Remembering my manners, I gestured at the chairs in front of our desks. “Please take a seat, Heidi.”
When we’d set up the office, we’d received advice from other business owners that, depending on the situation and person we were speaking to, it paid not to act like we were big shits by sitting behind our desks in meetings. Sure, sometimes it was better to do that and assert our authority, but the rest of the time, it was just damn unnecessary.
So, once Heidi was settled, Canon and I both took a seat in one of the other chairs in the cluster. The move seemed to surprise her, like she expected us to make the mammoth dick move and sit behind the desks. This time, I hoped it was a good surprise versus the bad one the crap I’d spewed at the party had been.
“Heidi,” Canon began, launching straight in, “we’re not going to beat around the bush about why you’re here. I’m sure you’re aware that what you create with your cakes, both inside and on the outside of them, is absolutely outstanding.”
Leaning in so that I was resting with my elbows on my knees, I added, “We were both skeptical when they were suggested to us, but when we got in the first night and saw the three gorgeous cakes on the counter, we were hopeful the taste test and sales tests would be successful.”
“I know when people hear I’m a baker and make cakes, they expect the standard types, but I’m incapable of doing that,” she murmured as her fingers tightened where she was holding her purse. “If you’re going to ask me to do those, I’m afraid I’d have to decline and—”
I straightened and shook my head. “No, no, no. That’s not what we’re saying. We thought that’s what you did, but you proved us wrong on so many levels. We knew the cakes were weird”—at Canon’s frantic head shakes and Heidi’s raised eyebrow, I tried to soften the blunder—“and had fantastic flavors, but we never expected them to taste the way they did and look as beautiful as they did, too.”
Canon rolled his eyes and looked up at the ceiling.
Fortunately, Heidi was still watching me so she didn’t see it. “I see.”
“What my brother’s saying—and badly—is that what you produce is unique and truly a masterpiece,” Canon sighed, shooting me a glare. “Our customers have been requesting more of them when they call to book tables in advance, and we’d love to showcase your cakes here. If you’d be willing to do that?”
I’d been watching her closely, intrigued, and curious as to what certain expressions and reactions meant when she did them. Still, when she lifted her hand to her mouth and began tapping gently on her front tooth with the nail of her index finger, I was so enraptured with it, I didn’t realize I was sitting with my mouth hanging open—again—until Canon cleared his throat.
“It depends on the amount you require a week and the size of them,” she finally replied. “I have to be careful with what components I make ahead of time, because the dried fruit can go soggy, and the chocolate shards won’t hold the color of the luster spray if they have any moisture on them from being stored in the fridge.”
“What about the actual cake part?” I asked, snapping myself out of my focus on the word ‘moisture’ and back onto being a professional. It was hard, though.
Damn it, Bond, moisture and hard?
“I don’t like to freeze the sponges,” she admitted. “Some things I can do that with, like scones, but the sponges dry out if you’re not careful. The cakes are also edible for about four to six days after I make them, so long as they’re stored correctly. On day six, they definitely won’t taste like they did on day one, though, so, for a restaurant, I’d cap serving them at four days.”
“What about if we asked for a couple of cakes every two days, to begin with?” Canon suggested. “That means on the third day, you deliver new ones to us, or we can arrange for them to be collected. Or, if you’d prefer, you can use the kitchen to make them so you’re not worried about their transportation.”
Heidi mulled this over. “A tiered cake or a layered one?”
Canon frowned. “What’s the difference?”
“Layers are all the same size with something like buttercream between them. Tiers are when you have a difference in sizes, like on a wedding cake. The ones you did the trials on were both layered and tiered cakes.”
Canon made eye contact with me, looking for my input.
I could do this. I could talk like an adult.
“Personally, I’d like one of both. The layered ones went down well and were easy to serve from, but the tiered ones were eye-catching and more dramatic to cut into.”