“Well, I’m motivated, so I can do as fast as you need. Why don’t we work out the small details? I don’t want to ask for too much of a commission, but?—”
“I’ll make sure that we’re both happy with what we make from it.”
She nodded, a smile on her face. She excused herself to go to her office for a few minutes before she came out with her recipes and how much it cost her to make each baked good. Together, we worked on a commission system where I would give her half of what I made and we decided to start as soon as possible.
I may have hated taking a day off from the shop, but it was worth it. In just a few days, I would have something new to sell and something to help Piper with.
I wound up having to take another day off to find a case to hold the baked goods and to work on the menu for it while Freya got everything ready. By that time, I had heard rumblings that people in town thought I was missing. Just two days and they already missed me.
I’d even had to comment on it to tell them I was fine. But I needed the second day off, no matter how much I didn’t want to take it, in order to make this perfect.
Kelsey took it like a champ. She said she enjoyed the extra responsibility and still had time for breaks in between customers. I definitely owed her and would make sure she got actual time off.
When I finally returned to my usual schedule, Marjorie was waiting by the front door. Judging by her glare, she didn’t like that I’d disappeared.
The plan was to get the baked goods in before anyone saw them. There was no hope for that now.
“Hey.” I waved.
“Don’t you ‘hey’ me. Where were you the last two days?”
I didn’t think I’d ever seen Marjorie angry before. Sure, she loved to mess with people, and she faked being angry from time to time, but I’d never seen the genuine emotion from her. It made me feel terrible that I hadn’t let anyone know where I was going or what I was planning.
But that’s how it had been my entire life when I was younger. Ever since moving to Strawberry Springs, I hardly made any choices that were worth mentioning. That had changed.
“I was working on a work project.” I opened the back of my car and pulled out the massive package of baked goods. Neither Freya nor I knew how much would sell, so we worked with what she could bake in a day and what I could feasibly carry in my car. If things took off, we would go from there and adjust, but for now, this was a good start.
Some of Marjorie’s anger cleared and it was replaced with curiosity. “What’s that?”
“I decided to expand the menu a little bit. It’s baked goods I’m going to sell.”
“Thank God.” She let out a sigh of relief. “Here I was, thinking you’d up and left.”
“Not this time,” I said.
“Or ever,” she said shortly. I had to look away. “Now tell me where those are from.”
“Freya’s bakery.”
“Did you go all the way out to Rainwood?”
“I did. And then had to find a case for them.” I’d been at it late the night before, preparing to sell the goods today. Kelsey had been gone for the day, and I wasn’t going to ask her to stay any later after she’d worked solo in the shop.
“A real businessman. You know, it would be a really good apology if I got one of the first rounds of it as a taste test.”
I knew this would be coming. The second she saw me with baked goods, she would want some. “I have a chocolate croissant for you and a cinnamon roll for Henrietta.”
“You do love us.” She gave me a smile as I unlocked the door. “I’ll pay you extra.”
“They could be free of charge.”
“Fuck you.”
That was a resounding no then. Marjorie was far too stubborn for her own good.
After setting down the box on the counter, I got the coffee started and unloaded all of the baked goods into the new cabinet. I had more than the display could hold, so I made a mental note to put the rest in the back while I served Marjorie what I’d promised her.
With the prices Freya and I had agreed on, twenty would be more than enough to cover it all. Marjorie, of course, gave me forty.
