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“Emma! There’s a smokin’ hot man out here asking for you!” Anne whisper-yelled, her head poking through the doors. I had to repress the chuckle that built into my chest.
“There is?” I heard Emma call. “Who is it?”
Anne backed up and Emma emerged from the back, her phone pressed to her ear. She looked at me and stopped moving, the smile on her face falling. “Grady, let me call you back.” Jealousy ripped through me at the man’s name. Must be her boyfriend. My benevolent mood soured.
She put her phone in her apron pocket and approached the counter. Her face was scrunched into a scowl, yet she was still perfect.
“Can I help you?” She asked, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Was just coming by to say congrats.” I crossed my arms as well, mimicking her posture. Though this was a more natural look for me than it was for her. She was usually all sunshine and bubbles, and I was the doom and gloom type. And though I hadn’t intended on being this way around her, I couldn’t help it now that rage flowed in my veins. Why did she have to get a boyfriend?
“Thanks,” She said in a softer tone, her shoulders relaxing.
“Did you hire someone?” I asked, unable to just walk away. I didn’t care who she’d hired or how she’d made the videos. I was just glad that it happened. But it was the only thing I could think of to keep talking to her.
“That’s really none of your business, but yes. And if you don’t mind, I’m pretty busy trying to get my website ready to launch. So if you need anything else, Anne will be glad to help you.” She turned and pushed her way back to the kitchen, leaving Anne looking bewildered.
She came back to face me. “You must be Liam.”
I started at her, my face blank.
“You should try smiling or something. It would get you a lot further than all of that.” She waved her hand at my face and body, where I was still holding my arms crossed. “Especially with Emma.”
Anne opened the display case and pulled out a chocolate chip cookie, dropping it into a little box and handing it to me. “And maybe, you should try not to ruin this for her. If you copy her videos again, I can’t promise that this chocolate chip cookie won’t be your last.”
My brows rose slightly at her threat. It was almost something to laugh about, since Anne was much smaller than me and far less intimidating. But it made me happy that Emma had found someone who was so loyal.
“Noted.” I nodded to her and left Emma’s bakery, wondering how I’d managed to fuck it up. All I had wanted to do was genuinely congratulate her on her success, but instead, I offended her and left with a threat from her employee.
17
Emma
After two weeks of intensive effort and numerous phone conversations with Grady, I have reached my current position. Together, we invested considerable time refining my website and preparing all of my products for display. However, I couldn't simply put everything I knew how to make on the website for customers to order. Grady suggested that I showcase four core items that are the cornerstone of my bakery and will always be available. Furthermore, I could add new offerings each week to maintain interest and attract more visitors to my website.
After we’d decided that I would offer strawberry and raspberry cream cheese macarons in six packs, chocolate chip cookies, and cinnamon rolls, we’d brainstormed on what else I would be selling in the weeks to come. With possible ideas determined, Grady helped me schedule out what I would make for the next two months. He said it would help me order supplies and ingredients and help him order boxes for packaging and shipping.
For the website launch, we would only do the main four, plus white chocolate macadamia cookies. We would taste next week's offerings as well just to hype people.
On social media, Grady had continued posting across all platforms and had easily built my brand into a very viral thing. I was impressed and shocked at how many people were interested in me and my bakery just because of some videos and pictures. He’d opened the website to allow people to sign up for email and text reminders so that they could get notified the second the goods were live.
It was all such an incredible experience, and the store was still busy every day. So most of my days were spent helping Anne at the front for the rush periods and then working in the back on the phone with Grady to get everything squared away.
“Are you excited?” Anne asked for the hundredth time. If I wasn’t excited, she definitely was and would let everyone know. She worked the maximum hours she could for me every week and still tried to be there extra. I told her no each time because I wasn’t legally set up to have a full-time employee yet. She still insisted that she would work off the clock, and I couldn’t really stop her.
“I actually feel like I might throw up,” I told her, though my face was widened with a grin. We both sat in my apartment, staring at my laptop screen being cast to the TV. My website was pulled up and a huge countdown covered the screen. It showed fifteen minutes until the sales went live. Anne had wanted to come over and enjoy this with me, and she was like a sister now, so I, of course, was thrilled. We sat with snacks all around us—snacks from the grocery store that had not been made by either of us because this was our night of celebration.
“People are going crazy online! I think they’re going to break the website!”
I turned to her in horror. “They can do that?”
She grinned sheepishly. “Uh, yeah. If too many people get on the website and it isn’t set up for that amount, it could crash the website. But generally, that’s a pretty good thing. It means people really want what you have.”
The nausea got even worse.
I still had a hard time believing that any of this was even real. I couldn’t understand how my videos had gotten so popular and made people want to buy my baked goods.
We waited in silence for the remaining minutes unless Anne could hear my heartbeat thundering as loud as I could.
