A Different Kind of Charming

Issa

Issa has her headphones on, her I'd Like To Beat The Shit Out of Someone Spotify playlist blasting away as she kneads dough. There is still another hour before Sweet Pea Bakery opens to the residents of Charming. She's gotten a lot done already, fueled by rage, confusion and fear. She couldn't sleep last night, the tension between her and Jax a little suffocating. She knows she should extend an olive branch to him but she isn't ready. She's still trying to process what Tara Knowles being back means for her marriage.

After tossing and turning for hours, she quietly got up, dressed and headed into her second home. Sweet Pea Bakery, named after her parent's nickname for her, is a culmination of her and Lyla's blood, sweat and tears. It has slowly but surely become a Charming staple, the friendly neighborhood spot Issa thought the town needed.

After Issa graduated from high school, she used a nest egg Marisa left for her education to go to the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in St. Helena. The campus was a two hour drive from Charming and Tig had wanted her to move in with him and commute. But Issa wanted the full college experience, so she got an apartment near campus and threw herself into her studies. To help cover living expenses, she got a part time job bartending at a bar called Ana's Cantina. That's where she met Lyla Dvorak.

Lyla was one of the shift managers and Issa always loved working with her. Lyla ran a tight ship but was also an absolute sweetheart. Even though Lyla was a few years older than her, they got along like a house on fire. Lyla didn't have much in the way of family, so Issa would take her back to Charming on weekends and school breaks when she could. Lyla fell in love with Charming and Gemma took her in as one of her own. Lyla eventually decided to move to Charming, helped along by her unexpected relationship with Chibs. Issa had been a little surprised by Lyla's easy acceptance of Chibs still being married and having a daughter. But Chibs adored her and made Lyla happy. And that was all Issa wanted for her friend.

After Issa finished her time at the CIA, she was accepted for internships at King Arthur Flour and Duff Goldman's Charm City Cakes. Both experiences were instrumental in honing her pastry and baking skills. Through King Arthur, she was able to truly learn the science and technique of bread and pastry baking from a centuries old institution. It was challenging, especially since it was located in Norwich, Vermont. Issa had never been that far away from home and was definitely not used to Vermont's harsh winters. But it turned out to be an incredible learning experience.

Her time with Charm City Cakes was entirely different from King Arthur. For one, the internship was located at their Los Angeles shop, which meant going home for holidays was easier. She was terrified when she first started because Duff Goldman was one of her baking heroes. His custom cake designs always took her breath away and she yearned to soak up as much knowledge from his shop as possible. She wasn't expecting to work that much (or at all really) with Duff but she couldn't have been more wrong.

After being there for a little over a month, their lead decorator Abigail began giving her more challenging tasks. Abigail was a blast to work with and she was more than happy to share her knowledge. Issa learned just about every single decorating technique under the sun from her. Six months into her internship, an intricate cake for San Diego Comic Con was falling horribly behind schedule. In desperation, Abigail pulled Issa in to do a lot of the smaller, repetitive fondant work for the cake's cityline. That's when she met Duff. He took the time to not only thank her for helping but gave her tips on how to make the sculpting go faster. After that, Abigail and Duff had her working on more and more cakes. It was a dream come true for Issa and she made lifelong friends out of every single person in that shop, including Duff. In fact, he made her and Jax's wedding cake as a gift.

Duff had offered her a job after her internship was over but Issa was feeling the pull to return to Charming. She missed her father. She missed the club. She missed Jax. He understood and let her pick his brain about opening a bakery. And the more she talked to him about it, the more attainable it seemed. When she made her permanent move back home, her and Lyla immediately started working on a business plan. Before they could begin applying for small business loans, Tig and her grandparents offered to help. She flat out refused at first, not wanting to risk their money. But they insisted and eventually she agreed to take it on the condition that it was a loan.