“Griff…” I tried to explain.
“Oh good! You’re finally talking to that boy again. It’s about time.”
“No, I haven’t spoken to him. He sent a text about a fire call at the bakery.”
“Oh that, psh” Gladys said and I could picture her rolling her eyes. “Millie went and accidentally yanked that fire alarm with the broom handle, that’s all.”
“How in the world – you know what, never mind. So, you three and the Ooey Gooey are good?” I asked.
“Yes, better than good. It’s been busier than church on Easter Sunday. Well, maybe not that busy but close. Victoria has been baking up a storm.” Gladys paused. “Yes, everything is great. Especially after that hunky fireman came and assured us there was no fire. And once Millie mopped up all that water from the sprinklers. Once that little hiccup ended, everything has been fine and dandy.”
My eyes widened at the thought of firemen and floodwaters in the Ooey Gooey. Relieved no real harm had been done, I still felt guilty just thinking about the work everyone must be putting in. I didn’t know what I could do for Gladys, we would have to figure that out, but I bet Sam would agree with me to give Millie and Victoria a little bonus.
“Piper,” Gladys broke through my thoughts, “you really should call Griff.”
“Yeah, that’s what Sam says. Y’all shouldn’t gang up on a girl like that,” I joked.
“I’ve got to run. More customers,” Gladys said.
“Okay, bye.” I hung up the phone, the screen reverting back to my message list. My thumb hovered over Griff’s name. With a sigh, I tapped the green call button and waited for him to pick up.
“Piper,” one word, a sigh.
“Hey,” I said.
“Piper, I wanted to apologize for being an idiot when your friend Landon came by, and for not finishing our conversation.”
“You had to leave for work, I understand.”
“Listen, can we make plans for dinner? Maybe Sunday night?”
“I don’t know what time we will wrap up here this weekend actually,” I told him honestly. “Maybe, if we are back to Seashell Bay by then.”
“Griffin!” a high-pitched voice broke through the background noise on Griff’s side.
“What the…. Piper, I’ve got to go,” Griff said.
“Griffin, Kendra and I have been looking everywhere for you,” another voice spoke. This one I recognized. Deidra.
“Sorry, Piper. I’ll explain later but I have to go. Bye.” Griff hung up and I stared once more at the screen in front of me. I don’t know how I expected the phone call to go, but I know that wasn’t it. Who the heck is Kendra? A picture of the woman in the yellow dress flashed through my mind.
Laughter erupted from down the beach. The volleyball game appeared to be going strong, laughter and taunts flowing freely from both sides of the net. I watched the ball being served. WHAP! The sound traveled through the air as a girl opposite Sam struck it with all her might. A little bit of sport might be just what I needed to get my mind off of Griff. Might as well see if they need another player to give someone a rest, I decided.
“Piper!” Landon called out as I approached. “Perfect timing. Danny here just went down with a sprained ankle. You up to take his place?”
“I’ll give it a shot,” I told him. I took my place in the open corner and someone tossed me the ball to serve. I tossed the ball high. As I swung my arms up to serve it over the net, I released all of my frustration into the move. WHACK! I smiled with pleasure when the ball soared past the players in the back row and gave a satisfying THUNK into the sand inside the bounds.
“Whoop!” A few cheers and a whistle split the air. Energy picked up and we spent a good half hour hitting, diving, and laughing.
“Good game,” both sides called out to each other when we finished. The side with me, Landon, and Sam ended up winning by only two points.
“We really need to get cleaned up and start prepping desserts for after lunch,” Sam said as she wiped sweat from her forehead.
Equally sweaty, I nodded in agreement. Thanking everyone for letting us join, we began the short trek around all of the cabins to ours in the back.
“Did you call?” Sam asked.
“Yep,” I said. Knowing curiosity ate at Sam, it was fun to make her work for the information. I kept walking, brushing my hands along some of the tall beach grasses growing along the path. I glanced up as a bird of some kind, not very large, glided overhead. I didn’t even look at Sam, but I could feel her frustration mounting.
“And?” Sam pushed. “Did you talk to Griff?”
“I did.”
“Piper…” she glared at me.
“I also spoke to Gladys.”
“Fine, I’ll bite,” Sam rolled her eyes. “What did Gladys say?”
“She said that Millie accidentally tripped the fire alarm and that the bakery has been busier than church on Easter.” I watched the information sink in as Sam tilted her head and thought about what I told her.
“So, Millie started a small fire?” she asked. I could hear the spray of gravel as she picked up her pace to get closer and hear me better.
“Nope,” I answered. “Pulled the handle with the broom.”
“How would she manage that?”
“I don’t know. Honestly, I decided not to ask.”
We had arrived at the cabin, our little home away from home. I took the steps two at a time. There wasn’t much of a porch to speak of, so I unlocked the door and went straight inside.
Sam barely shut the door behind her before she hounded me with round two of the interrogation. “What did you and Griff talk about?”
“Nothing,” I said. She crossed her arms and I shrugged.
“Nothing? Why would you call and then talk about nothing? Did you ask him about the woman he took to lunch?”
“No. By the way, do you know anyone named Kendra?” I asked.
“I think we have a distant cousin named Kendra,” Sam chewed on her lip. “They moved somewhere up north when we were kids.”
A cousin! My jubilant heart latched onto the thought. Long-lost cousins going to lunch. That’s fine.
“Oh! I also remember a Kendra Martindale. She started out in our school, but eventually, her parents enrolled her in a prep school and fast-tracked a law degree.”
And just like that, my heart deflated. I can’t compete with a swanky, sophisticated, gorgeous lawyer.
“Why do you ask?” Sam wanted to know.
I gave in and divulged the short phone call. “Griff was joined by your mother and someone named Kendra,” I finished. “Kendra of the perky voice sounded very happy to see him,” I added with more snark than may have been required. I couldn’t help it. Evidently, jealousy wasn’t a pretty color on me.
“Don’t worry. Even if my brother did share a meal with Kendra, and Kendra is the same woman he previously took to lunch when he was supposed to be out of town on business, and even if Kendra and my mother are acquainted, I’m sure it isn’t as bad as it sounds,” Sam did her best to sound reassuring, but somehow managed to have the opposite effect.
“Let’s just go make some dessert,” I told her. “You’re right about one thing: worrying is doing me no good right now.”
We arrived back at the dining cabin by ten. The lunch caterers hadn’t arrived yet, but we did interrupt the cleaning crew. When I say interrupt, wow, did we ever! Sam and I walked in to the sound of yelling and banging noises. Rushing to the kitchen, I was nearly knocked over by a young woman as she stormed out of the kitchen, rolling her eyes at the yelling that followed her. The soft blue cleaning uniform and frumpy tan apron did nothing to hide the beauty of the black-haired woman who bumped hard into my shoulder and never looked up. Not even a muttered apology – she kept going right out the cabin door and turned down the path toward the main office and the road.
Sam and I stood in a slight shock and I couldn’t help but notice the building had gone quite silent, a stark contrast t
o the clamor when we arrived.
“I’m sorry,” an older woman with short, graying hair peeled herself away from the group in the kitchen. “We didn’t know you would be back so soon. Five minutes and I promise we will be out of the way,” she said with a smile.
That must be Roy’s wife, I thought. Had she been the one yelling or was it another of the younger women? What was that all about anyway? The cleaning crew had things sparkling and were out the door in less than the promised five minutes.
“That was weird,” I said as I pulled several containers of fruit from the fridge. “Did you see that woman nearly knock me down?”
“Yeah, she must have been really upset to stomp out of here like that. I think she got fired.”
“Really? Why do you say that?” I asked.
“Well,” Sam said, “I could be wrong but I thought I saw the gray-haired lady yelling at the other girl not to come back.”
“Yikes.” I shook my head. Curious as I might be, I knew it really wasn’t our business. Our business was to get the desserts going. “Who knows? I do know a lot of people who are going to want snacks and desserts later. Do you want to start your Pecan Pie Cookies while I work on baking our pie crusts and mixing up some fillings?”
“Sounds good,” Sam nodded. She fashioned herself an area for mixing on one end of the counter near the pantry full of dry ingredients. “After I finish these, how about I start on the Coconut Cream Hand Pies?”
“Perfect!” We worked in comfortable silence for an hour, the only words exchanged requests to pass certain ingredients. We weren’t going to overdo it, only five desserts for after lunch. I allowed my mind to wander as I sifted and stirred. I felt foolish for my reaction to Griff having lunch with someone – had I not agreed to have lunch with Landon soon myself? And what exactly was going on with Landon? He seemed flaky, here a moment and gone the next, popping up unexpectedly, not to mention the strange visit to a massage parlor after hours and the mysterious tube of lipstick he dropped. I didn’t know what it all meant, but I worried about my old friend.
A tapping sounded on the door frame and I looked up, surprised to find the gray-haired woman smiling at us from the dining area. I hadn’t even heard her enter. “Hello,” I said.
“Hi,” she said as she walked on into the kitchen. “I wanted to apologize again for earlier and introduce myself. My name is Alice, I’m Roy’s wife and the caretaker for The Cove’s Cabins.”
I shook the hand she offered as did Sam after wiping hers clean on a tea towel. “I’m Piper, this is Sam.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Alice,” Sam added. “Thank you for taking care of the cleaning and the dishes. That makes it much faster for us to prepare all of the desserts for this afternoon.”
“We hope everything is okay this morning?” I asked, hoping she would shed some light on the yelling match we had interrupted. Unfortunately for me, Alice didn’t appear to be a gossip.
“Yes, thank you, everything will be fine,” she said smoothly. I noticed she said will rather than is but I decided not to push the issue.
“Would you like a cookie?” Sam asked, gesturing to the rack of cooling Pecan Pie Cookies.
Smart, I thought, people always chat over cookies.
“Thank you but no, I have diabetes,” Alice said shortly, dashing my hopes again. “I also came to inquire as to what time we should come to clean after lunch and when you will need back into the kitchen before the evening meal?” She spoke kindly, but with a professional air that did not invite new friendships.
“Good question,” Sam said.
“We bake, we eat, we refill the desserts….” I used my fingers to tic things off as I thought about the day before us. “I think we could safely say we won’t need to be in the kitchen between two and four this afternoon.”
“Two it is,” Alice nodded. “Have a good day.” Without waiting for a response, she left through the dining area and out the front door.
“Okay then,” I mumbled.
“You know what that means?” Sam grinned. “Two free hours for us this afternoon. Whatever are we going to do?”
“I’m sure we will think of something,” I winked. Sam and I never had a problem finding ways to while away the time. We had a whole beach outside, plus the Griff and Landon conundrums to solve. Not to mention checking in on the girls and the Ooey Gooey Bakery, the thought sprung to mind. “Let’s be sure to call Gladys and check in again,” I said to Sam so that I wouldn’t forget.
“Good idea. Maybe things are going smoother now.”
A scratching sound at the back door startled us and Sam cracked the door open. “Hi Roy,” she opened the door further. “Come on in.”
“Afternoon ladies,” Roy said, tipping an imaginary hat our way. “I was puttering through on my golf cart and couldn’t help but smell something scrumdiddlyumptious in here.”
“Help yourself,” I told him. “We have lots of pies and pastries to choose from already: Peanut Butter Pie, Strawberry Cream Macarons, Watermelon Pie, and Pecan Pie Cookies.”
“The Coconut Cream Hand Pies are in the oven,” Sam said.
“Watermelon pie, you say? How in the world do you make watermelon into a pie?” Roy scratched his head.
“Try a slice,” Sam offered, placing a small sliver of the cold dessert on a paper plate. I handed him a fork.
Roy licked his lips after a couple of forkfuls of the pie. “I’ll be darned – I guess you can make watermelon into a pie,” he chuckled. “How do you make it so rich and creamy around all of the watermelon chunks?”
“Are you asking for our secret recipe?” Sam teased.
I laughed along with them both. “It’s simple really,” I explained. “Boil watermelon gelatin and mix with frozen whipped topping.”
“That doesn’t sound hard at all,” Roy shook his head.
“No. And Roy,” I added as an afterthought. “I bet Alice could find all of the things to make it sugar-free.”
“You met my Alice then?” he asked.
“Yes,” Sam smiled. “And she told us she was diabetic. Piper’s right though, I bet Alice could whip up a sugar-free watermelon pie if she gets a sweet tooth.”
“Maybe so, maybe so,” Roy seemed to be thinking it over. “I’d best be getting back to work now. I’ll send Alice by for the recipe if she wants it.”
We waved to Roy out the back door then returned to our stations. Sam bent to get the hand pies out of the oven while I removed cookies from the cooling rack to a large platter.
“What can I do to help?” I asked Sam after all of the cookies were plated. “We have plenty of time before I need to slice the pies to be put on individual plates.”
“If you could melt the chocolate to drizzle over the Coconut Cream Hand Pies, that would be great! I used up the chocolate I melted earlier on the Pecan Pie Cookies.”
“No problem.” I poured a bag full of chocolate chips into a glass bowl and popped it into the microwave for forty seconds. A bang came from the front door. Who in the world could that be? I wondered. Looking at the clock I saw it wasn’t quite time for the caterers to arrive yet; we had been told they would come in at a quarter to twelve and it was only half past eleven right now.
The woman from earlier, the one with the coal-black hair who had left upset, tiptoed into the kitchen. She had a backpack purse slung over one shoulder and the most delicate Asian features. No wonder the uniform hadn’t hid her beauty. Petite and exotic, she was stunning. Her eyes widened at the sight of Sam and me and she came to an abrupt stop. “Oh!” she exclaimed. “I think I left my phone earlier. Can I look around?” She didn’t wait for an answer but moved with speed to the pantry and poked around, scooting ingredients back and forth.
“We haven’t seen any phone,” I said, frowning. This woman was either very rude or simply had the worst people skills I’d ever seen.
“Okay then. Must be somewhere else,” she said. Tucking a long strand of dark hair behind her ear, she shrugged and left.
/> I frowned. “Who looks for their phone in the pantry?” I wondered aloud.
“What?” Sam asked.
“Nothing, I just thought that was strange. Maybe getting caught talking on the phone is why her boss yelled at that girl earlier,” I mused.
“Maybe so,” Sam said.
BANG!
“What was that?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “It sounded like it was out back.”
I opened the door and was shocked to find the woman who had literally just left through the front standing outside.
“Sorry,” she said. “I, uh, came back because those cookies smelt so good. Think I could snag one?” She shrugged her shoulders and one side of her lip quirked into an embarrassed smile.
“Sure, I guess so,” I said slowly.
Sam appeared behind me with two cookies on a napkin. “Here you go,” she offered.
“Thanks!” the girl grabbed them and literally took off running.
“Is there a sign on the door that says ‘Please, the kitchen is open to anyone who is bored’?” Sam asked.
“I’m thinking we should have locked the door,” I rolled my eyes.
Sam stood in the pantry, scooting ingredients around on the shelves. “Hey,” she called after a moment. “Where did that open bag of powdered sugar go? I thought we still had over half of one.”
I looked around the countertops. “Not out here,” I told her. “I guess we used it faster than we thought?” It came out as a question. Odd, I thought. We usually keep track of how fast we use things so we can stock back up.
“I guess so. It’ll be fine, I think the last bag should get us through tomorrow.”
“Let’s hope so,” I agreed.
After another minute or two of heating the chocolate, only thirty seconds at a time, it was finally melted enough to pour. I drizzled hand pies while Sam sprinkled additional coconut flakes over the top to stick in the chocolate.
“Perfect!” she beamed when we finished.
“And just in time,” I added. “Look who’s here.” We watched as a team of six carried in tables, tablecloths, and assorted metal stands. The catering company had arrived.
Ooey Gooey Bakery Mystery Box Set Page 22
