Chapter 4

By 9am the old men have left and gone about their day, Tay was cleaning up the tables while I was putting out the cupcakes and cookies. The local news came and did an article about the bakery and ever since then we can’t keep the food in stock long enough. I am not complaining at all, and I am very thankful. I just didn’t realize how busy I would be, due to being in a small town, but the next closest bakery is an hour and a half away. So, the community and surrounding small towns have been a great support.

As I was finishing up making a couple lattes for a customer, my phone dinged. I handed the lattes and muffins to the customer and thanked her for stopping in. Once she walked out of the door I grabbed my phone out of my back pocket and was so excited to see that I had an email from Charlotte. I opened it up and read through the questionnaire. She wants chocolate cake on the bottom tier, white cake in the middle tier and then lemon cake on the top tier with the cake completely covered in vanilla buttercream frosting. She wants it to look clean but with a boho twist with some texture on the frosting. Which really surprised me with it being a huge fancy wedding, but I am so excited. She also wants a small group of rust and cream-colored flowers between the bottom and middle tier on just one side and then also the same flowers and a little tuff of wheat between the middle and top tier on the side as well with no cake topper.

I glanced over and found Tay talking to a customer about our cupcakes and how she would like to order cupcakes for her little girl’s birthday party. As Taylor is taking care of that I head back into the kitchen to start making the cake samples for tomorrow before its time to close down for the day.

The rest of the day flew by and by the time I realized it, Taylor and I were tidying up and preparing to close for the night.  We were both covered in flour and frosting and by the looks of it you would think that we had no idea what we were doing. We started to clean ourselves off and both headed for the door. I took one last look around and still couldn’t believe this was mine. The light hardwood floors make the sage green wood that goes around the check-out counter stand out. I had the counter custom built with wood around it and then white granite on top with a glass display case in the middle. The walls were a light white color and on the back wall behind the counter I put subway tiles a little way up the wall so it was easier to clean. Since I had the espresso and coffee machine on the back counter. Above that there was floating wood shelves with the coffee cups on them that are already to go for the next customer. The light whitewashed wood tables and chairs were all set up and cleaned off and ready to go for tomorrow. But my most favorite thing about the bakery is the large floor to ceiling windows on either side of the front door. I had the guys make wood tabletop counters to go in front of both windows with tall bar stools for seating so customers could sit next to the window and see the hustle and bustle of small-town life.

“Well that was a great day!” Tay says as she is turning off the open sign.

“Yes it was, now we just need to go and get a good night’s rest to prepare for tomorrow”, I say as we are walking out.

I hear her chuckle as I am locking the door.

“We both know you are not going to get an ounce of sleep tonight, since we have our first cake testing tomorrow.” Taylor says as we start walking.

“I know, I am just trying to not think about it I guess.”

She stops in the middle of the sidewalk and as she leans over to give me a hug she says, “You got this, and they are going to love everything about the wedding cake!”

“I hope you are right!” I chuckle back. She heads for her car and waves goodnight. I wave back and start heading to the Mexican restaurant where Hattie is probably already waiting for me. She better have a margarita already ordered and waiting for me, because the lord knows that I need to relax a little.

The restaurant is two blocks down from my building, which I love being able to just walk instead of having to drive. I open the door to the restaurant and step in. My eyes immediately go to the front counter/bar where Mr. Rodriquez is standing and mixing drinks for a couple of customers. He lifts his head and smiles, “It’s so good to see you tonight, Maisie! Hattie is already at the back table!”

I waved and said thank you. I walk over to where Hattie is waiting for me, and I see that she is on her phone. She finally looks up and gives me the biggest smile, “O good your finally here! Here is a margarita for you!”