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Finally, the timer switched to a thirty-second countdown and changed from a basic timer to a really cute one with cupcakes and cookies all over the screen. Grady really thought of everything.
When the timer hit zero, there was an explosion of sweets on the screen before it showed us the landing page. Anne and I squealed with excitement to see all of the work Grady put into making this website perfect. It was pink and aesthetic and led customers right to buy the goodies.
Not even one minute later, my phone was buzzing. And it wouldn’t stop. I picked it up to see all of the emails coming into my phone, showing me all the orders being placed. Tears immediately began flowing as the notifications continued.
I clicked over in my browser to my shop admin to see how many orders had come in, and my heartbeat nearly stopped. It was now six-o-three, meaning the website had been open forthreeminutes, and there were already thirty orders. My brain couldn’t wrap around that.
“Oh my goodness!” Anne yelled, throwing her arms around me. “This is incredible!”
I could hardly breathe, let alone speak. Tears were clouding my vision, but I watched that number continue to climb through the haze. Still, I didn’t understand how this was even real life.
After fifteen minutes of watching orders come in, my phone rang. After seeing it was Grady, I answered and put it on speakerphone.
“Oh my—”
“Ganache!” He finished for me, the excitement in his tone also evident. I burst out in laughter at how he was now using my favorite phrase. “I’d say it’s going pretty well!”
“Pretty well? I’d say it’s doing more than just pretty well!” I checked the shop admin again, seeing the order number was at a ridiculous two hundred and forty-seven.
“I would have to agree!”
“Are you still coming tomorrow?” I asked.
“Of course. I landed a few hours ago and I’m already at my hotel. I promise I won’t miss any of it, and your social media will be even better because of it. People love this shit!”
I was happy that he was coming back, because I really felt like he was a part ofThe Pink Bakerynow, just like Anne was. And the three of us tomorrow would make for a fun day getting all of these orders together.
“Thank you for doing this! I really don’t know what we would do without you!”
“Of course, Emma. I’m glad we got connected. I called to check on you, though. I didn’t really consider the fact that you have to make all of these orders, and though you have plenty of shipping materials, how many orders can you realistically make?” His words made my eyes bulge as I understood his meaning. “Because now you’re almost at three hundred, and it looks like a lot of these orders include four to five items.”
I looked over at Anne, whose eyes were huge. How had none of us thought about this?
“Um, I mean, we can make about one hundred cookies in an hour or so. I feel like we can definitely manage this. Right, Anne?” She was pale but had the smallest smile still on her face.
“Yeah, we totally got this.” She shrugged.
“Maybe cut it off at five hundred?” I said, because my stupid heart just wanted to see that so many people wanted to buy from my store. Wanted to try the sweets I’d worked so hard to perfect. I hoped that was a good choice.
“Okay, I’ll set it up to sell out at five hundred. Are you sure?” Grady asked, and I could tell he seemed uncertain.
“Yeah! It can’t be that bad, right?”
18
Liam
“This is so bad!” Emma squealed as she literally ran from one side of her kitchen to the other.
When I’d walked by her store this morning to check on her and see how the line was, I saw a cutesy little note taped to the front door.
#
So sorry! We have too many orders to fulfill, so we’ll be closed for the next three days! Make sure to stop by on Wednesday for all the new treats! xo -Emma
#
I admit I was compulsively checking her TikTok every few hours, so I caught her most recent post. In the video, she informed her growing army of almost two hundred thousand followers that they had completely sold out her stock within just thirty minutes, but promised to work tirelessly to fulfill all orders and get them shipped out. Frankly, I wasn't taken aback. She had developed a devoted following on TikTok and other platforms, with thousands of people now completely enamored with her and her bakery.
