“Alright, let’s go see if Ms. Candy is done with her customer. Then she can help us out and we can get home and make homemade pizza,” I tell him.
“Can we ask Ms. Candy to come over, too?” And just like that, a plan comes together. Not only do I want Candy, but it seems Johnny does as well.
“We can ask her, but she may not be able to make it. This is one of her busiest times of the year,” I tell him.
“Well, I think we should try, Dad.”
“Try what? The new candy apples?” she questions.
“That too and umm… Dad and I would like you to have pizza with us tonight,” Johnny asks before I can string three words together.
“Are you sure?” She looks up at me with her answer.
“Absolutely. We’d love to have you,” I tell her. I’m coming up with several ideas to keep her with us forever now.
“I don’t close for another hour or so. It may be too late by then?” She questions.
“That’s fine, we need to stop at the grocery store and pick up the toppings, and we still have to let the dough rise, so that should work out perfectly.” I’m as excited as Johnny, who’s jumping up and down.
“Yay! This is going to be so much fun. I can show you my toys, too!” He shouts with excitement.
“Well if you’re sure. I’d love to,” she says with a smile.
“Dad are we still going to the park?” Johnny asks.
“We can, but it will only be for a few minutes,” I respond to Johnny.
“That’s okay, Ms. Candy is coming over. We have lots to do!”
We exchange phone numbers and I text her our address. Then she rings up our purchases. I hate to walk away from her, but I’m happy as fuck she’ll be at our place tonight.
“See you soon,” I tell her, as we walk out of her shop.
“I can’t wait,” she responds back, her eyes sparkling with joy.
4
Candy
I can’t believe they invited me over, well Johnny did. Maybe Dylan just went along with it? I’m not really sure, but I closed the shop and packed up a few extra candied apples since that seemed to be what Johnny was really excited about this week and then drove to Dylan’s house
I would usually walk, but I wasn’t sure how late I would be out tonight and didn’t want to walk through downtown if it was too late.
Pulling into Dylan’s driveway I’m gob smacked. His house is an adorable bungalow. I thought he’d live in a different part of town. One where the houses were so expensive it would take a century to pay off and it would have a guard at the gate. Yet, he doesn’t. It makes me like Dylan even more. I knew what he did for a living and how he his company helps many families around town. He never came off as pretentious, so I’m not sure why I assumed he’d live in overpriced suburbia.
I shut my car off and grab my purse, along with the bag full of goodies from the front seat and make my way up to the front porch. Dylan has a couple of rocking chairs out front, but other than it’s pretty sparse. I could see orange, yellow, and red chrysanthemums, pumpkins, and lanterns on the steps leading up to the porch. Then add a big rug by the front door with more mums and a welcome sign.
The door opens up and Johnny immediately grabs my hand and leads me inside the front door.
“Ms. Candy, Ms. Candy! You’re here. You actually came,” he says with glee. It hurts my heart to hear that he thought I wouldn’t come.
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” I tell him, as he leads me into the kitchen, his hand in mine. I could fall in love with this little boy.
As we walk further into the house, I see it’s all soft muted browns and whites, with a pop of color here and there. The trim work is all white, and the floors are stained a dark hickory color. It’s all so nice and cozy. Unlike my house, which is more or less a studio apartment, but it’s mine. I stayed home and worked as much as I could during high school and college, knowing I wanted to save every penny I could to own my bakery. While most kids were out having fun during the summer, I was working every odd and end job I could.
My grandfather was the one who got me into baking. Something that was once a hobby, became my passion. It was a deep bond we shared together. He never recovered from losing Gram, so every time he came into town, we always locked ourselves in the kitchen.
Mom and Dad would come in and check on us, then they’d be off on a date night. It was their time to get away for a night or two and our time to mess up the kitchen.