Chocolate Dreams at the Gingerbread Cafe (2 page)

Still smiling, I answer, “The Gingerbread Café, Lil speaking.” And wait for Damon's velvety voice to talk back.

“Lily-Ella, it's me.” It's a velvety voice all right, but it's not Damon's. The way Joel rolls the Ls of my full name takes me back to my old life. Closing my eyes, I picture him, his thick black hair pushed back from his face while he rakes his fingers through it, a subconscious mannerism. I stiffen; it's been months since we talked. And two years since we divorced. I make my voice businesslike. “How are you, Joel?”

“I've been better.” He lets out a short hollow laugh.

“So you got the boxes I sent?” The detritus of Joel's life with me had been stashed around my house, things I stopped seeing because they'd been there for an age, but Damon noticed as soon as he moved in a few weeks back. A baseball glove in the hall closet, old clothes in the spare room, used car parts in the shed. Goes to show just how quick Joel upped and left. Damon didn't say a word about it but I could see a shadow of doubt cross his face as he kept stumbling across Joel's things so I decided it was high time I de-cluttered my old life.

“Yeah, I got them. None of it means anything 'cept the photos. Spent a whole night staring at them.”

“Don't talk like that. They're just pictures. Nothing more.”

I'd sent Joel half of our wedding pictures with the boxes, because it meant something back then, and there's no point pretending it didn't happen. When I divvied them up, I spent some time looking through them too, but all I felt was a sort of sadness that those two bright-eyed lovers staring back at me weren't so suited after all.

He sighs. “Look, Lil, I know I made all kinds of mistakes, but I'm a changed man. Totally different from the one who left…”

“Stop, Joel. That sounds like a line.”

CeeCee calls out, “Well, is it Damon? Tell him I think I've figured out a way to stop it. Can't barely hear it from the depths of the chest freezer…” Her cackle follows me into the office.

“Well, it's coming from my heart, Lil,” Joel says, in a slightly offended tone.

“
You
did this, Joel. You made your choice, and it wasn't me.”

Two years I pined for him after he walked out. Just after he managed to lose our house, and his car yard in one of his get-rich-quick schemes. He took a gamble with our finances and lost without breathing a word of it to me until it was too late. I struggled to keep the Gingerbread Café going, and held on through some truly bad times. But he didn't care; our home was taken by the bank, and we were forced to rent a tiny cottage. He walked away without a backward glance, right into the arms of another woman. To think I waited for him
for two years
ready to forgive. I was a damn fool, and I'm sure as hell not going to make that mistake again.

“Look, baby, I know you're with some other guy—”

“That's none of your business!”

“So our history doesn't count for anything? You can't honestly say it wasn't one helluva marriage before things went…pear-shaped.”

The saccharine timbre of his voice reminds me that he can't be trusted. He's a salesman through and through. CeeCee says he could sell fire to Satan if you gave him half a chance. “Pear-shaped? Is that what you call it?” It's impossible to keep the sarcasm from my voice. “And you're right, it was one helluva marriage, emphasis on the
hell
. I have to go.”

“Lil, can we meet? There's something I really need to discuss with you.”

Exasperated, I exhale down the line. “I think we've discussed everything.”

“I'm out at Old Lou's…”

I groan inwardly. Old Lou owns a big property on the outskirts of Ashford. It looks more like a junk yard than a place where someone lives. I lower my voice, “How long have you been here?”

“A couple of days. I was planning to go check out that new shop in town; you know the one, sells small goods…”

Damon's shop. There's an abrasiveness to Joel's voice; he obviously knows all the details of my new relationship. I pinch the bridge of my nose as my head begins to ache. I wonder what he's scheming in that great big melon head of his. One thing I know for sure is that it's never black and white when it comes to Joel.

Maybe I can nip this in the bud before it blooms into trouble. “Stay away from that shop. I'll give you ten minutes tonight, and that's it, Joel. And you're right, I am with someone else, so if it's about reconciliation forget it.” I end the call so he can't respond.

Worry gnaws at me. What's he up to?

“Sugar plum?” CeeCee yells. “Are we doing these eggs or not?”

“Coming!” I put the phone back in the cradle on the desk and pray he doesn't call again.

Heading back to CeeCee, I see she's laid the bench with everything we need to make Paschal eggs. Real eggs that we're going to drain and dye in a rainbow of colors so the children of Ashford can paint them at the chocolate festival.

“What'd he say?” She smirks up at me. “Did you tell him the bunny is suffering a severe case of frostbite?”

I grin in spite of myself when I hear the muffled drone of the bunny from the square chest freezer, winding down as if its battery is almost flat. “It wasn't Damon. It was someone…about a catering job. Just a quote.” The lie catches in the back of my throat. I look away so she doesn't notice my hesitation.

“Another one? You two are surely making it big in the catering world.”

Damon and I joined forces at Christmas time to cater parties outside Ashford. I was catering alone before but was missing out on the bigger jobs because I couldn't do it by myself. With Damon's help, we've managed to spread our wings further afield, and have secured lots of corporate events in the bigger towns that border Ashford, Connecticut. Our town, while pleasant to live in, doesn't have much of a call for canapés, or any of the fancy dishes we make to order. Luckily we don't have anything booked until after the festival, otherwise I don't know how we'd manage.

“So,” I say, hoping to distract CeeCee from asking for more details about the phone call. “Who's doing what here?” I gaze down at the huge bowl of eggs and wonder how long it's going to take us to drain them all.

“I'm not one to beg off, Lil, but I picture how those eggs came to be and I can't imagine myself puckerin' up to blow the contents out. You get my drift?”

“Cee! Now I'm picturing the chicken laying the egg. That's just plain gross!” I look at her, bemused, and slightly queasy at the thought.

“Mind, I washed 'em good. You'll be OK.” Her lips wobble and a second later she doubles over; her big-bellied southern haw rings out, making it damn near impossible not to join in.

For the first time ever the Gingerbread Café is flourishing. We've had extra money to invest in more supplies and let our creativity loose. Our window display is a show-stopper, crafted to look like a magical forest. We have trees made with fluffy green cotton candy and dark chocolate trunks. We've set up a bed of burnished hay made from toffee-like spun sugar where our chocolate bunnies nest. And tiny yellow chicks, made from fondant icing, are ‘hatching' out of white chocolate eggs. The intricate display has drawn in kids and adults alike, the heady smell of molten chocolate has worked wonders on passers-by, who can't help but wander in and see what we're up to.

Semi-composed from the thought of tasting raw egg yolk, I glance back at Cee, who's moved away and is slapping her hand on the bench every time laughter gets the better of her. “Is this going to continue?” I say, arching my eyebrows. “Every time I put my lips on an egg?” I'm supposed to poke a hole in each end of the egg and blow down so the liquid spills out. Now she's got me picturing the origins of the egg, and it's kind of disgusting. CeeCee certainly has a way of lightening my mood, and I chortle along with her.

I scrutinize the egg up close and she shrieks; her brown skin is almost purple from laughter; she's gasping for breath and gripping her belly. “OK…OK, I'm nearly done.” She glances back at the eggs, and manages to hold in her merriment as tears stream from her eyes. “Glory be, I'm too old for this.”

“Oh, yeah? If you don't stop I'm going to make you suck eggs.”

“
Suck eggs
! You meant to be blowing!” This starts us off again. “It's a wonder we get any work done with this kinda carry on!” CeeCee manages, before her guffaw carries to the street where a few people walking past stop to gawp at us, with quizzical expressions.

We manage to control ourselves enough to set to work. CeeCee fills up a saucepan with warm water and adds a dash of vinegar and a hefty squirt of red food coloring, ready to dye the eggshells.

I pierce the first egg and glance over at Cee. She sputters into her hand and walks away, her shoulders shaking. “I can't watch. I just can't!”

By the time she wanders back I've done five eggs. “Only ninety-five to go.” I wipe my forehead in exaggeration.

CeeCee takes the empty shells, and gently drops them in the pot of scarlet water. She stirs softly so they dye evenly before taking them out to dry in an empty egg carton.

We work quietly, and my mind drifts back to Joel. He hasn't been back to Ashford since we split; it seems odd he'd come back now. I wonder if he's going to try and make trouble for me, but most of all I worry about what Damon will make of it. Joel can be pigheaded — if he sets his mind to something he usually figures a way to get it. I can't help feeling anxious he's back and clearly with some kind of agenda.

I curse under my breath as I break an egg. My jittery hands are no match for the delicate shell, and I end up holding a yolky mess.

“Don't think that's how you're goin' to get out of doing them, Lil,” CeeCee jokes.

“Got to admit it's much faster,” I reply as I use paper towels to wipe away the goo. A breeze wafts in, making the pages of our magazines flutter on the tables. The glorious floral-scented spring air pulls people from their homes like magic after winter finally packed up and left for another year. It won't be long before we're inundated with customers who want to idle away the morning soaking up the soft sun from the comfort of an outside table. Earlier this morning CeeCee made a batch of buttermilk pies, which bake nice and slow in the oven. The occasional burst of vanilla essence floats outside, tempting people to stop in and ask how long they'll be.

“Cherry blossom…” CeeCee's voice is soft with concentration “…can you pass me the blue dye?”

“Sure, give me a sec.” I stand over the bin and shake the rest of the gooey egg off my hands. “Blue, and what comes next?”

“That little bottle of sunshine right there.” She points to the yellow dye, her face lit up.

I break another egg and this time my curse rings out.

“Glory be, sugar plum, you sure do got butterfingers today. You want me to have a go?”

“No. It's OK, I'll go slower.” Damn Joel. I'm worried. I don't want him to cast a pall of ugliness over my new life. And what else can he be here for, except to make trouble?

“Mmm hmm,” she says distractedly as she spoons an egg out of the pot and rests it next to the others in the carton. She stares straight at me and says, “What's botherin' you? You suddenly got the clumsies. It ain't like you to make mistakes no matter how finicky the job is.”

Moving to the sink to wash my hands, I laugh her off. “It's nothing, Cee.”

CeeCee doesn't pry into it again and I'm grateful my back is turned so she doesn't try to stare me down. I confess all when she does that and she knows it. We don't usually keep secrets from each other. But for now, it's better if she doesn't know Joel's back. She'd probably drive out to Old Lou's and holler at him something fierce. There's no love lost between those two. CeeCee is protective of me, like a mother hen, and for that reason, I won't tell her about Joel just yet.

Chapter Two

I head outside to update the chalk board and to clear the tables of empty coffee cups.

Bending down, I write about the buttermilk pies, and the chocolate-dipped strawberries, we made earlier. I turn as someone lightly taps me on the shoulder. I hear a little giggle as I feel a tap on the other shoulder. I spin the other way and look into the deep azure eyes of Charlie. She giggles again, a high chipmunk-like sound.

“Tricked you.”

I take her into my arms. Her gorgeous blonde curls tickle my nose as I bury my face in her hair. “Charlie bear, you're here!”

“Yep, for a whole week! Daddy said we're going to paint eggs and do lots of fun stuff…”

“We sure are.” I glance across the way at Damon, who stands to watch she's crossed the street safely. I wave at him and point to the café as I take Charlie's hand and lead her inside. Damon's daughter, Charlotte, or Charlie as we call her, first came to Ashford just after Christmas. I kept my distance so she could enjoy her time with her daddy but it didn't take long for her to toddle over the road and ask for a gingerbread man. Soon enough she was helping cut out the figures and stayed most days to bake alongside us, before leaving to go back to her mom, and return to school in New Orleans.

It was decided Charlie would spend the Easter break with us because her mom was taking a trip to Vegas, and it's not the kind of place suitable for a seven-year-old.

“You know what else we're going to do?” I ask as I set her up on a stool by the bench.

“What?”

“We're going to have a chocolate festival! The whole town is getting involved, even your daddy, so we might need someone to be our taste tester…”

She squeals and claps her hands. “I can!”

I look solemnly at her. “OK, you're our quality control. And do you know what else? If you're really lucky, you might meet the Easter bunny!”