Sugar, Butter, Flour, and Love

Chapter Thirty-Six

I made a ko-fi...which is a platform where supporters (like you) can donate to creators (like me). If you like what I do consider donating. I spend lots of time writing and editing and posting and know that it would mean a lot to me. ❤️ The link is in my bio.

WC: 7k

I'd started off at Isaac's restaurant as part of the cooks making dishes for the restaurant but within a month I was working as part of a catering team that exclusively with clients to make desserts and confections for events.

I was more comfortable in that role because it was similar to what I'd been doing at Sweets N Things. But Isaac's clients were a lot more wealthy than the people who came through my old store and it was even stranger sitting down with people who made six or seven figures a year to talk about what cake design they wanted for their various events. The events ranged from baptism parties to bar mitzvahs  to baby showers to birthday parties to anniversaries to weddings and the list was endless. It made me realize how truly rich people were glad to pay such exorbitant prices and I was surprised at the staggering number of them who lived in Toronto.

Isaac's store was both a restaurant, bakery and specialty cake place all wrapped into one. I wasn't sure how he managed to work it all out but he did and we were all paid well on top of it. I only had to work four days a week which I liked because it gave me more down time.

I'd been getting used to my new job at the same time that I was planning a special getaway weekend for me and Trace. It had been stressful but today was now the day we'd be heading out on our trip.

I was just wrapping up an appointment with a client and I was antsy to get going.

The client today was a man with a shock of blond hair stylishly coiffed and who smelled of expensive cologne. He had startled upon first seeing me and kept referring to my assistant instead of me when working out the design process. It had happened before but never to this extent. My assistant, Rebecca, was a small, and matronly looking older White woman. She was motherly but whip smart and quick on her feet even though she only worked part time.

"So, like I was saying," the man called Rob continued, "it's gotta be elegant, my fiancé loves really elegant stuff. He's about to finish his residency in two weeks and I know he likes the colour purple." He wasn't even looking at me, just at Rebecca. I was scribbling down what he was saying and thinking of ideas.

"Did you look through our portfolio for any designs you'd like?" I said quietly, kind of annoyed he wasn't looking at me. "You know, number of tiers? Any things you really want on the cake? Flavours?"

Rob gave me a blank look before returning his gaze to Rebecca. "There's this cake on the website in the birthday section. It said it was for a Sandra. I want something like that but maybe more silver and gold." He held up his smart phone to show a cake I'd been lead designer for. It was a simple two tiered cake with gold and white flowers strewn about the tiers and a gold band running along the bottom of the tiers. It had been a graduation gift and we'd even sculpted a graduation cap from modelling chocolate.

Rebecca regoznized it as my work and she smiled. "We can definitely do that, do you want something exactly like that?"

He shrugged. "Like this, but not? Like, exactly the same but completely different. Surprise me. But you'll be taking care of this right?" Rob was still looking at Rebecca and my annoyance turned into embarrassment. Did he not think I was capable of fulfilling the cake order?

Rebecca cleared her throat, and looked up at me. "I'll be assisting the team lead, Darius, if that's what you're asking. I only work here part time."