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“I wasn’t either, to be honest,” she said. “I tried. But there was just some manly connection that I couldn’t quite tap into when it came to helping. Every time I tried, I screwed something up. So I ended up being a cheerleader and the food go-getter.”
I touched the walls.
“Shiplap,” I said. “I love them.”
She beamed.
“They’re the original walls,” she gushed. “I had no idea they were under there, but I told my husband that I wanted shiplap walls after watching Chip and JoAnna Gaines do their remodeling. When we found these underneath the wallpaper, I was so freakin’ ecstatic.”
I could imagine.
She gestured for me to follow her.
“Most of the time, I’ll have this all paid for upfront. They book the appointment and pay online. All of it is done through the computer. It’s a very rare occurrence when they haven’t paid. And that’s only if they come in before the appointment to do it. I had a couple of no-shows that showed me that I didn’t want to be living that life. So I make them pay upfront…that way if they don’t show, it’s on their dime and not mine.”
I snorted.
“I tried to meet someone who ordered a cake last week,” I murmured. “Made the cake, showed up at the meeting spot, and was stood up.” I paused. “Thank God I made her pay for it beforehand. It had that whipped icing on it, and it was expensive. A full sheet of cake. When I charged her credit card anyway, she was furious. Tried to get the money taken back. PayPal sided with me and I got the cake and the money.” I paused again. “She left me a bad review on Facebook, though.”
Memphis snorted and walked to the desk.
“I knew that you made cakes. I’ve been hearing about them from Lock and his friends,” she revealed.
I blinked. “Ummm, yes. I do. I’m a one-man operation, though, so it takes me a bit longer than it would a professional.”
She waved that off.
“Have you ever done a gender reveal cake?” she wondered.
I remembered the one that I’d made for Johnny, a good friend of mine, and his wife, June.
“I have.” I smiled, remembering the memory. “I made one for my friends, Johnny and June.”
Her eyes went wide.
“They’re really named Johnny and June?” she asked. “I love that.”
I nodded. “Funny thing is, Johnny’s dad is named Sebastian Sue. Johnny’s lucky he didn’t get a name like that. Silas, his dad, is really into Johnny Cash.”
Her eyes lit up. “Now I know who you’re talking about. I didn’t realize the correlation until you said Sebastian’s name.” She paused. “Please tell me they named their child Johnny Cash or something.”
I grinned. “They kept it a secret throughout the entire pregnancy. It was definitely something everyone wanted to know. I think they were more excited to hear the name than the sex when we did the gender reveal.”
“You’re keeping me in suspense here.” She sat forward on her seat. “What’s the name?”
I smiled.
“The baby boy came out with his daddy into the waiting room about two hours after Mom had him. He announced him as Carter Folsom Mackenzie,” I said. “I actually did the cake for his birth, too. It was a really cool musical note.”
Memphis grinned wickedly.
“I love it.” She sighed. “I just love babies all around—which was why I started this business—but there’s just something about their story, with all those names and history, that makes me absolutely giddy.” She paused. “Back to the gender reveal cakes…I was thinking about adding an option to our packaging…and this was something I’d been thinking about for a while so don’t get all flustered, but how would you feel about doing a gender reveal party type thing? I would put together all the things they would need—like the balloon with the colors for the boy or the girl in it, and you would do the cake with the colors in it, and that be a package we can offer so they don’t have to have someone in the know?”
I grinned. “I would love that…but how do you know my cakes are any good? I mean, they could be trash. You don’t know.”
Memphis gave me a droll look.
“My son has been talking about you for six months…though at the time, we didn’t know it was you. We even got a cake from you through his friend a couple of months back, for my youngest daughter’s graduation. It was amazing,” she said.
