by Holly Plum
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
One month later Joy's shoulder was back to normal. For the last month, Sara Beth had been in charge of all the mixing, whisking, lifting, and mopping in the shop which she said had made her feel as strong as an ox. Now, Joy was able to whisk her own egg whites again.
Kendra's arrest had made the front page of the local paper, and business at the bakery had never been better. People were flocking to the bake shop to show their support for Joy and Sara Beth's valiant efforts. A food critic even came to try the chocolate tart with Joy's all new secret spice blend. He gave it a rave review, saying that it was the true star of the scandal. When Detective Sugar had finally returned Patty's Secret Spice Blend, Joy had taken it home and placed it on her mantelpiece. It now served as a reminder of her mother's legacy.
There were still a lot of things that plagued Joy about the murders. Was Maple completely innocent after all? What about The Sugar Room cars near the bake shop at night? Joy had begun embracing the fact that she may never know the full truth. It wasn't ideal, but at least business was booming again.
As Joy and Sara Beth were closing up at the end of another busy day, there was a knock on the locked door. Joy looked up to see Crystal and Lucas peering into the shop around the Sorry, We're Closed sign.
Sara Beth skipped over and let the couple inside. Crystal immediately hugged her tightly, and Lucas followed suit. Sara Beth looked like she might melt into his big arms.
“What a treat to see you both.” Joy smiled.
“Joy, I'm glad we caught you." Crystal raced over and hugged Joy. She seemed calmer than ever before.
“We just came by to invite you.” Crystal reached into her purse and pulled out two long strands of beads. “We're getting married, and we'd love for you two to come.”
“It's at the beach next week. Very low-key this time. Nothing super fancy.” Lucas took a necklace and offered it to Sara Beth.
“There'll be just a few people there, and it'll be a short and sweet little soiree," Crystal continued. "No reception or anything this time. We're all planning to grab a little dinner afterward at the local fish n' fry. Will you join us? You can bring a plus one each, of course.”
“That sounds like my kind of wedding,” Joy replied. "I'd love to go."
“Me too,” Sara Beth agreed.
Crystal clapped her hands and put the other necklace around Joy's neck.
“These are meditation beads," Crystal explained. "They're our gift to you.”
Joy liked how they looked. The beads were wooden and smooth and smelled like the outdoors. She ran her fingers over them, and genuinely felt quite calmer.
“I also wanted to come by to thank you both.” Crystal inhaled deeply and exhaled all her negative thoughts. “Thank you for being true friends.”
After the happy couple had left, Joy and Sara Beth were both deep in thought as they inspected their meditation beads.
“This new wedding sounds much more like our scene,” Sara Beth said.
Joy agreed, smiling at Sara Beth.
“We don't have plus ones," Joy added. "Not unless they allow cats."
Sara Beth froze for a moment, then laughed nervously and made herself busy by counting money from the register.
“Oh, well ...” Sara Beth trailed off.
“What?” Joy pushed her for more information.
“Nothing.” Sara Beth shrugged.
“Sara Beth, you're a terrible liar.”
“I know. I really am.” Sara Beth sighed, defeated. “I have something to tell you, but you have to promise me you won't freak out.”
Joy paused for a moment, suddenly quite scared to hear what Sara Beth had to say.
“Go on,” Joy encouraged her, preparing for the worst.
“I know who I want to ask to be my plus one.”
Joy waited.
“Lenny,” Sara Beth said.
“Lenny?” Joy was puzzled.
“Oh gosh,” Sara Beth squeaked. "Lenny works at The Sugar Room."
“Oh, I see.” Joy processed what Sara Beth was saying. She was seeing a man who worked at The Sugar Room, the very establishment that had tried and tried to put her out of business.
“I wanted to tell you sooner," Sara Beth quickly added. "Oh gosh, you're mad. You're mad, aren't you? This is why we've been sneaking around for the past couple of months. We knew you'd have a meltdown.” Sara Beth clutched onto her meditation beads. "Okay, let me have it. I'm ready."
Joy was quiet for a minute. Sara Beth bit her lip and waited, her nerves on edge. She prepared herself for Joy to shout her disapproval, and then fire her. But Joy started laughing.
“You've been seeing Lenny from The Sugar Room this whole time?" Joy responded. "The whole time the murder investigation was going on?”
“Yes.” Sara Beth was nervous, but she hoped that Joy's laughter meant that she wasn't about to lose her job.
“That's it," Joy shouted with a smile. "That car I kept seeing with The Sugar Room logo. That must have been Lenny's car."
Sara Beth blushed.
“Yes," Sara Beth clarified. "He came to pick me up a few nights. We almost hit you because he wasn't looking where he was going. Don't worry. I made him pay for that one.”
“So I'm not insane.” Joy threw her hands up in the air. “I thought Maple was stalking me, but turns out it was just her assistant.”
“So you're not mad at me?”
“I just want you to be happy, Sara Beth, Does Lenny make you happy?"
“Yes, he does.” Sara Beth smiled dreamily.
“Then I look forward to meeting him next week," Joy replied.
“Who are you going to bring?” Sara Beth asked.
“Looks like it's going to be Cheesecake and me.”
The two of them laughed together. Joy felt like a dark cloud was lifted from the bake shop. She glanced up at the portrait of her mother hanging above the register. Joy felt a slight inkling of pride radiating from the canvas.
A Preview of FOR BUTTER OF FOR WORSE by Holly Plum
CHAPTER ONE
Main Street was filled with the delicious scent of pastries whenever the ovens were on at Patty Cakes Bake Shop. Tourists often crossed the road to get closer to the mouth-watering smell and children pressed their noses against the front windows, trying to sneak a peek at the sugary morsels inside. The glossy pink doors of the bake shop swung open letting in the warm Florida air.
The owner of the shop, Joy Cooke, was in the kitchen nervously gripping her oven mitts. Since inheriting the bake shop from her mother, Patty, she had gained a lot of experience in baking wedding cakes. But this particular wedding cake was rather tricky. It was for a client named Delilah Moore, a dog-lover who spoke to animals as if they were humans. Delilah also sometimes spoke to humans as if they were animals. Joy had met her when she took her cat Cheesecake to be groomed. Despite her odd behavior, Delilah was the best groomer in town.
Delilah Moore was engaged to her veterinarian, Hunter Woods, and had expressed to Joy that she must bake the cake. Delilah's wedding was to be a beachside ceremony with a huge list of canine guests. Delilah's wedding cake would have to be delicious, elegant, and dog-friendly.
Joy was a cat person and didn't know the first thing about canine nutrition, but her assistant Sara Beth had grown up in Mississippi with a huge hoard of hounds, as she had put it. Sara Beth had written a list of foods that dogs could and couldn't eat, as well as which flavors they were most likely to enjoy. Sugar, salt, nuts, and chocolate were off the menu.
Joy and Sara Beth had spent days experimenting and trying different combinations of dog-safe ingredients. The first few combinations were so bad that Sara Beth had to chug an entire gallon of sweet tea after taking one bite. But it only took a couple of disasters until they finally nailed the perfect recipe. The bride-to-be, Delilah, loved the flavor as did her mother, Paisley Moore, and the two dogs that had come to the cake tastings with them.
Joy stood at the oven as the scent of pea
nut butter, banana, and honey wafted from the final layers of Delilah's wedding cake. Sara Beth manned the register as a line of early customers moved steadily toward her.
“Got anything that tastes as good as it smells in here?” a man called Old Joe asked. He was Sara Beth's favorite regular, and she suspected he was not as hard of hearing as he often pretended to be.
“Of course, I do." Sara Beth smiled and grabbed him one of Joy's special chocolate peanut butter cups. They were the size of a small tart with a thick chocolate shell and gooey peanut butter filling that had been blended with maple syrup. As Sara Beth packaged the peanut butter cup, a loud thump sounded through the bakery.
“Dang,” Sara Beth whispered to herself.
“What was that?” Old Joe asked.
“Hopefully not what I think it is," Sara Beth answered. "Or Joy will have a nervous breakdown."
“It's your air conditioner." Old Joe immediately wiped a bead of sweat from his brow. "I can feel the heat already."
“It's been on the fritz for weeks,” Sara Beth explained. “Joe, here's your peanut butter cup. Everyone else, let's move this along before it gets hotter than a goat's bum in a pepper patch in here.”
Joy appeared from the kitchen, wiping her hands on her apron. Flecks of wheat flour were in her tightly curled hair, and a small smear of honey glistened on her cheek. Sara Beth shrugged and pointed to the silent air conditioning vent.
“Oh, not again,” Joy sighed. “Delilah's wedding cake needs to be cooled and decorated by this afternoon.”
The wedding was happening on the beach that evening. Joy usually prepared orders the day before the event. Unfortunately, the dog-friendly ingredients meant that Delilah's cake would get firm, hard, and stale much quicker. Joy had no choice this time but to bake the cake the day of the wedding.
“Call Sam Sparks," Sara Beth suggested. "He did a good job fixing the air conditioning last time."
“It's his waiting list that worries me,” Joy replied, considering her options. "Last time we had to go a couple of days with nothing but fans that blew hot air everywhere."
“Maybe you need a new unit?” Old Joe chimed in. “We all gotta go sometime. Get one of those big fancy ones that makes the place as cold a mini fridge like the one they have at The Sugar Room. That thing makes the Florida panhandle feel like Antartica.”
Sara Beth scowled at Old Joe for mentioning the shop's number one competition, The Sugar Room. Sara Beth finished Joe's order and shooed him out of the shop.
Joy took Sara Beth's advice and went into her small office to find Sam's phone number. She stood in the doorway and huffed. Her office was a mess. There were papers everywhere, and Joy could barely see the desk. The inspiration board on her wall had three small clippings of beautiful cakes and about twenty overdue bills pinned on top of them. A new air conditioner wasn't in the budget right now.
I'll never be able to replace the air conditioner at this rate, Joy thought. She had no idea how her mother Patty had done it all. Patty had opened the cake shop while raising Joy, handled the books herself, the ordering, the baking, and the customers. Joy had been hesitant when she first hired Sara Beth as her assistant, but the Southern Belle had proved to be irreplaceable. Joy had worked hard on improving her baking since she had inherited the business, and she just didn't understand how she could have so many customers, plenty of special orders, turn over so many baked goods each day, but still be struggling to pay suppliers on time.
As Joy looked through her desk drawers, she thought about the gift her mother had given her that kept her going through tough times – a golden butter knife. Patty had given it to Joy before she died. It should have been there somewhere in the drawer. Joy shuffled papers around and then emptied her drawer onto the desk. No knife. And no number for Sam either.
“Sara Beth,” Joy called as she walked out into the shop. “Have you seen Sam Sparks' business card anywhere? I also can't find my mother's golden butter knife.”
“No, I haven't.” Sara Beth finished giving change to a customer.
Joy served the next customer a slice of key lime pie and cut herself a piece as well. She slumped against the counter and took a bite of the lime filling and cream. It lifted her spirits a little, but she couldn't help but be disappointed about the way her morning was going.
“I'm going to have to refrigerate the cakes and hope that they don't get too stiff. Why does our luck always change like this right before a special order is due?" Joy took another bite of her pie.
“Miracles happen every day, Joy. Besides, dogs will eat anything. You know that.”
“What on earth happened to Sam's phone number?" Joy added.
“Howdy, ladies.” Sam Sparks stepped up to the counter. “Now tell me, what smells so good in here today?”
Joy gasped.
“Well, I take that all back." Joy beamed. “Sam Sparks, I've never been happier to see you.”
After a quick explanation of the morning's events, Sam Sparks fixed the air conditioner for no charge. Joy forced a cherry tart into his hand before he left, and Sara Beth stuck his business card next to the register. She claimed it was free advertising for him, but secretly it was so his phone number wouldn't get lost in the black hole that Joy called an office.
The cakes for Delilah's wedding cooled within an hour under the air conditioning vents in the kitchen, and Joy closed the shop at noon to get the elaborate decorating done in time. The cake was gigantic. According to Delilah, the canine guests would want bigger slices than normal. The cake had five tiers of differing sizes. Between each layer was a wad of dog-friendly cream. To avoid using dairy, Joy had beaten silken tofu with a small amount of honey and some starch to create a consistency like whipped cream.
The wedding cake was almost finished. Sara Beth stood in the doorway sipping sweet tea. She watched her boss carefully adorn the custom cake toppers – a statue of the bride, groom, and their two dogs. Sara Beth gave a round of applause and Joy bowed. It looked flawless. Frosting and decorating was truly Joy's greatest strength. Her cakes always looked perfect.
“It's so beautiful that no one would suspect it's made for dogs,” Sara Beth insisted.
“I hope Delilah still likes the way it tastes,” Joy replied.
There was just enough time to box up the cake, change out of their messy work clothes, and get to the beach in time for the wedding.
Sara Beth hung her arm out of the van window and watched the coastline come into view as they drove to the wedding. The humid air smelled like salt and Sara Beth noticed that Joy always seemed happier as she got closer to the ocean.
“Nothing like a beach wedding,” Sara Beth said, taking a sip of sweet tea.
“Why would anyone get married inside a building when we have this right here?” Joy motioned to the rolling waves. Bright blue water and white sand stretched for miles.
They found the wedding easily enough.
“Just follow those dogs,” Sara Beth suggested as they drove alongside a pack of dogs racing down the shoreline.
Sara Beth was right. The dogs led Joy right to the ceremony. A small collection of white chairs were arranged on the beach. Beside each chair was a small cushion with a paw print embroidered on top – dog seating. Guests and their pets were beginning to take their seats as Joy and Sara Beth unloaded the cake. Sara Beth grunted as she lifted it. They collided with a rogue Dalmatian that sped through the crowd, almost knocking the cake out of their hands. Joy and Sara Beth breathed a sigh of relief as they made it to the catering table where appetizers were displayed alongside dog biscuits and bacon bits. As Joy and Sara Beth got the cake in place, the bride and groom appeared beside them.
“Wonderful.” Hunter Woods, the groom, slapped Sara Beth on the back, sending her toppling forwards. He was tall with broad shoulders. Under his arm was a fluffy Pomeranian wearing a flower crown. “Isn't that beautiful, Jacques?” Hunter looked at his dog.
The dog panted and stared at the cake.
“It lo
oks incredible. Good job. Good girl.” Delilah smiled as she handed Joy a dog biscuit. Delilah then fed a small appetizer to the Great Dane that sat by her side. She looked at her dog. “Isn't the cake just so beautiful, Petunia?”
“Thanks?” Joy looked at the dog biscuit and took a bite. It was a little dry.
Petunia, the Great Dane, smacked her lips.
“Mom, come look. The cake is here.” Delilah called to her mother across the crowd.
Joy and Sara Beth had met Delilah's mother Paisley at the cake tastings, and they knew she was just as dog crazy as Delilah. Paisley was wearing a dress with a print of Maltese terriers running around and a choker studded with diamonds.
“Joy, you've done a beautiful job,” Paisley sang. “I wish Dumpling was here to see it. She would have loved it.”
“Dumpling?” Sara Beth asked, reaching for a cracker that was shaped like a dog bone.
Paisley began to answer but started getting teary eyed.
Delilah explained, “Dumpling recently passed away. Terrible timing. Dumpling was going to be the flower girl. That dog was like my child. My Maltese Terrier baby.”
“I'm so sorry for your loss,” Joy said.
“That's awful,” Sara Beth agreed. “Losing someone dear is the worst.” She placed a hand on her heart.
“Oh my gosh,” Delilah exclaimed, distracted by Sara Beth's hands. “Your nails are amazing.”
Delilah fawned over Sara Beth's manicure and shared her own – a strange pattern of dogs and leashes. Joy considered for a moment that she might be the only cat person left on the planet, and how grateful she was that Cheesecake didn't even like to go outside let alone be involved in any formal events.
Joy's thoughts were cut short by a high pitched scream. Dogs barked and raced towards the shoreline. The wedding party followed, and the crowd clustered around a spot on the beach. Someone was crying. Owners struggled to keep their dogs at their sides.
