. “How are you doing?”

  “Okay, I guess. I got flustered at the register earlier. I just thought people might get mad at me for being too slow.” He smiles, weakly.

  “If they do get mad at you for being slow, then let it go. Everyone has to start somewhere, so it’s okay. You’re learning a new system, and as a bakery, we get busy at times. Life gets rushed outside that door, but just smile and talk to the customer, and if they get frustrated, tell them that you are new and are learning.”

  “You think they’d understand that?” I nod. “Thank you, ma’am.”

  “Oh, and Matthew, if you call me ma’am again, I’m kicking your ass.” I smile, as I squeeze his shoulder. Alice is in the kitchen, so I walk over to Molly, who is wiping down the front counter.

  “Where are the ornaments for the Christmas tree?” She asks me, as I explain to her about the elementary school. “Oh, my son is making an ornament then. He’s in kindergarten.”

  “Then you get to admire his handy work all Christmas season. They make a lot of my decorations for the holidays, and I give them cookies for their parties.”

  She smiles, as I head back to the kitchen, once Alice comes back out, and she tells me that she has it handled.

  “I’ve been kicked out of the front,” I laugh.

  “They’ve been rock stars out there. Everyone has been giving me lists of things to make and helping me carry out the trays.” Ty tells me, as he washes his hands. “Are you going to train another baker?”

  “I thought that I had you?” I tease.

  “I could quit my job as a nurse and become a baker. Especially, if that means getting to spend every day with you.”

  “I would never want or ask you to quit be
ing a nurse. I’m sad that we didn’t get to spend the whole day together.” I whine to Ty. “But, the sleep was amazing.”

  “I bet. When I went to check on you, you were sleeping so sound, and I wanted to climb into bed with you, but tonight, I will be. Are you ready for that?”

  “Yes.” I lean into him, kissing his jawline, and then his neck. “Are you ready for it?”

  “I’ve been ready for years.” I smile into his neck. “What do you want for dinner?”

  “I figure that we can just order from the steak restaurant and have it delivered.” I smile at him.

  Tyler Smith

  Liam called me, when I was switching out the cookies and pies. I guess Renee is happy to be home with her family.

  “Liam, I’m kind of busy. What do you need?” I tell him. I hooked up my Bluetooth, so I can still talk on the phone.

  “What are you doing? I thought you were off.”

  “I’m at the bakery, helping your sister out.” I want him to feel guilty, but right now, he’s all about the girlfriend and making her happy.

  “Why? I tried calling her, but she didn’t answer. Where is she?”

  “She’s upstairs sleeping. Luce was dead on her feet, so I made her go get some rest. We’ve been here, since before midnight. She needed help getting the bakery ready for Black Friday, as well as Christmas, and then get the baking started.” I sigh.

  “I didn’t realize that she was that busy.”

  “Dude, she has hundreds of orders for Christmas. I’m taking vacation time to help her, but you really need to step it up.”

  “Why do you care so much?” He asks me, as I hear someone calling his name.

  “I’m in love with your sister, and we’re dating, or well, trying to date.” I’ve never lied to my best friend, and I’m not about to start.