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“In town at the bakery,” he said, waving a hand like,where else would she be? “I could’ve really used her help on lunch today. Nobody browns the grilled cheese quite like her.”
“The girl does have a special way with carbs,” I said with a chuckle.
Ezra’s expression turned serious. “She’s the most talented pastry chef I’ve ever met.”
Which was saying something considering he himself was a Michelin starred chef who left a highly lucrative job in New York City to come work for this middle-of-nowhere winery.
Not that I wasn’t grateful. His cooking was, unsurprisingly, some of the best I’d ever had. The grilled cheese, in particular, was my personal kryptonite, and I stared longingly at the steaming pot of what I now knew was his homemade tomato soup bubbling on the stove.
He caught my gaze and grinned. “Want some?”
“As much as I’d love to say yes and absolutely destroy some of that soup right now, I really need to talk to Brie. Save me some?”
“You got it, bud,” he said, and I made my escape.
In addition to being the pastry and dessert chef at the winery’s restaurant, Brie also owned a little bakery in the heart of town, right on Main Street. The awning over the front door was pale orange and cream-striped, reminding me of a creamsicle and glowing bright in the gray December afternoon, with a sign above that read “Brie’s” in fanciful lettering.
Apple Blossom Bay was a town of about a thousand people that encompassed almost the entire population of the Old Mission Peninsula. The “city” limits were nestled along the shore of West Grand Traverse Bay, which looped between Old Mission and the Leelanau Peninsula, with Traverse City planted firmly in the middle.
Downtown was about as picturesque as it got, even during the cold, blustery winter. There was the main thoroughfare, a street that ran perpendicular to the city docks, so if you stood all the way at the top of the low, gently sloping hill, you could see straight out onto the water. It was like that Manhattan-henge thing everyone was obsessed with, only with the bay. Alongside the docks was an expansive bayshore park with a gazebo that had seen a lot of weddings, a playground, and amphitheater for outdoor movies and concerts. The park was also where the town held all major citywide celebrations, such as the annual cancer awareness fundraiser and the Fourth of July festivities.
I’d seen pictures of the town as it was when Andreas Delatou, Leon’s grandfather, had settled his family here in 1908. Back then, there wasn’t much beyond a few rudimentary houses and a church. Once Andreas bought basically the entire northern half of the peninsula for the winery, got it up and running, and started hiring people to work for him, the population in the area increased. Now, a number of businesses lined Main Street, including gift shops, an ATV rental place, Blossom’s, the flower shop, Granny Smith’s Tavern, Sydney’s Diner—the building one of those lunch car styles that had been around since 1935—Bob’s Grocery, a post office, bank branch, and Brie’s. They each held a piece of historical charm while being firmly rooted in this century. The town as a whole was a seamless mix of modern and vintage, making it unlike any place else in the state—or, perhaps, the world.
When I parked my truck and got out, even fifteen feet from the white oak door of the bakery, the scents of sugar and freshly baked bread met my nostrils, exacerbating the emptiness of my stomach.
Hopefully Brie would take pity on me and serve me up one of her special cheese danishes.
The bell above the door tinkled softly as I pushed inside, the warmth of spices and fresh brewed coffee smacking me in the face. I took a deep, fortifying inhale as I approached the counter.
“Welcome to Brie’s!” the young girl said brightly. “What can I get started for you?”
“I was hoping to speak with the boss, actually,” I said with a sheepish grin. “Would she be available?”
The woman herself appeared from the back, wiping her hands on the front of her orange apron that was already heavily dusted with what looked like flour.
“Cal?” she asked skeptically.
“Hey, Brie. Got a sec to chat?”
“Uhh…sure,” she said slowly. “Let me just—”
“Take your time,” I said with a wave of my hand, then I hooked my thumb over my shoulder toward a table in the corner. Thanks to the weather, the place was deserted anyway. “I’ll just be over here.”
“Can I get you anything?” she asked. “Coffee?”
“I’m good on coffee,” I said, “but I won’t say no to a danish.”
The corner of her mouth twitched. She may not understand why I was here, but she knew how much I loved those things. She turned to her employee and said, “Cheese.”
The girl sat the pastry in front of me moments after I dropped onto the chair, and I practically inhaled it, wiping the crumbs from my lips and fingers as Brie took the seat across from me.
“So, what can I do for you?” she asked.
Straight to the point, then. I liked it.
“I think you can guess why I’m here.”
“If it has anything to do with the text Chloe sent me an hour ago, then yes, I think I can.”
