Page 8 of This Moment

Again, it wasn’t anything new for me since I was at my own bakery at four in the morning, but as far as Opal knew, I had left a corporate job in Chicago for a new start. That was all I had told her. Another lie. I had never even been to Chicago. I had studied everything about the city I could in case someone asked me something, though.

“I am!”

She grinned.

“What do you need me to do?”

“I’ve got all the components for the sour cherry pie if you wouldn’t mind getting those going.”

I pulled everything out and got to work. The pies would take ninety minutes to cook, so it was a good place to start. Opal sold everything from breads, pies, cakes, pastries, and more. Her bakery was adorable as well. It was decorated in a vintage, whimsical style with historical inspirations. The colors were mainly white and blue-gray. It was very different from my bakery in Boston, which had more of a modern-day flare with black and white colors. I loved it, though. It was the perfect fit for Moose Village.

Opal’s bakery was cozy, and the small vintage tables out front of the bakery gave it a very European feel.

After getting the pies in the oven, I started working on the other items that would be in the case: orange cranberry scones, chocolate chunk and salted oatmeal cookies, and sausage rolls. I also started to prep things for the pastries. Those were all made last week and frozen, so they were easy to just pop in the oven.

At 7:30, I started to put items in the bottom oven: chai buns, chocolate croissants, cinnamon rolls, andmaple-pecan pull-apart buns. The last in the oven was my grandmother’s banana nut bread, which had already become a hit in the short three weeks or so I had been working at Batter Up Bakery.

By noon, the bakery was busy, and I was not only getting things ready for tomorrow, but also trying to keep up with special orders. For a small town, the residents loved their baked goods.

“You sold out of the banana nut bread again,” Opal said as she made her way back to the kitchen.

Looking up from where I was prepping cake pans, I smiled. “Really? I’m glad to hear it.”

“I think you should double up since we’ve been selling out before ten nearly every day since you first made it.”

With a nod, I blew the strand of hair that had fallen from my pony. I wasn’t used to my hair being shorter, so when I put it up, strands quickly fell out. “I can do that.”

She set a pan down and glanced around at my work area before looking back at me. “You wouldn’t happen to know how to decorate cakes, would you?”

I forced myself to look indifferent. Cake decoratingwas one of the things I was known for in Boston. I had been booked out months in advance.

“I used to help my grandmother decorate cakes. It’s been a while, but I could give it a go.”

Opal’s eyes lit up. “It’s only me right now, and it’s been so stressful. Louie was our master cake decorator and did most of the custom orders. It sucks having to turn people away for custom cakes because it’s only me decorating them now.”

“Did you have one in mind you wanted me to try?”

Her smile grew wide. “It’s for a first birthday, and they would like a Tigger-themed cake. They don’t have anything in mind, so the decorating would be left up to you.”

“Boy or girl?” I asked, already thinking of designs in my head.

“A little girl, Wendy is her name.”

“When do they need it by?”

“That’s the issue; they need it by Friday. That’s only four days to work on it. I don’t want you to stress about this. I would do it, but I have three other custom orders this week.”

Poor Opal. I felt terrible lying to her. These few weeks, she had become like a second grandmother to me.

“I’ll give it a try. I am crafty and I did a pretty good job when I was helping my gran.”

“Then you’ll do it?”

I laughed. “I’ll do it.”

Opal hugged me, mumbled something about a raise, and rushed out of the kitchen.

“That was really nice of you.”

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