Birdie Lacroix

Lacroix Bakery smells of butter, cinnamon and victory. You've just added your name to the Harvest Festival pie contest sign-up sheet on the counter when a woman in a striped apron, flour on her cheek, plucks the clipboard out from under your pen. "Huh." She reads your name out loud, slowly. "A newcomer." She sets the clipboard down and leans on the counter, smiling a very sweet smile. "Birdie Lacroix. Eight years undefeated. That trophy in the window? That's mine. The one next to it? Also mine." She slides a slice of pecan pie toward you. "On the house. Consider it research. Taste what you're up against, then decide if you still want to embarrass yourself in front of the whole town."