Bake This! (A 300 Moons Novella) Read Online Free PDF Page B

trying to figure out what makes you happy,” he explained.
    “Not many people look at it that way,” she said.
    “Well, I’m not exactly a career success myself, but I’m happy,” he told her, flipping an apple into the air and catching it before setting to work peeling and cutting.
    “Teaching little kids has to be fun,” she said, grabbing her own apple and peeling it. “That sounds like a good life to me.”
    “They’re awesome,” Will said, smiling.
    “Is it… violent?” Tess asked.
    “Children’s karate?” he asked incredulously.
    She nodded.
    “God, no. They say a pledge at the beginning of each class promising never to use what they learn on another person unless they’re in danger.”
    “I guess it’s good they can protect themselves then,” she replied, grabbing another apple.
    Will chuckled.
    “What?” she asked.
    “At their age it’s really more about building a foundation of respect and teaching them to enjoy the physical exercise. A few of them are getting pretty good. But you tell the whole class to kick, and a few kick, some spin around in a circle, some of them fall over…” he laughed and his eyes twinkled. “The older kids are more serious, but I only teach them one night a week.”
    “Well it sounds like you enjoy it,” Tess said.
    Will stopped cutting apples and looked over at her.
    “I started doing it and something just clicked. I’ve always liked martial arts. But teaching, it’s… it’s something else.”
    There was a beep signifying that the oven was ready for the pies.
    Tess jumped a bit and then dashed over.
    They loaded it up and Will set the timer.
    Tess headed back to prep more apples.
    Then there was another beep.
    Will slipped his phone out of his pocket and his mouth tightened.
    “It’s the fire station, they need volunteers,” he said.
    “You’re a volunteer too?” Tess asked.
    He nodded.
    “And I’ve got to go now. You know what you’re doing here?” he asked.
    “Sure, of course,” she said immediately. She knew nothing of the sort, but you didn’t stop a firefighter to ask questions.
    “I’ll be back as soon as I can,” he said, dashing up the stairs.

7
    T ess had things under control .
    She peeled and sliced enough apples for eight pies, mixed the spices, par-cooked them, and prepared the dough. But the oven hadn’t gone off yet. So she put those pies in the fridge and started again.
    Predictably, the oven timer went off as soon as she was elbow deep in apple peels again. No matter.
    She found some oven mitts and removed the first eight pies and put them on the counter to cool.
    Then she put the fridge pies onto the counter to come up to room temp and went back to her apples.
    More apples, more spices, put the fridge pies into the oven, more par-cooking, more dough, and more pies on the counter waiting to cook.
    The oven timer beeped.
    But this time, there was no room on the counter to put the pans down to cool.
    Damn.
    She put them on the floor, temporarily, until she could load the oven again.
    Once that set was going, she found herself ahead of the game again with pies made but not baked.
    She knew she could keep prepping apples. But…
    There was an old conveyor belt in the corner. Probably came in handy during wreath-making or other seasonal crafts.
    It was a bit dusty - didn’t look like it had been used in a while. But if she could clean it up, she could use the extra surface area to set the pies on to cool. It was even conveniently positioned beneath one of the huge ceiling fans. The pies would be out of the way of her cooking and once they were cooled, they could be boxed up.
    Tess could imagine how surprised Will would be when he came back and she had a huge stack of boxed pies ready to go.
    She grabbed a few rags, a bucket and some soap she found in the closet and got right to work cleaning it up. Humming merrily, she washed the whole thing down. The one good thing about the hot kitchen was that at least the suds she was