“Not at all. What’s up?”
“I could have waited until tomorrow, but I was anxious to tell you the good news. I just got off the phone with a cable network. The Bakeoff realty series has been scheduled the second week in February. And, I also have their go-ahead for the new show I outlined to you after your screen test. Just to let you know, your screen test caused quite a stir. I believe you are headed for stardom, Star.” Roth chuckled again.
Star turned off I-95 into a rest area, parking beside a line of palm trees.
“Star, are you there?”
“Yes, I’m here, Mr. Roth. What exactly does this mean … the new show?”
Another chuckle from Roth. “It means, my dear, that I’m offering you a job in television. A guest host to start with, giving commentary on each episode of the bakeoff, then a weekly spot with your own show which could expand to daily. An offer letter is in the mail, snail mail, so outdated but still necessary I guess … a piece of paper to sign, original signatures on file. A bunch of rigmarole, I say. Anyway, an email will follow our conversation with a copy of the letter attached. I think you’ll find your compensation generous including relocation benefits.”
Relocation!
“When exactly do you want me to start … to arrive in Los Angeles?”
“Well, yesterday, of course.” Another chuckle. “As soon as possible. If you could wrap up your obligations in Daytona Beach in two, three weeks if necessary. What do you say, Star? Do I hear a big yes?”
“I’m not sure … my obligations, as you said, are significant. But, you’ll have my answer tomorrow, definitely no later than the day after.”
“Oh. You don’t sound very excited, I’d hoped—”
“I am excited … but my obligations … two days at most, Mr. Roth. You’ll have my answer. And, thank you. I’m very happy you called today.”
• • •
“HI, GRAN.”
“Where are you, dear? Is everything all right? Did Tyler catch his flight?”
“Yes, he did. Everything is fine. I’m driving back on I-95. I just finished talking with Mr. Roth.”
“The Mr. Roth as in waiting for his call to offer you a job? That Mr. Roth?”
“Yes, Gran. That Mr. Roth.” Star laughed ending in a sigh. Every morning since Star returned from California, Gran had asked if Mr. Roth had called.
“And, dear … what did he say? And when do you start?”
“What makes you think he offered me a job?”
“Well, big bosses don’t call on a holiday with bad news. When does he want to see you?”
“Two or three weeks.”
“Oh, my, that soon. What are you going to do, dear … you know about Roth’s offer?”
“I don’t know. I need your help.”
“You know, Star, you don’t have to work … you’re an heir—”
“Stop! Gran, don’t say what you were going to say. Of course I have to work. There are so many exciting things I want to do and the list grows by the minute. That money … right now that money doesn’t seem real. Besides, as Ty said, I have to take care of it. Do something important. I’m totally drained. Tomorrow will be another big day … opening the bakery after a holiday”
“I’ll fix a midnight snack—maybe a little glass of that Port Cindy gave us.”
“I think I just want to hit the pillow. You go ahead. See you in an hour.”
Star smiled as she tossed her phone across the console onto the top of her tote.
Chapter 51
STAR WOKE WITH A START.
Clamoring down the ladder, she saw Gran’s bunk was empty. Glancing at the clock as she raced to the shower, she was late. she couldn’t believe she had overslept. It was almost seven o’clock.
Gran didn’t take the car. Someone had picked her up letting Star sleep.
Turning into the back of the bakery, she was surprised to see the Butterworth sisters’ van parked next to Wanda’s van. Her heart racing, pounding, was someone sick? Did someone fall? Or worse, did Gran suffer a stroke?
She ran into the bakery. Stopped!
The rich aroma of chocolate fudge cake circled the air along with the scent of a fresh brew of coffee. The Wurly was playing Benny’s new favorite—the soundtrack from The Sting movie. Benny rolled through the swinging doors to the end of the baking island. The sisters sat in a line, Anne in the middle flanked by Hattie and Mattie. Gran and Wanda were on the end facing Benny at the opposite end. An unoccupied stool was positioned facing the sisters.
Star glanced from one to the other sighing in relief. No one was hurt.
“Have a seat, dear. Anne has something to say to you … a proposal,” Gran said smiling. “I’ll pour your coffee.”
“Yes, a proposal,” Hattie said grinning.
“A proposal,” Mattie finished.
Anne sat with her hands folded resting on a pad of paper. Star could see the top sheet was filled with Anne’s handwriting.
Benny grinned at Star over the rim of his mug as he swallowed a large sip of coffee.
Star held her breath for what was coming? Someone was sick from one of the cream-filled pastries. She knew they shouldn’t have put those pastries on sale. But, glancing again around the table, no one looked alarmed. “Okay, what’s going on?”
Anne spoke up. “Well, Hattie and Mattie and I have been talking for several weeks about the bakery, actually, ever since you returned from California. You see, whether you admit it or not, we know you and Tyler are … well … you and Tyler are in love—plain as you are sitting there.”
“Definitely in love with Tyler,” Hattie said nodding to Anne.
“Superman,” Mattie nodded in agreement with her sisters.
“Well, we got to talking, then Benny heard us and joined in, and then Wanda. Right Wanda?”
Everyone turned to Wanda. “Yes, and Charlie too. He agrees.”
“Agrees to what? Come on. What are you guys cooking up?’
Ignoring Star’s question, Anne continued. “And then, as you know, Star, Mary has been talking about returning to Hoboken … something we’ve tried hard to talk her out of. Right?” Anne looked around the table, receiving bobbing heads in agreement.
Anne put on her glasses, pulled the pad of paper closer. “We the undersigned forthwith, offer to take over the management of Star’s Bakery with the agreement of one Star Bloom.”
Pausing, Anne looked over her glasses at Star who was staring back at her slack jawed, brows raised, shocked.
“Further, if in the future Star Bloom decides to remain in California with Superman—”
“I love that part, don’t you Mattie?”
“Oh, yes, Hattie. So romantic.”
Anne cleared her throat. “Continuing … if in the future Star Bloom decides to remain in California, and if said Butterworth sisters, along with Benny Howard, and Wanda and Charlie Armstrong agree, we will continue to manage the bakery and perhaps begin negotiations to become full partners with one Miss Star Bloom.”
Chapter 52
THE FOLLOWING TWO WEEKS moved at warp speed. Star had legal documents drawn up to protect her friends, now all managers. Gran made plans to fly back to Hoboken in two months, remaining in Daytona Beach long enough to help with the transition. Actually, she wanted to be part of the action, watching everybody take on their new roles.
But most important, Gran had to go over all her recipes with the sisters, instructing them in minute detail how each ingredient was to be added, as well as deciphering her handwritten notes in the margin. Thankfully, Wanda stepped in. Gave the whole batch of recipes to Charlie to type up, print out on his computer. Wanda warned him that time was of the essence. He was not to doddle, Mary insisting she had to check his work before she left.
One manager after the other continued to try to talk Mary into staying, but she put her foot down. She didn’t want to be a manager. She wanted to return to the family now that Star was leaving.
Text messages streamed back and forth
between Star and Tyler.
• • •
“Ty, Are you sure we can do this? S.”
“Together, we can conquer the world, Miss Bloom. T.”
• • •
STAR SIGNED ROTH’S offer letter agreeing to the terms, but more important she accepted Tyler’s offer to share an apartment. He had seen one mounted on a bluff, near the Hollywood sign, that he thought would do nicely for two professionals.
Manager Benny, otherwise known as Perry Mason, found he could stand in short spurts. He redesigned a wheelchair for the Bakery with a higher seat so he could reach the shelves in the glass display cases without dropping a cake or a plate of cookies. Adding to his manager duties, he could also help a customer if the others were in the back sifting, mixing, cracking eggs—whatever they did back there.
Manager Wanda kept the books, as well as becoming chief of frosting—cookies and cupcakes—hustling into the shop if more than one customer entered.
Manager Anne ran the bakery kitchen like a drill sergeant, albeit smiling as managers Hattie and Mattie, flour, or frosting on their noses, seemed to giggle throughout the day.
Epilogue
Valentine’s Day
“STAR’S BAKERY.”
“Gran, hi. It’s me, Star.”
Gran laughed. “You haven’t been gone that long, child. Of course, I know it’s you. How are you?”
“I have big big news. Put me on speaker.”
Star could hear Gran asking Wanda how to activate the speaker on the wall phone.
“Here,” Wanda said. “Push this button.”
“Okay, Star, say something.”
“Are you in the kitchen?”
“Yes.”
“Are the Butterworth sisters there with you and Wanda?”
“Hattie, here,” she said giggling.
“Mattie, here,” she said giggling along with her sister.
“Present,” Anne said.
“You heard me speaking to Mary,” Wanda said. “All here. Now what … wait … Benny just bumped through the swinging door.”
“Hi, Star. What’s all the commotion about?”
“Hi, Benny. Everybody, Ty wants to say hello.”
“Hi, everyone. Nice to hear you all.” Ty handed the phone back to Star.
“Okay everyone, are you ready?”
“Yes,” they rang out in unison.
“Ty proposed … asked me to marry him.” Star heard buzzing on the other end, then silence.
“What did you say to Tyler, Star dear?”
“I said, yes.”
Whoops, laughter, clapping broke out … then silence.
“What did he say, dear?”
“He asked … do you promise to marry me?”
“What did you say,” again in unison, again silence, everyone holding their breath.
“Yes. I promise to marry you.”
The End
REVIEW REQUEST
If you enjoyed this book, please consider leaving an honest review at Amazon, even if it is only a line or two. It would mean a lot to me—what did you like best about the book, the characters? I would appreciate it very much. Click the following link:
PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW HERE
Thank you!
ADD ME TO YOUR MAILING LIST
Please shoot me an email to be added to the list for future book launches:
[email protected]
Website
Amazon Author Page
Acknowledgements
Thanks again to my reviewers. Your time, effort, suggestions are invaluable:
Peggy Keeney
Roger and Pat Grady
Molly Tredwell
Herbert’s Bakery – thanks for your insight into the bakery business. Shoppers in Port Orange and surrounding towns are lucky to have your shop. Your delicious chewy breads, beautiful cakes, cookies, pies, cupcakes, as well as your European pastries, are treats to the eye and palate.
Dear Reader,
Star, Tyler, Benny, and the Butterworth Sisters, were part of my life for almost a year. Their tale proved to be quite a journey and I will miss their daily struggles and triumphs.
Mary Jane
Copyright
Promises
Copyright © 2014-2017 by Mary Jane Forbes
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, locations, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author.
ISBN: 978-0692335604 (sc)
Printed in the United States of America
Todd Book Publications: 12/2014
Port Orange, Florida
Author photo: Geri Rogers
Cover re-design 2017: Mary Jane Forbes
Books by Mary Jane Forbes
Bradley Farm Series
Bradley Farm / Sadie / Finn / Jeli / Marshall / Georgie
If you love a series, each book building on the one before, if your curiosity is peaked with the accumulation of clues leading you through mystery intrigue and romance, then the Bradley Farm Series is for you. Follow the lives of the Bradley clan and their travels around the world. Each book features one of the siblings, a standalone story to be read in any order, but richer in the context of the Bradley family.
Elizabeth Stitchway
Private Eye
The Mailbox / Black Magic / The Painter / Twister
Elizabeth Stitchway, mail carrier, did not know that in the span of a few minutes on this day a hurricane would slam her mail truck into a flooding canal, that a body careening down in the rushing water would be snagged by her half submerged vehicle, or that a stranger would come to her rescue only to disappear before the police arrived on the scene. Little did she know that these events would catapult her into her dream of one day becoming a private investigator.
The Baker Girl Series with Elizabeth Stitchway
One Summer / Promises
Over the summer, Star engages with old friends, enters a baking competition, and finds love. Promises finds Star and her grandmother, and diner friends engaged in opening a bakery. She believes she has finally found true love only to be pulled apart by events, distance, and life-long dreams. She asks herself, “Can promises given in the heat of passion be kept?”
Murder by Design
Murder by Design / Labeled in Seattle / Choices
Gillianne Wilder, twenty-one, a girl from the sticks of western Washington, struggles to bring her dream to reality as a fashion designer. Lack of money is a high hurdle. Working as a casino barmaid, she saves her tips to take classes in Seattle. The redhead keeps her eye on the prize, leaving men smitten with her beauty in her wake from Seattle to Paris.
Twists of Fate
The Fisherman / The Witness / Twists of Fate
Commercial fisherman Mac Macintyre’s world is torn apart when he almost loses his life in a storm out at sea. When Dr. Maria Grayson operates to save his life, she soon finds herself in his arms violating her rule never to get involved with a patient. Can Mac and Maria overcome the obstacles and open their hearts to each other as their worlds collide with murder and mayhem?
House of Beads Mystery Series
Murder in the House of Beads / Intercept / Checkmate / Identity Theft
Catherine Hainsworth, a socialite living in Daytona Beach, Florida, finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation. A police captain and an FBI agent enter the scene, both falling for the beautiful blond. Throughout the series, the officers vie for Catherine’s affection as they cope with drug smugglers, terrorists, and even murder in the race for the Triple Crown.
/> MORE NOVELS BY MARY JANE FORBES
The Baby Quilt The Message
The Baby Quilt
Melanie Beckett has a fear of being abandoned—her mother was killed by a hit-and-run driver and her father disappeared on the same day. She accidentally finds a foreclosed house that matches the only material object from her past—a photograph of her mother and father standing in front of this house holding a baby wrapped in a quilt made of pastel cotton scraps—she is that baby. Drawn to buy the house, she soon discovers a hidden trunk containing the baby quilt in her photo, a pouch with a gold nugget and a locket.
The Message
Nine-year-old Rawly Scott pokes a message into a wine bottle sealing the cork with wax melting on his grandmother’s stove. The next morning he tosses the bottle into the outgoing tide off Newburyport, Massachusetts, watching until it disappears in the sparkling surf. One year later a young French girl, Leigh Dobrev, finds Rawly’s bottle while on the beach south west of Paris. Leigh did as Rawly’s message in the bottle requested—Call me! Coincidences abound: both are with their grandmothers on the beach, the discovery; same age; same first name (Rawleigh, nicknamed Rawly, and Leigh).
SHORT STORIES BY MARY JANE FORBES
Once Upon a Christmas Eve
The Christmas Angel
RJ the Little Hero
Excerpt: Bradley Farm, Book 1
Promises_Star's Bakery Page 17
