And then, an even harder blow had struck. Ross had come back, several weeks later, and he’d threatened to kill her if she didn’t do exactly what he wanted.
Hannah had believed the hard edge in his voice and the icy coldness in his eyes. She had no doubt that he would have killed her if he had the chance. But Hannah and her friends hadn’t given him the chance, and Ross had ended up dead on the carpet in her condo.
Did she still love Ross? There were times when Hannah thought she did, that love couldn’t be extinguished that rapidly. Inversely, there were other times when she despised him for duping her, for making her fall in love with him. She had loved him completely, accepting everything he’d told her as truth. He had duped her, betrayed her trust, and Hannah wasn’t sure if she could ever love anyone unconditionally again.
“Hannah? What’s wrong, Hannah?”
A female voice roused her from her unhappy dream, and Hannah sat up so fast, she almost tipped over her mug of coffee. “Sally?” she asked, staring at the woman who had come into the kitchen.
“What’s wrong, Hannah?” Sally repeated. “You were crying in your sleep. Was it a nightmare?”
Hannah thought fast. She was almost sure that Sally would keep her confidence, but she didn’t want to admit she’d been crying over her failed marriage.
“Nothing’s wrong,” she said quickly. “I fell asleep and I must have had a nightmare.”
“Well, I’m glad I came in to wake you up. It must have been a doozy of a dream.”
“Oh, it was,” Hannah said, thinking fast. “I was dreaming that I ran out of chocolate.”
“Good heavens!” Sally began to laugh. “That’s awful, Hannah! What would we do without chocolate?”
“We’d all sink into a morass of depression,” Hannah replied, regaining her equilibrium and managing a smile. “Did you come to pick up your order of cookies, Sally?”
“I did. Lisa and Aunt Nancy already loaded them into my car. I already had a cup of coffee with them in the coffee shop, but I’d love to have another with you now. I have something I need to talk to you about.”
Hannah hurried to the kitchen coffeepot. She refilled her cup for herself and poured fresh coffee for Sally. “Would you like to taste one of my new Lemon Danish?”
“I’d love to! I was so busy this morning, I forgot all about breakfast. You know how it is the day before a big event, don’t you?”
“Not really. I’ve never been so busy that I forgot about breakfast.”
“Well . . . I had a lot on my mind this morning. It’s not going well, Hannah.”
“The fishing tournament?”
“That’s part of it. I thought I had everything covered. I called in more waitstaff, an extra bartender and bar back for Dick, and two additions to the housekeeping staff.”
“It sounds like you’re all set.”
Sally gave a rueful laugh. “That’s what I thought. Of course I didn’t plan on losing my dessert chef for the entire week of the contest.”
“Good heavens!” Hannah was clearly shocked. “That’s terrible, Sally! Did he quit?”
“No, he’s totally reliable. But neither one of us planned on his mother getting really sick. Dick took him to the airport last night and he flew out to Cleveland. He called me this morning and told me that his mother had emergency surgery.”
“I hope she’ll be all right.”
“He said the doctors told him she came through the surgery just fine, but she’ll be hospitalized for most of the week. His sister’s coming to take care of her when she gets out of the hospital, but that means I’ll be without him for at least a week.”
“What are you going to do?”
Sally gave a little shrug. “What can I do? I can manage the baking, but I’m going to need someone to help me. That’s the reason I sat down and talked to Lisa and Aunt Nancy. I was hoping to hire Aunt Nancy or Marge to help me.”
“That makes sense. We can get along just fine here. This is a slow time of year for us.”
“That’s what Lisa told me, right before she said that they could handle everything here.”
“Then you’re going to try to hire Marge?”
Sally shook her head. “Not unless there’s no other choice. Marge is a great baker, but she’s not used to my kitchen.”
“Neither is Lisa or Aunt Nancy.”
“I know. That’s probably why they suggested that I hire you.”
“Me?” Hannah’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “But I do the morning baking here.”
“I know, but Aunt Nancy said she’d take over your job and Marge and Jack could help Lisa in the coffee shop. It’s only for a half day, Hannah. You’d be free to go right after the noon buffet. Lisa said you don’t need to come back here for the afternoon and that they could handle everything at The Cookie Jar. I know Norman’s entered as a contestant. You could go out with him in his fishing boat in the afternoons.” Sally stopped speaking and gave a little sigh. “What do you say, Hannah? Will you help me out?”
Hannah took a moment to think about it. She could use a change of scenery. Maybe Andrea could come along to help her. She was certain that Andrea would like to meet Wally Wallace and Sonny Bowman, the star of Wally’s televised fishing show. Andrea was becoming a big help in the kitchen, assembling ingredients for the recipes, using the industrial mixer, and taking baked goods out of the oven.
“Hannah?”
“Just let me consider it for a minute while I get a Lemon Danish for us.”
Hannah walked over to the bakers rack and a few seconds later, she was back. “Try my new Danish, Sally. I want to know if you like it.”
Sally took a bite of her Danish and smiled. “It’s wonderful, Hannah. I want you to bake these on the first morning, if it’s not too much work.” Sally stopped speaking and she gave a little sigh. “You will help me out, won’t you, Hannah? I can’t really handle this all by myself.”
Sally was clearly nervous about her answer, and Hannah took pity on her. Sally was a good friend and she was really in a bind with her dessert chef gone for the entire week.
“Of course, I’ll pay you for the week, Hannah,” Sally told her.
“Yes, I’ll do it, if I can ask Andrea to help me. And no, you don’t need to pay me. You can give Andrea a small salary if you want to, but I doubt she’ll take it. And I owe you one, Sally.”
Sally looked puzzled. “Why? You owe me for . . . what?”
“You helped me out when Connie Mac was killed in my kitchen at The Cookie Jar and Mike roped it off with crime tape.”
“But . . .”
“No,” Hannah interrupted her. “I refuse to take a salary, but I want to enjoy your noon buffet with Andrea. That’s payment enough for both of us.”
A huge smile spread over Sally’s face. Obviously, she was very relieved. “Both you and Andrea? What fun! For the first time since my dessert chef left, I’m feeling really happy!”
It took Hannah more than a split second, but then she had the perfect response. “Then you’ll actually give me your Caramel Pecan Roll recipe?”
Sally laughed. “You drive a hard bargain, Hannah, but of course I will. I was going to give it to you anyway.”
“Thanks, Sally. Are you going to make them for your breakfast buffet?”