Ginny Gold - Early Bird Café 04 - Croaked Wheat (2 page)

Kori was completely distracted when Zach walked out the front door. All she’d done so far was bake bread, get coffee ready and plan what else would be on the menu. But she hadn’t made any waffle batter, arranged her cooking space or even gotten ingredients out. She’d only put them away.

She glanced at the clock and saw that she had five minutes before she had to officially open. And where was Teddi? They’d agreed that he’d pickup his crates of food and supplies before she opened at five thirty.

Just as she finished that thought, the front door opened and in walked
Teddi. “Sorry I’m almost late, Kori. Things were hectic this morning.”

Kori pasted on the most convincing smile she could manage and thought to herself,
Tell me about it
. To Teddi she said, “Let’s head to the back. I have everything set aside for you. Did you bring your truck to load it?”

“Yup. Dan is driving it out back. He’s going to be the one to come pick stuff up from now on. Will that work?”

“Of course.” Kori was actually relieved. She loved seeing Teddi, but he was getting unreliable as he aged and she worried that he was overworked. Having Dan take on more responsibility would help them both in the long run. “I’ve gotta get to work but I’ll make sure Dan is all set if he has any questions. Are you going to help him?”

“Not today. But let me know if there are any issues.”

Kori nodded and they parted ways, Teddi back out the front door and Kori to the kitchen. She had to go out back to make sure Dan was all set but she
really
had to get everything ready for customers. How had today already gotten to be so overwhelming?

“Hey Kori,” Dan said from the back of the pickup truck he’d driven over. He had already
laid down boards from the bed of the truck to the ground to use as a ramp to load all of the crates.

“Hi Dan. I just wanted to make sure you were all set. You okay to do this alone?”

“Yup. I’ll holler if I need you.”

Kori wasn’t sure she’d be able to offer any help but she waved her consent and walked back out front to turn the sign to open and then get her kitchen ready. Maybe every
other Wednesday needed to be a three o’clock kind of morning with her alarm. She sighed at the thought.

On her way to the kitchen, Kori filled up the biggest mug she had with coffee. With all of the activity this morning she was already feeling a little drained, and she had a longer day than usual with Kiera coming in at two for her interview. Kori had wanted to give herself an hour after closing—assuming everything went as planned, which wasn’t looking promising today—to make sure she’d reviewed Kiera’s résumé and knew what questions she wanted to ask.

Kori took her first sip of coffee and felt it go straight to her head, waking her up a little bit more. She placed the mug next to her stove top and turned all of the burners to low to preheat as she got everything out—eggs, greens, yogurt, milk, the gluten free flour mixture she swore by, jams, syrup and so much more. She set her frozen muffins on baking sheets and stuck them in the oven to thaw slowly. She was always impressed with how fresh they tasted even after being frozen, sometimes for months.

Finally, she was ready to bake the second batch of bread and
she put the dough in the hot Dutch ovens. Just as she was closing the oven door and setting the timer so they wouldn’t burn, she heard the front door open and she knew the day was starting.

She turned back to her working space and leaned through the window into the dining area to see if it was a local and she could make her own breakfast or if someone who might need a little guidance had entered.

“Hey Kori,” called Spencer Graff, the owner of HC Auto Body, Jay’s place of employment.

Kori waved and called back, “Hi Spencer.” She could see that someone was behind him but Spencer was still blocking the other person. Kori waited just a moment longer as they walked toward a booth before getting off her tippy toes and starting to make herself a green smoothie.

Just as she leaned back into her kitchen she saw that the person accompanying Spencer was Jay. And he hadn’t glanced her way once.
He’ll be thrilled when he finds out Mom already told me about his breakup
, Kori thought to herself, adding yogurt, banana and fresh spinach to the jar she would use to blend her smoothie.

When those ingredients were fully incorporated, she added frozen blackberries, blueberries and mango. A little almond milk went on top and she blended everything again until she knew there would be no big chunks of frozen berries.

Then she was finally ready to start taking orders. She calmly walked to the only occupied booth and greeted her still-silent brother, “Morning Jay. How’s it going?” She didn’t want to pry in front of his boss, or let on that she knew anything from their mom.

“Hey Kori. Things are good.” Jay was never one for talking much, but this was quieter than usual.

“What can I get you guys started with?” she asked, splitting her attention between Jay and Spencer.

“No home fries today?” Spencer asked.

“Sorry. I’m running low on potatoes. I’ll get some this afternoon and make sure I have them tomorrow. Just make sure you come in again.”

“Will do. How about an omelet with spinach instead. And a side of toast. You have strawberry jam?”

Kori nodded. “But not for much longer. I’m running low already. I can’t believe how popular it’s been this summer.”

“I might be its biggest fan. Oh, and some coffee,” Spencer added as an afterthought.

“Jay?” Kori asked, turning to the other side of the booth.

“Coffee. And
an omelet with Swiss chard and a muffin.”

Kori nodded, still wishing she could ask him about
Lani, and headed back to the kitchen where she started making omelets. She listened to hear if Dan was still busy loading crates onto his truck but she didn’t hear anything so assumed that he was finished. She would have liked to check to make sure, but she heard the door open and the café fill with voices and had a sudden moment of panic because she hadn’t even mixed together the waffle batter.

As the omelets cooked, she snuck sips from her smoothie, checked the muffins—which were warmed and smelled fresh baked—and bread—which still had some more time to go—and then walked back out to take more orders. She couldn’t wait to have someone working for her to help manage the chaos!

And managed chaos was what the next seven hours felt like until she could finally close the door and sit down. She hadn’t had a bite to eat since she’d finished her smoothie so she treated herself to the ends of the fresh bread that she didn’t serve and dipped them in seasoned oil.

As she filled her stomach, feeding nibbles to Ibis who was antsy to go outside, Kori thought back to the previous night with Zach. It had been perfect. She wouldn’t have changed anything, except her early morning. In her daydream, they enjoyed a cup of coffee together
on a deck that she didn’t have, feet up, sun on their faces.

Thinking of him, she suddenly remembered why he had rushed out without any coffee or breakfast. She had to check on Nora.

But that would have to wait. “Let’s go, Ibis,” Kori said instead.

Her dog happily followed her to the front door where Kori grabbed the leash, clipped it to Ibis’ collar, and they walked up Main Street.

Main Street just after lunch was so different from Main Street just after four in the morning when she took Ibis for her morning walk.

“Closed already?” Vera Joy called from across the street. She was opening the door to Furry Friends, the shelter where Kori had found Ibis.

“Yup,” Kori called back and waved as Vera walked into the shelter. Kori was jealous that she got a break, even if it was for lunch and Kori closed after lunch.

Down the street, Kori saw The Treasure Chest, a consignment shop owned by Mel Styles, was hopping with business, more than usual. Kori wondered if her
teen daughter Jackie was working there all summer or if she’d talked her mom into letting her get a job elsewhere.

Kori and Ibis passed the auto body but she didn’t see Jay and she didn’t want to look like she was tracking him down to corner him into telling her things he didn’t want to share.

They crossed a street and came to Scoop’s Scoops, owned by Betsy Scoop. Kori made the impulse decision that this would be their final destination and she would treat them both to an ice cream before heading back to get ready for Kiera’s interview.

“Hey Kori. It’s been so long since I saw you. How’s it going? I hear things are getting serious with you and Lieutenant Gulch.” Betsy raised her eyebrows a couple times.

“You’ve gotta start coming to breakfast again. We’ve missed you there,” Kori replied, ignoring the part about Zach.

“My days have gotten long this summer. I thought growing the business would be only good, but I liked having a little more time.” At the beginning of the summer season, Betsy had moved Scoop’s Scoops over one building, doubling its size.

“I’m glad it’s busy. At least it pays the bills,” Kori offered.

“Good point. Did you and Ibis come in just to say hi or can I get you an ice cream?” Betsy asked, backing up from the counter and giving Kori space to browse the options.

Scoop’s Scoops was known for their unique flavors ranging from the standard chocolate chip to bacon or garlic. Kori had tried the garlic once out of curiosity, and because she hadn’t found anything that garlic couldn’t improve, and thought there wasn’t enough garlic! Betsy’s excuse was that a previous batch had been far too garlicky.

“You have something for Ibis?” Kori asked. She didn’t like giving her dog
food that was too far out of the ordinary, but many places had a treat tailored to dogs because so many travelers brought their dogs when visiting Hermit Cove.

“Sure do. What can I get you?” Betsy handed over a waffle-looking cone but Kori didn’t dare try it, assuming it would taste like cardboard to her.

“I’ll have the … mmm, the pumpkin cheesecake. Small. Isn’t it a little early for pumpkin flavored treats? It’s still only August.”

Betsy started scooping. “Cup or cone?”

“Cone.”

“It’s never too early for pumpkin in my opinion.”

Kori accepted the offered cone and took out money to pay. “I guess you’re right. Can’t go wrong with pumpkin. Or cheesecake.”

“This one’s on the house. You’re always treating everyone to breakfast, now it’s your turn to accept a free treat.”

Kori was a little embarrassed. She always thought that no one really noticed how many meals she gave away. She pocketed her money without trying to pay a second time, knowing she’d be refused. “Thanks.” Kori held up her cone in a “cheers” gesture and walked back outside where she gave Ibis her treat. Then they walked back slowly to The Early Bird Café, Kori enjoying her ice cream the whole walk back.

By the time they got back and settled, Ibis in Kori’s office and Kori at a booth that she wiped down, she only had twenty minutes before the scheduled start time for Kiera’s interview and she still had to print out her résumé. She’d reviewed it on her computer, but she wanted to have it in front of her while she interviewed her first, and preferred, candidate.

With résumé and interview questions in hand, Kori unlocked the front door to the café at five minutes to two and waited. She pulled up her email on her phone, hoping to have something from Nora since she hadn’t received a text from her all day even though she knew her day had probably been just as busy as Kori’s.

Three minutes later, Kiera walked through the front door and Kori got up to greet her.

“Kiera, you’re an adult!” Kori thought she’d seen her more recently than the last time she’d babysat, but it must have just been in passing because her comment made the twenty-something year old blush and look down, an embarrassed smile on her face.

Kiera looked back up at Kori and said, “It happens. How are you?”

Kori was pulled back to professionalism when Kiera stuck her hand out to shake. Kori ignored it and pulled her in for a hug. “I’m doing great. But it’ll be even better once I have someone working for me. What about you? How are your parents?”

Kori motioned for Kiera to take a seat across from her in the booth and Kiera sat. “They’re good. I’m really glad you asked me to come in for an interview. I’m sure you saw on my résumé
that I was taking culinary classes at the community college. But I know working for you would be a way better way to learn about food.”

Kori was
immediately impressed with Kiera’s desire to show off her background.

“What was your favorite class?” Kori asked, glancing down at the résumé in front of her to double check that she had the list of classes Kiera had completed.

“I really loved the couple I took about international cuisine—Thai and Italian. I always thought Italian food was just pasta and pizza but there’s so much more that goes into it.”

Kiera’s passion for all things food was palpable and her energy was engaging. Kori was just happy to be having this conversation, but thrilled that it was an interview. Adding a young, passionate individual to her team would be priceless.