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I stayed up all night to finish baking my cookies and other bakery items. Since it was 2 AM and I was too scared to walk home, I called an Uber for the ten-minute walk back to my house. I sent a text to Anne, hoping not to wake her, informing her that I wouldn't be in until shortly before opening, but that everything except for the donuts was done. Anne got experienced by now and I trusted her to handle the donuts on her own. Additionally, I had a strong desire to sell more cookies than any other item.
The next morning, my normal morning crowd is there, but barely anyone buys the cookies. Everyone wants donuts or danishes. And by the end of the day, I have way too many cookies left over. I’m glad that they last for a few days, but broken over the fact that my social post did nothing. It got twenty likes, but where were those people?
I spend most of the day trying to imitate videos that other popular bakeries do on their social media, knowing that I need to up my game. Unfortunately, I am no social media whiz, nor am I good with a camera. But I do my best and upload my best video to all of my platforms. Even Anne tells me it’s pretty good, and that’s coming from a Gen Z. That has to mean something, right?
Creating the video also kept me from glaring out the front of my store, where I constantly saw people walking with theirMidnightboxes and chomping away at their cookies. Or at least it kept me from staring longer than a few minutes at a time. It gave me something else to do.
#Midnighthad only been open a week, but it was already hurting my sales. I could see in the reports that this week was thirty percent down from last week, which was the largest drop yet. Of course, I knew that sales would naturally decline after the newness of my store wore off, but each week it only declined by five to ten percent. Notthirty.
But I looked at each day as an opportunity to do something better and work harder. So I kept pushing social media and working to stay positive despite having no clue what I was doing.
“Em…” Anne began in a tone that typically precedes the delivery of bad news. I frowned at her, not sure if I wanted any more bad news today. “Did you see this?”
“See what?” I asked, taking her phone that she was holding out for me. Dread pooled in my stomach as I watched a very snazzy, perfectly made cookie video on her phone. There was no mistaking that this was a video ofMidnight Cookies, but in case I didn’t already know, the logo showed up at the end, telling me the store hours and this week's cookie choices.
There was absolutely no way this video had been shot or produced with an iPhone, meaning that Liam had hired someone to do it.
I groaned loudly in frustration, flinching when I saw Anne’s concerned expression and her eyes flicker across the room. I’d forgotten there was still a customer in here.
“Sorry.” I gave the elderly woman a sheepish smile and scurried to the back, dragging Anne with me.
“I’m sorry, Emma.”
“How could he do this?” I whisper-yelled, as if Anne had all of the answers.
“Maybe he didn’t see your videos?” She shrugged, a sympathetic smile on her face. “A lot of places do videos.”
“Oh, no. He saw my video. He didn’t do videos before I started them, and this is definitely something he would do.” I had no way of truly knowing, but Iknew. Knew that he was doing this to get under my skin and prove that his business would defeat mine.
Before Anne could respond, the bell rang out to alert us to a customer, and Anne practically ran from the back room to attend to them. I took the time to calm myself down and prevent tears from attacking me.
I had to do better. But I had no idea where to even start.
Peering through the tiny window in the swinging door, I watched as the customer received their order from Anne. I opened the door halfway and stepped over the threshold, calling her name.
“Do you think you could take on the store by yourself for the next few days? I’ll pay you overtime and bonus, of course. You won’t have to make any cookies,” I told her, motioning to the full case of cookies. “Just the daily donuts and anything we run out of. I have to leave and figure out a game plan.”
“Of course, Em. I’ll take care of the social media, too.” She grinned at me. Anne was such an overachiever and eager to work extra. She was single and had a degree in engineering, yet she had no desire to move to Florida to find a job. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t an incredibly motivated, talented young woman. She just liked the island and said she didn’t see a reason to work in a job she hated when she could do something she loved.
“You’re the best!” I blew her a kiss before yanking my apron off and handing it in the back. I slung my purse over my shoulder and bolted out the back door in a matter of seconds. I needed to take a moment to myself and start devising a plan. I had never really schemed before, but the idea of doing something cunning felt a bit wickedly satisfying.
10
Liam
“She’s not there,” Jackson reported, walking in with a coffee in his hands. The store had been open for a few hours, but he was just now showing up. Not that it bothered me, he wasn’t technically required to show up. He was my marketing and logistics man, and most of his job was done at home.
“Still?” I scrubbed a hand over my face, worry deepening in my gut.
Emma had been missing from her store for a few days now. I knew because I had Jackson walk by periodically and even go in to check for her. He kept buying macarons for me since he didn’t want to seem suspicious. But I was also beginning to think he had a thing for the little brunette that worked atPinkand wanted a reason to talk to her.
“I can’t exactly ask where she is. Anne would definitely know something was up.”
“First name basis, now?” I looked up from my computer at him and caught the blush on his face. I was always right.
Ignoring me, Jackson steered the conversation back to where it started. “I told you that you shouldn’t have done the videos.”
“You don’t know that the videos have anything to do with Emma not being at her bakery.”
