Sweet Tooth (Little Cakes, #11)(41)
Not needing carrots at that moment, she lugged the crate into the walk-in refrigerator before turning back to the boxes. Elizabeth finished organizing the first group of supplies before looking at the top box on the second stack. It was labeled onions but some of the letters had been scratched out and others added so it now read, Open me!
How had she not noticed this? Curious, she carried it over to her workspace. The container was very light. She pulled off the top and found a wrapped present inside with a small label that said, Buried Treasure! Elizabeth gently unwrapped it and found a small plastic container shaped like a bunny’s head.
Instantly the signal she and her Daddy had designed for their first trip to Blaze popped into her mind. After pulling the top off, she found a piece of paper with a design shaped just like the strip mall. A red X stood out on the page as well as a large You Are Here sign with an arrow.
Elizabeth walked through the doors into the dining room where the last customers were enjoying their meals. Forcing herself not to dash directly through the tables, she stopped and talked to the customers to make sure everything was perfect with their meals. Their enthusiastic, positive reviews brightened her day but couldn’t delay her for long. She whispered to one of the waitresses that she would be right back before darting out the door. She turned to her left and headed for the shop marked by a big red X on the map she’d found.
Maniac Tats. She’d talked to the tattoo artists a thousand times but had never been inside. Elizabeth didn’t have any tattoos, but she loved seeing colorful ones decorating other people’s skin. She was sure it had to hurt bad. Needles definitely weren’t her thing.
Cautiously, she opened the door and stepped inside. The windows were tinted so she’d never seen the interior. Curious, Elizabeth looked around. There were different workstations with equipment spread around the open space. Pictures and tattoo designs decorated the walls. A long counter separated the workspace from the waiting area. The hum of motors filled the air, making her shiver. Those were the needles.
Scanning for Maniac and Tatiana, the owners of the shop, who visited Nibbles & Bites regularly, she spotted them with clients. Maniac had a privacy screen up around his station, and she could only see the top of his head. Elizabeth wasn’t going to peek over that.
She paused at the front desk, hoping someone would see her. Elizabeth didn’t want to startle the artists and have them make a permanent mistake. To her relief, Tatiana looked up. She watched the tattoo artist take in her apron with the Nibbles & Bites logo. Recognition sparked in her gaze, and Tatiana spoke to the man whose arm she worked on.
“I’ll be right back. Take a break for a couple of minutes.”
As Tatiana walked to the front desk, she greeted Elizabeth, “Hi! I almost didn’t recognize you out of your restaurant. Are you ready to ink that super cute logo somewhere?”
“Hi, Tatiana. No tattoo for me today. I’m sorry to interrupt you. This is going to sound really weird, but I got a map in my produce delivery. It pointed here. Did my… Did Tom Delaney leave something here for me?”
“Like a treasure map?” Maniac asked, standing up behind the screen to look at Elizabeth.
“Yes. Exactly like that. I think Tom left it for me to find. Do you know Tom with Delaney Produce?” Elizabeth asked.
“We might,” Tatiana said with a smile. She leaned behind the counter to pull out a small box. “He said you’d know the secret sign if this was for you.”
Immediately, Elizabeth made the bunny sign with her hand and wiggled the ears at Tatiana.
“I guess this is yours then.”
Elizabeth accepted the package and held it tight to her chest. “Do you know what it is?”
“We don’t. We’re just tattoo artists. Produce is a whole ’nother thing for us. We were glad to see him walk through that door. We had a request for a strange tattoo,” Maniac shared.
“Something Tom would know about?” Elizabeth asked before turning to look at the door when it opened. She was shocked to see the Little Cakes owner step inside. “Ellie? Are you getting a tattoo?”
“I stopped to talk to you and a server mentioned she’d seen you come in here,” Ellie explained, smiling at everyone.
“Hi, Ellie. We were just talking about a guy who wanted a kumquat tattoo,” Tatiana explained.
“A kumquat? Like in the sour fruit?” Elizabeth made sure she hadn’t misunderstood.
“That’s it. A kumquat. We didn’t even know what that was until we googled it. Tom brought us one when we asked him about it,” Maniac clarified.
“Hmm. Maybe I should design a salad with kumquats if there are people out there that like them well enough to get a kumquat tattoo,” Elizabeth wondered out loud, trying to make polite conversation when what she really wanted to do was rip open the package.
“We’ve had some interesting requests for tattoos before but never a kumquat,” Tatiana said. “I wonder if Ellie could make a kumquat cupcake?”
When Tatiana stumbled over the words, the tattoo artist declared, “That’s a hard thing to say—kumquat cupcake. Ellie, you’ll have to give it a funky name. Something flirty.”
“Flirty Kumquat?” Elizabeth put Tatiana’s words together and laughed at the name. “I like that a lot.”
“I’m so making a Flirty Kumquat cupcake. That’s a fun idea,” Ellie said.