by Rosie Sams
Melody could imagine this belle would have quite an entourage of admiring males.
“We do,” Melody answered, indicating the refrigerated display case that held several dozen varieties of dipped strawberries. She then pulled out a small tray of white chocolate-drizzled, scarlet fruit, the ones hiding brownie centers, and offered her customer a sample berry.
“I’m Amelia, by the way. Amelia Reed,” Amelia said, daintily taking the proffered fruit. She delicately took a bite and made appropriate appreciative noises. “This is to die for! How do you get the brownie pieces inside?”
“Trade secret, I’m afraid.” Mel smiled to soften her words. “It took quite a lot of practice to stop destroying berries, but Kerry and I had lots of delicious failures to test. Oh, and I’m Melody Marshall, the owner of Decadently Delicious.”
“Nice to meet you, Melody; I always love to see enterprising women following their dreams. And I will take two dozen of your simply delicious strawberries,” Amelia said, opening her purse. “Today is an incredibly special day deserving of a superior treat!”
“What’s the occasion?” Melody asked, “if you don’t mind my asking?”
“It is the first day of the rest of my life!” Amelia declared, her smile transforming her face from beautiful to gorgeous.
“Perfect!” Melody responded, appreciating the woman’s joy and positive declaration although she did not quite understand what it meant. Instead of trying to decipher the meaning of the elegant lady’s statement, she busied herself boxing up the treats in an elegantly embossed gold candy box and punched in the price on the cash register.
“Now, all I need to complement these delicacies is a bottle of fine champagne, which I suppose I cannot hope you sell as well?” She cocked her head teasingly at Melody, her smile mirthful.
“Unfortunately, no, but Sam’s Spirit Shoppe is just around the corner on Elm and Main, and in spite of the name, does sell some nice bottles of bubbly.”
“Perfect! Until the next time I need some sweet treats then.” Amelia waved and was out the door, leaving behind the scent of what Melody suspected was Chanel number five.
Melody glanced out the window as Amelia walked to her puppy, stooped to pet her, then turned and walked off in the general direction of the liquor store.
“Who came in?” Kerry queried, bringing in two pies and sliding them into the case.
“You know that woman who is only here in the summers? Amelia Reed? She lives in that Lakehouse on Sandy Beach? The gorgeous one?”
“Yeah, I think I’ve seen her around. Middle-aged, dresses fancy?”
“That’s the one. She bought two-dozen De Vine Strawberries, said she needed a celebratory dessert, and then asked if we sold champagne too.” Melody chuckled at the memory. “I sent her to Sam’s, though looking at her, I wished Sam would change his shop name to ‘Luxury Liquors,’ or something more refined than ‘Sam’s’, sheesh!”
They both burst out laughing, imagining the somewhat boisterous, happy Sam, waiting on the refined Ms. Reed.
Chapter Four
Finishing the cake decoration was not the most difficult part of preparing the wedding cake. What Melody and Kerry dreaded most was putting it in the box and transporting it to the venue. In Melody’s years of preparing celebration cakes, luckily, she had never dropped one, but she did not want to be too confident. Even the most careful messed up eventually, or so life had taught her. Still, breaking the cake was her biggest fear. At the moment, they were eying one another and trying to decide who would carry the base.
“I’m so tired, Kerry. Please carry the cake board,” Melody pleaded.
Kerry’s arms flew to her chest and she shook her head stubbornly. “I don’t want to be the cause of its fall.”
“All right, let’s carry it together,” Melody said.
Kerry straightened up from the counter. “That’s the best idea.”
They grabbed the cake board at the same time, and they were both holding their breath as they lifted the heavy cake onto the opened box on the next table. The bell of the shop rang but they were both focused on the task at hand so much that they hardly heard it. When it landed safely, they were able to breathe with ease.
“Phew! I’m really afraid it will tumble,” Kerry said. “We still have a few more layers to go,”
Melody laughed at Kerry’s paranoia and started closing the box, “Can you check if the customer is still there?”
“Right.” Then Kerry left the kitchen.
After securing the wedding cake inside the cold room, Melody went to her back office to grab the paperwork she needed to do. People thought that as a baker, it was all about the flour and oven. They had not seen the backstage of it. As a business owner, she also needed to work on some documents like the permits, tax, contracts with suppliers, accounts, and payroll and so on. She could have hired someone to do this, but her budget was limited. She could still do it anyway. For a moment she contemplated where to work, stay in the office or go to the table by the window. She chose the latter. With a large cup of coffee, she started her work.
It was almost noon when she decided to take a break. Her neck hurt and her eyes had started to blur. She looked out of the window to provide herself some peace. But as her eyes landed on the sidewalk, she saw the bulldog puppy still tied to the lamp post. She tried to remember what time Amelia had left. It could not be less than three hours. Panic took over her, and she ran immediately out of the shop to check the poor puppy.
It was staring off down the street and whining pitifully. With hesitation, she held out her hand and the puppy sniffed her. It did not take long before the puppy accepted her. It wagged its tail while licking her hand. Melody untied the wiggly little bundle from the post.
“You must be thirsty,” she said and carried the puppy. “Oh, look at you! You’re a girl, Frenchie.”
The puppy responded with a high-pitched yelp. Melody stroked the puppy’s body as they entered the shop. Still in her hand, she searched the puppy’s collar. There was no name, but there was a rabies tag.
“Oh, what should I call you? And why did your Mommy Amelia leave you here?”
The puppy lolled her tongue and stared at Melody as if also wondering where her owner had gone. Melody looked out of the shop once again hoping to see Amelia. There was no sign of her. She then walked into the kitchen, the puppy following her. She found a small mixing bowl and filled it with water. She grabbed a couple of butter cookies from a tub inside the walk-in cooler.
“What are you doing?” Kerry asked, ever hyper-vigilant. “Hey! Where did you find the dog?” she exclaimed shocked to see a puppy in the pastry kitchen.
“That customer, Amelia, left this pup tied up outside when she went over to Sam’s. I thought it was kind of weird at the time, but since she went out and petted her, then walked in the direction of Sam’s, I didn’t worry about it. But just now, I happened to look out the front, and there she still sat! Poor thing. I’m getting her some food and water. When was Amelia here, anyway? A couple of hours ago? I feel terrible I didn’t check to see if she was still there hours ago. Whatever could have happened?”
“Unbelievable. Some people shouldn’t have pets,” Kerry growled. “Loaded gal like her could have hired a dog walker if she couldn’t be bothered to keep track of her dog. Maybe she left it on purpose.”
“Do you think she just forgot? Maybe she was so excited about her ‘life-changing event,’” Melody reasoned. “Or maybe something else happened? Like she had a heart attack, a family emergency, or her best friend died?”
“I doubt it. She was just probably too busy being fabulous to keep track of her dog,” Kerry grumped. “Probably so used to having maids, chauffeurs, personal assistants and the like, that it didn’t occur to her that her minions can’t read her mind and retrieve an inconvenient dog!” Kerry waved her hand in imitation of an imperious queen.
“I don’t think so, Ker,” Melody qualified. “I watched her with the dog, and she was very aff
ectionate and attentive. Something must have happened for her to have forgotten the little mite.”
“Mel, don’t be overdramatic and paranoid. Nothing happened to her. Maybe she just had to attend something more important than her dog. Maybe she forgot where she left this darling and would probably be looking for her now or later.”
Melody tried to pacify her worry. Maybe Kerry had a point. She hoped that what she was thinking was wrong. It was a small town anyway. If something bad happened to her, for sure the news would reach them.
Charmed in spite of her attitude, Kerry knelt by the pup and stroked her head. “Awww… you’re a little doll, aren’t you?” she baby talked.
“Maybe you’ll end up with her,” Melody joked. “But at any rate, I’ll put her in the back office until Amelia returns. She seems to be well mannered and easy to manage.”
“It’s your call. Don’t be furious if it runs around and grabs the muffins here thinking those were toys. Or tear up all those papers of yours into itty bitty pieces,”
“I’ll tie her up then.”
The puppy seemed to understand her, and it gave a little whimper. They laughed.
“All right, be a good girl so you will not be tied,” Kerry said then turned her attention to Melody. “By the way, Aunt Rita called, and she said she needed an additional dozen carrot cupcakes. ASAP,” Kerry said with a shrug.
Melody sighed, “Okay. I can finish that in an hour. Could she wait that long?”
Kerry shrugged again. “She has no choice.” She was about to pass by the glass display then remembered another thing. “Al called asking if he could pick up two dozen brownies before we close,” Kerry said with a wink.
Melody just shook her head and went to the kitchen so she could start Aunt Rita’s rush order.
Chapter Five
As the morning waned into the afternoon, Melody really began to worry about Amelia and the abandoned pup. It would be almost seven hours since the puppy was left alone. Was Amelia that busy to not notice her dog’s disappearance. She almost wanted to go to her home but was afraid to do so fearing she might discover something. She did not know. She frequently checked on the little bulldog in her office, as well as continuing to peer out the bakery front windows every few minutes, hoping to see Amelia’s distinguished figure returned.
Melody placed the last decoration on the top of the uppermost cake layer. Kerry clapped and brought out her phone to take a picture. Melody was about to move away.
“No, stay there. Smile! Be proud of your work!”
Melody followed Kerry’s direction and smiled as her photos with the cake were taken.
“Mel, this is fabulous, you really need to advertise beyond our town.”
Melody ducked her head out of shyness. “Is it good?”
“Of course! It’s spectacular! Excellent! Marvelous! You name it!”
“One day, maybe we could expand the shop.”
Kerry nodded and her face broke into a smile. Melody knew she loved working here, but she also knew she would love there to be more of them. Melody was a social butterfly and loved people.
After they secured the cake layers, they set about cleaning up the kitchen and prepping for the next day’s business. Melody fetched the pup and walked out to the front to close the shop. Kerry joined her from the kitchen, clutching her purse and sweater, shaking her head as she gazed at the dog.
“That Amelia is something else. Who does that to a puppy? What is her problem? I’d like to give her a piece of my mind!” Kerry’s indignation morphed into sweet murmurings as she knelt and scratched the little bulldog’s ears, “What should we do with you, huh, baby?”
“You know what?” Melody said. “Why don’t you go on home, and I’ll take this little girl over to Sam’s and see if Amelia even made it over to his store, and if he can remember what time she left. Even if Amelia just weirdly forgot her, I can’t imagine she wouldn’t have remembered at some point this afternoon! How could she have forgotten her here all day?! So, unless she suddenly came down with dementia, or something dire happened, I have no idea what to think! If Sam isn’t able to help, I’ll drive by Amelia’s and see if she’s home; if so, I can remind her she indeed owns a dog, and drop this little baby off.”
At her feet the bulldog wagged its tail and pawed her foot.
“Okay… if you’re sure?” Kerry hesitated, obviously hating to leave her boss with sole responsibility for the abandoned pup.
“Yes, go… we have a big day tomorrow and you need to sleep off your caffeine load.” Melody winked at her employee.
“Let me know whatever happens tonight,” Kerry said. “Why don’t you ask Al’s help? He might be a good detective.”
Melody rolled her eyes at the mention of his name. Just a while ago, Alvin had dropped by to pick up the brownies he asked for earlier. Kerry grilled the poor man why he needed two dozen brownies immediately. He said those were for his colleagues. Kerry huffed at his reason and suggested brownies were best with beer to tease him.
“Kerry, I tell you. Stop torturing him.”
Kerry laughed and they both retreated out of the shop. Kerry took home a box of leftover croissants, George’s favorite. Melody, on the other hand was holding tightly to the puppy’s leash.
“I hope everything’s fine,” Melody said as she locked the shop’s doors.
“It will be. Again, tell me whatever happens,” Kerry said and went down to stroke the puppy’s head. “I know you miss your home. I hope Amelia misses you, too,” she said, stroking the soft fur just behind the eyes. The little blue and white bundle squirmed with joy beneath her touch.
Melody crossed the street and watched Kerry disappear. She would soon be home and for a moment Melody felt alone. It was soon gone as she was practically being pulled by the puppy.
The little bulldog was more than happy to take a walk after her day's confinement; she practically skipped as she rushed ahead of Melody, racing back to her every few seconds as she reached the end of her leash each time. Within a few minutes, Melody and the pup entered Sam’s, where he stood at the counter, tallying bills and what looked like completing his cash out for the night.
Sam reminded Mel of a sanitized version of the cartoon character Pig-Pen of peanuts. No matter how freshly showered, and clean his clothes, the jolly bachelor had a rumpled look about him. Wispy gray strands stretched over his large, beet-red head; his size 44 khakis and sport shirts were wrinkled, and his black wingtips, scuffed with knotted laces. Melody longed to give this sweet man a makeover; it would help him snag the wife he most certainly longed for.
“Hey, Sam,” Mel greeted him as he continued to count his cash under his breath, nodding at her without taking his eyes off the money. She waited patiently for him to finish his tally, not wanting to distract him or throw him off as he totaled up the sales.
Finally, he looked up with his trademark Sam grin. It was a 100-watt smile he bestowed on all but the most cantankerous of customers. “What can I do you for, young lady… and your little friend?” he asked, noticing the small dog accompanying her.
“Hi, Sam, sorry about bringing the dog in, but she’s not mine. A customer left her behind, tied to a post outside my shop, this morning. Apparently, she forgot to come back for her. Last I saw of this lady, she was heading here for a bottle of champagne. Do you remember a middle-aged, very pretty woman coming in this morning?”
Sam thought for a moment, scratching his balding head as he pondered.
“No, I don’t,” he said. “And I would remember someone of that description I’m sure,” he joked. “Sadly, most of my customers were of the boring male version, or women too young for me, much to my disappointment.” He chuckled some more. “But no one of that description, and come to think of it, not even one champagne customer,” he finished seriously.
“Oh dear, where can she have got to and why would she leave the dog?”
“Sorry, Mel, I hope you find her. But even if you don’t, that’s a nice little doggie, a Fre
nch bulldog, isn’t it? They aren’t cheap, and it looks like it likes you.”
“She,” Mel absently corrected. “And there wasn’t even an identifying tag on her collar.”
Sam gave her a look that said, I guess she’s gone.
“Luckily, I know where the woman, Amelia Reed, lives, so I thought I might drive by her place and see if she’s home. It’s really an odd situation, and I’m starting to worry that maybe something happened to her.”
“Well, maybe not, Miss Melody. It could just be that she was busy, and plumb forgot all about her little fur buddy. Sometimes, we seniors get a bit absentminded at our age.” Sam grinned.
“I really hope that’s it,” Melody said. “Thanks, Sam.”
Unconvinced, nevertheless Melody bid him goodbye and headed back to her shop with the little dog. The puppy was quite happily running back and forth and constantly giving her some attention. Melody enjoyed having her despite the worry. Somehow with the little dog she didn’t feel quite so lonely.
A feeling of deep worry had settled in her stomach. Melody was planning to retrieve her car and drive over to Amelia’s home. As she walked the short distance back, the little pup scampering ahead of her, a flash of gold foil sticking out of a sidewalk garbage can caught her eye. She walked over to investigate, reaching in to pull out one of her very own bakery boxes, the signature one she used for candies and confections. She had only used one today! Her heart speeding up, Mel lifted the lid with suddenly sweating hands, and there lay two-dozen, untouched De Vine strawberries.
Chapter Six
Melody returned to her shop and stopped at the window where she last saw Amelia. Looking around as if reliving that moment in her mind. Did she miss anything? Any sign? The lady said she was about to start her new life. What life was that? Did she mean to commit suicide?
