Bitter Sweet - Ch 9 - Pre-Heated...

Late the next morning, after lying awake in bed for a few hours, Kelly finally got up the courage to go downstairs and make some breakfast.

She was feeling quiet happy as she made herself some eggs Benedict and was humming happily to herself as she cooked.

As she expected her grandmother came into the kitchen as she was finishing cooking.

“Kelly, I want to start a project with you that I’ve had in the wings for a while, you’ll be thrown in the deep end, so to speak. But I’ve a feeling you’ll be able to handle it. I’ll meet you in the upstairs office of your room when you’re ready.”

Kelly listened to the sound of her heels tapping on the tiles and fade as Eliza went upstairs. Taking her time, Kelly served herself breakfast and went into the dining room to eat.

After breakfast, Kelly went back to her room, showered, dressed and made her way to the upstairs office of her bedroom. She’d never actually been up there before and was pleasantly surprised to see a small but spacious work room set up.

Eliza was sitting by an antique desk in one of two chairs.

“Come, sit down and we’ll get started.” Her tone was very ‘matter of fact’ but she didn’t sound upset.

Coming and sitting in the chair beside her Kelly glanced about the room, she mainly took note of the lit up electronic map on the left wall; a faint ‘beeping’ and a few blinking lights flashed in an angry red along connecting lines between major cities and towns.

“Yes, that map is going to be one of the most useful tools you’ll ever use.” Eliza gestured to the map as a dot steadily moved along between two major cities. “This is a virtual electronic map, or as the council has come to call them V.E.M; it shows each Cupid where we have work to do. Since love isn’t an easy emotion to bestow on anyone, let alone have it actually ‘last’; this map can help Cupids figure out what course of action is best for their particular city or region.”

Getting up, Kelly turned and went over to get a closer look at the map; Eliza joined her as they both watched the red dot make it way around the series of lines, the soft beeping almost deafening in the silence of the room.

Looking up to the top left hand corner of the map, Kelly saw Willow Creek has its own single line that flowed out to the rest of the map.

“So that’s us in the top left hand corner, right?”

“Yes, Willow Creek is one of three towns that have its own ‘flow line’. These are the ‘love emotion’ lines if you like, these ‘flow lines’ radiate the work that has been done from Cupids in the past and now it will radiate the work you’ll be doing.”

Pursing her lips for a moment, Kelly frowned slightly looking at the map, her eyes following the red dot as it disappeared and reappeared moving along with each beep and blink.

Going and sitting back down Kelly took a deep breath before letting it out as a heavy sigh.

“Ok, so... What am I going to be doing? You said something about a ‘project’ you had in mind?”

Her grandmother smiled broadly at her. “Well, an old friend of mine has just put her bakery on the market as she’s retiring. So I decided to invest in it for you.”

Kelly sat stunned staring wide eyed at her grandmother.

Eliza continued. “Now I know that this is a big step, but you’re good, really good at what you do with cooking, so if you can incorporate that with your Cupid abilities then we might actually have a chance at spreading some real old fashioned romance about the place.”

“I’m going to help people find their ‘true love’, by selling them cookies?” Kelly felt that what her grandmother was suggesting was a little bewildering. How was she going to perform her duty as a cupid by selling cakes and cookies to other Sims?

“By selling ‘your’ cookies, cakes and pastries; yes.”

“But you said last night...”

Eliza stood up and shook her head. “I know what I said last night dear. I’m going to help you get some proper ‘hands on training’, the sort I’d wished for when I was starting out. This is for the best, and I know you’ll do well.” She kissed Kelly’s forehead then headed down stairs. “I’ll wake you in the morning so we can go and have a look at the place, it’s been newly renovated so all we have to do is ‘move in’.”

“Ah, ok... great.” Kelly found herself excited but also very apprehensive about the whole idea her grandmother seemed to have thrown her into.

Suddenly Kelly felt she needed space and decided she would take a walk down behind the house along the everglades to help clear her mind.

After a few hours of walking along the river banks amongst the willows and reeds, watching the ducks and swans swimming peacefully amongst the reeds and waterlilies, Kelly turned to make her way back to the house.

Coming up the dirt path, she saw Reese fishing on the bank of the river; a spare fishing rod was set down off to one side of him on the ground.

“Hi.” She waved coming over beside him. “Anything biting today, not including your temper that is?”

Reese gave a nervous laugh which made Kelly laugh herself for the briefest of moments.

“No fish seem to be biting today, and no I’m not really in a bad enough mood to bite; but you’re welcome to see if you can catch anything. I came out to clear my head, works been a bit stressful.” He reeled in his empty line, checked the lure before casting back out in an almost elegant fashion to the centre of the slow flowing river; the lure made a soft ‘thuk’ as it hit the water disappearing underneath the surface.

Picking up the spare rod, Kelly set up her line before casting out a bit away from where Reese’s line was. The breeze was calming and the afternoon sun wasn’t too warm.

After a while Kelly’s line suddenly jerked sharply and as she pulled back then quickly reeled in her line, she found a quite large Cichlid wriggling on the end her hook.

“I thought you said nothing was biting today?” She unhooked the fish and inspected it feeling somewhat pleased with her catch.

 “Well I can’t blame them, I think if I were a fish I’d let myself be caught on your line too.” There was a sharp silence. Reese glanced over at her briefly as the air became thick with tension, Kelly put her fish into the bucket then set about resetting her lure to cast back out and Reese seemed to focus even harder on his own line.

The sun slowly sank below the horizon and the streets lamps flickered on across the bridge just up from where they were standing. Kelly swatted a mosquito and reeled in her line.

“I think I’ll head back to the house before I get eaten alive.”

Reese reeled in his own line nodding. “Me too, I think your Cichlid is all that either of us are going to get for now.”

Kelly handed him back the fishing rod. “Thanks for the company.”

“You’re welcome any time.” As Kelly went to walk off Reese stopped her. “Hey um... I wanted to apologise for last night.”

“Reese, it’s fine really. I shouldn’t have yelled at you either.”

“Well, can I take you out for dinner on Friday?”

Kelly stopped, she had a million things she wanted to say, but her throat and mouth seemed to pause on her.

“Ok.” Was all she could manage, she felt a stupid smile become plastered on her face that she couldn’t seem to remove.

“Great, I’ll meet you at the White Lotus at seven on Friday evening then.” Before Kelly could answer, not that she would have even been able to, Reese picked up the bucket and headed back to the house.

That evening Kelly set about grilling the fish she’d caught for dinner. She hummed as she chopped vegetable and even managed to pull off a few fancy knife skill tricks as she worked.

She didn’t see or hear her grandmother come into the kitchen to put some dirty dishes in the dishwasher, Eliza smiled at her grand-daughter and chuckled to herself.

“Oh, hi grandma; have a nice day?” She beamed setting aside the vegetables for the salad and put the knives in the dishwasher since she was finished with them.

“I didn’t, but it would seem that yours was even nicer. While the fish is cooking, why don’t you come have a drink with me and tell me about it?”

Usually Kelly would have opposed drinking at such an early hour of the evening, but tonight, she felt happier than she had been in a long time and decided to ‘let her hair down’ a bit.

Coming to the bar, Kelly accepted the drink her grandmother gave to her and took at seat on one of the bar stools.

“So, who has you sitting up on cloud nine this evening?”

“What? No one, I’m just really happy. You’ve got this great plan with the bakery and...” Kelly paused realizing that it may not be a good thing to mention Reese was going to be taking her out to dinner later in the week.

“Ah, see there’s the little chink in your armour there my dear. Now let me see...” Eliza looked carefully at her granddaughter.

Kelly felt nervous as her grandmothers eyes seemed to bore into her skull, she felt as though her moss green eyes would somehow strip away her secrets leaving her exposed.

“I’ve got it.” Eliza suddenly spoke making Kelly jump slightly at her exclamation. “You met someone while you were out walking this afternoon and he’s got you all in aflutter. I’m right aren’t I?” Her gaze was fixed on Kelly waiting for her to answer.

“Well, uh...”

“Oh, I knew it. The Andrews generations have always been good at spotting ‘new love’. How exciting, but don’t let it go to your head, I need you focused for the bakery.”

The bell on the stove went off saving Kelly from anymore chit chat with her grandmother about the uncomfortable subject, she half jumped off her chair.

“You’re not going to tell me who he is?” Eliza chided Kelly as she started to walk off.

“Oh, uh... well it was a brief meeting so...”

“Oh, I see. A mystery man, well let’s hope that it turns into more than just a dreamy state of mind for you dear.”

Kelly wasn’t really sure how to take what her grandmother was saying. One moment she was telling her to stay focused and get her Cupid work sorted out; and now she was telling her that a relationship would be a good thing to have in her life.

“Ah, ok... I’m just going to get dinner.” Kelly excused herself and went into the kitchen to take the fish out from under the grill and served herself up dinner.

The next morning Reese had finished his breakfast and was finishing cleaning up the dining room as Kurtis came into the dining room.

“You can’t go out with her Reese, Eliza will find out and she’ll kick you out on the streets.”

Reese gave a small scoffed laugh. “I’m not ‘going out’ with her dumb-ass. It’s an apology dinner; I overreacted yesterday evening and yelled at her. That’s all.”

Kurtis shook his head frowning slightly at his brother. “Well, keep her at arm’s length then. I doubt Eliza will be willing to understand if you ‘sully’ her granddaughters reputation before she even gets one.”

Moving past his brother, Reese scoffed again rolling his eyes at Kurtis.

“I’m just trying to help bro.”

“Thanks, but I don’t need it... bro.” Reese glanced back at his brother, who had never tried to be helpful towards him in his entire life. He knew without doubt that Kurtis was trying to play an angle; he wasn’t going to play into his brothers hands. Now, he just had to figure out how Kurtis knew that he had planned to go to dinner with Kelly, he hadn’t even had time to make reservations yet.

The next morning just after eight o’clock, Kelly met her grandmother outside a charming little bakery in the next suburb over from Willow Creek known as Magnolia Promenade. It was the main shopping district where people went if they couldn’t be bothered heading into the city.

“Alright, so are you ready?”

Kelly nodded smiling; she felt her stomach doing back flips from her excitement mixed with absolute terror. This venture was either going to be a great success and something she would be able to have as her own Cupid legacy, her own personal mark that would contribute to her family history and make them proud.

She followed her grandmother up the stairs and waited as she unlocked the doors to the shop, swinging them open and walking inside.

The shop was neat, and direct.

“it’s all been cleaned professionally, I made sure of that.”

The colour scheme was very simple but it was still romantic in a way. It smelt of flour, vanilla and the faintest hint of wood polish.

Empty shelves stood ready to be filled and Eliza seemed very eager to get started as she made her way behind the counter looking for switches to turn on the cake display units and store signs.

The kitchen was where Kelly was going to be doing most of her work, it  was quiet spacious with a cupcake machine, fully stocked supply shelves and sleek modern appliances. There was also a bathroom with shower just off from the kitchen.

Kelly went and changed into her cooking clothes and then set about getting to work on creating freshly baked cakes, pastries, cookies and cupcakes.

Everything would be speciality baked with the pure flavours of strawberries, cherries, exotic berries, raspberries, boysenberries and vanilla. Kelly was going to pull out every fancy skill and trick she knew.

Ideas swirled in her head as Kelly paused for a moment after a few hours of baking, she watched the local tram as it passed by the store across the street and rang its bell; she couldn’t help but smile at her surroundings. 

Finally finishing off icing a layered cake with vanilla and rosewater marzipan, Kelly took it out to show Eliza who happily approved for her to put it in the shelves and she set a price in the cash register for it.

With only two hours left until the usual closing time, Eliza decided to open the store on a whim.

Before Kelly could even dry her hands from washing off excess icing, Eliza was calling her out front to help her take orders.

People had tried a few of the samples that had been set out and all of them had instantly wanted to take home boxes of cupcakes, biscuits and in some cases even more. One gentleman was having a party the next day and ordered three dozen of her berry macaroons right then and there for pick up in the morning.

When closing time came, Eliza and Kelly had to practically beg their customers to leave before they got fined for being open past their registered hours, reassuring the Sims that they would defiantly be open all day the next day from eight o’clock.

Finally getting home, Kelly and Eliza couldn’t stop happily talking over dinner with Kurtis about how the day had gone.

He listened intently and patiently as they chatted and then offered to clean up so that they could get to bed for their early and busy day ahead of them.

As Kelly headed to bed, she was too excited to feel an extra pair of eyes on her as she walked off after thanking Kurtis for being so thoughtful with making dinner and cleaning up after them.

“You have no idea.” He said quietly as he watched Kelly walk off to go upstairs her room.

As she got into her room, Kelly went to go to her wardrobe to change. She stopped seeing a small wooden sculpture of a dragon sitting on her desk.

She smiled knowing that unless her dad or brothers had stopped by without her knowing; Reese had carved it. He was the only other person who really seemed to pay attention to anything she liked since she’d arrived at her grandmothers place.

She quickly showered, changed and crawled into bed, the small smile staying with her all the while.

The next morning Reese joined her at breakfast.

“Thank you.” Kelly remarked as he sat down beside her.

“For what?” He looked slightly confused at her for a moment.

“The sculpture of the dragon you left, it’s very cute.”

“Oh, right, that. It was nothing. I was just mucking about and found that the little guy just sort of appeared out of the wood.” He shrugged, but he also gave her a warm smile.

Eliza was making herself a coffee in the kitchen and Kelly glanced at the time and realised she’d have to hurry so they shop would be open in time.

“Is tonight still on?’ She asked finishing off her yoghurt.

Reese nodded as he heard Eliza also putting her coffee cup in the dishwasher. “Yup, see you at seven. Everything’s all booked in.”

“Ok, bye.”

Kelly grabbed her bowl and dashed into the kitchen, then ran upstairs to change.

That evening Kelly was able to finally shut the shop just after six o’clock, she half jogged back to the car after checking her watch and seeing the time.

Eliza had left the shop early to Kelly’s relief; some old friends of Eliza’s had come into town and dropped by as a surprise.

Eliza had left Kelly the car so that Kelly could get home.

Now Kelly had just under an hour to get back home, clean herself up from working at the bakery all day then get over to the restaurant. She was feeling a little bit excited.

‘It’s an apology dinner because he was a jerk.’ She kept saying over and over to herself all the way home.