Chapter 1
New Beginnings
Camille Kennedy
I felt like taking a stroll down memory lane while I busily churned a mixing bowl full of brownie batter.
I cranked up the volume on the kitchen stereo—but not too loud, or the pot-bellied guy that lives upstairs will turn bright-red with anger and march down to yell at me. Today I felt like revisiting the Pixies, a band I was obsessed with in high school. And now, whenever I play their albums, a flash of high school memories come rushing back.
I sang along and bopped about to the music, laughing aloud when I suddenly remembered some silly inside joke that me and my friends spent all of senior year repeating. Or cringing with never-ending embarrassment when I recalled the time I relentlessly pursued that hot nerdy guy who clearly was never into me …
I always get a little lost in my own head-space when I'm working at the bakery. That's one of the reasons it's so hard to get awa—
“Camille!”
The sudden shout scared me so bad, my head nearly rocketed through the ceiling. I almost dropped my mixing bowl, too, fumbling it from hand to hand before I managed to catch it and safely set it down.
I let out a sigh of relief. With a hand over my racing heart, I turned the Pixies down to a whisper. Then I turned around to face Piper, the other half here at Velvet Bakery.
“I'm so sorry Camille! I didn't mean to scare you.” Piper covered her mouth with her hand to politely hide her smile. “But you got some sweet vertical on that jump, dude.”
I laughed too. “It's my fault. I couldn't hear the door over the music.”
Piper put her apron on. “But um. I have to ask: why are you here? You're supposed to be taking the day off, no?”
“Well,” I stalled. “I just wanted to make sure everything went smoothly.”
Piper stared right through me as she tied the apron strings into a knot behind her back. “Uh huh.”
“Why are you looking at me like that?” I asked, even though I already knew the answer: she wasn't buying what I was selling.
“I'm just wondering. Does this have something to do with the fact that I went out to the club last night?”
“Partly?” I sheepishly admitted. “It's just that, you know, our shop is still so new. We're still trying to making a name for ourselves, and first impressions mean a lot. So we have to be consistent, or—”
Piper cut me off. “And you've got to trust me, Camille. You're not the only one who's put some serious skin in the game, you know? I'm your business partner! And I shouldn't have to remind you that I also quit a pretty decent job to open this shop.”
“I know, I know. I'm sorry. I really didn't mean anything by it.”
“And that also means you've got to take some time off, Camille. I can't have you burn out on me. You've got to have a life outside the bakery. I mean, shit, what does Matt think of you working all the time?”
Saying his name made the wheels in Piper's head turn. I knew what the expression on her face meant: she'd begun to piece the real story together. I flinched, knowing what was coming.
“Waaaait a minute. Weren't you and Matt supposed to go to Rockaway Beach today? Wasn't that the whole point of you taking the day off in the first place?”
I toed at a smudge on the hardwood floor. “Yeah, it was.”
“Did you guys break up?”
“I wouldn't even say we were serious enough to call it a break-up in the first place. But yeah, we won't be seeing each other anymore.”
“But why?”
“Um.” I turned my back to Piper and resumed my prep cooking. “He had this crazy idea that I spend too much time at work and we never saw each other.”
“Wow, that is crazy,” Piper giggled.
“Okay, sure, I work too much. But I'm trying to follow my dreams and carve out an honest living here! And what about him? He's content living the life of a 'freelance audio engineer,' whatever the hell that means. I guess it means living at bars and only making enough money to barely pay your rent.”
Piper shrugged. She didn't think Matt was 'manly' enough for me, but that's a frequent complaint she makes about all the guys I date. It's odd, considering that Piper was raised on a hippie commune. But as free-spirited and open-minded as she is? She likes her guys beefy and manly.
“Not for nothing, but this is just a gentle reminder that Matt failed the bicep-calf test,” she added.
I rolled my eyes. I don't take the “bicep-calf test” too seriously, but Piper swears by her own invention—and any guy she dates must pass the test. Here's how it works, simply: boy's bicep must be thicker than girl's calf. She's dead serious about it, too. Piper will absolutely bust out a tape measure on the first date if it's too close to call.
“I don't think I've ever dated a guy who'd pass that test,” I muttered.
“Uh huh. That doesn't surprise me.”
“And I don't even want to meet a guy that does.”
“Sure.”
“Seriously. I just want a guy that fits my life. Every guy I date wants me to change for him. Why do I have to be the one that changes? Why not him?”
“I dunno.” Piper neared with outstretched arms. She wrapped them around me and squeezed me with a tight hug. “But I'm sorry to hear the news.”
I hugged Piper back. “Oh, really, it's fine. I told you, we weren't anything. And now I can really focus on work.”
Piper pinched my butt and, for the second time this morning, I leaped several feet into the air.
“Yow! The hell was that for?”
She pulled a spatula off the counter-top and waved it at me like a knife.
“You need to take some time off, lady!”
“Never!”
“Well, you're at least going to get out of my kitchen!” Wielding that spatula, Piper chased me out. “Because I'm scheduled to open, and that's exactly what I'm going to do. You can go sit in the office and drum up some hype on social media or something. I don't care what you do, but I'm opening the damn store like I'm supposed to.”
“Fine.”
I surrendered control of the kitchen and stood in the doorway, watching quietly as Piper took over and prepped for the day.
“Hey, how was the club, anyway?” I asked her.
“It was fun! Everyone had a good time. You really should've come out and seen some familiar faces.”
“I know. Maybe next time.”
Piper's ears perked up. “Next time it is—and I'll hold you to that.”
“We'll see,” I said with a doubting smirk.
“I'm holding you to it, Cammy. You need to meet someone to take your mind off Matt.”
“Blech,” I chortled. “Matt's not even a blip on my radar and I do not want to meet anyone else. Period.”
Piper tutted. “Whatever. Next time, you're coming out with me.”
I rolled and slunk away for the office, my mind already busy with the next task at hand to make sure Velvet Bakery gets off the ground.
We'd been open for a month; but it was a 'soft' opening to work out the kinks. Tomorrow was officially our grand opening—complete with a Times write-up to generate opening day hype.
And now it was time to spam the heck out of social media once again to let everybody know about it.
And pray for the best.