A Sugar Summer

Chapter 30

"Good morning Callie. Did you sleep alright?"

Callie stifled a yawn as she entered her grandmother's kitchen. Maura stood in front of the stove as she stirred something in a pan. Grams rolled up her sleeves by the butcher block island, readying to roll out her famous homemade cinnamon buns.

"Yeah, thanks Maura. I almost feel guilty sleeping in after getting up so early to start working in the cafe." Callie sheepishly ducked into one of the dining room seats as she continued to watch her mother and grandmother cook breakfast.

The past week flew by much to Callie's surprise. She texted back and forth with Fallon daily and so far she'd woken up to a good morning text from her boyfriend that instantly put a smile on her face everyday. Lex and Anika were also sending lots of group images and reciting some of the more notable things that were happening back at camp. Instead of feeling like she was missing out, Callie surprisingly felt more relieved to be kept in the loop even though she was hours away.

"Take advantage of it now. It'll only be a matter of time before you need to get up early for a job." Callie smiled over at her mom who was grinning back at her. Over the past week Callie and her mother were gradually building up more of a relaxed relationship. It was still a strange sight to see her mom fluttering around so comfortably in her mother-in-law's house, but the first day back, Grams and Maura explained just how often her mom had frequented the home years before she was born. Grams was more like a second mother than a nanny to Maura when she was younger and easily looked after her when her mother's family decided to cast her out of their lives before Ryleigh was even born. Callie never did meet anyone from her mother's side of the family.

Grams was also feeling better and seemed to have her normal energy back as she worked the sticky dough in front of her. Callie watched the older woman dust the pastry with cinnamon before expertly rolling the sheet up into a perfect log. With sure slices of her knife, the sight of the pinwheeled dough made Callie's mouth water and left her stomach grumbling in hunger. Grams caught her staring and offered a cheeky wink as she transferred the raw buns to their baking dish before popping them into the oven. She never bothered with any timers since she always could tell when something was done by the smells wafting from the oven. It was a kitchen instinct Callie had also inherited.

Even though her grandmother was feeling back to her normal self, Callie couldn't bring herself to ask about potentially getting a ride back to camp. There were two weeks left and even though she missed everyone, she wouldn't think to bother her mom to stop everything and drive her back. She was afraid Maura would think she had been ungenuine about giving her a chance and didn't want to risk the progress they made. Plus, she didn't want to think about the disappointed look her brother would surely greet her with. She promised she would try and work things out and seeing how Maura was giving her the space she needed, Callie wasn't about to abuse it.

"How's everyone back at camp? Did you tell them what we discussed yesterday?" Grams lowered herself into a chair across from Callie as she sipped at her freshly poured tea.

Callie had been thinking of a way to ask her grandmother for permission to have everyone over after the mentor program ended for the summer. Surprisingly enough, the woman had questioned it before Callie could even form the request last night at dinner. To say her grandmother was excited would be an understatement. The woman loved to care for people and having a houseful for as long as she could convince them to stay was a dream come true. Once she told Callie that she wished to open her own bed and breakfast but it was always too expensive to buy a bigger house with more rooms or build an addition onto her cozy home. Besides, they didn't exactly live in a touristy or popular area so business wasn't guaranteed.

"I told Ryleigh about it. He said they can come straight from camp. No need to go to their homes to grab anything since they'll have all of their luggage with them." The smile on her grandmother's face grew as she listened to Callie.