Chapter 3
The tasting with the Mr. and soon to be Mrs. Moneybags, as Emily was affectionately referring to them as, went as well as could be expected. She was requesting the world out of Emily, with the biggest tiered cake she’d ever made and the most intricate decorations she had ever seen. Of course the bride-to-be had brought many pictures of how exactly she wanted her cake to look. This was a common thing for prospective brides to do, and in fact Emily even like when the brides did that, it helped give her a better idea of the big picture of what the couple was looking for.
That is not what Nora had done.
“This is exactly how I want the cake to look,” she told Emily as she slid several pictures all taken at different angles over to her.
Emily studied the pictures and immediately felt nervous. The amount of tiers alone was enough to leave any baker awake at night with worry that it might fall over or sink into itself. Emily knew she would even be up at night worrying that there might even just be a slight crack in a bit of fondant from the weight of it all and that Nora would never let her live it down. That was where she worried the most. Small bakeries like Emily’s had to survive on reviews and word-of-mouth. She had wonderful reviews from regulars and passersby and her business was growing. Of course she wasn’t booming in a sense that she was able to leave her horrid morning job, but it was enough to leave her dreaming that that day may be approaching.
The terrifying thing about taking on a woman like Nora, was she knew she had the potential to destroy her business. If anything at all went wrong with the cake, she knew that Nora would make sure that she never lived it down. That was a terrible risk to take, especially after she saw the decoration she wanted to adorn then cake.
“The cake should be a pure, perfect white fondant. Then I want these roses to be scattered all around just as in the picture.”
Emily looked closely at the picture. The roses were a very pale pink and Emily had to admit, gorgeous. But they were also made of sugar. Sugar was a difficult substance to work with. It was hot, stick, and more fragile than glass. When done right it could be exquisite, done wrong and it would be a disaster. She had worked with sugar before and had success, but she knew she hadn’t worked with it enough to be confident to create what Nora was looking for. When she told her that, Nora waved her worry away…with Abdul’s wallet.
“Not to worry, we will compensate you for the extra time you’ll need to learn.”
Emily was floored. She’d never met someone who truly believed that she could just throw money at anyone for any reason and come out on top. She was about to tell her so and tell her what exactly she could do with her money when a thought occurred to her. What if she did turn them down as clients? If Emily was worried about what might happen with a slight crack in some fondant, what would she do if Emily refused to work with her, refused to let her get her way? A shudder ran through her at the thought.
There was really no choice in the matter, she would have to take them on as clients and she would have to do everything in her power to give Nora what she wanted. It was interesting though, she realized, that she wasn’t even considering Abdul a concern in the situation at all. In fact, she felt he was almost a calming presence in this whole mess of a situation. He sat at the little table with the women, and she wondered if it was her imagination or did he seem to be sitting slightly closer to her than he was to his own fiancé? A small smile played on his lips as he watched the women interacting, Nora bossing Emily around, Emily too terrified of her future to say no. She could have interpreted his smile to be something mean, as if he enjoyed watching Nora treat people the way she was, but somewhere inside of her she didn’t think that’s what his smile was for.
Nora’s phone buzzed on the table, and she stood up to excuse herself. It was the first time Emily had been alone with Abdul and she was immediately aware of how much she must look like a disaster. She began to brush back her hair, trying hard to secretly dust out any flour that might have graced its presence there. Silently she berated herself for not taking the time to clean herself up before they had arrived. She had been so down to the wire finishing up the tasting cakes that she hadn’t had a spare minute to even check to see how she looked. But she had to imagine, after a full day of work and extra hours baking the cakes, that the site wasn’t pretty. But Abdul kept his eyes on her, his smile broadening at her obvious nervousness.
“I didn’t get a chance to thank you yet for staying late tonight for Nora,” he said.
Emily felt her cheeks blush and immediately wanted to kick herself. “It was fine, I appreciate the extra payment.” She answered.
Abdul waved his hand in the air as if to dismiss her thank you. “It was pure business. I understand how Nora can be and I know it can be difficult. You deserve the extra money for staying late for her and I assure you that if you decided to work with her that you will again be compensated well.”
Was it just her, she wondered, or was he forgetting to mention that he was a part of the upcoming wedding as well? Out of curiosity, she decided to test the waters a little. “Well, I am willing to take you and your fiancé on as clients, thought with what you are asking for, it is not going to be an easy project.” Emily leafed through the pictures again to make it seems as if she was truly thinking about it, when in reality she was wondering if she could the fact that she was referring to them as a couple.
“Yes, Nora does have her expectations high, but you have excellent reviews and based off of the look of that tray of cakes that I can’t wait to taste, you will be able to live up to them and even exceed them.”
It seemed so miniscule, but she really couldn’t help but notice that he had yet to refer to them as a couple. It was all about Nora. Now, that could be because he was completely all consumed by her and couldn’t talk about anything but her. And who could blame him? She was a woman who had it all together and clearly was a perfect match for the man that she could naturally see Abdul was. A man of prestige and power, with an air about him of complete manly essence. On the other hand, Emily had worked with many couples and she had never worked with one, that didn’t refer to themselves as a couple.
“Well, thank you for the compliment.” Emily went and grabbed the tray of cakes that she had left on the counter along with the forks and plates. “Hopefully you both find that you enjoy the cakes and will be choosing me to help in your special day!” Emily was trying to stay bright and professional, no matter how much his stare was scorching her skin.
The bell rang above the door and Nora stepped back inside. Whatever phone call she had just gotten was clearly not good. She breezed in and took her seat again, looking expectant at the tray. “Well, let’s get moving here, we obviously don’t have all night.”
The way she snapped at Emily made her jump and she immediately started to serve up the cakes. Abdul turned to her, his smile finally faded into what looked like an irritated frown. “Did something happen?” he asked. It was obvious he was embarrassed with her behavior, but it was none of Emily’s business so she just continued to serve up the cake.
“Yes, something happened.” It was hard not to notice the harsh edge she had in her voice. Her stomach sank knowing that this tasting was not going to go well. “I just lost a major house, the buyers turned down the offer AND the client and sold it to someone else. It would have been one of the biggest sales of my life!”
“I’m sorry,” Abdul said to her. “Real estate it a tough and fast market, you’ll close the next sale.” Emily could tell he was trying to be reassuring to her, but she could also tell that it didn’t quite sound right.
“Yes,” she answered sharply. “I know how real estate works thank you very much.” Emily couldn’t help but take a glance at Nora, it was as if she had been sucking on a lemon. “Well,” she directed her words towards Emily. “Let’s get this moving.”