Pastry Mystery: Cheesecake Mistake

Chapter Three

Libby daydreamt in the kitchen while folding her cotton cheesecake mixture that would surely be failed again. Her mind was back to what happened yesterday. She was still very angry at Toby for treating her guest, Russell, badly. She didn’t like when Toby yelled at him and kicked him out rudely. She knew that her father wouldn’t be pleased as well if he knew that she let a stranger in their holy kitchen. But Russell was different, according to her. He was a potential buyer of this store if she still wanted to sell it later. Amaranth Creek was a very small town and a property buyer didn’t just come right to your door like Russell. She fired Toby as the result. He hadn’t treated her nicely since the beginning. She had to put him in his place and respected her as the new owner of the shop.

This morning she didn’t expect him to come back to Pastry Mystery since she fired him yesterday, but Toby still showed up. He was there when Libby went down to the kitchen. She didn’t want to talk to him and neither did he. He yet didn’t have any choice but to let her know that Eleanor Lutz passed away. After that, they continued their cold war until now. Libby sighed, ‘Ela is gone’, she thought. She remembered Eleanor as a grandmother figure for her. She used to take care of Libby a lot whenever Jimmy was busy with his store or helping other people.

Eleanor was very proud yesterday when she saw Libby wearing her father’s old apron and worked at Pastry Mystery. She had told Libby a million times that she should’ve taken over her father’s shop instead of pursuing a career in the East Coast. But her Ela was gone very soon and unexpectedly. Libby didn’t have a chance to prove her baking ability to her. Instead, she gave her a failed cotton cheesecake yesterday—Libby acknowledged that. She smiled wryly imagining that Eleanor would still praise her even though that cake was a complete mess.

Toby broke her daydream when he coughed loudly behind her. They still didn’t say a word to each other. According to Libby, she had fired him and he also had no right to be in this kitchen as well, but she didn’t say it. She wasn’t in the mood to have a ridiculous argument with him. He was wrong if he thought that Libby would give in easily and forgive him. She wanted to make sure that Toby would get down on his knees and plead to keep his current job.

Toby, on the other hand, also didn’t want to yield. He promised Jimmy to take care of Pastry Mystery and to help his impossibly stubborn daughter in both baking and running the business. Jimmy’s unconditional kindness was his reason to stay until now. When he lost his parents and a house where he grew up in Honeydew Bay due to a bunch of debts his brother caused from gambling, Jimmy was the one who helped him. He could finish his culinary study in college also thanked to him. Although he actually held a certificate as a pastry chef, Toby preferred to stay with Old Jimmy and helped him with everything. Toby was more than just an apprentice and a right hand for Jimmy, he was kind of like a son too. Now, he only wanted to fulfill his promise to the kindest person he ever met in his life.

Toby was practically working all by himself since Libby was only concerned at herself and her Japanese cotton cheesecakes. She still helped out a little bit but it would be more useful for Toby if she would also take part in baking the other bread and cakes. Libby had been offering her cotton cheesecakes to every customer that came but most of them refused since it didn’t look appetizing. She even gave it away for free but they still kindly said no. Toby chuckled anytime Libby received another rejection, he was entertained to hear that. ‘She will give up soon’, he guessed. He was right, but she would have to learn it hard way until she dropped it like a hot potato.

Pastry Mystery closed at eight p.m. and Libby would go up after cleaning up the store, but she never saw Toby left before that. He stayed since he had to prepare everything for the following day. Like tonight, it was ten o’clock in the evening but she heard the kneading machine was on downstairs—Toby was still working. She felt honestly sorry that he had to do things all by himself, but he should’ve behaved better if he wanted Libby to help more and be nice to him. He was always unkind and he kicked out her guest one time.

“What a jerk,” she mumbled. She hadn’t heard anything from Russell anymore since he left yesterday though she didn’t plan to call him. It would scare him more, she thought. If Russell lost interest in buying Pastry Mystery, it would definitely be Toby’s fault.

Bzzz. Bzzz. Her mobile phone buzzed, she received a short message—it was Russell.

Russell F.: Hey, Libby. Are you still up?

Liberty Vanderbilt: Hey, Russell. Yes, I am. What’s up? Anyway, I’m sorry for Toby…

Russell F.: Never mind. He was right, I should’ve not been there. He was just doing his job

Liberty Vanderbilt: Thanks

Russell F.: What for?

Liberty Vanderbilt: For understanding.

Russell F.: Anyway, do you have a plan tomorrow?

Liberty Vanderbilt: Not really. Why?

Russell F.: Would you like to have lunch at my place? I want to show you off my cooking skill

Liberty Vanderbilt: Yes, sure! Would love to try

Russell F.: Great! At 1 p.m. sounds good to you? I’ll send my driver to pick you up.

Liberty Vanderbilt: Sure! See you tomorrow then

Russell F.: See you tomorrow, Libby. Good night.

Libby giggled but soon she was ashamed of herself. She didn’t understand why she felt very happy to meet Russell again, but he definitely was good looking and a really nice guy. Not like the cold-hearted guy downstairs who never said any kind word that would make her smile like this. ‘Why do I even think about him?’, she grunted at herself. Libby then tucked herself under the blanket and ready to count the sheep. She still could hear the baking machines working downstairs but the sound slowly faded away as her eyes closed.

As usual, Toby was already in the kitchen when Libby went downstairs. It’s been four days since they talked to each other. They received Eleanor’s funeral invitation card this morning and Toby only placed it on the table in front of Libby without saying anything. Libby read it and also said nothing in return. They went on with their work in silence. Both of them hated it actually but they also refused to yield. Toby was somehow wowed at how determined Libby was to make a cotton cheesecake. He actually knew how to make it but he enjoyed watching Libby getting frustrated at it.

Japanese cotton cheesecake wasn’t something easy to make. She needed to beat the egg whites until almost stiff peak. If they were not beaten enough, they cake might dense and wouldn’t rise properly in the oven since the egg whites would break easily when Libby folded them into the remaining mixture of ingredients. Meanwhile, if she overdid it, she would also face difficulty in folding the beaten egg whites with the rest of the mixture. She would fold too much to combine and would lead to deflation and the texture would be heavy and no longer fluffy. Folding technique itself wasn’t an easy step for beginners to make, and according to what Toby saw, Libby wasn’t even remotely close to doing it correctly.

Today, Libby’s cotton cheesecake fully rose but it shrank after being taken out of the oven. There was also a slight smell of raw eggs from it. It was because of insufficient baking time, Toby knew that, but Libby still served them in the shop. Libby was in hurry today since she was going to have lunch with Russell later. She still had more than enough time to prepare herself. ‘It was just a lunch’, she kept assuring herself, yet she kept feeling very excited to meet Russell again. She wrote a note for Toby that she would head out to meet Russell and placed it on the fridge’s door. She then got back to help Toby in the shop which was now very crowded.

Nobody, not a single person, accepted Libby’s kindness to taste her cotton cheesecake for free. ‘It isn’t that bad’, she thought. Ten slices of her cakes were all still whole on the display table, she was once again disappointed to see that.

“I’d like to try a piece of that, Libby,” said Dan Michelson, her father’s longtime customer. He felt pity to see everybody kept refusing Libby’s offer. Libby beamed brightly. She wrapped two pieces in a paper box for Dan right away.

“I hope you’ll enjoy it,” wished Libby.

“I will, my dear.” After Dan left the shop, Libby went upstairs right away. She had to get ready before Russell’s driver arrived. She didn’t say anything about it to Toby—she didn’t feel obliged to do so.

Russell lived in a big mansion near the creek and forest almost outside Amaranth Creek. That place was once owned by McKenzie family—a rich bakery business family in town. Since the death of Landon McKenzie twenty-five years ago, that place had been empty and deserted. Rumor had it that the big mansion still belonged to the McKenzie’s only son who disappeared after the death of his parents, but apparently it was wrong. Russell Fontana wasn’t a McKenzie, at least that was what Libby knew, and he came from Italy. She chuckled in awe to see the place her new friend’s life and know that he lived here all by himself. After getting off the car, a housemaid opened the door for Libby. She said that Russell had expected her to come and that she could head to his study right away. Libby was a little lost to find where his study room was. The housemaid came back to show her the way.

“Thank you,” said Libby a little embarrassed. She could hear Russell was discussing about opening a bakery business with a woman. She didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but the door wasn’t closed either. She then knocked the door when she heard them no longer talking. She didn’t want to interrupt Russell working.

“Please come in,” said Russell letting her in. She opened the door. Russell seemed to still be occupied with his work. There was a tall and slender woman with long wavy blonde hair standing before him. She was holding some piles of paper and kept giving one to Russell for him to write, or sign—Libby wasn’t sure.

“Ahem,” Libby cleared her throat, she felt awkward to disturb her new acquaintance in the middle of his work. “Hi, Russell.”

“Oh, wait a second Libby. I’m almost done,” Russell smiled from ear to ear to see her. The blonde woman in a tight red dress spun around. A familiar face appeared before Libby, not a kind one though.

“Libby?” said that familiar lady in a surprise.

“Jessica?” Libby also couldn’t believe her eyes—it was Jessica Medley, her high school rival.

“Libby, she’s my secretary, Jessica. Do you guys know each other?” asked Russell confused.

“Of course,” answered Libby and Jessica at the same time while glaring at each other. They hated one to another since they were students in Amaranth Creek High School.

“Great! Then we all can have lunch together now,” announced Russell happily.

“What?!” cried both ladies simultaneously.