Honey Apple Pie

Chapter One

 Castiel was opening alone that morning. The dark grey sky reflected his sombre mood. He jiggled his key in the lock of the front door, frustrated at his own scatterbrain, continuing to forget to replace the locks. He then locked the door behind him. It would be another few hours before he was ready to let people in.

The shop front looked the same as always, but Cas sighed. Now that it was missing Charlie's brightness, it didn't feel the same. He had known it was coming, of course. She wasn't a baker and they both knew it. He didn't begrudge her moving to Chicago. She would have a better life there with Dorothy, but he would miss her all the same.

He put the keys behind the counter, washed up, put on his apron and got to work in the kitchen. He always started with pastry first, since it needed time to chill. Puff first, painstakingly layering butter and dough until he was satisfied, then putting it in the fridge. Then he moved on to shortcrust, making the dough rolling it into balls, wrapping it in cling film, and putting it next to the sheets of puff pastry. He decided against filo or choux that day. With no Charlie, he didn't have the time or the heart.

With the pastry done, he got started on the bread. His bread was always popular. He used evaporated milk in his recipe, which gave it a certain sweetness. Leaving several batches to prove in the kitchen, he finally got to work on the main attraction: cakes.

He made six batches of batter, three vanilla and three chocolate. One of each going into full-sized cakes, the rest separated out into cupcake trays lined with cases. They didn't take long to cook through, but it was just enough time for Cas to clean up the kitchen a little.

He turned the cakes and cupcakes out onto a cooling rack, spread some flour over the surface and rolled out the bread dough, careful not to push out too much of the air.

Five loaves would do for now, he thought, and he could make more during the day.

He put those in the oven, then prepped the pastry and pie cases. He decided to do apple pies that day. Simple and classic, they would be easy to make more of if necessary, and allowed Cas time to find his flow without Charlie, then he would be ready to take on more complicated recipes.

He chopped apples and mixed them in bowls with sugar, cinnamon, and a pinch of nutmeg, then packed as many of them as he could into the pies. He baked them without their tops until the apples turned soft, then drizzled honey over them before putting the tops on them.

While the bread and pies baked, Cas went back to the cakes and sighed again. They needed to be decorated, but that had always been Charlie's job. She was a lot more creative than he was, and her designs had always been more appealing. He gave it his best shot, piping simple buttercream swirls on all of them and spraying them with edible glitter, hoping that it would be good enough.

With everything finally cooked and ready, Cas put it all on display on the shop front. He took a deep breath, and opened up the shop.

Tuesday mornings were usually slow. There were three or four regulars, but Cas was usually alone until 11am, when his younger cousin Alfie came in to work the coffee machine. Cas had been sceptical about it at first, but caved to Charlie's insistence that it would be good for business. Alfie had attempted to show him how to use it on many different occasions, but as much as he tried, Cas just could not work it out. In the end, Cas ended up hiring Alfie for a few hours every day to work it.

This was usually when things picked up. They were no Starbucks, but two dollars a cup was good enough for many people. That was also when Cas would whip up a few batches of fresh cookies

Alfie wasn't much of a talker, like Cas, but today he was even quieter than usual. Cas supposed he was missing Charlie too.

All in all, it was a pretty gloomy morning. Once the lunch rush was over, Cas let Alfie go home early and put up a sign saying the coffee machine was out of order, but was alone in the little bakery once more.

He was considering whether or not he should make more cupcakes when a tall man with long brown hair walked in, looking around curiously.

Cas knew most of the people that frequented his bakery, but he had never seen this man before, so put on his best customer service voice.

'Good afternoon, sir, how can I help you?' he said.

The man looked vaguely bewildered, but said, 'Hi, yeah, do you do pie in here?'

'Yes, we do, we have-'

'Do you do pie every day?'

'Yes, we have fresh pie every day,' Cas said, slightly irritated.

'Sorry,' said the man, noticing Cas's tone, 'I don't mean to be rude. I just got done moving house, is all.'

'It's no trouble, sir.'

'My brother and I just moved into town and we're looking for a new bakery. He loves pie, so what do you got?'

'Well today, we have a honey apple pie. I've only got shortcrust at the moment, but we usually have puff as well.'

'Yeah, I don't know what that means. How much?'

'A dollar a slice, or seven for the whole thing.'

'Really? Wow, okay, why don't we just go with a slice for now, then if he likes it, we'll come back.'

'That sounds fair to me,' Cas smiled. He moved along the counter to the display case, pulled out a pie and carefully cut a slice.

'So, Cas and Charlie's?' said the man. 'You would be..?

'Cas,' he said, wrapping the slice. 'Castiel Novak.'

'Nice to meet you, Cas. I'm Sam Winchester.'

'Nice to meet you too, Sam. Can I get you anything else?'

Sam eyed up the display. 'How much are the cookies?'

'Three for a dollar.'

'Awesome, I'll take three then,' Sam grinned, 'and I think that'll be all.'

'Okay,' said Cas, bagging the cookies and pie, and ringing him up. 'That's two dollars, please.'

Sam handed him a couple of crumpled notes. 'Thanks, Cas. I hope we see each other again. I have to say, though, you're already a good contender.'

'Thanks, Sam. I hope to see you too.'

Sam smiled one more time and left.

The shop quietened down again, and Cas only saw a few more people, until the schools let out. Kids flooded in and bought out the cupcakes and most of the cookies, then left as quickly as they'd come.

Cas closed at 5pm, cleaned up and balanced the cash register. Then he put all of his unsold goods into a bag, which he dropped off at the homeless shelter on his way home.