The Bee's Knees

Chapter 33

Weeks later, crowds of customers swarmed Sweet Surprise. Gone was the dated décor, permanently fingerprint-stained display case, and incessantly clicking refrigerator. Thanks to Anna's prize money and all the customers who'd come to check out the home of Louisiana's newest Sliced champion, her family had purchased enough new furniture and equipment to make Sweet Surprise as enticing as a freshly baked chocolate chip cookie.

Of course, her family weren't the only ones who'd breathed new life into the bakery. Paintings of bear claws, apple strudels, and ice cream sandwiches hung on the walls, all gifts from Taylor to help them advertise old favorites, returning menu items, and brand new recipes.

Once the last of their customers left with a box of brownies and some biscuits for his wolf, Anna flipped the sign in the window from Open to Closed. Normally, closing time was her least favorite part of the day, but today was different.

Today she'd be partying with all her friends!

With her surprise for her friends from the creek still cooling in the kitchen, Anna went to check on her new friends from Sliced. "How'd you like the ice cream sandwiches?"

Connor, Reese, and Norman all sat in their own special booth helping Anna's family taste test some of Sweet Surprise's newest desserts: ice cream sandwiches made in collaboration with The Inside Scoop. They'd decided to start with three different kinds: red velvet, cookies and cream with a caramel drizzle, and classic vanilla coated in chocolate-dipped pretzels.

"How can an ice cream sandwich taste this good?" Connor asked around a mouthful of caramel-covered Oreos.

"Told you it'd be delicious." Reese licked the last of the pretzel crumbs off their lips. "Not every dessert has to be some kind of fancy pants whatchamacallit."

"These are awesome!" Norman took a big bite of his ice cream sandwich as his beaver slapped its tail against the floor in a round of applause.

"Thank you so much for helping us taste test these," Anna said as she gathered the surveys she'd had them fill out. With their feedback, her family would finally be able to narrow down the first kind of ice cream sandwich to use in their new weekly special.

"No problem, and, um..." Connor fidgeted in his seat. "Thanks a bunch for helping me talk to my folks. It feels weird not working at Cake Kingdom anymore, but Mom and Dad are taking it a lot better than Grandpa."

That hadn't been an easy conversation. Anna and her grandpa had stood right by Connor the entire time, gently offering words of encouragement whenever Connor needed a little help saying how he felt. After Connor showed his parents the footage from Sliced where he'd cried at the thought of disappointing his grandpa, they'd wrapped him in a tight hug, all while Mr. Voorhees looked like he'd bitten into the world's most sour lemon.

"I'm just glad I could help," Anna said. "D'you think you're gonna enter that teams tournament they're having for Sliced?"

"I don't know if I'll have time. Now that I don't work at Cake Kingdom anymore, I've been thinking of taking game design classes or something like that." Connor smiled. "It would be real nice to get to bake with you, though."

"That would be so fun!" If Sliced paired them together, there wasn't a doubt in her mind that they'd win. Even if Connor didn't decide to go on Sliced again, she was more than happy to have made another friend.

With her new friends from Sliced taken care of, Anna jogged into the kitchen with her bees zooming behind her. Her whole family was feasting on pastries in a little party of their own, even her mom. She grinned at Anna with a half-eaten bear claw in her hand. "How's our favorite Sliced champion doing? I've almost got some hot chocolate ready if you want a cup."

Anna's mouth watered as she snuck a peek at the dark brown mixture simmering on the stovetop. "Doing great, thanks. I'd love some, but I've gotta take care of my tart first. Save some marshmallows for me!"

Now that it'd had plenty of time to cool, Anna carefully cut her kiwi rhubarb tart and piped peaks of lemon whipped cream onto each slice. She'd had plenty of practice recreating her recipe ever since her grandpa added it to the menu, but she still wanted to make extra sure it was perfect.

"Need any help, Cupcake?" Her grandpa's smile warmed the whole kitchen. "Always ready to be your sous chef."

"Could you please help me carry these?" With the last of her slices ready to go, all Anna needed was an extra pair of hands to get them to her friends.

"Yes, chef!" Her grandpa gave her a salute as Bertrand plodded over to investigate. The bear grunted softly as his owner pulled him away from the leftover whipped cream in the mixing bowl. "Not for you, Bertie. You already got a bucket of blueberries!"

They carried the tart to the table where Anna's friends from the creek were sitting. All four of them already had their napkins in their laps as they waited to finally try Anna's contest-winning dessert.

"Let me know if you need anything else," her grandpa said.

"Make sure you grab a slice too, Grandpa." With how much he'd helped her, she had to make sure he treated himself to something special.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world," he said. "It's not every day I get to eat something made by such a marvelous baker. You make me so proud!"

Warmth filled Anna's chest as her grandpa left to go help himself to his share of the tart. Hearing such high praise from him felt a thousand times better than winning Sliced, and that was saying something.

"I've been dying to see what all the fuss is about," Jack said. "Not literally," he rushed to add as Mason's eyes widened.

"Thank goodness!" Mason took a big bite of his slice that left him flapping his hands in delight. "Don't tell my mom I said this, but this is even better than her pecan pie."

"I'd never expect something so sour to taste so good, but I love it!" Eliza said. "I've never heard of mixing rhubarb and kiwis before."

"I got that idea from you, actually. That stuff you said about contrasting colors works real well for different flavors, too." Anna rubbed the back of her neck as her bees tickled her skin with their tiny legs. "If you're not too busy this weekend, do you think you could show me some of the collages you're working on? I haven't really had a chance to look at them."

"Sure!" Eliza's hummingbirds twittered from atop her shoulders. "I could really use some help brainstorming new stuff to use. Flowers are nice and all, but I've been thinking of experimenting with something different. Anyone else wanna come?"

"Of course!" Taylor's beautiful smile got Anna's heart beating like an electric mixer. "I'll bring lots of Skittles. Can't brainstorm on an empty stomach."

"Dad'll probably want me to bring some fruit or something boring like that." Jack rolled his eyes. "He's been obsessed with these new hybrid apples he started growing a couple years ago. Something about them having more vitamins and less sugar even though sugar is obviously what makes them taste good."

"The best thing about apples is they taste delicious with peanut butter, so I'll bring a bunch of that," Mason said. "The second coolest thing about apples is there are thousands of different types. Did you know they're actually related to roses?"

Jack shook his head. "I swear only you could find a way to make apples interesting."

"We'll see about that," Anna said. "Would y'all like me to bring some apple pie?"

"Yes, please!" Everyone laughed as their stomachs echoed their excitement.

As they all chatted about what they'd bring to Eliza's house, Anna knew that as long as she had her friends and family, her future would be sweet.