Strawberries and Sweet Lies Read online

  After that heartbreak, Melody focused her mind and energy on baking but had specifically turned down wedding-related orders. It was too painful for her to remember her failed happy ending. Until recently, when she picked up the broken pieces of her heart. Although she was not yet ready for a new relationship because of the fear of failing again, she accepted wedding orders once more. She thought that she would make these cakes because she wanted to make people happy. Her first wedding cake order was torture, but when she kept reminding herself that her creation would make many people smile, it made her determined to get through it.

  If she was honest with herself, there was a tiny voice in her telling her that she should give her heart one more chance. Her dream wedding cake still got into her mind when she would sleep at night. Her groom was still faceless but sometimes she thought, would Al fit into that picture? Whenever that thought came in, she would shake it out of her mind pushing in other dreams she would want for her future. And she told herself, that a romantic relationship was not one of them.

  Her day in the kitchen was passing by like a fast-forward movie scene. She was like a robot—automatically mixing ingredients without thinking, decorating cakes like she was programmed. Although what she did every day was pretty exhausting, she never felt any fatigue while doing these things that she loved. But when she closed her shop and would see Kerry so excited to go home, Melody would have this sinking feeling in her stomach. The reminder that she had no one to go home to, no one to massage her back to relieve the pain after a long day at work, or just to hold her close to assure her that she was doing the right things for her life. Did everyone really need that person in their life? Again, in denial as she usually was, she pushed away those thoughts and convinced herself she was happy with her life right now.

  Chapter Three

  Melody arrived early in the shop on Friday. She wanted to prepare the decorating tools they would need later when they started working for Jeanette Simpson’s wedding cake. She colored the sheet of white fondant with a carefully measured dose of lavender color and kneaded the dough to spread the pigment throughout. Then, she started cutting and molding the petals. She was finishing her third set when Kerry came in.

  Kerry picked up one petal to examine.

  “Oh my goodness! Mel, this looks so real!” Kerry exclaimed.

  “You think so?” Melody asked as she rolled the pin over the edge of the petal she was working on.

  Kerry nodded with enthusiasm. “I’m so proud of you. You’re getting better at this every time! And this is not even finished. How many layers was it?”

  Melody smiled her appreciation. “Four round layers.”

  Melody instructed Kerry to create more petals and leaves using the shape cutter. With each flower they made, the cake became more and more alive. Mel brushed some glitter on the base of the cake making it look more spectacular.

  “I swear if Jeannette doesn’t fall in love with this cake, I will never speak to her again!” Kerry declared. “Have you ever seen more beautiful colors in your life? It’s a crime she picked the same colors I did; this cake would be perfect for my wedding!”

  “We’ll come up with something even better for yours,” Melody assured her, as she placed the final flower on the top. Kerry squealed in delight when they both watched their work for a moment.

  “Haven’t you thought of creating one for yourself one day, Mel?” Kerry asked with a soft voice. Mel felt Kerry’s concern and it warmed her heart.

  “You know my story. Of course, I did before,” Mel said and turned away from the cake to go to the sink.

  Kerry followed her.

  “I’m talking about now, Mel. Forget about your past. Don’t let that hold you back.”

  Melody did not respond and let the sound of the faucet be her voice. The bell of the store rang saving them from the confrontation.

  “I’ll get it,” Melody said and went out of the kitchen.

  Later that day, they discussed the wedding cake and decorations. She wanted desperately to avoid the happy couple especially after that talk with Kerry. Seeing the wedding preparations only made her more confused and brought back the feelings of hurt and betrayal. Did she really want to be involved with that kind of fuss, too? Guilt overcame her, the bride wanted to be treated like a princess, as she should be. The good thing was, Kerry was more than happy to talk about the wedding. She was happy to go through the whole of the wedding decorations in hopes of getting some inspiration for her own nuptials. She hadn’t yet decided on her colors, although she already had half a dozen bridesmaids lined up and waiting.

  To Melody’s surprise, Kerry had asked her to be her Maid of Honor. She was completely shocked when Kerry asked, and wasn’t expecting it at all. They had known each other almost their whole lives, but they didn’t start getting close until Kerry began working at the shop.

  Pulling herself away from thoughts of her the pain, Melody glanced out at the sunny day gaining force outside. A sudden urge to take a quick walk around the block overcame her. It was then she noticed a smartly dressed, middle-aged woman walking along the street, holding onto a small, leashed, gray and white puppy. Melody, a passionate animal lover, had always wished her vocation allowed for a dog in her life, but her hours at the shop precluded such a thing. She felt it wouldn’t be fair to a canine companion to be left at home alone for eight long hours, six days a week. Of course, there was the back office… Melody gazed longingly at the pup, identifying it as a French bulldog, the blue variety. It stepped daintily and proudly, with adorable, flared bat ears and a prominent white smudge decorating its back. The woman was strikingly beautiful in spite of her age, and looked familiar, but Melody couldn’t quite place her. As Melody watched, the woman stopped, looked up at the shop’s sign, and then walked over to a streetlamp and tied the pup’s leash to it.

  Just as the familiar stranger entered, Melody suddenly remembered why she recognized her. She was an Amanda or Amelia somebody, the wealthy-looking, fashionable lady who spent summers at the quaintly rustic lake house on Sandy Beach lane. The woman was dressed to the nines in an artfully simple floral skirt, twinset sweater top and cute shell encrusted sandals. To top it all off she wore an elegant brimmed hat which tastefully highlighted long loose curls. Even her jewelry, oversized shoulder bag and the sunglasses propped on her hat’s brim transmitted affluence.

  “Good morning, how may I help you?” Melody greeted her elegant visitor.

  “Oh, hello,” the lovely matron smiled, “I’ve been meaning to stop in every day I have walked past your place, but I really need to watch my figure.” She chuckled, patting her slim hips. “Only, today is a day for treats, and my neighbor told me you have some killer chocolate-covered strawberries here. Something about brownie bits inside?” She beamed a celebrity-worthy smile, reaching all the way up to her Sapphire-blue eyes.

  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 m
ind 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 affectionate 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.”