Sally was still looking at her like she wanted an answer, but Claire was saved from having to answer by the pipes in the bathroom, which decided to let out a series of disturbing gurgles.
“Are you sure the patch on the pipes will hold? I’ve been hearing some gurgling.” As if to punctuate that sentence, someone flushed the toilet in the café washroom, and the gurgling noises intensified. Fearfully, Claire stared at the wall, picturing a geyser erupting at any minute. She really hoped that didn’t happen. She only had one public washroom, and if something in there broke, she would have to close the shop per town regulations. And if she had to close the shop, she wouldn’t be able to make the cupcakes.
Sally popped the last of her muffin into her mouth and chewed. She shrugged and swallowed. “I don’t know. You heard what Ralph said about the pipes, but gurgling doesn’t have much to do with leaking. The patch should hold. Whether or not you’ll have another leak…” Sally shrugged to indicate she couldn’t make a prediction on that.
Right, well at least Sally wasn’t expounding on how she should team up with Rob Bradford anymore. To distract herself, Claire set back to work. Even though it was early in the day, she wanted to get setup for the evening’s baking. That way they could get started as soon as possible. She had time to make up for after yesterday.
“Flour, sugar, eggs, cocoa…” she muttered under her breath, listing the things she needed to bake the cupcakes.
She puttered toward the cupboards that housed her ingredients in pursuit of the first one. She pulled out the flour canister. It was empty. There were no helpfully stacked bags waiting next to it. She and her helpers had used all her flour last night.
Fortunately, she had thought ahead and sent in an order to her supplier for yesterday’s delivery. She’d found it on the back doorstep when she had returned from Tides and tugged it into the shop before drying herself off and preparing for her helpers to come for the night’s baking. They’d used up most of the flour she’d already had on hand and would need the new batch for tonight. Where had she put it?
She scanned the kitchen until she spotted the cardboard box with its distinctive logo on the side. Sunshine Flour was a US-based company that had the best flour she’d ever used. She lifted the box on the counter and took out a kitchen knife to break the seal of the delivery sticker on top.
The ink on the sticker was smudged. Claire had a sick feeling but ignored it as she cut into the sticker, which was dry, and the tape beneath. The box had been delivered yesterday while she was searching for Addie during the storm. Hailey, who hadn’t been able to stay after all, due to a conflict in her babysitter’s schedule, had manned the front only until the last customer had run to their car to drive home before the storm got worse. With the rain pouring down in sheets, Hailey had texted that she doubted Claire would be losing customers and she had to rush home to be with Jennifer before her babysitter left. She hadn’t checked the back door before closing, and Claire had been too frazzled to remind her.
The cardboard beneath the tape wasn’t moist exactly, but it didn’t feel as sturdy as it should have. Claire reached inside the box to lift the first of the bags of flour stacked neatly on their sides to fit as many as possible into the box. The paper bag was still damp.
“Oh no.”
She hefted the heavy bag and tore open the contents. It was wet and clumpy. Ruined. This wasn’t good. She might not have enough flour to bake the cupcakes tonight.
“What’s the matter?” Sally asked.
“The flour got wet.”
It was one bag. Maybe the others…
She opened another bag. Ruined. A third. Ruined. That left only two. Even if they were both fine, she had to bake at least ten dozen cupcakes tonight, or she would fall too far behind to be ready for the sale.
“Why don’t I run down to the grocery store and fetch you a few more bags?”
The offer was sweet, but Claire shook her head. “I don’t buy my flour from the grocery store. I buy it from a specialty supplier. They have a pastry blend that is extremely soft and fine. I can’t use grocery store flour, or the cupcakes won’t have the same quality my customers are used to. I’ll order more, but it will take at least a day to get here, and I have part-time help coming tonight to bake, and—”
Sally patted her arm. She had a kind face. Somehow, the crumb clinging to the corner of her mouth made her all the more sympathetic. “Is that the brand?” She tapped the side of the box.
Claire nodded. “Sunshine Flour.”
A gleam entered Sally’s eyes, and she stepped back with a sly smile. “Then I know exactly where to get you some. That Rob Bradford had a stack of these same flour bags in his shop. I’m sure he’d agree to let you borrow some if I asked.”
“No, don’t—”
Claire was too late. Sally had already turned and rushed out the door, leaving Claire with the unmistakable feeling that the day was about to turn into even more of a headache.
Rob frowned at the trim old handywoman who stared up at him expectantly. “You want to borrow a cup of flour?” Granted, it was the neighborly thing to do, but as a bakery, he’d never precisely been asked. It looked like Lobster Bay was going to keep him on his toes.
Sally hooked her thumbs in the straps of her overalls. “Ayuh, well, I was thinking more like several bags. It’s for Claire, across the road.”
“Really?” Rob’s gaze skipped to Sandcastles. Claire had sent Sally over to borrow flour? What an interesting turn of events.
“Claire’s shipment of flour got wet because, with all the hoopla going on up at Tides, the delivery was left outside in the rain. She’s fresh out of flour, and they don’t make emergency deliveries, so she’d have to wait until tomorrow.” Sally leaned closer. “She’s got all those cupcakes to make for the bake sale, and she needs that flour tonight.”
Rob’s smile widened. She needed the flour for the sale? This could be exactly the thing that would win Claire over.
“I’d be happy to bring over some flour for Claire. She needs one bag?”
“I’d say closer to three. She lost at least three in her shipment, and she has part-time help coming over this evening to bake.”
