THE FORGOTTEN HEIRESS-Chapter 345: The Golden Bean Championship

Turning around, his face had no trace of the displeasure he felt in his heart.

"So it really is you, George," the lady said and rushed forward to hold George in an embrace but George deftly ducked his head as he pretended to pick something from the ground.

"Ms Carter, it’s so nice to see you here? What brings you to Baltimore?" George asked with feigned pleasure and rose to his full height.

Peggy Carter donned a fake smile that rarely got to her eyes to hide her embarrassment.

"I’ve been in Baltimore for over two years now and I own a coffee shop here that is doing quite well," Peggy Carter said with a hint of pride.

George looked indifferent. "Oh I see."

Peggy was not particularly happy about how George dismissed her words, but masked her displeasure behind a fawning smile. "So what are you doing in Baltimore? You never mentioned having a relative here in Baltimore or are you here for some business?"

"Something like that " George said and started walking away, not minding if Peggy still had something to say or not.

Peggy scurried after him and continued to chat with him as if nothing happened. "Now that I’ve seen you, permit me to just you to dinner one of these days," she said.

George: "..."

Was it really that hard to understand that he didn’t want to waste his precious time with her? Since she is refusing to give herself some space, maybe he needs to be blunt.

"I’m here for some serious business and won’t be free."

There, that was close enough without being an asshole.

’Too busy for dinner. You must find time to eat at some point, right?’ Peggy wondered but didn’t say it out loud.

"I understand. But at least can you give me your number?"

George hesitated, but suddenly smiled slyly. "Of course," he said and called out a string of numbers. "You can call me later and I’ll save your number in my contacts."

"Thanks George," she said with that same fawning smile that always gave George the creeps.

He wondered if she has ever taken some time to smile in the mirror to see how ugly she looked with that over dolled up face.

But at the moment, he had no choice but to force out a smile. "You’re welcome. I have to go now," he added.

Before he could leave, he was agin stopped by Peggy.

"I’m sorry George, but I forgot to give you a piece of good news."

’What news can be good coming from her?’ He did his best not to roll his eyes. "Really? What’s the news?"

"There is a competition coming up and my little company has just been notified that we qualified."

"Can you please come around to cheer me up. I’ll be most grateful if you can."

"What competition?" George asked, his brow rising in confusion. If he remembered correctly, the only competition he is aware of is the one Lauren had been waiting to receive a notice about. But that was to start in two weeks.

If the qualifiers lists is out, why hasn’t Lauren received a notification. It not possible she didn’t qualify. She’s one of the fewest baristas he’s ever seen and her coffee is top notch.

His thoughts were interrupted by Peggy’s cheerful announcement. "The Golden Bean championship for all baristas."

"Can you imagine, although my company is just new here in Baltimore, we’ve been selected to participate. I bet my identity as the CEO of Sovereign Sips would have added to us being chosen."

"Yeah, I must congratulate you then."

"Thank you George. You’ll come, right? At least even if it’s for one of the days... it’s a seven days program." Peggy asked hopefully.

"When we get to that bridge we’ll cross it," George said noncommittally. Even if he will be attending, surely it wouldn’t be because of Peggy, but there was no need to tell her that.

"Alright. See you around, George," Peggy said and wisely withdrew herself before she would be further seen as too desperate.

In fact, she wasn’t annoyed at the way George responded to her. He was obviously in a hurry and she understood perfectly.

It was already a miracle that he could see her in Baltimore. The least place she expected to find him after searching for him for over a year.

As for the dinner date, we’ll see about that. She was sure that will happen soon. There was no hurry. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

When George got to Lauren’s shop, he was met with an overly excited Lauren who did waste time to break the good news to her.

He practically forced her to take her lunch before he grudgingly left when he saw that she was too engrossed in her preparation for the meeting to care about him.

It could also be said that Lauren completely forgot about her appointment with Steffan’s mother too as she dived straight into the meeting with her staff as soon as they closed the shop from customers.

She handed out print schedules to each of her staff after they were all settled down. Then proceeded to brief them about the nature of the competition.

"The completion will span for one week and on the form with you is the breakdown of what we are to expect."

I’ll give you some time to briefly go through it. When you get home you have to study it properly and memorize every detail at your fingertips.

After about two minutes, Lauren grew back their attention as she explained their strategy.

"To prepare adequately, we’ll need to put in extra practice time. We’ll hold mock competitions and sensory training sessions at our shop level."

"You have to focus on your strengths, but also support each other. This is a team effort, and we can’t succeed without everyone giving their best."

"So the in-house competition is not to look down on anyone but to identify our area of strength and get who to represent us in the different levels."

She paused, letting her words sink in. "This is our chance to shine. Empress Brew has what it takes to compete with the best. Let’s make the most of this opportunity and show everyone what we’re made of."

"Does anyone have any question?" she asked.

"You mentioned that we’ll hold mock competition among ourselves. Which time do we have to do that?" One of the staff members asked.

"Yeah, I also thought of that? The time we have is too short. The only free days we have are Sundays, which are just two before the competition," another staff said.

Lauren had a confident smile as she already had her answer ready. "That’s not a problem. However, it will require a little sacrifice on everyone part."

"We will shift our closing time forward and inform our customers that our closing time will be much earlier than usual while we use that extra time for ourselves."

"Alright, let’s lock up for the night," Lauren said as she ended the meeting. "Don’t forget to study the paper when you get home. Empress Brew is going to make a mark in this competition!"

"Yeah, boss," they chorused. "We will come out victorious."