Pastry Mystery: Cheesecake Mistake

Chapter Two

Libby knew that she was at fault for causing a fire that almost burned down her shop and, in some way, her house. She should’ve been more careful and aimed her attention more at what she was doing at first, making a pancake. She was though too excited to make cheesecake. She stubbornly wanted to make a cotton cheesecake instead of doing her homework with the Danish pastry. Libby now hated to hear the word Danish even more. Since she was young, Libby didn’t like it when she was forced to learn something. She wanted to learn and do things she desired by herself. That was also why Jimmy never forced her daughter to learn baking like he did since everybody told Libby to do it a lot. Her father wanted Libby to always follow her passion and dreams, she remembered that. She knew that her father would eventually ask her to go on with his shop but Libby didn’t see it coming when she turned out having to deal with the production as well.

Besides, why did her father have to hand over the task to teach her to Toby? A few days dealing with him was a living hell for her. Toby was the complete opposite of Libby. He was always an uptight and perfectionist—things had to go the way it had always been. Not that he was afraid of a change, but he hated to see failure and didn’t see it necessary for Pastry Mystery to have a new menu. ‘He must have never been to a big city’, Libby assumed. She was still angry at Toby. He called her irresponsible and spoiled, which she actually wasn’t. She had yet made up her mind. If he didn’t let her do things the way she wanted, then so did she.

Libby came downstairs and went straight to the deli’s kitchen. She saw Toby was cleaning all the mess she created. She felt sorry for a second but she changed her heart right away. She cleared her throat, expecting him to spin around but he didn’t.

“There’s something I have to say,” said Libby, but he didn’t answer her at all. He kept on wiping the kitchen neatly. She tried one more time, “Toby, I said…”

“Yeah, I heard that. Just say it,” he replied without even looking at her. Libby glared at him, annoyed by his cold attitude.

“Toby, I’m going to sell Pastry Mystery,” she announced firmly, “I’m going to make a call to the realtor.”

Toby stopped cleaning but he didn’t turn around.

“Okay,” he responded shortly then continuing what he was doing.

Libby was surprised at his answer since she had prepared herself for a heated argumentation with him. ‘Oh, he thought I’m just bluffing?’ Libby guessed. She dialed the number of the only realtor in Amaranth Creek immediately. She wanted to show Toby what she was capable of.

“Good morning, speaking with Libby Vanderbilt. Yes, from Pastry Mystery. I’m interested in selling my father’s shop…” said Libby on the phone. Toby stopped cleaning and turned his head to Libby for a second and left to the storeroom to carry on with his works. He had plenty to do, from cleaning the shop, sterilizing jars and other equipment, making jams and most importantly also teaching Libby. Only a couple of days left until they had to reopen the bakery shop, and that was all he cared about.

Libby woke up earlier than she normally did but Toby was already there baking some bread and cakes. After greeting each other out of politeness, they didn’t talk much anymore. Libby tidied up the store a little bit and headed back to the kitchen. Toby was decorating some cupcakes with fresh-made frosting when Libby was at it again, making cotton cheesecakes. She had been making cotton cheesecake several times but it was always failed and didn’t look appetizing at all. She was determined to make a good one today and surprised the customers with something new from Pastry Mystery. Libby still didn’t realize that Japanese cotton cheesecake wasn’t something for a newbie level cook like her.

Even though she now knew how to do a proper Bain-Marie technique, she still either under- or over-beating the white eggs and thought that folding technique was just the same as merely mixing it. That would cause the cheesecake to be deflated and prevent it from rising and to become fluffy. Toby had checked on the internet how to make a cotton cheesecake that his new boss obsessed about, but he still didn’t feel like helping her at all. Libby needed to learn from her faults first. Even if she would beg her to make it, Toby wouldn’t just give in easily. Today, however, he couldn’t stand of looking at Libby making the same mistakes over and over again.

“Your egg whites are beaten improperly,” he gave a little hint to Libby without even looking at her. Libby was confused, she didn’t understand what he meant.

“Did I beat it too much?” asked her. Toby shook his head. She then put the mixer on its highest speed and the egg whites began to form a foam.

“You’re overdoing it. It’s too stiff now. It will be difficult for you to do the folding technique,” warned Toby. Libby turned off the mixer and blamed it on Toby instead.

“You said that I didn’t beat it enough!”

“I didn’t say it! I just nodded, but you should at least know when the mixture is too stiff or not,” refuted Toby.

“How do I suppose to know that?” asked Libby desperately but Toby left her all alone in the kitchen. He was preparing the bakery goods in the storefront since they only had five minutes left before opening.

At nine o’clock in the morning, some people already lined in front of Pastry Mystery. They were excited that their favorite bakery in town was finally open again. They knew that Toby could also make Danish as delicious as Jimmy, but they were curious how Libby would cope with it. Toby was a little bit overwhelmed since he had to serve all the customers by himself. He kept on telling Libby that he could use a little help on the front but she was still struggling with her cotton cheesecake batter.

“I’m coming!” she shouted impatiently. The regulars were asking where Jimmy’s daughter might be and Toby shrugged, he was too upset at Libby’s selfishness.

“Libby!” he yelled at her in the kitchen while she was putting her cheesecakes mixture in the oven. She washed off her hands and ran to the storefront immediately. While Libby was dealing with the customers, Toby was restocking the bread and cakes and mostly pastries that were sold out in no time.

In the mid-day when the store was getting a quiet, Toby went to pick up flour from the market that he ordered last week. He was worried to leave the store in Libby’s hands. He called the owner of the shop to ask if they could also deliver it to Pastry Mystery but his delivery man was sick that day. Libby assured him to get going that she promised she wouldn’t burn down the shop. Toby then took Pastry Mystery’s bus to get his order in the market.

There was no buyer at all in the shop when Libby was alone there. She took out her deflated cotton cheesecake from the kitchen. She folded the mixture too much and definitely wrong since the cake lost its fluffiness and didn’t feel light anymore. She sliced it into ten smaller pieces and took a bite of her failed cotton cheesecake.

“It doesn’t taste that bad,” she mumbled, but she admitted that it felt very heavy in her mouth and that it made her stomach full immediately after three bites.

“Do you also sell it? Or is it all only for yourself?” asked a customer startling Libby. It was a man in his thirties, a not familiar face at all. He walked closer to Libby who was standing behind the cashier desk.

“Oh, good afternoon. How can I help you?” asked Libby while wiping her mouth after eating. He chuckled looking at her, he thought she was cute.

“Hi, I’m Russell Fontana. Well, I heard from Susan Bradley from Marble Housing Realtor that you’re going to sell this place,” Russell explained himself. Libby beamed, she didn’t expect that a buyer would come so fast.

“Oh, right. Yes, I’m Libby Vanderbilt, the owner of this shop. Yeah, I’m considering to sell this shop. It used to belong to my father but he passed away a couple of weeks ago.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that,” Russell sympathized.

“Thanks. Oh, where do you come from? I’ve never seen you before… well, I just moved back from living in New York for four years, so maybe…”

“Yes, I’m a new guy here. I’m from Naples.”

“Florida?”

“No, Italy.”

“Oh,” Libby giggled, she was embarrassed from her wrong guess. “That’s why I don’t know you. Would you like to look around the shop?”

“Sure. Anyway, what was it that you ate earlier?” asked Russell curiously.

“Oh, it’s a Japanese cotton cheesecake, a new menu here,” Libby proudly introduced her masterpiece to him.

“It looks yummy,” he praised. Libby smiled brightly, she only wished that Toby would hear that. She excused herself for a while to make a tea for her guest in the kitchen.

When she returned, Libby explained about everything in the shop and a brief history of her late father’s shop. Russell also told Libby about his background—he was a restaurant businessman in Italy and owned some diners and delis back in his hometown. He wanted to expand his business and he chose Amaranth Creek since his ancestors came from this place. As if it was fated, when he just moved to this small town, he heard that Libby was selling her father’s shop. When the two were talking, a very loyal customer came. She was Eleanor Lutz, an old woman who was like a grandmother figure for Libby when she was younger. She took care of Libby a lot whenever her father was too busy with work and other things. She gave her a hug as soon as she saw her Old Ela.

“I’m so glad to see you here, love. Your daddy would be so proud of you if he saw you taking care of Pastry Mystery very well,” said Eleanor while putting the bread and Danish that she ordered in her rattan basket.

“Actually, I’m thinking of selling this place, Ela. He’s Russell Fontana, he’s interested to buy this place,” announced Libby. Eleanor was surprised to hear it. She gave off Russell a nasty look. She though didn’t say much and excused herself to go. Libby halted her and wrapped two pieces of Cheesecake that she made for Eleanor to take them home.

“Think about it again. Don’t act recklessly,” whispered Eleanor before she left. Libby nodded, she was actually not a hundred percent sure yet whether she really wanted to get rid of Pastry Mystery.

Libby and Russell were back on business. She let him in and took a look around the kitchen—something that was completely against her father’s very first rule. Nobody but personnel of Pastry Mystery was ever allowed to be in the kitchen. However, Libby broke the rule easily.

“Hey! Get out of here!” shouted Toby when he was back from the market and saw Libby with a stranger in the shop’s kitchen.

“He’s my guest!” replied Libby in also a loud voice, defending Russell.

“Nobody’s allowed to be here. Get out I said!”

“Toby! You’re fired!” yelled Libby back at him.

The following day, Libby was still angry at Toby and so was he. She didn’t bother to greet him in the morning. Toby tried to make an eye contact with her but she kept looking away. However, he couldn’t help but break a bad news to her.

“Eleanor Lutz is dead,” said Toby. Libby’s head was suddenly spinning and her knees felt very weak. It sounded like an impossible for her to be true since she just met her yesterday.