Esther Drummond (curiousesther) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2013-08-07 21:28:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, audrey, esther drummond |
Who: Esther Drummond and Audrey Baxter
When: After July 10
Where: Baxter Bakery
What: Esther is looking for a treat for her neices
Rating/Warning: Low/None
Status: Complete
Now that the aliens and zombies or whatever those things were, were gone Esther felt safe going out again. Regulus hadn’t reopened the restaurant just yet, so Esther had decided to go get something for her nieces since they’d all been cooped up the last couple of days and she knew that they had been scared about what was going to happen. She had thought about going to see her sister first, but it always made her sad to see her sister in the hospital and mad at the doctors that none of them seemed to be able to do anything. It had been years now since her youngest niece had been born, but her sister was still suffering. Esther hoped that they could find something for her soon, because she was missing out on time with her daughters.
Esther decided to visit a local bakery, figuring that her nieces might like cupcakes. Stepping into Baxter Bakery, she started looking around at the display cases.
There were definitely cupcakes at Baxter Bakery. In the pastry case, along with a zillion other sweet things to try. Audrey was behind the counter, talking to one of her employees. The girl was decorating cookies in the back and needed some help with the frosting. At the sound of the door’s chime, though, they broke apart and Audrey gave a smile to the customer. “Hello!”
Esther glanced over at the woman who had greeted her and smiled, “Hi.” She glanced around quickly then approached the woman behind the counter, “Hi, I’m looking for some cupcakes for my nieces.” Esther enjoyed buying things for her nieces, including sweets, because she knew that they liked them. She didn’t go overboard, but every now and then she decided to indulge them and this was one of those times after the events of the last few days. “Anything you’d recommend?”
“Oh, well, it’s all good!” Audrey said, beaming. “I’m partial to chocolate, myself. Almost anything chocolate. So I’ve got a lot of it in the case.” She motioned with her hand. “What do they like?” She asked. “I’ve got chocolate with all sorts of other flavors, vanilla, strawberry, cheesecake, toffee nut, almond filling, custard...”
“Chocolate for sure.” Both of her nieces loved chocolate and from the looks of the cupcakes in the cases, she was pretty sure they would love these, “Chocolate cheesecake sounds good.” Looking into the cases, Esther was pretty sure that these were the best looking cupcakes she’d ever seen and she wished hers looked that good when she made them.
“Chocolate cheesecake it is!” Audrey beamed, moving to put a couple of the cupcakes into a box. It was pink cardboard, with the Baxter Bakery logo on the top. “Just two, then?” She asked. Always working the up-sell, Audrey was. “Or can I get you more?”
Audrey might have been trying to make a sale, but Esther didn’t mind in the least, because the cupcakes looked delicious, “I’ll take a chocolate with almond filling and Chocolate strawberry one too.” If she was getting cupcakes for her nieces, she might as well get one for her brother-in-law too. “Do you bake all of these yourself?”
Audrey nodded, as she collected up the other cupcakes to put into the box. It was the perfect size for four cupcakes, and they’d be held carefully by little cardboard bits to make sure that the frosting didn’t get squished by the lid. “Well, that’s not entirely true. I have a group of bakers who come in every night to help me work. Normally they arrive right before the place officially closes, and stay through until I get here around three am.”
Esther watched as Audrey put each of the cupcakes into the box, listening as she spoke, her brows rising slightly, “Three am? What time do you open?” Sure, Esther had to go into the restaurant before it opened most of the time, but that wasn’t until around ten in the morning. At three in the morning she was still sleeping.
“We open at five thirty in the morning, though most of the baking happens before that. And we’ve got deliveries that go out to local stores and restaurants.” It was a fully functional bakery on top of being a cafe. Audrey smiled. “I know, it’s the middle of the night for most people. Just means I’ve got a really weird schedule compared to all of my friends.”
“Wow. I’m a chef at a restaurant and I couldn’t imagine opening that early. We don’t open till right before lunch.” Esther enjoyed being able to get enough sleep. She didn’t know how she’d function if she had to get up at three in the morning. When would she even go to sleep in order to get enough?
It was all about getting to bed early enough to get those hours. Audrey had a terribly early bedtime. She went to bed before the sun in the summertime. Sometimes. And she so rarely took a day/night off, that when she did she fell asleep at 6pm.
“Well, I’ve got deliveries to make. Schedules to keep. People want to have breakfast before work, so I have to be able to accommodate them.” Audrey said, giving a little shrug. “I love being able to give people a good start to their day.”
“I admire you doing all that. I don’t think I could do it.” Esther had often thought about what it’d be like to have her own restaurant or something, but seeing everything that Regulus went through and now Audrey, well, she just didn’t think she could ever do it. There was just so much to do when one ran their own restaurant or shop.
“Well, thank you. But don’t let anyone tell you you couldn’t do it. You could. If you had the passion for it, you’d make it work to your schedule. Or make your schedule work to it.” Audrey said. She’d done a little of both. Mostly adjusting her own life to fit to the needs of the bakery. But it all came from passion. She did what she had to do to live her dream.
“I suppose you’re right. Who knows, maybe someday I’ll have the passion to open my own restaurant or something. For now though, I’m happy where I am.” It wasn’t that she didn’t want to have her own restaurant or something someday, but she was worried about failing, “I’m Esther, by the way. Esther Drummond.”
“That’d be great. I know I’d come and eat there.” Audrey said, grinning. “Being happy is the most important thing. Don’t ever lose sight of that.” She nodded once. “It’s really nice to meet you Esther. I’m Audrey Baxter.” Kind of a ‘duh’ moment, but there you have it.
“It’s nice to meet you too, Audrey,” Esther smiled as she took her wallet out of her purse, “If we enjoy the cupcakes then I’ll more than likely come back.” Or maybe she’d just come back to talk to Audrey. The other woman was extremely nice and easy to talk to, which was what Esther needed. It was so hard for her to talk to people as it was, so Audrey being as easy going as she appeared was a good thing.
“You’re very welcome.” Audrey said. They finished the transaction quickly, as professional as Audrey was with the money part, that wasn’t the most fun part of shopping at the bakery. She passed over the box with the cupcakes in it. “I hope to see you again soon!”
Esther paid for the cupcakes, smiling as Audrey passed over the box, “I hope to come in again soon.” Taking the box, Esther left the bakery, looking forward to tasting the cupcakes and hoped that they tasted as good as they looked.