Cream Puff Murder (Hannah Swensen, #11)(11)

“That is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard!” Lisa put her hands on her hips and stared hard at Hannah. With her small stature and her chef’s apron rolled up several times in the middle and held in place with the ties wrapped twice around her waist, she might have seemed ridiculous, but her determination made her a force to respect. “The people from Lake Eden go out to the mall and pay almost five dollars for one little cup of designer coffee and a cookie that tastes like cardboard. And don’t say they don’t, because I’ve seen them do it! If they can afford to do that, they can certainly afford to pay the same price for a cup of great coffee with free refills and a cookie that tastes even better than their grandmothers used to make!”

Hannah thought about that for a moment. “I suppose you’re right, but…”

“You really ought to let me start pricing things around here,” Lisa interrupted her. “We’re a business, not a charity. I know you think it’s your duty to treat the whole world, but it’s not. And if you keep devaluing your talent by undercharging, you’re going to go broke!”

Hannah just stared at the partner who had turned into a dynamo. It seemed as if Lisa had been thinking about this for a while. But as she watched, Lisa appeared to have second thoughts, because she put her hands over her face and sighed.

“I’m sorry, Hannah,” she said, and her voice quavered slightly. “It’s just that I get so mad when I see people taking advantage of your good nature.”

Hannah thought about that for a minute. Lisa really did have a point. Several other people in her life had pointed out that she hadn’t raised her prices in three years, when every other business in town had done so several times. She’d never claimed to be a businesswoman. She simply enjoyed baking for people and seeing how happy they were when they munched on one of her cookies. Perhaps it was time to let a real businesswoman take over the nuts and bolts of the business. She could still enjoy baking and watching people taste her creations, but she wouldn’t have to agonize over pricing and making a profit.

“It’s a done deal,” Hannah said, smiling at Lisa.

“What’s a done deal?”

“You take care of the business stuff from now on. I’ll come up with new recipes and figure out what to bake every day.”

Lisa looked a bit dumbfounded at this news. “But…are you sure you want me to handle the pricing and everything?”

“Better you than me. I’m not very good at it, and I know it. But before you leave the kitchen for the rarefied air of high finance, do me a favor, will you?”

“Sure. What is it?”

“Bake a Chocolate Chip Mega Cookie for Sue Plotnik. She’s been depressed lately, and Phil wants us to cheer her up. And that reminds me, do we have any extra Oatmeal Raisin Crisps we can package up for Janice Cox at Kiddie Korner? I need to go see her today.” Hannah stopped speaking and began to frown. “Let me rethink that. Maybe I shouldn’t give so many cookies away.”

“Wrong. You should give extra cookies away. Everybody knows we don’t sell day-old, and giving them away goes under the promotion category. I’ll check with Stan to make sure I’m right, but if I keep track of fair price for day-old cookies, we can deduct it from our taxes.”

“I’ve never done that before!”

“That doesn’t mean you can’t do it now. I’ll bet you never even thought to mention it to Stan.”

Hannah gave a little shrug. “You’re right. I don’t think I mentioned it. I just assumed that…”

“Never assume,” Lisa interrupted her. “Assumption is the mother of a compound word I’m not going to say. Just let me keep track and see if we can use the deduction.”

“Okay,” Hannah said, giving her partner a smile. It was going to be a lot more fun letting someone else handle the finances.

“Why do you have to see Janice? Andrea’s not thinking about putting Bethie in preschool this early, is she?”

“No, Grandma McCann is still living in, and I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if she stayed for a couple more years.”

Lisa got out one of the stainless steel mixing bowls and began to round up ingredients for Sue’s cookie. “Herb ran into her at the Red Owl the other day, and she said she really likes living in town, especially now that it’s winter. She told him that wintering on a farm is hard when your family’s grown up and moved away, and you’re all alone out in the country.”

“I can understand that! My grandparents lived on Grandma McCann’s road, and sometimes it took almost a week to get it plowed. They were stuck there, come whatever, and if there’s a really bad winter storm, the phone lines go down.”

“Then you’d be stuck in a house all alone with no way to get out and no phone you could use to call for help. That’s really scary!”

“You bet it is, but that’s not the worst of it.”

“Really? What’s worse than that?”

“No cable and no satellite dish. The cable company doesn’t run out that far, and her farm is down in a low spot, so a dish won’t work without building an expensive tower. Andrea told me that Grandma McCann just loves the movies on the romance channel, and the only place she can get the romance channel is at Andrea and Bill’s house.”