soaking wet.
I crept along in the Jeep toward the shop, and finally made it without having an accident. At least there hadn’t been any other traffic on the road.
To my surprise, Emma was waiting for me inside the shop when I pulled up.
She ran outside with a huge golf umbrella one of our customers had left, and escorted me into the building, though I was already soaked to the bone.
“It’s amazing, isn’t it?” she said with too much enthusiasm for that time of night as we walked inside. “I just love thunderstorms, don’t you? There’s something so romantic about them.”
I dabbed at my wet hair with one of our towels. “Yes, it’s absolutely magical,” I said with a deadpan voice.
“Come on, you’ll feel better once you’ve had your coffee,” she said. “I’ve already made a pot.”
I took a mug from her and sipped it gratefully. “How long have you been here, anyway?”
She grinned. “Honestly? I never went to bed. I had a date with Paul Simms, and he dropped me off here an hour ago. He wanted to keep me company until you showed up, but I told him that wasn’t going to happen.”
“He’s new in your life, isn’t he?” I asked her.
“Tonight was our first date. I just love the start of a relationship, don’t you?” Emma paused a moment, then added hastily, “Not that what you have with Jake isn’t still special, too.”
I looked at her a second, then said, “Listen, I’m happy for you, honestly, I am. But my love life is not a topic of conversation we’re going to be covering. Agreed?”
“That’s fine,” she said. I hated to step on her grand mood, but I didn’t particularly want to be around herwhen she was in her giddy stage of the first blush of romance.
“What are we making special today?” Emma asked.
“It’s business as usual. After we get the cake donuts made, we’ll go to work on the yeast ones.”
We worked through the variations of our cake donuts first—turning out plain, old-fashioned, pumpkin, orange spice, apple cinnamon, and lemon—and after they were finished and dripping in glaze, I turned the fryer up to 365 degrees, an easy temperature to remember. As I added twenty pounds of flour to the mixture of yeast and water already in the stand mixer, I turned it on to blend the mix and set the timer to five minutes.
When the timer went off, I turned off the mixer, removed the beater, and put a cloth over the top of the mixing bowl while it was still in the stand. I reset the timer to forty minutes, and it was finally time to stop for a while. Emma and I enjoyed our breaks outside, where the world was still dark and quiet and we felt as though we had it all to ourselves. Not even the rain, still pouring down in prodigious amounts, could keep us inside, since the awning over the front of the shop was enough to protect us from anything short of a hurricane force wind. There were a pair of modest tables with accompanying chairs outside for those who liked to eat their donuts alfresco, but the seats were wet, so we stood under the awning together and watched it rain.
“Are you really going to eat that?” she said as she pointed to my modest treat. Emma always had a powerbar with her coffee, while my snacks were varied, depending on the current state of my diet. Today I was having a rice cake, after getting on the scale a few days before and being alarmed by what my donuts were doing to my waistline.
I nodded. “Sadly, until I can stop sampling our wares, I’m going to have to. Walking doesn’t seem to help as much these days as it used to.”
Emma took another bite of her power bar, then said, “I read that as women get older, our metabolisms start slowing down, so it’s harder and harder to lose weight.”
“Fascinating. Did the article also mention that rain is wet, and fire burns?”
She said softly, “I didn’t mean anything by it, Suzanne. I just thought it was interesting.”
I laughed gently. “I’m sorry. I guess I’m just concerned
I crept along in the Jeep toward the shop, and finally made it without having an accident. At least there hadn’t been any other traffic on the road.
To my surprise, Emma was waiting for me inside the shop when I pulled up.
She ran outside with a huge golf umbrella one of our customers had left, and escorted me into the building, though I was already soaked to the bone.
“It’s amazing, isn’t it?” she said with too much enthusiasm for that time of night as we walked inside. “I just love thunderstorms, don’t you? There’s something so romantic about them.”
I dabbed at my wet hair with one of our towels. “Yes, it’s absolutely magical,” I said with a deadpan voice.
“Come on, you’ll feel better once you’ve had your coffee,” she said. “I’ve already made a pot.”
I took a mug from her and sipped it gratefully. “How long have you been here, anyway?”
She grinned. “Honestly? I never went to bed. I had a date with Paul Simms, and he dropped me off here an hour ago. He wanted to keep me company until you showed up, but I told him that wasn’t going to happen.”
“He’s new in your life, isn’t he?” I asked her.
“Tonight was our first date. I just love the start of a relationship, don’t you?” Emma paused a moment, then added hastily, “Not that what you have with Jake isn’t still special, too.”
I looked at her a second, then said, “Listen, I’m happy for you, honestly, I am. But my love life is not a topic of conversation we’re going to be covering. Agreed?”
“That’s fine,” she said. I hated to step on her grand mood, but I didn’t particularly want to be around herwhen she was in her giddy stage of the first blush of romance.
“What are we making special today?” Emma asked.
“It’s business as usual. After we get the cake donuts made, we’ll go to work on the yeast ones.”
We worked through the variations of our cake donuts first—turning out plain, old-fashioned, pumpkin, orange spice, apple cinnamon, and lemon—and after they were finished and dripping in glaze, I turned the fryer up to 365 degrees, an easy temperature to remember. As I added twenty pounds of flour to the mixture of yeast and water already in the stand mixer, I turned it on to blend the mix and set the timer to five minutes.
When the timer went off, I turned off the mixer, removed the beater, and put a cloth over the top of the mixing bowl while it was still in the stand. I reset the timer to forty minutes, and it was finally time to stop for a while. Emma and I enjoyed our breaks outside, where the world was still dark and quiet and we felt as though we had it all to ourselves. Not even the rain, still pouring down in prodigious amounts, could keep us inside, since the awning over the front of the shop was enough to protect us from anything short of a hurricane force wind. There were a pair of modest tables with accompanying chairs outside for those who liked to eat their donuts alfresco, but the seats were wet, so we stood under the awning together and watched it rain.
“Are you really going to eat that?” she said as she pointed to my modest treat. Emma always had a powerbar with her coffee, while my snacks were varied, depending on the current state of my diet. Today I was having a rice cake, after getting on the scale a few days before and being alarmed by what my donuts were doing to my waistline.
I nodded. “Sadly, until I can stop sampling our wares, I’m going to have to. Walking doesn’t seem to help as much these days as it used to.”
Emma took another bite of her power bar, then said, “I read that as women get older, our metabolisms start slowing down, so it’s harder and harder to lose weight.”
“Fascinating. Did the article also mention that rain is wet, and fire burns?”
She said softly, “I didn’t mean anything by it, Suzanne. I just thought it was interesting.”
I laughed gently. “I’m sorry. I guess I’m just concerned
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