Mountain Laurel Cakes shared the building with Ephemera and Petal, a high-end clothing store that sold $300 women’s jeans and equally expensive tops. The owner of that store had already negotiated to move into a storefront two buildings down, which happened to have a vacancy that would fit the shop’s specifications. Unfortunately, Lucy Thurlow was having less luck finding a place for Ephemera, and she came to the bakery almost every day to talk with Evelyn about future plans. “Garrison says I should forget about a storefront,” Lucy said. “Go exclusively online. But the whole reason I started this business was to have something to do and somewhere to go when Garrison retired. All he does now is tinker on his inventions.” Lucy put her mug of tea down on the counter and shook her head. “I love him. I really do. But if I have to sit at home and do the Internet thing,”—she waved her hand around—“while he pounds away in that workshop of his, I’m going to go out of my mind.”
