“There may not be any leftovers if we invite Mike,” Norman reminded her, heading for the hook where he’d hung his parka. “Come with me, Hannah. I want you to lock the door behind me and promise that you won’t open it without checking the peephole.”
“I promise,” Hannah said, standing up and walking to the door with him. She waited until Norman had dressed in his parka and slipped into his boots.
“I’ll see you then,” Norman said, opening the door and stepping out. “Remember, Hannah. Don’t let anyone in unless you are sure you know who it is.”
“I won’t,” Hannah promised, locking the door behind Norman. And then she turned and went to the pantry to gather the ingredients she needed for the next day’s cookies.
*
Hannah was busy mixing up cookie dough when Michelle came into the kitchen from the coffee shop.
“Hi, Hannah,” Michelle greeted her.
Hannah was surprised that her sister had come in from the street. “Didn’t you park behind the building?”
“No, there was a perfect spot outside the front door and I took it. I stopped to talk to Lisa and Aunt Nancy, and then I came back here to help you. What are you baking for tomorrow?”
“Right now I’m mixing up Crunchy Chewy White Chocolate Cookies.”
Michelle looked puzzled. “Is that a new recipe?”
“Yes. I thought I’d make a variation on one of our basic recipes using white chocolate and white Karo syrup.”
“Are the cookies pink?”
“No. Why?”
“If you make them pink, you could use them for Valentine’s Day.”
“You’re right! I didn’t even think of that! And there are a lot of people who really like crunchy, chewy cookies.”
“How about nuts? Are you adding them to the recipe?”
Hannah shook her head. “I don’t think so. These should be crunchy enough on their own.”
“Just let me catch my breath for a moment and shake off the remains of my school day. Then I’ll be happy to help you bake.”
“It’s a deal,” Hannah told her as Michelle walked to the kitchen coffeepot, poured herself a cup, and came over to look at the ingredients lined up on the surface of the work station. Then she read through the recipe that Hannah had written, and nodded.
“Karo syrup and white chocolate,” she said. “That’s a great combination. Have you used those together before?”
“I don’t think so. I’ve made a lot of cookies that are crunchy and other cookies that are chewy, but I don’t think I’ve baked anything like these cookies before.”
Michelle laughed so hard, she almost choked on her coffee. “But you’re going to bake them tomorrow without testing them?”
“No, I thought I’d bake a test cookie now. Do you want to be my guinea pig?”
“It’s a dirty job, but somebody’s got to do it,” Michelle said with a smile. “Of course I’ll test them. I worked through lunch today at school and I’m starving. Make two test cookies. Or maybe three. I don’t care how many you make. Whatever number it is, I’ll eat them.”
*
Once Hannah had baked test cookies, a whole sheet of them, the two sisters tasted them. They’d both declared them delicious when there was a knock at the back kitchen door.
“I’ll get it,” Michelle said, standing up from her stool.
“Be careful!” Hannah warned her. “Mike and Norman don’t want that door opened unless we look through the peephole to see who it is. Mike was adamant about that.”
“Mike’s always adamant when it comes to safety,” Michelle commented, heading for the door. “Don’t worry, Hannah. I’ll look first.”
A moment later, Michelle opened the door and ushered their mother into the kitchen. “Mother’s here to see you,” she called out to Hannah.
“Hi, Mother,” Hannah greeted Delores. “Would you like one of our Crunchy Chewy White Chocolate Cookies?”
“No,” Delores said, but Hannah noticed that there was a smile lurking at the corners of her mother’s mouth.
“You wouldn’t like one?” Michelle asked.
“No, I’d like two, or maybe three,” Delores said, heading straight for a stool at the work station and taking a seat. “I don’t suppose you have any coffee, do you?”
“That’s one thing we always have around here,” Michelle answered. “Just hold on and I’ll pour you a cup.”
Several moments later, Delores was sitting there with a cup of coffee and two cookies in front of her. “It’s nice to be waited on by my daughters,” she said as she took a sip of her coffee, smiled, picked up a cookie, and bit into it.
“Good!” she declared, taking another large bite. “I like these, Hannah. They’d make great dunkers if they were a slightly different shape.”
“Dunkers?” Michelle questioned.
“Yes. Doc loves cookies that he can dunk in hot coffee and he calls them dunkers. I wonder if you could make these cookies oval-shaped. They might not be as chewy in the center, but the crunchy part would be really marvelous.”
Hannah turned to look at Michelle. “Why not?” she asked her youngest sister.
“There’s no reason we can’t,” Michelle responded. “Instead of rolling balls, we could roll cigar shapes. Then, when we flatten them out, the end will fit into a coffee mug.”
“If you can wait until we bake another batch, you can take some home for Doc to try in his coffee tomorrow morning,” Hannah suggested.
“For something like that, I’d wait an hour,” Delores decided, taking another cookie. “But I think I’d better try them out first. I certainly wouldn’t want to give just any dunker cookie to my husband that hadn’t been thoroughly tested.”
Michelle got up from her stool. “Sit with Mother, Hannah. I’ll put in another batch of cookies and then we can all try them.”
“Thank you, dear,” Delores said to Michelle, and then she turned to Hannah. “I hate to bring this up, dear, but I have a bit of a problem concerning my next book launch party. That’s part of the reason I came to see you this afternoon.”
“What’s the problem?” Hannah asked. Her mother’s book launches had been very successful in Lake Eden. Almost everyone in town had come to purchase books and enjoy the refreshments. The town library had profited nicely from the sales because they’d gotten the books at a special library discount price from the publisher, and Lisa’s mother-in-law, Marge, had made enough profit to stock the town library with a shelf of current best sellers. This, in itself, was good, but Delores’s book launches were also fun. Everyone who came enjoyed the local social event.
“The launch is at the end of this month,” Delores said, still looking concerned. “I was planning to hold it at the community center again, but they had some damage from the blizzard and they’re re-carpeting the entire lower floor.”
Hannah was surprised. “I didn’t know that!”
“Normally, it wouldn’t be a problem,” Delores continued. “But the only time that the cleanup crew and carpet people could come was the week I scheduled my book launch.”
“How about the Red Velvet Lounge?” Hannah suggested the restaurant on the ground floor of her mother’s condo building. “Or the lobby of the Albion Hotel?”
“Both of them are already booked,” Delores told her. “I just got a phone call this afternoon and that’s why I came right over here. Do you think it might be possible to hold my book launch in the clubhouse of your condo complex?”
Hannah thought about that for a moment. “That could work,” she told her mother. “There’s plenty of guest parking, and our clubhouse has a full kitchen. Do you want me to check on availability?”
“That would be wonderful, dear!” Delores began to smile. “When you get home tonight, will you check to see how many tables there are and how many chairs are at each table? I’ll need to know how many people we can seat.”
“Of course,” Hannah said immediately. “I think it’ll work out just fine at the clubhouse, Mother. It’ll be something a little bit different and people will like that. I can even post the event in our condo newsletter, and we could get some of the owners and renters who live there to come.”