Sweet Love (NG5)

22 - New

Nick had been looking forward to working the dinner shift with Ivy. Although he liked Kat, she made him nervous. Baking behind the invisaboss's back was one way to get fired. No one knew who the investors were, but word had spread they disliked the turnovers as much as their customers loved them. It would be a helluva summer if they didn't have a manager. Maybe the boss would come out of the woodwork.

The line was out the door when Nick arrived at work. In May? At one o'clock? Once again he had left an empty house with Sophie and his parents at work and Abbie at school. She took the bus home every day and either went home alone or to the Harris or Bennett house.

When Nick made his way inside after greeting some neighbors, the tables were filled and he didn't recognize most of the customers. Kat looked up. "Nick, how long is the line?"

"Maybe five more outside."

Ivy sighed. "We're going to sell out."

A tray of cupcakes sat in the muffins spot. There were less than three dozen left. "How many did you make?"

"Ten dozen. I'll have to make more."

"How did everyone know about it?"

"Social media."

Nick laughed. "The Landing doesn't have social media."

Ivy smiled. "Yes, it does. Sophie and I set it up for Kat. My mom got all the moms to follow it on Facebook in no time we had followers on Instagram too. We haven't started using Snapchat or TikTok yet, but we will."

"That's crazy!"

"What's crazy is people are flocking in for cupcakes. We saved one for you." Ivy smiled.

All the while they were taking orders and selling coffee and sandwiches, Martha was working up a sweat on the grill.

Nick jumped right in to help. A knock at the back door through the storeroom, turned their heads. Kat nodded to him. He'd be the hero when a lunatic at gunpoint demanded all the cupcakes. He laughed at himself when Alex and Will stood smiling. Alex pushed in. "We aren't standing in line. I need four. Will's keeping his figure so he'll take one." Alex elbowed Will in the abs and the guy didn't flinch.

When he stepped out, Kat yelled, "What was that?"

He grabbed the five cupcakes and whispered, "Alex and Will."

She pressed her lips together and then nodded. "They pay."

Nick smiled. As he handed over the box, he said, "Who's paying?"

"I will. I'm getting a new job building a porch." Alex laughed. Will was too busy biting into his cupcake. "Get me a coffee too. I have an estimate to finish."

Nick didn't know when those two had gotten so chummy, but they were always talking. When he went back for Alex's coffee and to run the card, the tray was empty.

Kat called out, "Sorry, folks. We're sold out. We'll have fresh muffins in the morning, cupcakes every Thursday, and a surprise on Monday afternoons."

Ivy took a deep breath. "That was insane but fun. No one balked at paying four dollars for a cupcake."

"The words 'exclusive' and 'while they last' worked. Ivy, modify the posts to say they're sold out."

"In forty minutes." Ivy snapped a photo of the empty tray.

The surprising thing was no one left the line. They ordered at least coffee. Some said, "Since I'm here." Others said, "I'm coming earlier next week." A few asked if they could place an order.

Kat stepped forward. "We aren't equipped yet, but we're hoping to add a baking kitchen."

Martha and Ivy left and Kat couldn't stop smiling, as she tapped on her laptop. "We doubled last year's sales for this day and we haven't served dinner yet."