"You're all set," I said to Mrs. Poe, handing her a pale pink bag of raspberry danishes. My voice was sugary sweet, as it usually was when speaking to customers.
The old woman smiled at me. Her wrinkled cheeks reminded me of wet dough. "Thank you, dear," she said in her cheerful, choppy voice. The bell on the door rang as she exited the shop.
I watched her turn around the street corner through the large windows that made up the front wall of my shop. After she was out of view, I searched the street for any other potential customers, then sighed when I saw none. Today was going to be a boring day.
I allowed my gaze to wander around the room while I waited for more people. Though I hadn't changed the interior in a while, the designs and color patterns still engrossed me. My eyes went from thing to thing; first to the light blue and white display cases full of my carefully decorated pastries, then to the soothing paintings that hung on the walls, then the fluffy pink rug that covered the birchwood floor. I again complimented myself on my choice of painting the walls white instead of a solid color, for it went with the paintings better.
I continued to study the room, thinking of different kinds of furniture that would be a good addition, until I heard the door to the backroom open with its usual groan. My head snapped up instinctively.
My employee, Robin, stalked out of the room with an open box of éclairs. She set the box on the front counter, then turned to face me.
"This is the only box that was open. Looks like Jacob got to them," she said, chuckling. I looked down, and sure enough, there were crumbs all over the inside of the box and bites taken out of every éclair.
I sighed. I was going to have to ask Mrs. Taylor to keep a closer eye on her son the next time she stopped by. The boy was...