Page 9 of Fa-La-La-La Faking It
Baking was its own form of magic. In a world that could be unpredictable and even scary at times, she always found comfort in knowing that she could mix flour, eggs and butter in the right proportions and come out with something perfect and delicious. She’d been just six or seven years old when Gram first taught her to make a pie, covered in flour and standing on a kitchen stool so she could reach the countertop. For Gram, baking had been a hobby. But Adaline had known from that very first pie that she’d open her own bakery someday. She loved the idea of sharing her grandmother’s recipes and making people happy. Was it even possible to be sad while biting into an ooey-gooey German chocolate cake or a warm cherry turnover, fresh from the oven?
Doubtful. Since opening Cherry on Top six years ago, Adaline had become a vital part of nearly every birthday party, wedding, holiday celebration and Thanksgiving feast in Bluebonnet. She couldn’t imagine doing anything else.
Fuzzy watched as she slid pies in and out of her big industrial oven, placed cupcake batter into muffin tins with her Gram’s old ice-cream scoop and frosted a cake for a retirement party at the senior center. The puppy had long settled into the routine of being a baker’s dog. So long as he could keep his gaze glued on Adaline, he was perfectly content. Ford had helped her build a little gated nook for him in the space between the kitchen and the counter area, so she could move back and forth and still remain in her dog’s line of vision. Maple had somehow found a pet bed that looked like a big cupcake and functioned as a plush doghouse so Fuzzy could lie about in style. Naturally, the cupcake bed was topped with a red velvet cherry.
Adaline was busy arranging the fruits of her labor in the display cases as the first rays of soft pink sunlight filled the bakery. The treats for the bake sale were already all boxed and ready to go. When the bells on the front door jingled, she knew without even looking that the girls from Comfort Paws had shown up to help set everything up for the fundraiser in the town square.
“Just a sec,” Adaline called as she breezed toward the counter area from the kitchen with one last tray of cupcakes. “I’m totally ready. I just need to get these crushed candy cane cakes in the bakery case, and then—”
Her voice stopped as she took in the sight of Maple, Belle and Jenna standing just inside the bakery door. Their respective dogs—Lady Bird, Peaches and Ginger—wagged their tails happily and stood at the end of their leashes. The expressions on the human’s faces were noticeably less enthusiastic.
“What’s wrong?” The baking sheet nearly slipped from Adaline’s hands. “It’s not raining, is it? The forecast looked clear when I checked it last night.”
Jenna shook her head. “Nope, not raining. But you might need to go out there and take a look.”
Maple and Belle exchanged a glance, as if mulling over whether to explain what was going on or to just let Adaline see for herself.
“But what?” Adaline dumped the tray of cupcakes on the counter and marched toward the door without bothering to remove her apron. Whatever was wrong, how bad could it really be?
She pushed open the door, eyes trained on the gazebo...
Except Bluebonnet’s most iconic landmark was completely obscured by a wall of evergreen trees. They wereeverywhere. Neat rows of blue spruces, Fraser firs and Scotch pines stretched from one end of the square to the other. Adaline could only assume the white gazebo still stood somewhere in the center, surrounded by a maze of evergreens. Somehow, since she’d arrived at Cherry on Top just a few hours ago, a forest had materialized on the town square.
Adaline stumbled to a halt on the sidewalk. She blinked and then blinked again.
“Please tell me I’m seeing things,” she heard herself whisper.
“I wish we could,” Belle said.
A man walked past them hauling an enormous fir tree on a single muscular shoulder, face obscured by a swath of evergreen branches. Lady Bird panted with excitement.
“Read the room, Lady Bird,” Maple muttered to the golden retriever.
“I don’t understand.” Adaline shook her head. Maybe if she shook it hard enough, she could rattle some sense into what she was seeing. “What’s going on?”
“It looks like someone is setting up a Christmas tree lot,” Jenna said.
“AnillegalChristmas tree lot,” Adaline corrected. “We have dibs on the town square. I’ve talked to the mayor’s office about this three times since Thanksgiving.”
“Maybe we should head over to city hall and get this straightened out.” Belle glanced at the time on her phone. “School starts in an hour, but I’ve got thirty minutes or so to spare.”
As the school librarian at Bluebonnet Elementary, Belle was in the midst of creating a reading education assistance dog program as part of Comfort Paws. Her puppy, Peaches, was the program’s first dog dedicated to helping children who were struggling readers.
Jenna shook her head. “I don’t think the mayor’s office is open yet. I was just over there last week to pay the final installment on the dance school’s reservation for the town auditorium. We’re having our Christmas recital there.”
“Final installment?” Maple’s forehead scrunched as she swiveled her gaze toward Adaline. “I don’t remember cutting a check to the city of Bluebonnet. Did we have to pay to reserve the square and the gazebo?”
“No.” Adaline shook her head. “I mean, technically, we might have. But since Comfort Paws is a charity organization, I managed to sweet-talk the mayor into letting us use it for free.”
“By ‘sweet-talk,’ do you mean you brought him pie?” Belle aimed a knowing look at Adaline’s apron.
“Obviously,” Adaline said. It was a wonder how many doors a fresh-baked pie could open.
“I’m beginning to have a bad feeling about this.” Maple gnawed on her bottom lip as another flannel-shirt-clad guy stomped past them hauling a tree. Lady Bird leaned against her legs, a true comfort dog in action.
Adaline had to do something. This fundraiser was her baby. Since Lady Bird had been a working therapy dog for years, visiting a variety of facilities in rural Texas with Maple’s father before he’d passed away, Maple had taken over the job of facilities coordinator. Comfort Paws hadn’t even held its first official training class yet, and Maple already had an entire binder full of hospitals, retirement centers and medical offices who’d requested a therapy dog team once the program was in full swing. Belle had already devoted countless hours toward putting together the reading program at the library. Since Jenna had adopted Ginger, the rescue dog who’d given birth to Peaches and Fuzzy, she’d already trained the grown-up Cavalier to pass a national therapy dog certification exam. It was only natural for her to spearhead Comfort Paws’ training program.
Everyone but Adaline already had an important role in their fledgling organization. She wanted to do her part. “I’m going to get to the bottom of this. Don’t worry. Everything is going to be fine. Take a good look at these trees because I’m about to make them disappear.”
