Confessions of a Pastry Chef

Chapter 2

The door slowly closed, shutting out the bustling kitchen and providing some much-needed quiet. The office was made entirely of windows that looked out onto the kitchen, but the blinds were shut, keeping out the noisy kitchen and casting a dark glow in the room. Georgie pointed for Camryn to sit in a desk chair at the large wooden desk and laid out some paperwork to fill out.

With time to kill, they chatted about their respective upbringings--Georgie was born in London, studied business, and rose her way up to the manager one of the most prominent bakery-cafes in the United States, if she did say so herself. Camryn thought Georgie's story was much more glamorous and exciting than her own small town upbringing.

"I've heard so much about you, Camryn" Georgie continued, "Of course, there's the professional profile--I have to do my research, you know. You made quite the name for yourself in Iowa." Camryn looked down, embarrassed, but Georgie continued chatting, "Claiming the number three on the must-see small town bakeries in the country is most impressive. Mr. Danner absolutely raved about your work, which is why you were our first choice to hire. No interview or anything." Georgie continued excitedly, "I was quite stunned at how Mr. Danner insisted the job was yours. But I never question his opinions, it's gotten us this far, hasn't it?" she paused, "So, what is your story?"

Camryn noticed she had been absentmindedly scribbling on her employment forms. She put the pen down and sat back in the office chair, clearing her throat and said, "Well, as you know, I grew up in a small town in Iowa, outside of Des Moines. Chris and I were neighbors and were practically raised together--"

"Chris? You mean you were the childhood best friend of Chris Danner?" Georgie's face had a look of awe, astonishment, and excitement. Which made Camryn's cheeks flush red.

"I mean. Yeah?" Camryn added nervously, "He was practically my brother growing up. We lived next door to each other. We were in diapers together. Our parents were like family to each other. In high school we worked in this little pastry shop together, Sweet Annie's, it was called, and at Sweet Annie's we discovered that we both loved baking. The most adorable woman owned it, Annie. She was like my grandmother, she was famous back in the day, she owned a small bakery in New York that people would come from all over to see. It was at Sweet Annie's the Chris and I began this dream of opening our own pastry shop in New York City, just like Annie did." Camryn smiled at the memory, she hadn't thought about those times in years.

Georgie beamed "I can't believe it. I'm actually meeting you."

"What do you mean?" Camryn was confused at Georgie's statement, she may have had some small town success with her little Iowa bakery, but she was no celebrity.

"When I came on the staff ages ago, Mr. Danner always talked about a friend he had who was the 'best baker he had ever known.' He said this friend was the reason he opened this bakery, every decision he made had her in mind. At first I thought he was talking about the nice old woman who owned the bakery he worked at, but when I asked he said Annie was the inspiration behind the dream, but not the reason why he followed through. I never knew what he meant by that."

Georgie continued excitedly, "For the first few years, he kept the position of sous chef open, despite a huge line of applicants. He couldn't seem to find anyone that fit and refused to hire. I kept pushing him about it, we really needed a second chef and Mr. Danner was up to his eyeballs in work. One night, when we were closing up, Chris was still working in the kitchen, trying to put together a menu for a party we were catering or something. I approached him because Bradley Stevens, a great up and coming pastry chef had just reached out to apply for the job. He shook his head and said, 'She'll come, I know she will.' We had a bit of a row, because whenever I asked if I could contact whoever 'she' was, he refused to tell me. He always said something like, 'Only I can convince her, I can't push her, she's going through such a rough time right now.' He left town for a few days, and then finally, when he returned, he came to me and told me to hire Bradley Stevens. He looked crushed, defeated. I never asked what changed his mind, I didn't want to pry. Eventually, he got swept up in the business, we were doing amazing,--we rose to the top of the city, we were in magazines and newspapers. But I could tell, Chris was never as happy as he should be, I could always tell. I can't believe, after all this time, you finally made it."

Camryn was stunned and shook her head, "I... I can't believe he waited so long. After high school ended, Chris stuck to our plan. He went off to culinary school in New York and opened this," Camryn gestured around, "and... I stayed in Iowa because my dad got sick. Chris and I both planned to attend the same culinary school here in New York but my dad's cancer really took a toll on my family financially. Chris did just about anything to try to help me, offered to pay for my schooling, everything. But he and I both knew that he didn't have the money to do that, he was trying to pay for his own tuition. So I continued working at Sweet Annie's and worked as a waitress at night, I eventually saved enough money to put myself through Des Moines' Culinary School and took over as head baker at Sweet Annie's and ran it myself once Annie retired. Chris and I were in touch then, we chatted weekly, we kept each other going when the business was struggling and he was there for me during my dad's hardest time.

Camryn continued to Georgie's curious expression, "Then Sweet Annie's really started getting some popularity, so did Danner's, but that was when my dad was hitting his lowest point. My dad died in December, and Chris came to the funeral. And the night before he flew back, we had a conversation that lasted an entire night. We both cried, but I had to say no. We got in a really big fight, the biggest we had ever had. Because I couldn't bring myself to go to New York. I told myself I wanted to be there for my mom and younger brother, but I think deep down I was just scared that my dream wouldn't end up how I always imagined it. My mom and brother didn't really need me. My little pastry shop had reached its peak of success and I was still unhappy--I wanted more for myself, having never left Iowa."

"Finally, almost 6 months since we last spoke, I was sitting in my kitchen after an exhausting day of work, and I get a voicemail from him, he said, 'Cam. I know have your own thing going with Sweet Annie's. But just hear me out. We just lost our sous chef and we could really use you in this place. Let me know.' And without thinking, I just picked up and told him I would do it."

Georgie's eyes were wide, "Amazing." she said, bewildered.

"So there you have it. My little small town sob story. I'm so sorry for talking your ear off." Camryn snapped back into reality and placed the pen down on the papers, embarrassed.

"Are you kidding? That was riveting!" Georgie jumped off from the desk, "Truly. What you have gone through in such a short amount of time is mind boggling."

Georgie peered out of the blinds of a window that overlooked the kitchen. "I think that passed the time just right." Camryn could make out a few figures that moved around the kitchen, but it sounded much quieter than before.

Suddenly the door creaked open and a tall figure wearing a double-breasted chef coat stood in the door frame, backlit by the bright kitchen. Camryn recognized the brown messy hair and twinkling smile in a second.

He leaned on the door frame and said, "Camryn Woods. In New York City. Who would ever have guessed?"

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