“I remember a long time ago, you did holiday orders for doughnuts. Remember that—when you still owned your trucks?”
“Of course,” Faith said. “I did it because one of my trucks kept breaking down, and I needed to stay in business.”
Joey nodded. “Grams and I like to make Thanksgiving pies,” she said. “And I was thinking that I could take holiday orders the way you did…using social media.”
Faith glanced over to her, her kind smile growing by the moment. “That’s a great idea, Joey.”
“Do you have any advice for me?” Joey asked.
Faith thought about it for a moment, and she ran a knife down the end of one of the sausage packages. “Have a setmenu,” she said. “So say…offer five pies and nothing more. That way, you won’t be making one lemon chiffon, and fifteen pumpkin, and then a pecan, and an apple, and this and that.”
“That’s a good idea,” Joey said. “Grams is really good at pecan, and I love pumpkin and apple.”
“Then just do those three,” she said. “Pumpkin, pecan—very classic for Thanksgiving.”
Joey nodded and swallowed. “I just want to earn a little extra money to maybe get my own apartment.”
“I thought you liked living with Cecily and Jerry.”
“I do,” Joey said quickly. “I do. Of course, I do.” She exhaled as she started layering sausage into her pans too. “It’s just, I’m getting older, and it feels like the adult thing to do.”
“I still have my house,” Faith said. “It’s really small, kind of like one and a half bedrooms.” She grinned at Joey. “Blaze and I rent it.”
“I didn’t know that,” Joey said.
Faith nodded. “We have someone there now, but I don’t know what their plans are. If they move out, I’d be more than happy for you to move in there.”
“I could pay rent,” Joey said, though she currently wasn’t paying any. She did put a few hundred dollars into her savings account as if she did every month, because she knew she would need a first month’s rent, last month’s rent, and a security deposit, and it could cost thousands to get into a new place.
She thought of Adam and how he’d put inan offer—all cash—on a house in Dog Valley that cost over eight hundred thousand dollars.
The sellers had accepted his offer, of course, and he was actually trying to move by next weekend. She hadn’t seen him since Thursday morning, when they’d gotten up to almost a foot of fresh snow. She’d made breakfast for her family and him, and they’d waited a couple of hours until the snowplows had been out to clear the roads before they’d left.
Joey had not worked at Cake Bites that day, but it didn’t matter. When snow came to town, everyone shut down to stay safe.
“It might be helpful if you had a website too,” Faith said. “I can help you get a really simple one set up. I’m sure you have pictures of you at culinary school and making pies.” She raised her eyebrows as a question.
Joey nodded as she had been bringing holiday pies to their family gatherings for a couple of years. “Yes,” she said. “I have all of those things. Would it take very long and cost very much?”
“Not at all,” Faith said. “We can get hosting for ten dollars a month, and I can help you build it. In fact, I wouldloveto build it for you.” She grinned over to Joey. “I love my kids, but I’ve been feeling more and more like I need something more to keep my mind sharp. The girls are in school, so it’s just Tyrone and me and the baby.”
“And Blaze doesn’t even have a job,” Joey said, which caused them both to giggle.
“He’s very helpful with the kids,” Faith said. “I could easily put a website together for you in a couple of hours.”
“What do you think I should call it?” Joey asked.
“That’s a good question,” Faith said. “We can do a little bit of research and see what other websites are out there. Though, if you’re just offering for Coral Canyon and Dog Valley, it won’t matter much.”
Joey nodded, her mind now buzzing with possibilities. She and Faith fried sausage, and when that finished, she tonged the cooked links onto paper towels to drain. Then Faith pulled her glazed doughnut dough closer to her and started to roll it out.
“They should be back soon, and these don’t take long to fry.”
Joey looked at her batter, and she had done a denser batter for bars. “This isn’t quite ready yet,” she said.
“Those always take longer.” Faith peered at the dough too. “Yeah, that needs another half-hour at least.”
Joey agreed, and she glanced at the clock on the stove. She would need to leave in another hour to meet Adam for brunch. He’d forgotten that he’d signed up for guitar lessons on Saturday mornings, and since it was only his second one, he hadn’t wanted to cancel. Joey had agreed to simply push their brunch date back to a more appropriate brunch time, and they were meeting at eleven now, instead of nine.
