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CHAPTERONE
“Gus! You have to let me go!” Mindy Harvey laughed as her small, fluffy white dog pranced around her feet, yapping excitedly. “I told you, you can’t go to the bakery with me, even if you do look outrageously cute in your new sweater.”
Gus sat back on his haunches, looking up at her with his big dark eyes and tilting his head to the side, his fuzzy ears flopping over as he regarded her. Earlier that morning, she’d dressed him in a turquoise sweater with tiny pink cupcakes on it, a match to the one that she now wore.
The outfit had gotten him more than a few compliments as they had gone out on their morning walk. The other residents of Snowy Pine Ridge had stopped to pet him as they passed and tell him what a handsome boy he was. So, in typical Gus fashion, he was ready to head back out the door and be showered in more affection. Mindy’s only problem was that because of all his preening, she was now running late. But she had to admit, his cuteness did make up for it.
“My customers are going to be banging down the door if I don’t get there soon,” she crooned, giving herself a second longer to scratch the dog behind his ears before standing and putting on her coat.
Gus whined low in his throat as Mindy opened her front door partway, but he didn’t make a move to dart out of the small crack between the door and the frame.
“I’ll be home as quick as I can,” she promised, blowing him a kiss before closing the door behind her and heading out into the cold.
A fresh snow had fallen the night before, and the white, downy powder kicked up around her as she trudged through it. The early morning sun was glinting off the snow, casting dancing colors of gold, blue, and red across it, mingling with the Christmas lights that hadn’t yet been turned off from the night before.
Mindy had moved to Snowy Pine Ridge a few years prior, establishing her bakery, Baking Fiend, and getting immersed in the community as quickly as she could. It hadn’t necessarily been an easy road—her own fears and insecurities from her past had seen to that. But the beautiful town had wrapped its arms around her and welcomed her as if she’d always been there, despite her initial struggles. And it had felt like home ever since.
It wasn’t a long walk to Baking Fiend, but that didn’t stop her from passing several people she knew on herway. She spotted Clark Mitchell turning the sign on the door of his hardware store to “OPEN” as she passed, and he and Mindy exchanged a friendly wave. She loved the fact that it was like that in this town, that the people would greet you every day and wouldn’t hesitate to make you feel like one of them.
Mindy breathed out a sigh of happiness as Baking Fiend came into view. The lights inside were already on, and she could see the telltale sign of Allison, one of her employees, taking down the chairs from the tables and getting everything ready for the first customers of the day. Normally, Mindy would have been there well before Allison, but Gus had been so cute that morning that she just hadn’t been able to leave him.
She walked in through the front door, the familiar smell of the bakery wafting around her, and Mindy took a moment to tilt up her chin and sniff the air. She loved that even when there was nothing in the oven, the place still always smelled like baked goods.
“Good morning!” Allison beamed at her as she pulled down the final chair and arranged it neatly at its table.
“Morning! Sorry I’m late.” Mindy greeted the younger woman with a wave, rushing past Allison to drop off her bag and coat in the office.
“No worries at all,” Allison called after her. “It was kind of nice to have the place to myself. It’s a great spot for people watching.”
As soon as Mindy shrugged off her coat and scarf, pausing just long enough to push one of the blonde, corkscrew curls that had fallen across her forehead out of her face, she popped her head out the door. Allison was pointing toward the front of the store, which was really just one giant window. And sure enough, it gave them both a clear view of the town and the sleepy-eyed residents who were walking about.
“Yeah, that’s my favorite part about the mornings here too,” Mindy said, shootingAllison a quick grin before choosing her apron for the day from the hooks behind the counter.
Mindy was proud of the assortment that she’d collected over the years. They were bright and colorful, each one with its own cute or interesting pattern that had made her swoon. After looking down at her outfit, she chose an apron that was a bright pink to match the cupcakes on her sweater. It had white, horizontal stripes as well, and she liked the way the two fabrics didn’t quite match but somehow still complemented each other. The apron also went well with her brown eyes.
She and Allison made their way toward the kitchen, and she began reciting the recipe that she was going to be teaching her employee that day. A few months ago, she and Allison had decided that Allison would begin learning some of their staple recipes, and Mindy had taken up the mantle of teaching them to her one at a time. She would then give the younger woman a few weeks of being assigned to making just that pastry, using Mindy as a guide as she went along.
Ever since her time in culinary school in New York, Mindy had been passionate about teaching the art of pastry making to others, and she’d often volunteered inher classes to do demonstrations with their teachers. Being able to bestow some of what she’d learned on Allison, an avid baker who had an incredible amount of talent and whom Mindy thought very highly of, filled her heart with joy.
As she walked Allison through everything, the dark-haired young woman nodded vigorously, taking it all in as Mindy showed her the delicate technique of folding butter softly into the dough for their flaky, delicious croissants.
“Do you think you’ve got it?” Mindy asked after her second time demonstrating, and Allison gave an enthusiastic, “Yup!”
Mindy stepped aside, giving her employee space to begin working, watching over her shoulder as she repeated the steps Mindy had just shown. But Allison was doing such a good job that there wasn’t a lot for Mindy to supervise, and her mind began to wander.
She glanced up, her gaze drifting toward the massive windows at the front of the shop, and she spotted a few familiar faces as they walked by. Colette and Zach, two of her friends who had just recently gotten married, strolled by with their hands linked. They glanced at the window as they walked past, giving Mindy a quick wave and a smile before continuing on their way down the block. They were likely headed toward Zach’s art gallery to get everything set up for the day, and then Mindy was sure Colette would be making an appearance at Baking Fiend soon for her daily coffee run.
“How does this look?” Allison asked, grabbing Mindy’s attention again as she nodded down to the dough, which had been pressed and rolled out almost perfectly atop the counter.
“It looks fantastic.” Mindy beamed. “Now let’s get it cut and folded onto the trays.”
Allison nodded as Mindy went to work behind her, grabbing baking sheets and lining them with parchment paper before setting them in front of the other woman. She offered to help Allison form the croissants, but the girl declined, saying she wanted the practice.
Mindy was all too happy to turn that portion of the work over to her peppy employee. So she stepped away, heading to the other side of the kitchen area, and started to pull out the items that hadn’t sold the day before, marking them downat a discount.
She hummed “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” under her breath as she worked, grinning as more and more sunlight began to pour through the windows. She began preparing the muffins, cookies, and scones, and soon the entire bakery was filled with the smell of the treats she and Allison were preparing.
An alarm went off, letting her know that it was officially time to open, and Mindy grinned as she walked toward the front door and flipped the sign from CLOSED to OPEN. Within minutes, she and Allison had their first customer of the day, which was no surprise to either of them.
