Chapter 7

Amelia’s POV

After leaving the winery, I head over to my shop on the other side of the road. I sent a text to inform Emma of the progress of the contract when I sat down behind the counter.

“Hey, the meeting went okay. But i need an extra hand :-)”

Her text comes in almost immediately, “I’ll be there after work. When’s the event again?”

“In two days.”

After replying to her, I call my suppliers from the farmer’s market for everything I’ll be needing. The items I ordered arrived before Emma, so I started setting them up in my storage. By the time I was done setting up, Emma came in.

“You better get an extra hand soon, or pay me to work for you.” she teased as she walked in to meet me.

“You’ll always be my first employee.” I say, hugging her.

When I pulled out of the hug, I saw Charlie walking over to the shop.

“Hi again, Amelia. Hello miss?” Charlie greeted as she walked in.

“Emma. Emma is just fine.” 

“Charlie, this is my best friend, Emma. Em, this is Charlie. She works in the winery across from here, and she got me the contract.” I introduced them.

“Nice to meet you.” they say simultaneously and smile.

 “So, I came to apologize if my boss came off as rude. He isn’t like that. I shouldn’t have been talking to you there, we could have had the conversation somewhere off the wine press.” Charlie explained.

“Yea, it’s okay. Hope he wasn’t too mad?” 

“I gave him a piece of the sample cake, now he wants more. Your cake is what all the staff at the meeting has been talking about all day.”

“I know right? Ame is that good.” Emma added.

“Well, if your boss wants cake, you can see we’re all out. I was about to prepare for tomorrow and your company’s party before you came. If he can wait till tomorrow, the cake will be on the house.”

“I’m pretty sure he’ll be here himself tomorrow. Anyway, thank you. I’ll see you tomorrow, and Emma can come for the opening party.” Charlie says, and runs off.

“Thank you.” Emma shouts after Charlie.

“Do I sense some chemistry between you two?” 

“What chemistry? We just met.” she tries to hide her flushed face.

Topics like this are to be threaded with caution around her, and since I swore off relationships, I shouldn’t impose one on Emma. She can have one whenever she is ready, but for now we have cake batters to make.

I usually mix the batter at night and bake in the morning, so the cake is fresh every morning. After mixing the batter for the next day, we start measuring the ingredients we need for the big party. Then we mix the batter and set it aside, the baking would be easier now that the preparation was done.

“I’ll just need you to help me one last time after tonight.”

“With?”

“The arrangement at the party in two days.”

“After that i can quit?”

“Yes Emma, you can quit.” We both laugh.

By the time we finished, it was late. I offered to drop Emma off, but she insisted she would flag a taxi, since I had a big day tomorrow. We hugged our goodbyes as soon as a taxi stopped for her, and I drove off after they left.

I came back to the shop by 7 the next morning, and started baking the cake for the day. The oven dings 45 minutes later, and I bring out the cake then put another set into the oven. When the first set cooled, I set them up in the counter. My first customer walks in just on time.

“Welcome to Ame’s Chocolate shop, how can I help you?” I ask the customer without looking up.

“Charlie said to come back the next day for the cake, and that’s today.” 

I look up and see the customer is the winery’s boss. And he looks less rude than the last time I saw him.

Stan’s POV

I have heard people talk bad about chocolate not living up to the hype, but this one Charlie gave me was good and I could not wait until the opening party to have another bite. I wanted more, and I wanted it now. I pick up my office phone and dial the HR’s office, there’s a response after two rings.

“Charlie, how can I help?”

“Hey Charlie, it’s Stan. Do you have any more of the cake you gave me earlier?”

“It’s all out sir. I can head over to her shop to get some though.”

“Please do, and let me know once you’re back.”

I end the call and wait. My cell phone rings, Gerald. I answer immediately, he must be bored.

“Hey boss. Since technically you’re now my boss.”

“Gerald. Hope the hotel is not so boring? We could go out when I get back.”

“Not really, but I don’t mind going out to get acquainted with the city.”

“I’ll be back in two hours. Be ready by then. There’s a bar I really like 20 minutes away from the hotel.”

“Alright. I’ll leave you to get back to work.”

He ends the call and there’s a knock on my door.

“Please come in.”

“Hi Stan, so she’s all out of cake and won’t have any until tomorrow.”

“Really now?” I try to keep my cool.

“Yes.”

“Can I at least have the shop address to get it on my way to the winery tomorrow?”

“The shop is just across from the winery.”

“I definitely haven’t noticed it. Thank you. You can go now.”

After Charlie left, I let out a frustrated grunt and got back to preparing my speech for the opening party. I really need a secretary or an assistant. When the speech had met my satisfaction, I packed up to leave. When I get to the hotel, Gerald is outside waiting for me, so I pick him up and tell the driver to take us to the bar.

We got back from the bar by 12am, Gerald was having the time of his life with the ladies of New York. I’m still enjoying the fact I can go to a bar and not be recognized. I fell asleep immediately my body touched the bed.

I wake up at exactly 8am, head for the shower and freshen up. I head to Brown with Gerald for breakfast, and after breakfast we head out to the winery. Once we got to the winery, I handed Gerald over to Charlie and headed for the shop across. I get in and hear the calmest voice.

“Welcome to Ame’s Chocolate shop, how can I help you?” She asks without looking at me.

“Charlie said to come back the next day for the cake, and that’s today.” I tell her, and she looks up. She has some dent of flour on her face and apron.

“You must be her boss. I’ll get it for you now.” She said and disappeared to the back.

I took my time to look around the shop, the set up looked thorough. Counter with display of cake and cookies like every cake shop, three tables and chairs positioned smartly for sitting customers, and finally the artistic wallpaper.

“Here you go.” She hands me a bag.

“What’s the bill?”

“It’s on the house. I didn’t know you would skip the meeting yesterday, and I ran out of cake when Charlie stopped by.” She explained.

“Thank you. Your cake is great, and it goes really well with our wine.”

“Thank you.” there’s a small smile on her face.

“Remind me to give you a bottle at the party tomorrow.”

“Alright. Have a nice day.”

“You too.” I tell her, taking in the simple but artistic surroundings for some seconds before walking out.