His companion nudged him as they both stood, their chairs scraping back as they prepared to leave. “See? I told you she wouldn’t let that bread guy get the better of her. She’ll give this new bread place a run for its money!”
Their support gave Claire confidence. Yep, a sale was the perfect solution.
Sandee looked skeptical. She glanced around the shop critically. “You’re really going to have a sale? Why don’t I see anything about it? Other stores have flyers and posters up whenever they’re preparing for a sale.”
“I’m going to advertise later,” Claire answered, starting to stumble over her tongue. Okay, maybe she’d blurted it all out a bit too spontaneously. How far ahead did one have to plan to get an ad in the paper? How long did it take to make flyers?
“I’m sure you’re going to be running a big ad to generate interest.” Harry tapped the paper now folded under his arm.
“Oh, sure. There will be an ad and posters, flyers, the whole nine yards.” Claire looked Sandee in the eye and forced a smile.
“I hope you’re going to offer more variety than chocolate and vanilla. People won’t come in for the same old thing.”
Unfortunately, Sandee’s caustic remark made sense. “Of course there will be other flavors. At least six.”
“Oh?” Sandee pursed her lips. “Which flavors?”
Claire’s forced smile was starting to hurt. “You’ll have to come in on Saturday to see.”
“You know we’ll be here,” Bert called as he and Harry left the shop. “Be sure to save us our usual spot!”
Claire waved to them as they exited into the summer air, leaving her pinned beneath Sandee’s narrow-eyed gaze.
“If you’re going to have such a popular sale, I can only imagine the enormous number of cupcakes you’ll need to bake. Why, they’ll have to overflow the display case, or you’ll run out! Are you sure you’ll be able to bake all those cupcakes in your tiny kitchen in time?”
“Don’t worry, I’ll manage. I know a little bit about baking. It’ll be a piece of cake.”
Chapter Five
Claire closed the shop after Bert and Harry left. There were no other customers, and she knew it would be slow for the rest of the day. She needed to retreat to her favorite place—the beach—and think about how she was going to pull off a bake sale.
Her feet had automatically taken her to the river side of the beach, a well-worn route she had walked a thousand times. There the sandbar shape of the beach cut away, and the ocean flowed into an estuary, separating the two sides of beach at high tide. She loved this section of the beach because it was less populated and teeming with creatures in the small tidal pools left beside the rocks when the tide went out. Crabs, snails, starfish, even an occasional sea urchin covered in purple spines.
She stood next to one of those tidal pools, dipping her toe into the water to nudge a reddish-brown crab. The crab—barely the size of her big toe—scuttled backward, raising its front claws at her in warning. It kind of reminded her of Sandee, all bluster but unable to hurt her, though Sandee did it in a more passive-aggressive way.
Maybe she shouldn’t have let Sandee’s barbs get to her. But she had, and now she had a sale to arrange. It probably wasn’t a bad thing anyway. Especially if she wanted to show her customers that Bradford Breads wasn’t the only place they could get a good deal.
There was no going back now, and she had so much to think about. Not only did she have to come up with some ads, but she needed to order more ingredients, come up with a schedule for baking, and bring in help. Yes, she still had to think about fixing the pipes, but that was the least of her worries at the moment.
Taking out her phone, she started to make a list. First, she needed an ad in the paper. Preferably one bigger than Bradford Breads. Maybe a two-page ad. It was short notice, but she had worked herself ragged to bake and decorate a sandcastle cake in honor of a retirement party for the chief editor at the Lobster Bay Daily News last month. His replacement, Mona, owed her a favor. If Claire called it in, she could probably insert her ad in the paper in time for tomorrow’s edition. But would that be enough?
Claire needed to think outside the box. She needed something that would draw the attention away from her competition, something that Bradford Breads hadn’t thought of yet.
She stopped, the ripples of the wet sand hard under her feet as she stood across from the rocky bay, where lobsters were most plentiful. She loved that no one ever came to this part of the beach. The hard sand made it uncomfortable for towels, and the area filled with water when the tide came in, forcing people to move their blankets and gear. As a result, hardly anyone ever bothered to setup in that section.
At the moment, only one other person sat on one of the large rocks on the cliff, the local radio station blaring from their smart phone.
Good idea!She could take out a radio ad. She was sure Bradford Breads hadn’t thought of that. She noted it on her phone to-do list. Having lived all her life in Lobster Bay, Claire also knew the staff at the radio station, and she was sure they would mention her cupcake sale on the radio to drive customers her way.
What else?Tammi had mentioned flyers. Claire could get some made up at the copy store and drop them off in a few strategic places. Knowing the other shop members in town did have its advantages, one Bradford likely wouldn’t have.
What about the actual cupcakes? How many would she need? And with six flavors—why in the world had she said six? She needed enough of each flavor so she wouldn’t run out prematurely.
Not to mention, she had to have an array of her regular baked goods too. After all, a three-for-one sale would allow her to barely break even with the cost of the ingredients, if that. She needed her regular pastries, cakes, muffins, perhaps even a few pies, to make back the money she was spending on those two advertisements. In fact, on Saturday she needed an even larger selection with all the people she hoped to draw in. There was no extra baking time in the day, and it looked like she would be working nights until Saturday.
At least she could start on them right away. Many people didn’t realize that cupcakes could be kept fresh for a week if sealed up tight in Tupperware, but she’d tested it out herself, and they came out as fresh as the day they were made. The frosting could be applied the night before. She would need extra hands to help with both. Maybe Hailey would want some extra hours, she could even bring her daughter Jennifer in if she had to. School was out, and two high school students, Ashton and Sarah, had worked in her shop before. She would see if they wanted some extra money to help her out. She would really like to get Jane and Maxi’s opinion although they would probably think she was crazy for having the sale.
Just as she was pulling her phone out to send a text to them, one appeared from Jane.
