From the Desk of Zoe Washington(29)

“Okay.”

I walked around the table until I was next to Corey.

“Hi, Corey,” I said. “How can I help?”

“Hey, Zoe. Let’s see. Can you roll out more fondant?” He pointed to two huge balls of fondant—one was gold, and the other was silver. “You can start with the gold. Take that rolling pin, and roll it out like dough. Sprinkle some confectioners’ sugar on the table first. It should be about half an inch all around when you’re done.”

“Got it.” It sounded easy enough. I picked up the rolling pin and got to work. It took some strength at first to get the huge ball to flatten out, but then it was just a matter of rolling it over and over until it was flat enough.

As I rolled, my mind wandered back to my fight with Mom outside of J.P. Licks. I hadn’t been able to think about much else all morning. She was never going to take my side—not unless I found Marcus’s alibi witness and showed her that he really was innocent. If he truly was innocent . . . I didn’t want Mom to be right about him.

What I really wanted to do was bang on the fondant over and over with the rolling pin until all my anger at Mom came out of me. But of course, I couldn’t do that—not unless I wanted Ariana to kick me out of her kitchen.

I rolled and rolled, and daydreamed about finding Marcus’s witness and being able to tell Mom that she was wrong. She’d have to apologize, and the Innocence Project would get Marcus out of prison. I’d finally get to meet him. We could play basketball together, or go to a Celtics game. He could cook me dinner, and I’d bake the dessert. Maybe I’d even have my own cookbook, because Mom and Dad would let me go on the Kids Bake Challenge!, and of course I’d win. And Marcus could be there to see it.

“Not so hard, Zoe,” Ariana said, suddenly beside me.

“Huh?” I looked down at the fondant. Shoot. I must’ve pushed too hard on the rolling pin, and now the fondant was way too thin. “Sorry! I’ll start over.” I started to pick up the fondant so I could shape it back into another ball.

Ariana looked at the clock on the wall and then back at me. “You know what, I’ll take over. Why don’t you go up front, see if Gabe needs any help with customers.”

“Wait. I can fix it.”

“I know. It’s just, this is for a really important customer, and I’d rather take care of it myself.” She patted my shoulder. “I bet Gabe could use some help.”

“Okay . . . ,” I said reluctantly. I watched for a few seconds while Ariana started piling the fondant back up until it looked like a mound of clay again.

It suddenly felt like a mound of clay was sitting in my gut.

I left the kitchen and found Gabe up front, ringing up a customer. When he was finished, I said, “Ariana says you need help up here?”

“Oh, really?” Gabe said, looking around the shop. “Hmm. We’re kinda slow today. But I know what you can help with. One sec.” He left and went into the kitchen.

Maybe I’d get to help with the window display. That could be super fun.

But then Gabe came back with a box. A box that looked really familiar.

No . . .

He put it on the floor and opened it. Sure enough, it was filled with flat cardboard in the shop’s signature blue. Gabe opened a cabinet under the coffee machine. “We’re short on boxes under here. Think you can help me put some together? It’s super easy.”

“Oh, I know.” I picked up a box and quickly assembled it.

“That’s perfect!” he said, as if it was actually hard to do.

“And when you’re done, you can help me refill the napkin holders.”

Great. I forced a smile, and got to work.

Back to boxes, and it was all my fault for getting distracted in the kitchen.

I couldn’t let that happen again. I wouldn’t. What would Ruby Willow do? She’d put all of her energy into accomplishing her goal, just like when she was on Kids Bake Challenge! If I was going to make it onto that show, if I was going to be a real pastry chef one day, I had to focus on baking.

There was only one month left of summer and my internship, and I’d been so absorbed in thinking about Marcus that I hadn’t even come up with my own cupcake recipe yet.

I had to get to work—and fast.

I brainstormed cupcake ideas over the next couple of days, but it was even harder than I thought. My list included lemonade cupcakes—inspired by Grandma’s tea—and a sweet and savory cupcake that included potato chips. But none of those seemed original enough.

When Grandma showed up with Marcus’s next letter, I opened it right away, happy for the distraction.

To my Little Tomato,

Wow. Wow, wow, wow. That is what went through my head when I opened your letter and saw your school photo. You are such a beautiful girl. You definitely have your mom’s smile. Thank you so much for sharing it with me. I will cherish it forever.

You asked for a recipe. My mom makes the best macaroni and cheese. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water. I know that recipe by heart, so I wrote it on the back of this letter. If you make it, I’d love to know what you think.

Life in here is nothing like my life before, but I still get to read books, exercise, and watch TV. Sometimes I’ll join a pickup game of basketball in the rec yard. I have a couple friends—guys that have been here a while like me, and aren’t trying to get into trouble.