“I might be needing you, too. It seems like this business will blow up before I can truly wrap my head around the concept. I need to know where my money is going and how to reinvest it back into the business. I also need help pricing my cakes so that I’m getting my energy’s worth in addition to production cost.”
“You know I’m the girl for all things numbers. Do you have a list of the cakes you’ve already made and their prices?”
“Yeah. I have a picture beside them too so that it’s easy to remember what I charge.”
“What about how much time it takes?”
“I document that too.”
“Good. How much money do you want to make per hour? Like, if you were at your dream job, how much would you be compensated for your time?”
“Fifty to sixty dollars an hour.”
“Good, we’ll go with seventy-five. Send me the list, and I will create a spreadsheet for you. Have you finished the website yet?”
“Not yet. I wanted to finalize the pricing before I did so that I didn’t have to go back and change them. I have all the photos and everything else ready to go. Luca bought me a new camera.”
“What about the business Instagram?”
“I’m still not ready for that. Not with the whole Dewayne situation still lingering.”
“Don’t let him stop your money.”
“I don’t plan to, but using my whole name for an account is like handing him my information myself. The page would have all the bakery’s details.”
“Have you talked to Luca about this?”
“No.”
“Well, I think you should. He could tell you how to move forward, but I’m sure it’ll be with the social media accounts. That’s how most people find services these days, hashtags.”
“Yeah. I know.”
“I’m going to grab me some food. I’m starving. Where is it?”
“Already in the microwave. Just grab a plate and fill it. You’ll have to warm it up.”
“OK.”
I picked up the strawberries to resume my cake decorating, but kept Lyric’s words circling in my head. Luca and I had tiptoed around the Dewayne topic, mostly because I wasn’t ready to have the real conversation yet. But as more time passed and my mental and emotional scars began to fade, I knew it was coming.
SEVENTEEN
Baisleigh’s Housewas like home to me. I was there dropping off a new cake at least once a week. True to her word, she’d passed out my cards to her customers and was continuing to do so even months later. Because of her, I’d gotten most of my clientele. My bakery was ready for pickups, but I’d already scheduled the delivery for a customer who was having a birthday brunch at Baisleigh’s weeks in advance.
“Oh, this is nice.” She admired the two-tier gold cake with speckles of white. The simple design was so eye-catching.
“She’s going to love this.”
“What time is her brunch?”
“It’s in an hour. We’re about to close the section now and get the balloon arches brought out. What’s been going on with you this week?” Baisleigh was forever doing a wellness check, and I appreciated her for that.
“The bakery is ready. I’m not ready for a grand opening or anything, yet, but I can finally service customers in the shop and have them pickup if they’d like. I’m almost ready to hire a delivery driver, but I’m not quite there yet.”
“With the amount of brunches I have coming this fall you will be soon. People are going to be ready to come inside instead of being outside once that Channing cold hits.”
“With the Channing heat, I don’t understand how they’re outside anyway.”
