“Claire, it’s alright. It’s not uncommon for people to get sick this time of year, especially with the weather being so unpredictable and pollen dusting everything.” Even her assistant, Vanessa, had to call out earlier this week due to severe allergies. “I keep my schedule flexible for this reason.”
Every Thursday she went up to her grandfather’s estate and would stay through Friday afternoon when Justin arrived and stayed until Monday. No meetings were scheduled while she was taking care of him but she was still available to answer emails and phone calls in case of emergency.
“We appreciate your understanding. Kelly will be there Monday as usual.” Regret, and perhaps a bit of relief, laced Jessica’s voice. Being the bearer of bad news such as this could be a harrowing task especially when dealing with families that came from old money and felt entitled to services regardless of availability. Emotions often ran high and it was clear by her tone that she had prepared herself to have been yelled at for something out of her control.
“Ok, I have one stop to make and will head up there shortly. If someone becomes available, please let me know.” As long as nothing interfered with her plans on Tuesday then everything should be fine.
“We will definitely do that,” After all the DeCoure’s had been very generous in their recent donation to the facility so they could update some of their older equipment and the tablets that each caretaker brought with them. “I hope the rest of your day goes well.”
“Thank you, Jessica.” Phedre hung up the call after a moment and just took some time to process how quickly plans had changed.
“I guess I should go ahead and see if I can order a cake instead of make one.” Baking wasn’t her strongest skill. While she could whip up some pastries, such as cinnamon rolls and banana bread, she found decorating anything beyond plating an entree to be outside her realm of expertise.
Phedra unlocked her phone and with voice-to-text asked Alexa to find nearby bakeries which pulled up about five that were within 10 minutes of where she was currently parked. The closest did not look like they offered cakes while the next nearest cafe had only about 3.2 stars and some pretty bad reviews. However, the third one on the list looked to have much better feedback.
“A&H Bakeries, looks like they’ve been open for over ten years now which is definitely impressive.” Independent businesses could be hit or miss, especially when it came to location or over-saturation of similar companies in close proximity to each other. But this one seemed to be holding strong and withstanding the tests of time. “Maybe they can help…”
She pushed the navigation button which, through Bluetooth, transferred the directions to her car dashboard.
[Estimated time of arrival, 4:37PM. You are on the quickest route. In 800-feet take a left.]
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