Chase watched her with amusement. “This is a big deal, I take it?”
“Anyone can apply to enter the Battle,” Julie explained. “But only a few are selected for invitations every year. Grandma hasn’t gotten an invitation before.”
“This’ll show that Grace Pilsen,” Anna said. “She’s called me three years in a row to tell me she was invited. And to gloat. That Grace Pilsen.” Anna gritted her teeth at the thought.
Anna’s cell phone rang. She looked at the ID and grunted.
“Who is it?” Julie asked.
“That Grace Pilsen, I’ll bet,” Chase mouthed. The woman owned a bakery called The Pilsener. Anna was quite vocal about her opinion that using the word the in the shop name was pretentious. Chase thought The Pilsener sounded very much like a beer shop, but no alcohol at all was available there.
“Hello? Grace?”
Chase and Julie high-fived behind Anna’s back.
“You did? That’s nice,” Anna said, grimacing. “Yes, I know. Yes, I know. Yes, you’ve told me that. I think we must get our mail at the exact same time. I got mine just now, too . . . What do you think? The same thing you got. Listen, I’m very busy. I’ll call you later.”
Anna turned to the two young women with a smile that crinkled the corners of her eyes. “That felt good.”
“So, that Grace Pilsen got hers today, too?” Julie asked. “I was hoping she wouldn’t get invited this year.”
“That’s a little too much to hope for,” Anna said. “She helped found the Minny Batter Battle, after all. I believe the name was her idea. After all, she thought up the awful name of The Pilsener for her own place.”
“Minny for Minneapolis, I guess. How long has it been going on?” Chase asked. She had moved back to Minneapolis from Chicago last year and didn’t remember the contest from before she left.
“Three years,” Julie said. “But, Grandma, just because she was on the original committee doesn’t mean she should take up one of the invitational slots every year.”
“I agree.” Anna shuffled through the application papers that had also been in the envelope. “She doesn’t even have a hand in the organizing anymore. But it is what it is.”
Anna had a great philosophy, Chase thought. “True.” She started humming “I Dreamed a Dream” from Les Miserables and headed for the small office that housed the computer Chase used to pay bills. It was off the kitchen, near the rear door.
She stuck a leg through the door before entering to keep Quincy from escaping.
The butterscotch tabby jumped down from the computer keyboard where he’d been napping, alert at the sound of the doorknob turning. It was early for evening din dins. He peered up at the friendly human, the one who fed him his meals and treats. The way his ears pricked and his eyes brightened, you would think he expected a treat. That was not to be. She merely threw a stack of mail onto the desk, next to the keyboard that was still warm from the cat’s body, stooped to rub his head, setting off his rumbling purr, and left.
The cat was left to swish his tail in annoyance, then resume his nap.
Inger Uhlgren, one of the salesclerks, was entering the kitchen for her break when Chase returned.
“I’ll check back later,” Julie said. “I have to go buy some groceries for myself.” She waved and went out to the large parking lot behind the building.
“It’s wild today,” Inger said, hopping onto the stool Anna had vacated. “Maybe I shouldn’t take my break.” She took another look at Anna’s beaming face. “What’s up, Mrs. Larson?”
Anna told her about getting invited to the Batter Battle.
“Congratulations!” Inger jumped off the stool to give her employer a hug.
“Look at you, leaping around,” Anna said, holding Inger at arm’s length to inspect her tiny baby bump. “You must be feeling a lot better.”
“I am, finally. The morning sickness went away a few days ago.” It was so good to see a smile on her pretty face. Inger’s delicate coloring—gray eyes, blonde curls over a wide forehead—combined with her small stature, made her seem like a fragile doll. She made both Chase and Anna want to take care of her.
“I’ll go,” Chase said. “You go ahead and take your break. You probably need to drink something.”
“Yes, ma’am, Ms. Oliver.” Inger gave Chase a mock salute.
“Call me Chase.” Why did her employees all insist on calling her Ms. Oliver? She grabbed a salesroom smock off the hook by the swinging double doors that led to the front of the shop, thinking how relieved she was that Inger’s morning sickness was gone. The poor girl had gotten pregnant shortly before her fiancé got shipped overseas with the military and killed in battle. On top of that, her parents had thrown her out when she told them she was expecting. Chase, Anna, and Julie had all stepped in to make sure she had a place to stay, trading her off among themselves, until her parents relented and took her back in, briefly. Inger had made all the arrangements and was due to move into her own apartment soon, a short walk from the shop. Chase still felt that they should all watch over her, not trusting the uneasy truce in the Uhlgren family.
Chase entered her salesroom with a huge smile. She couldn’t help it; she was so proud of the Bar None. She and Anna were co-owners, but Chase had designed the salesroom on her own. She took a moment to enjoy the wallpaper with broad stripes of raspberry and vanilla, the cotton-candy-pink shelves ranked along the sidewalls, the small round tables heaped with boxes of treats, and the glass display case at the rear.
This month, garlands of fake pine, tied with pink bows, looped above the shelves. Chase and Anna had opted for a pink-and-green Christmas décor, noting that red and green would look fairly awful with all the pink in the shop. Anna had placed a few white poinsettias in the corners and Inger had taken it upon herself to string up the holiday cards the Bar None had received. They hung on a long green ribbon behind the shiny glass case.
She took another glance at the glass. Oops, not so shiny at the moment. Smudges, from fingers pointing to selections on the shelves, were inevitable. It would have to wait for a cleaning, though. The shop was too busy now.
A family with five small children was leaving. No doubt those wee fingers were responsible for the latest smears near the bottom of the case. Even with the family of seven gone, the room was crowded.
The newest employee, Mallory Tucker, was behind the counter ringing up sales, so Chase circulated among the browsers, explaining the contents of the boxes, from telling a middle-aged couple that Harvest Bars did indeed contain pumpkin and related spices, to pointing out to a pair of teenage girls that they could order a box of six with mixed dessert bars. They had been arguing because one of them wanted Peanut Butter Fudge Bars (she didn’t like coconut), the other wanted Hula Bars (she didn’t care for chocolate).
As soon as Inger returned from her break, of course, the customers thinned out. Chase returned to the kitchen with Mallory, so their newest hire could take her break.
Anna sat at the island again, perusing the application to the Minny Batter Battle, her purse on the counter. She must have gotten it out of the office, Chase thought.
“Oh, your phone dinged,” Anna said, still staring at the papers.
Chase’s phone was on the granite counter next to the refrigerator. She would get it next time she got up. Her feet were tired. Chase sat between Mallory and Anna.
“How are you holding up?” Anna asked Mallory. She had been working at the Bar None for only a week.
“Is it always this busy?” The young woman looked exhausted. Her long blonde hair was shiny, as were her eyes, but her shoulders drooped. Mallory had graduated from high school in the spring. In spite of that, in addition to babysitting, she had listed a long string of part-time and temporary jobs on her application. This was her first real payroll job, though. Anna and Chase had both been impressed by her earnestness and sincerity during her interview. So many of the applicants treated the whole experience as something frivolous, some even checking their phones repeatedly while Anna or Chase tried to get them to answer questions about themselves. So far, they both thought they had made the right choice. Mallory seldom smiled, but got along well with Inger, which was important. Her new employee was probably still a bit nervous on the job, Chase thought.