When the Cookie Crumbles by Virginia Lowell Read Free Book Online

sound testy, and she seemed disoriented as well. “Are you okay, Mom?” Olivia asked. “It’s only Wednesday, and the gingerbread houses don’t need to be finished until the celebration begins Saturday morning. Or Friday evening, I suppose, if all of you insist on getting some sleep.”
    Ellie sighed. “I realize it’s not every day a town achieves two hundred and fifty years of existence, at least here in America, which is still so young. In Europe, of course—”
    “Weren’t you feeling pressed for time, Mom?”
    “Not only that,” Ellie said, “but I can’t tell you how many activities I have missed to help Maddie’s crew with those gingerbread houses—like my reading group, yoga, two weekly nature walks, and I haven’t had a minute to help with our protest march on Washington. It takes a lot of planning to occupy Congress, you know.”
    “I’m surprised you aren’t
running
for Congress.” Olivia was sounding a bit testy herself.
    “I’ve thought about it, dear. Maybe later.” Ellie frowned at the scrap of paper in Olivia’s hand and sighed again.
    Olivia scanned the list. “Five packages of rolled fondant, two boxes of confectioners’ sugar, gel coloring…dried tagliatelle pasta?”
    “Maddie’s idea for quick and easy windowpanes,” Ellie said. “We’re getting desperate.”
    Olivia finished reading the list in silence. “We have most of this stuff, like the cookie cutters and pastry bags, and I can give you some of our baking supplies from the kitchen. You’re on your own for the dried tagliatelle. Although it’s an interesting idea.”
    As they gathered the items, Olivia asked her mother, “Why are you worried about Karen and Paine?”
    Ellie gazed off into space as if trying to find words to express her concerns. “Paine Chatterley…such an endearing little boy, for the most part. But sad, too, which is hardly surprising. You’d think his parents would have been thrilled when they discovered they were pregnant, after all those years. His mother was over forty, as I remember. However, not all couples are meant to be parents.”
    Olivia unlocked a small room that had once served as a pantry. Olivia had hired Lucas Ashford to move the door so she could access the room from the sales floor, and now the store’s inventory lined the old wooden shelves. Selecting a box, Olivia said, “I think the vegetation cutters are in here.” She skimmed a list taped to the front of the box. “Yes, here they are.” Olivia lifted a cookie cutter out of the box and handed it to her mother. “This is an elm tree shape I had custom made. If it gets lost, I will be most unhappy.”
    “I will guard it faithfully,” Ellie said. “I used to love the old elm trees. Such lovely shade.”
    “You know,” Olivia said, “from what I saw of Paine yesterday evening and this morning, the word ‘endearing’ isn’t the first that would spring to my lips. ‘Cranky,’ maybe, or ‘haughty.’”
    “Sad can look like a lot of things,” Ellie said, “including cranky and haughty. However, I do see your point.”
    “Here’s a shady oak tree shape,” Olivia said as she handed her mother a shiny copper cutter. “Hermione seems to think Paine is depressed, although she didn’t use that word.”
    “That would not surprise me,” Ellie said.
    “And Karen?”
    “Hmm?”
    “Our esteemed mayor, the other person you’re worried about. Although if Karen is sad or depressed, I’ll eat an entire gingerbread house, dried tagliatelle and all.” Olivia found the last cookie cutter on her mother’s list, a rosebush. The cutter was no more than a lumpy oval shape, but Maddie would recognize it. Olivia slid the box back on the shelf before correcting the attached list to reflect the change in its contents.
    “I wouldn’t call Karen sad, exactly,” Ellie said, “but she does seem overwrought. It isn’t good for her. She’s taking this town celebration far too seriously. History is important, of course,