Jen came up closer to her and lowered her voice. “How did Goldie take it?”
Ava lifted a shoulder. “Fine, I guess. She was mostly annoyed.” She met Jen’s gaze. “She’s gonna move you up, I think, have you cover my stuff and hire you a sous chef.” She nibbled on the inside of her cheek before adding, “And it might end up permanent for you, I don’t know.”
Jen furrowed her light brow, and she shook her head. “Nah. That would be stupid of her.” She kept shaking her head as she spoke. “Like, really stupid. She wouldn’t fire you after you went to a famous, high-end retreat that’sliterallygoing to make you even better at what you already kick ass doing.”
“I’m sorry, have you met Goldie?” Ava asked the question with a sly grin, but she was also serious. Goldie didn’t take kindly to being inconvenienced, famous pastry retreat or not. There was a very good chance Ava would return after eight weeks and be unemployed.
Chapter Three
Oh, wow.” Regan said it on a whisper from the back seat of the black Lincoln Town Car that had been sent to pick her up from the train station. As the driver turned through an open wrought iron gate with a sign that read Black Forest Hills, she could see glimpses of the house she’d be staying in for the next eight weeks. Well. House was an understatement. It was more the size of a mansion, but modern. Like a high-end resort, all wood and glass, sitting at the top of a set of rolling hills. “Wow,” she said again.
“It’s something, isn’t it?” the driver asked. His name was Charlie, and he seemed to be a nice guy. He’d been waiting for her at the train station holding a sign with her name on it, just like in the movies. Kind of surreal.
“It’s magnificent,” she said, the awe clear in her voice. That wasn’t a word she used often, but it felt appropriate here. She met Charlie’s eyes in the rearview mirror. “Am I the first to arrive?”
“You’re the third. Two are coming from the airport and one more arrives at the train station in about an hour.”
She nodded and turned back to the view out the window. The property was gorgeous, and clearly well-maintained. She wondered how many gardeners Liza Bennett-Schmidt had to keep things so pristine. It was spring, mid-May, and a long row of lilac bushes were in full bloom alongside the driveway. The scent wafted into the car, even with the windows closed, sweet and lovely. Then the trees ended in a clearing, and the driveway led them around in a circle to the front steps of the most gorgeous house Regan had ever seen. She sat there gaping, even after Charlie had cut the engine and gotten out.
He opened her door and held out a hand to help her out. She stood, still staring at three stories of chestnut-colored siding and windows that were bigger than the entire bakery she worked in. She wondered if there were similar windows in the back and what the view must look like with the rolling hills of Rhinebeck stretched out back there.
Charlie got her bags out of the trunk of the car, then held his arm out to let her go first up the wide stairs to the front door, which opened before she had a chance to knock.
The woman was not Liza Bennett-Schmidt, but her smile was wide and kind. She wore black pants and a white shirt, and her brown hair was pulled back in a rather severe bun. She held out a hand and grasped Regan’s.
“You must be Regan Callahan. It’s so nice to meet you. I’m May. I run the household for Ms. Bennett-Schmidt. Come in, come in.” She stepped back and allowed room for Regan to come into the most glorious…foyer? Entryway? Whatever it was called, it was straight out of a movie, with a grand staircase in front of her and ceilings that loomed higher than she could even guess at. The sunshine flooded in through the windows, and not a single speck of dust was visible. The place was grand, beautiful, and spotless.
“Let me show you to your room,” May said, with a nod at Charlie. He went up the stairs first, carrying Regan’s bags. To the left, down a hallway, and through an enormous wooden door that had to weigh hundreds of pounds. Inside, the bedroom was huge. Bigger than her entire apartment.
“Oh my God,” she said before she could catch it.
May seemed pleased by that. “I trust the room meets your approval.”
“And then some,” Regan said. There were two queen-sized beds, one on either side of the room. Straight ahead was a doorway to a bathroom. The room was decorated in what Regan would describe as modern ski lodge chic, with an old pair of snowshoes on one wall and a landscape painting of deer out in the snow on the other. A heavy-looking dresser of maybe oak seemed to anchor each side of the room, accented by matching bedside tables. Thick, fluffy duvets blanketed each of the beds in clouds of softness. Each bed had at least six pillows. “This is incredible,” Regan said, turning back to May. Charlie must’veslipped out while she was gawking because her bags were next to the bed, but he was gone. “Thank you so much.”
May shook her head with a wave. “Don’t thank me,” she said with a grin. “Take some time and freshen up, get used to your room. It’s going to be yours for the next two months. There are two to a room, and your roommate will be here later.” May glanced at the thin gold watch on her wrist, and Regan was surprised to see it was old-school and not a smartwatch of some kind. “Dinner is at six. Don’t be late. Ms. Bennett-Schmidt doesn’t like to be kept waiting.”
Regan nodded. “Got it.”
“Welcome to Black Forest Hills,” May said, then turned and left, pulling the door closed behind her.
Regan turned back to the room. “Holy shit,” she said, and kept her voice down, despite how much she wanted to shout the words at the top of her lungs. “Holy shit,” she said again. And then she started to laugh.
She laughed and laughed until she fell onto the bed, still laughing, because holy shit, how had she gotten here? This was going to be incredible.
She spent the next half hour unpacking a few of her things and getting them organized. The bathroom was just as impressive as the bedroom itself, with both a glass-enclosed shower and a large garden tub. The tub had a huge window next to it. “Nothing like soaking your troubles away while taking in the view and the wildlife,” she murmured as she unpacked her toiletries. There were two sinks, so she organized all her things near one of them, leaving the other for her roommate.
At almost five o’clock, she took a very hot shower, amazed by how much room there was. Way more than the tiny shower she shared with Kiki and Brian, where she basically had to become a contortionist just to shave her legs. She took her time, enjoying the space and the hot water and the view, which she could see from the shower if she looked toward the tub. She’d never been somebody whose goal was to be rich, but seeing how the rich lived was pretty eye-opening already, and she’d literally only been in three rooms so far.
She’d read all the literature that had come with her acceptance multiple times, signed all the required forms and turned them in, and packed accordingly. While there was no dress code for dinner, she wanted to look neat, so she stepped into a lightweight pair of yellowpants, then put on a white short-sleeved button-up. She’d made sure to have her highlights done before she arrived, knowing she wouldn’t be able to get back to her hair stylist for two months, and now she fluffed it up, checked it in the mirror. Her hair had always been a plain, boring brown, but two years ago, when she’d turned thirty and had a bit of an existential crisis, she’d found that putting some blond highlights in it made her feel a bit hipper, a bit younger. So now she did that regularly and really liked it. Her hair wasn’t long, just long enough to tuck behind her ears, a length she’d chosen because it was perfect with the oval shape of her face, and also because it was kept out of the way when she worked. Nobody wanted to find a hair in their tiramisu.
The bed on the other side of the room was still untouched, and no bags had shown up while she was in the shower, so she figured her roommate hadn’t arrived yet. A glance at her phone told her it was almost six, so she tucked it into a pocket, hung up her wet towel, then pulled her door open, and realized she had no idea where the dining room was.
“How hard can it be to find?” she murmured to herself just as another door opened across the hall and a gorgeous Black woman in white pants and a floral print top met her in the hallway. Behind her, Regan saw a flash of pink hair, along with a purple bandanna tied around her neck, and then another woman joined them in the hall. “Hi,” Regan said. “Are you guys here for the retreat?”
The Black woman nodded and extended her hand. “I’m Vienna. This is Maia,” she said.
“Regan.” She shook both their hands, then asked with a grin, “Any idea where the dining room is?”
