“Well, I think they’re delicious. It’s a pity but I’ll be sure to deliver the message.”
“Yes, please do so,” I say in my kindest voice as she nods to me in farewell before turning to leave the store. With a box of cupcakes in her hands.
I’d love to see the look on Uptight Ursula’s face when she receives that message.
“Say, there’s a phone call for you.”
I murmur an acknowledgment, but keep my head down where I’m working on some elaborate icing designs. The convention center’s catering manager requested some samples so they could decide if we were worthy to make their preferred vendor list.
“And not from The Club.”
“Ha. That’s funny.” And now she has my attention. “Can you take a message? I need to—”
“No. I think you need to take this.”
I look up, her expression one of guarded excitement as she holds the phone out to me. Curiosity has me to standing to full height and taking the phone from her.
“Sweet Cheeks, this is Saylor. How may I help you?”
“Hi. Yes. My name is Sally Destin and I’m calling on behalf of the organization Divorce Support California.”
“Hello.” I narrow my eyes at DeeDee and am feeling slightly had here, but uncertain exactly how. “How may I help you?”
“Yes, I was just explaining to your assistant and she thought it would be best if I spoke with you. Is this the owner?”
“Yes, my name is Saylor. How can I help you, Sally?”
“I was wondering what your capacity and reach is for your delivery range. Are you just local or all of California?”
I grab a pen and pad to make notes. “Well, that depends on the quantity needed. If it’s a couple of dozen, then just local, but if we’re talking a larger volume we can deliver.”
“Much larger.” She chuckles and I glance back over to DeeDee whose smile is growing wider as she watches me. “We are a company who runs, manages, and coordinates California’s largest network of divorce support groups. We have on average five different events a week in varying locations with an average attendance of a hundred or more members.”
“That’s a lot of members. So how can I help you?”
“We saw you on camera yesterday with those breakup cupcakes and would like to place regular orders.”
My head starts swirling with specifics. Finding a reputable courier service. Volume packaging. Endless possibilities. I shake my head in hopeful disbelief, the excitement bounding off DeeDee starting to make sense.
“You mean the grudge cupcakes?”
“Yes, but we’d like to refer to them as breakup cupcakes. Divorce cupcakes or fresh-start cupcakes.” She chuckles at herself. “Sorry, I’m getting ahead of myself naming them. We can decide their name later once we schedule a standing order for them. Typically, I’m looking at about needing approximately five hundred a week. And once we establish those demands, I was thinking of creating some kind of partnership with you where when we unfortunately add a new member to the group, we send them a sampler as a welcome to the group type of thing.”
Five hundred plus a week? Did I hear that correctly? Holy. Shit.
I think I blink a few times. Open my mouth and close it as I try to gain my composure. “Oh. Okay. I’d love to work with you and figure something out.” My voice sounds calm but my trembling hands reflect my excitement. “I’d have to see the delivery range and work with you on what you’d like them to say . . . the details . . . and then I can come up with a proposal for you.”
“That sounds great. I’m on your site right now so is that the email to use to send the info over?”
“Um. Yes. That’s perfect.”
“And you know, we do have someone from our main office typically go to each of the meetings, so if some of the events are out of your delivery range, maybe you can ship them to the main office and the counselor or staff member heading to the meeting location can bring them. Just a thought.”
“That’s perfect. Thank you, Sally. I look forward to getting the information.”
“I hope it’s not out of line to say this, but you’ve been put through the wringer this week. Someone needs to tell you that the way you handled yourself yesterday—smashing the cupcakes for the cameras—was inspiring. And the idea is brilliant. We’ve been looking for an idea like this for a while now. I’d love nothing more than to give the okay to issue a contract for your company. It’s only a matter of time before other companies come knocking and I want to make sure we reserve our spot before you have to start turning orders away.”