DEMETRIA

The smell of sugar and butter filled every inch of the bakery, warm, rich, and comforting, the kind of scent that hugged you from the inside out. My hands were dusted in flour, sleeves rolled to my elbows as I focused on the glossy lemon glaze dripping slowly over a batch of golden, puffed pastries cooling on the rack.

It was late. Well past closing, but when inspiration struck, time always became a blur. Cedric Grolet’s new recipe had been sitting in my notes for weeks, and tonight ...