Chase took a sip of the tea, then set it down to redo the clip in her honey-blonde hair. It constantly needed redoing. Since her hair was so straight, her clips slipped easily and allowed her locks to dangle in her face. Not an ideal style for a place that sold food.
“That was pure luck,” Chase said. “I had to do something in a hurry when we lost the others. I think all the college kids already had jobs, so she was the only applicant.” She started humming “Luck Be a Lady” from Guys and Dolls.
Anna slid three batches of Harvest Bars, their new creation, into the oven. “I think we’ll have enough of our new dessert bars for the fair as soon as these are done. It’s almost time to close up.”
Anna and Chase had come up with the idea of pumpkin spice dessert bars especially for the autumn fair. When Inger had tasted them, she insisted they would be a huge hit.
Chase glanced at the clock on the wall. Five forty-five. Fifteen minutes until their regular Thursday closing time of six.
Her cell phone trilled and she saw Tanner’s ID. “I’ll be back in a sec,” she called to Anna, heading for the back door. She answered the call once she was outside. “Tanner, so what do you think?”
“I’ll do it. Your offer is good. But when do you want it by? And what exactly do you want?”
“A webpage. Isn’t that what we discussed?”
The kid—he couldn’t be more than seventeen or eighteen—had designed the website for Dr. Michael Ramos’s vet clinic and Mike had been happy to refer him to Chase. “Ms. Oliver, you need a web presence, not just a page. I can do it all if you want. You’ll need Facebook, Twitter, a blog—”
“Wait a minute. Let’s do this one step at a time. My partner isn’t totally on board with this, so we can’t go whole hog right now. We just need a webpage for visibility. And a map. And maybe a place where we can take online orders, I think. Those are the main things I’d like to get started.”
“Sure.” She could almost see him shrug his skinny shoulders. “If that’s the way you want to play it. I’ll do the page first. But you’re going to need to get involved, you know. Can you e-mail me some shots?”
“Some shots?”
“Yeah, the outside of the store and the place where you sell things.”
“The salesroom. Yes, I’ll take some pictures and e-mail them.”
“Cool. We’re on.”
She was starting to shiver, so she hurried back inside.
“Who was that?” Anna looked suspicious.
“I had to get something from my car.”
“Who was on the phone? It was that computer kid, wasn’t it? Did you tell him we don’t need to be online? We sell products at the store, not on a computer.”
“It would at least be good advertising. People could find us on the web and would know how to get here.”
Anna looked doubtful. “Come help me get these boxed up to take tomorrow.”
“I’m still not sure if we should have let Julie talk us into having a booth at the Harvest Fair.” Julie was Anna’s actual granddaughter, though she treated Chase as if she were one, too.
Anna picked up her cup of tea from the granite counter next to the stove and came to sit next to Chase. “I think it’s a fabulous idea.” Anna’s merry eyes crinkled when she smiled.
Chase was glad the subject was changed from the webpage.
Dinkytown, where the Bar None was located, bordered the campus of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. The neighborhood, so named after a remark meant to be derogatory, was a miniature shopping district with a few residences sprinkled in. Chase’s own apartment was above the shop.
A plaintive mew came from behind the office door.
“I’ll go check on him,” Chase said. She warmed up a Kitty Patty in the microwave for a few seconds. Slowly, she edged the office door open, putting her foot in position to keep Quincy contained inside.
The butterscotch tabby sat in the middle of the floor, even though the feeding woman was ready to block his escape if he’d been near the door. The treats usually came earlier in the day, and the cat was starting to feel hungry and neglected. It seemed he was being careful not to look too eager, waiting while she set the patty on a plate before he strolled over to give it a sniff. However, after the meaty aroma reached his pink nose, he dived in. The woman smiled and cooed baby talk to him for a few moments before she left.
Chase returned to the kitchen, where the pumpkin-spicy smell of the baking welcomed her again. She couldn’t get enough of it. She and Anna were the co-owners of the Bar None, their pride and joy and joint business venture. Though Anna was Chase’s senior by quite a few years, she was also her surrogate grandmother and the woman who had helped raise her after her parents passed away. For the most part, they got along. Anna used to sneak cookie bar crumbs to Quincy, which didn’t help his weight problem. But now that Chase had perfected the Kitty Patty treats, Quincy was slimming down a bit and Chase didn’t have to always worry that Anna was sneaking things to him. A big source of conflict had evaporated with the creation of the Kitty Patties.
“Ms. Oliver?” Inger’s faint voice drifted back to the kitchen.
Chase rushed to the front room, where she found Inger Uhlgren slumped over the glass display case, clutching the edges with whitened knuckles.
“What’s the matter?” Chase lifted the hem of her own Bar None smock and wiped Inger’s damp forehead. Inger’s blonde curls were matted against her wide, usually clear brow, which was now pinched and furrowed.
“Anna!” Chase put her arms around the young woman, and when Anna rushed to their side, the two of them managed to help Inger into the office, where there was a chair with arms and a back.
“Go,” said Anna. “Call someone. I’ll stay with her.”
“Who should we call, Inger?” Chase asked. She knew someone should man the salesroom for a few more minutes, but maybe they needed an ambulance more urgently than anything else.
“I’ll be okay.” A bit of color was returning to Inger’s pale face. “I had a dizzy spell. If I sit for a few minutes, I’ll be able to get back to work.”
Quincy approached, sniffed Inger’s shoes, then jumped into her lap, where she stroked him a few times before dropping her hand into her lap.
Anna fanned Inger’s glistening face with a folder from the desktop. “You’ll do no such thing. We’re nearly ready to close. You’re not going back to work. You need to see a doctor.”
“No, really, I don’t. I get these spells. When it’s over, I’ll be all right.”
Anna and Chase shot each other doubtful looks, but Chase left them, making certain that Quincy was in the office when she closed the door. The rascally cat had a real skill for escaping at exactly the wrong times and getting into exactly the wrong things. In the past, he’d led Chase into some trouble.
Today, though, her problem was Inger, the model employee they’d hired a few weeks ago. She hadn’t been feeling well lately and this wasn’t the first time Chase had worried about her.
As soon as Chase returned from the front, having drawn the shades, flipped the sign, and locked up, Inger stood.
“If you don’t mind, I’ll go home now.”
“Do you need one of us to take you home?” Anna asked.
“No, I can drive. Thanks, though. I feel bad about not staying to help clean up.”
“We wouldn’t think of letting you do that when you’re sick like this. Let us know if you can’t make it in tomorrow morning,” Anna said. She ran and got Inger’s jacket from the hook by the door that led to the parking lot behind the store.
“Thanks, Mrs. Larson. Thanks, Ms. Oliver. I’ll be fine tomorrow.”
“Call me Chase.” Chase studied her as she walked out to the parking lot. Her gait was steady, but she was still pale as she made her way to her old, faded red sedan.