Mom Hung Up on My Call for Help to Toast My Cousin, So I Vanished novel · Chapter 8 of 24

Chapter 8: The Baker

I found the bakery in my cousin's own photos.

On Friday morning I sat on the floor of room 214 and went through the party pictures my mother had posted.

In the fourth one, a white cardboard box sat on the dessert table with a gold logo on its side.

Maple and Rye Bakery. A phone number underneath.

The girl with the lanyard sat on my bed, eating cereal out of a mug.

"You're going to call them?" she asked.

"I have to know what was in the cup."

"What if they don't talk to you?"

"Then I'll know that too."

I dialed.

A woman answered on the second ring with flour in her voice.

"Maple and Rye."

I told her I was a guest at a party last Saturday, and that someone I loved had gotten sick from a dessert.

I did not say who.

I asked if I could talk to whoever had made the chocolate mousse cups.

"That would be me," she said. "Oh, honey, is this about the nut-free ones? I heard something went wrong."

"What did you hear?"

"Just that a girl got sick. I hope she's all right."

"She's fine," I said. "Can I ask you what went into those cups?"

"Dark chocolate mousse, a cookie crumb base, whipped cream on top. No nuts. We make that batch in a separate kitchen, because the owner's son has a bad allergy. Forty cups, with a white sticker on every lid."

"Who ordered them?"

"A lady named Laurel. Hartwell, I think. She came to pick them up herself Saturday at three, and she signed for them."

I made myself keep going.

"Did anyone else order anything for that party?"

She was quiet for a second.

← Chapter 7 · All chapters · Chapter 9 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend