Killer Soufflés & Clichés Read online

  The phone rang, and Ruth wiped her hands on her apron. “John, get started on those cupcakes.” When she picked up, a frantic Janice was on the line.

  “Ruth, that mixer you borrowed from the Blue Dolphin Restaurant needs to be returned. They are now down two, and we are on a time crunch. Please bring it to them. I’m swamped!” Before Ruth could respond, she hung up.

  Ruth pulled her ear away from the receiver. “Oh, dear.”

  “What now?” Loretta asked.

  Ruth turned to her friend. “The Blue Dolphin needs their mixer back.”

  “Fine, take it! It’s only the three of us now. We don’t need them all anyway.” Loretta was right. When there were five of them in the baking section, they were in dire need of one more mixer, but now, any more than one mixer for each of them was a little excessive.

  Ruth hurried over, pulling the plug to the borrowed mixer.

  “Wait,” Loretta said. “They want it now?”

  Ruth gathered the accessories, dumping them inside the large metal bowl for easier transfer. “That’s what Janice said.”

  “Well, what a fine time.”

  Ruth hauled the mixer into her arms with a grunt. It was a bit heavier than she’d expected. “Just start on those chocolate soufflés. I’ll brainstorm an idea for the cake when I get back.”

  Loretta shook her head. “This day just keeps getting better.”

  There was a crash of pots and pans. John was on his knees, his head shoved inside one of the lower cupboards.

  Loretta placed a hand on her hip. “John, what are you doing?”

  “Looking for the spatulas.” His voice echoed in the hollow space.

  Loretta walked over to him, tapping him on the shoulder. John pulled his head out of the cupboard as Loretta opened the drawer right above it. She pulled out a spatula and held it out in front of him.

  “Oh, thanks, Loretta! You’re the best!”

  Loretta rotated toward Ruth with a frustrated breath. “Hurry back.”

  “I’ll be back before you know it.” She scurried out the door and down the hall to the elevator. When the door dinged open, she stepped in, lugging the mixer. Her arms were beginning to burn as she glanced at the buttons to all the decks on the ship. Her eyes narrowed, fixated on the number seven button as she contemplated how she was going to pull off her next trick.

  With her hands full, she tried an elbow. No luck. Then she tried sticking a finger out from under the mixer and raising herself up on her tiptoes to reach the desired button. When that didn’t work either, she steadied herself and raised her right foot up, aiming for her lucky number, when a middle-aged man in a white uniform stepped inside.

  “Captain!” she said, maybe one level too loud. Her face flushed, and she immediately lowered her foot.

  Captain Stahre smiled. “Need a little help there?”

  “Uh,” Ruth stammered, embarrassed. “Deck seven.”

  The captain reached over and tapped the button for deck seven. As the doors slid closed, he said, “Working hard, I see. Would you like help with that?” He motioned, offering to take the mixer off her hands.

  “Oh. No, sir,” Ruth said.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Thank you, sir, but I got it.” Ruth smiled at him, then added, “No worries.”

  “Well, if you insist.”

  “I do.” The last thing she wanted was to trouble the captain, or worse, have Janice find out that she had the captain himself lug the heavy machine around the ship for her.

  When the doors opened to deck seven, Ruth scurried off. Then she turned around to face the captain, who was still standing in the elevator. “Oh, uh, thank you, sir,” she said.

  He tipped his hat at her. When the doors closed, she took a deep breath before scampering down the corridor. She couldn’t be overwhelmed by the embarrassment of her superior, the captain himself, witnessing her struggles. She had to stay focused.

  She continued her trek down the hall before approaching an opening to her left with several soft, carpeted steps and a brass railing. She heard a man and a woman in, what sounded like, a heated argument. They hadn’t even departed yet, and people were fighting? She didn’t understand. A cruise was supposed to be one of the most relaxing vacations.

  She rounded the corner, and all her concerns vanished. A gorgeous woman, a bit younger than Ruth, was in the arms of a handsome man with a distinguished white beard, engaged in a passionate kiss. Ruth paused, cocking her head at the beautiful sight. She stopped for only a brief moment. She didn’t want to gawk, but she’d always had a soft spot for love and romance. Public displays of affection had never been something that bothered her, and she had to admit, witnessing someone else’s happiness reminded her of why she had chosen this job. She only wanted to spread joy and do it while engaging in her favorite hobby, baking. And that was just what she was going to do.

  Then it dawned on her. She had an idea for the cake she would bake for the Arden Heights High School reunion party.

  With a grin, she was ready to continue her journey when she felt something fall. She glanced down to see a black cord dangling from the mixer, resting between her feet.

  “Oh, darn,” she said, rolling her eyes. Now she had a cord dragging on the floor. With an aggravated huff, she waddled the remaining few yards to the Blue Dolphin.

  When her task was completed, she rushed back to the Mermaid’s Dinner Room kitchen. The journey back was much quicker without a twenty-five-pound apparatus holding her down.

  Ruth was facing her two co-workers at last when she asked, “When you think of high school, what do you think of?”

  “Lacrosse championship and parties!” John blurted out.

  “No. I mean experiences that everyone has.”

  Loretta thought a moment. “Rampant hormones and social exclusion.”

  “I mean happy experiences, like your first love,” Ruth said. “Or your dreams and aspirations for the future.”

  “Oh, that,” Loretta said.

  Ruth smiled, thinking back to the couple she’d seen in a tender embrace. “I think we should remind the Arden Heights alumni of those old, wonderful feelings.”

  “And how do we do that?” John asked.

  “I was thinking about creating a Dream cake,” Ruth said. “What do you think?”

  Loretta shook her head. “I think you have finally lost your marbles. How is a cake going to remind anyone of anything like that?”

  “Use your imagination, Loretta. We can use a light and fluffy whipped frosting to imitate dream-like clouds. And then add sliced strawberries to symbolize love. We can even shape them into little hearts.”

  “I don’t know,” Loretta said. “Sounds like a Valentine’s Day cake to me.”

  “So we’ll skip the heart shapes. We’ll create a light cake of youth and innocence, like a strawberry shortcake. Only we’ll do a quadruple-layered cake.”

  “Doesn’t sound very short to me,” Loretta said.

  Ruth frowned. “That’s because it’s not really a strawberry shortcake. It’s going to be a strawberry dream cake.” Ruth laughed. “It’ll be fun, symbolic, and best of all, fast and easy. Besides, who doesn’t like strawberries?”

  “I’m game!” John said.

  Ruth motioned to John, eyeing Loretta. “See, John’s game.”

  “All right,” Loretta said. “You had me at fast and easy.”

  “Not fun?” Ruth asked.

  Loretta chuckled. “No. It was definitely the fast and easy part.”

  “Okay!” Ruth said. “I think we all know what we are doing, then. John, finish the remaining cupcakes, Loretta, you’re on chocolate soufflés, and I’ll start the dream cake.”

  All three of them dispersed and were bustling around the kitchen, hurrying to create their masterpieces. After about an hour, Ruth had given John the task of baking her cakes for the strawberry dream cake while she added the decorative flowers on some of the cupcakes that were already done. A ding sounded, and John perked
up. “The cakes are done!”

  “Great,” Ruth said. “Let’s get them out and on cooling racks.”

  John grabbed two oven mitts and pulled the oven open. He slid one of the cakes out, grasping both ends of the tray. His blue eyes darted around the kitchen. “Um, where should I put them, Ruth?”

  Ruth glanced up, scanning the kitchen herself. Every square inch of countertop space seemed to be covered with cupcakes or a mess that had been created in their haste. She bit her lip. Then she walked over to the cupboard and pulled out several teacups. She rushed over to the racks stationed on one counter, placed the teacups on either side of a cooling rack, and balanced another rack of cupcakes on top, opening enough space for one of the cakes.

  “Put the cake here,” Ruth said, rushing to grab more teacups. “I’ll make some more room.”

  She scurried, piling racks of cupcakes on top of each other, using teacups as a tool to create some distance between them. She returned to her station and picked up her piping bag.

  “Uh, Ruth,” John said from behind her. “I don’t think the cakes are done.”

  She turned around and saw John bent over one of the cakes with a toothpick. “Oh, John. Didn’t you check the cakes before you pulled them out?”

  He gave her a deer-in-headlights look. “No. I forgot until now.”

  Ruth put her piping bag down and walked over to one of the cakes. Checking the cake before pulling it out to cool was Baking 101. She nudged the cake gently, but it didn’t take much to see the middle had the consistency of a chunky pudding. “Oh, no. John, these need to go back in the oven.”

  Tension took over John’s body. It was his first day, and Ruth felt bad for him. He seemed stressed within the first five minutes of being in the kitchen. They really threw him in the deep end before teaching him how to swim. Considering the three pastry chefs that had quit, the job wasn’t for everyone. It was high stress and very competitive.

  “It’s not a big deal, John,” Ruth said, trying to keep him calm. “We just need to get them back in the oven quickly before they begin to cool.” Luckily, he hadn’t turned off the oven.

  “I’m so sorry. I’ll fix this!” John grabbed one of the white cakes too quickly, knocking over two large racks of the time-consuming peony cupcakes in his haste.

  Time slowed as Ruth watched them fall. It didn’t take a scientist to predict how they would land. Cupcakes were naturally top-heavy, and with a layer-upon-layer buttercream peony on top, they would be even heavier. With the cake fluffy and light, there was no doubt that the icing would supersede gravity and take the hit.

  For a split second, a part of her brain told her what she was seeing wasn’t real. That her eyes were deceiving her. It wasn’t really happening. What an incredible notion!

  That is, until reality struck her like a bolt of lightning. Ruth let out a cry as the beautiful cupcakes landed upside down—the delicate and very intricate peonies splattered like little sugary bombs on the floor. And as soon as they met their demise, time no longer held back. The racks followed with full speed, clattering before sliding to their respective places under the table.

  The buttercream mess that she’d predicted earlier had now finally become her reality.

  “John!”

  Chapter 3

  The pastry chefs froze, eyeing the messy scene.

  Loretta slapped both hands on either side of her face. “Oh, no! Now what are we going to do? We’re already behind!”

  John put the cake back down and placed his hands on top of his head, as if to hold himself in place. He looked as though he was about to run out of the kitchen and jump overboard.

  Ruth stepped in front of him, blocking his view of the mess. “Look at me, John.”

  John’s frantic blue eyes met hers.

  Ruth continued, speaking slowly, “Now I want you to take three long, deep breaths with me.”

  He nodded, and they took the breaths together. Loretta was already on her hands and knees, cleaning and mumbling something to herself.

  “Better?” Ruth asked.

  “Yeah,” John said. Ruth could tell he still felt the pressure, but at least his anxiety had come down several levels.

  “Listen to me, there is no use working yourself up in the kitchen. If we do that, we won’t get everything done. We need to focus. These things happen sometimes, but we need to clean up the mess and carry on. You understand?”

  “Yes, ma’am.” John craned his neck to observe the chaos behind Ruth.

  “Don’t worry about the mess. Loretta will handle that. Just help me get these cakes back into the oven.”

  John and Ruth returned the cakes to the oven, while Loretta finished cleaning the frosting and cupcakes off the floor. Ruth ordered John to make more buttercream frosting and two more batches of cupcakes. With him focused on that, Loretta and Ruth were able to finish frosting all the cupcakes. Though there was a change of plans: no more peonies. Instead, they made simpler floral designs, and for the remaining cupcakes, they added berries. Ruth picked out these two options because they were pretty, offered more variety, and more importantly, they were faster to create.

  Ruth glanced up to see John had the oven door open a crack and was peeking inside. “John, the cakes will never get done if you keep opening the oven door. All the heat is getting out. Shut it.”

  John quickly shut the oven door and turned to Ruth. “I just want to check to see if it’s done.”

  Ruth eyed the clock on the wall. “It hasn’t even been five minutes—give it another ten before checking it.” Then she noticed all the toothpicks on the counter and frowned. No wonder the cake wasn’t done yet. It was obvious he didn’t want to pull out an unfinished cake again.

  “I’d listen to Ruth on this,” Loretta said, not looking up from what she was doing. “One of the best pieces of advice she’s given me was to keep the oven door shut. Trust the process.” She shot a quick wink at Ruth.

  Ruth smiled at the memory of their first time baking together under the heat of not just the kitchen but the demanding instructions of the executive chef at the time. It wasn’t the most pleasant memory, as she hadn’t been sure if she would survive as a pastry chef on a cruise ship, let alone in the Mermaid’s Dinner Room. It wasn’t an experience she’d want for John.

  “That’s right,” Ruth said. “Trust the process.”

  “All right, then.” John tossed his oven mitts on the counter, then wound a timer. “I’m setting it for ten minutes. I won’t even sneak a peek.”

  “Good,” Ruth said.

  John sauntered over to them. “What would you like me to do?”

  Loretta handed him a cupcake and pointed to the bowl of various berries centered between them. “Add a strawberry to the top and three blueberries next to it, like this.” She demonstrated the placement of the fruit on the cake.

  “I can do that.” John picked up a cupcake and got to work helping Loretta.

  A few minutes later, the timer went off for the cake that was in the oven, and John looked at Ruth. She nodded. He took out another toothpick and opened the oven door. Ruth walked over and stood behind him, craning to see if the toothpick came out clean from the middle of the cake. John threw a glance back over his shoulder and grinned.

  “Clean toothpick,” he said, holding it up for everyone to see.

  Ruth clapped her hands together. “Great! I think it’s time to start bringing some of these desserts out to the dining area.” She turned to John. “You finish up the last cake while Loretta and I start setting up the display.”

  “I’m on it!” John said, swiveling back to the cakes that were now cooling on racks.

  Ruth and Loretta piled cupcakes onto a cart and headed out into the dining area. Ruth led the way but stopped abruptly when she saw a woman she didn’t recognize standing on a chair. She was fidgeting with the decorations on the wall.

  “Who’s that?” Loretta asked.

  “I don’t know,” Ruth said, not tearing her eyes off the woman, who wa
s pinning another streamer to the wall. “Excuse me,” Ruth called out to her.

  The lady turned around, her brown hair molded to her head in a bob and stiff with hairspray. A smile spread across her lips when she eyed the two bakers waiting for an explanation.

  “Hi, there,” she said. She stepped down from the chair, streamers fluttering from her palm as she trotted toward them with her free hand held out. “My name is Kay Lynn. I’m the one who bought out the Mermaid’s Dinner Room for the reunion party.”

  “I’m Ruth, and this is Loretta. So, are you an alumnus of Arden Heights?”

  “Sure am,” Kay Lynn said. “Go Tigers!” She pumped her fist in the air, letting out a small giggle.

  Ruth smiled. She had to admit, the woman was quite endearing. “If you don’t mind me saying, it must have been hard to get your class on a cruise ship.”

  “No, not really,” Kay Lynn said. “See, we are from Filbertsville, Florida, which is not that far from the port. And after all these years, many of us stuck around. It’s a quaint little town, and we’re all so close. I don’t see why anyone would want to leave. It’s beautiful.”

  “Filbertsville?” Ruth asked.

  Kay Lynn nodded.

  “What a small world. I live in Cascade Cove, the next town over.”

  “Her husband owns a pet boutique on the boardwalk,” Loretta added.

  Ruth nudged her friend.

  Kay Lynn’s eyes went wide. “Don’t tell me it’s Larry’s Pawfect Boutique?”

  Ruth wore a cheerful smile. “That’s us.”

  “Of course,” Kay Lynn said. “I went there after I got my puppy, Lexi. I love that place!”

  “Lexi,” Ruth said, thinking out loud. “The puggle?”

  Kay Lynn clapped her hands over her mouth with a squeaky gasp. “You remember?”

  Ruth laughed. “I remember dogs better than anything else. Lexi is adorable.”

  “Well, my son is watching her right now. Oh, I can’t believe we crossed paths like this. You both work here?”

  Loretta nodded. “We are in charge of all the desserts for your parties on the trip.”

  Kay Lynn let out an exaggerated breath. “Thank goodness,” she said, looking around. Then she leaned in, lowering her voice. “I was assigned a party coordinator for the trip, and what a mess! First, there was a delay receiving the paperwork for all the options, then the venue they offered was too small. Just one disaster after another. I mean, look at me, I’m redoing the streamers. They were the wrong colors. Wrong colors? Can you believe that? They’re our school colors, for Pete’s sake! You can’t get that wrong for a school reunion.”