A Shortbread Christmas by Deb Goodman EPUB & PDF – eBook Details
- Author: Deb Goodman
- Language: English
- Formats: PDF / EPUB
- Status: Available for Download
- Series: None
- Price: Free
- File Size: 1 MB
Camilla
I’m at Shorty’s Bakeshop, dough up to my eyeballs, wondering when our
next customer will come in. Because it’s been a while.
After the morning rush, which this morning was more of a steady trickle,
we haven’t had a single person enter the shop.
Which is fine.
Everything’s fine. This way, I can more fully devote myself to my craft
without any bothersome customers breaking up my flow.
If I keep telling myself that, maybe I’ll actually believe it?
And this way, Aria, my best friend and employee, can spend more time
helping me instead of helping customers.
So, see? Our lack of customers is a win-win.
Refusing to dwell on the falsehoods that statement is riddled with, I turn
my focus to the baking. Shorty’s has been serving shortbread since it opened
its doors in the ‘70s. It’s an institution.
Standing at the butcher block counter behind the register, I test the soft
shortbread dough in my fingers, my heart trilling at the possibilities. It’s my
first batch of the season, and several pans are almost ready to come out of the
oven.
It’s November first, my grandfather’s birthday. We’ve commemorated the
special day for the two years since he’s been gone by offering our Christmas
shortbread cookies on his birthday. And then we keep making them through
the Christmas season. They’ve been a hit every year since. And I’m hoping
and praying this year goes even better.
“Here’s the press release in the Times,” Aria says, her eyes scanning the
computer across from the register. After a moment, she adds, “They did a
decent job of it.”
“Read it,” I tell her, my stomach doing a funny bumpy ride type of thing.
I’d spent the last of our advertising budget on this spot in the Times to get the
word out to even more people. A week ago, we put up our big, vinyl banner
as always at this time of year, announcing the arrival of “The best shortbread
cookies in the world!” Today’s a big day.
And no, it’s not the Times, as in The New York Times. It’s the New Hedge
Times, as in New Hedge, Colorado. We’re known for such things as the
birthplace of the hands-free can opener and our world-famous Charles
Dickens Christmas Festival.
Okay, it’s not quite world-famous. But it is famous regionally. And the big
rush to see the Colorado gold aspens in the fall? Well, the smart tourists?
They come back a couple of months later to the New Hedge Charles Dickens
Christmas Festival.
And then we had to flee our busted ship. We’re sheltering in this strange
series of caverns, waiting out hurricanes and floods and maybe a tornado.
All that without mentioning our five dead crewmates. My friends. I threw
myself into caring for this comatose alien to stay occupied. To avoid thinking
about them. But the longer he lays quietly, the longer nothing changes, the
more their faces appear in my head.
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