Truth was, I really didn’t mind. Standing in the back corner put distance between me and Asher’s wedding. And right now that was what I needed.
“I don’t mind,” I said. And to prove it, I moved over to the corner and leaned against the wall.
Asher frowned. “Ella?—”
“Better angle for shots,” I said, unable to bring my gaze over to Asher. I brought up my phone and snapped a couple of pictures.
“You were saying, about the cakes,” Shelby said as she nodded to Hudson, who had been watching our interaction.
“Right, yes. I can do just about anything you want,” Hudson said, flipping through the binder of cake images that was sitting in front of him on the table.
“Ooo, I like that one,” Coralie said as she leaned in and tapped a five-tiered cake with white, cream, and red poppies cascading down it.
“I love that one, too,” Hudson said, a small smile emerging on his lips. It was such a strange contrast to see Hudson with his tattoos, earrings, and necklaces, smiling over something as dainty as fondant flowers.
“We need the poppies to be coral color.”
“I can do that.”
“And we can’t use any eggs or dairy.”
The room grew silent. Hudson glanced up from the picture to look at Coralie and then Asher. “I’m sorry, what?”
Coralie’s smile widened. “We don’t eat anything with a face or any animal products,” she said as she wrapped her hand around Asher’s arm and smiled up at him. “Do we, sweetie?”
I’d known Asher long enough to see he was uncomfortable. I waited for him to laugh and say he definitely ate food with a face. After all, we’d taken on numerous barbecue challenges over the years where we had to eat a certain poundage of meat in a specific time frame or we would have to pay for the meal. Asher loved his meat.
“That’s right,” Asher said as he moved to pat Coralie’s hand.
My brain ground to a halt. Did he just agree with her? I blinked a few times. Thankfully, Hudson seemed just as confused by this conversation as I was.
“Cakes have eggs in them,” Hudson said as he leaned back and bounced a few times on the conference chair. “Here at Sweet Beginnings, we use eggs and dairy in our cakes.”
“Hudson.” Shelby’s voice cut through the tension that I could feel was building between Hudson and Coralie. “Cakes can be made without eggs and dairy, right?” she asked as she leaned forward and tapped the table with her hand.
Hudson flicked his gaze over to her. “Not my cakes.”
“But they can be done.” Shelby motioned toward Asher and Coralie. “The bride and groom are requesting a cake without eggs and dairy in it. Think you can figure something out?” Her smile was wide, but her tone was firm. Shelby was good at this.
Hudson folded his arms across his chest as he narrowed his eyes and studied Shelby.
“Let’s not forget what creating a cake for this wedding could do for this place.” Shelby’s voice was low. She wasn’t backing down. “It could put this place on the map as the bakery that made the wedding cake for the mayor of New York City’s daughter.”
Hudson didn’t drop his gaze. But then, slowly, his facial features began to relax, and he nodded. “You’re right. If my bride and groom are requesting it, I can oblige. We’re normally a full-fat bakery, but I can see what I can do.” He straightened in his chair and turned to smile at Coralie and Asher.
He pulled out a piece of paper from the back of his binder and clicked his pen. “So, you’re thinking a five-tiered cake with coral, cream, and white peonies?”
“Yes,” Coralie said as she removed her hand from Asher’s arm and pointed at the picture. “I want it to look just like this.”
“Okay.” Hudson jotted a few notes down on his piece of paper. “And filling?” He glanced up. “I prepared some samples for you to try, but it was made with ingredients…with a face,” he said the last few words like never in his life did he think he would say them.
“I think we’ll pass,” Coralie said as she waved away Hudson’s words. “Besides, we already know what we want. Strawberry coulis.”
I snorted as I jotted down the cake plans but paused at her request for the filling.Strawberry coulishad to be a joke. She was joking, right?
I felt everyone’s gaze on me, so I looked up. Coralie looked offended, Shelby and Hudson looked confused, and Asher…well I’d apparently lost the ability to read his expressions.
“What’s so funny?” Coralie asked, her tone turning cool.
