Valentines Day for Spinsters
8:30 I walk to Chocolate Pink and make it there before Erin, who unfortunately is stuck in traffic on North Avenue for half an hour due to a police car obstructing half a lane so that the cop may direct traffic. I spend thirty minutes loitering in the parking deck cursing Atlanta.
9:30 Due to the Good Day Atlanta feature and the NPR segment, Chocolate Pink is hugely busy by 9:30am, which is good seeing as how we don’t open until 10:00. Erin and I don’t get a chance to breathe for another three hours.
12:45 I make a quick escape to Maloy & Jenkins so that I can assist an out-of-town lawyer-friend of Jim’s. This results in me driving said friend around Atlanta in Jim’s car while listening to his Blackberry navigation system direct me to where I already know I’m going.
3:30 I’m still driving the lawyer around, only in addition to the robotic navigation voice, I also must tolerate the car telling me to buckle my seat belt. After numerous refutations and insistences that my seatbelt is buckled, the lawyer friend realizes that his seatbelt has come undone.
4:00 I abandon Jim’s car at his condo and walk back to Chocolate Pink in time to prepare for the next rush.
5:23 A customer comes in and tells me that as she listened to the NPR segment about Chocolate Pink that morning, she actually saw me walking down the street. She thought that was uncanny.
5:25 Said customer comes back to buy another dessert and to tell me that she’d seen me walking around Midtown last week as well. She says this is less stalkerish than it sounds.
6:00 Busy busy busy.
6:30 My mother comes in for a pastry and coffee. She is wearing gold shoes. I ask her why she has to ruin my life.
7:30 Erin leaves for the kitchen to pick up more desserts.
7:45 I am almost out of desserts. I explain that I have more on the way. I call Erin three times and tell her to move her ass.
8:00 People are hovering. One couple is especially adamant about a key lime tart. Erin is on her way.
8:06 Erin arrives with desserts. People are happy. We sell the desserts. We are happy.
8:50 Erin gets stuck in the stairwell. Unfortunately I misplace my phone in a random drawer and miss her call. I never find out how she manages to escape.
9:00 Victoria the Kitchen Wench comes to help wash dishes.
11:00 We lock the doors.
11:40 Victoria, Erin, and I spread the leftover desserts out on a table and partake in our own Valentines celebration. The mood is dampened by a string of sad, slow Regina Spektor songs. This results in feeling bad, eating more desserts, and feeling bad for eating more desserts.
12:00 Victoria gets stuck inside the parking deck. Erin has to help her out.
12:10 I fall out of Erin’s car, scamper up to my apartment, and fall into bed.