Page 24 of Fairy Cakes in Winter

He furrowed his brow. “Pay me?”

“Yeah, like a consultant fee. If you’re interested.”

“Don’t be silly,” he huffed, burying his head in the menu. “I’m not in the industry anymore. I’m an accountant.”

“It’s your time, though. I don’t need much—maybe an hour or two to bounce some fresh ideas around so I hit the new year running, instead of worrying about what I did wrong last year.”

Ouch.I sounded grim as fuck. I wondered if Theo caught it too and took pity on my sorry ass, ’cause he pushed his menu aside and held out his hand.

“You can buy lunch today. Deal?”

I shook his hand and smiled. “Deal.”

“Great! Now first, what kind of results are you looking for? Give me your basic goal and a pie-in-the-sky ‘probably won’t happen, but it would be cool if it did’ goal.”

“Um…okay.” I rubbed my beard thoughtfully. “Bare minimum—I’d like to do better than break even. Big dream goal—if the stars aligned and everything went my way, I’d finish off next year well in the black with enough money saved to open my own bakery again.”

“All right. My advice in the short term is to work on your wow factor. If Britney banana cream cupcakes aren’t your jam, we can think of something else.”

“Like what?”

“Hmm. I don’t know. Maybe—” Theo grabbed my wrist, the way he had on the plane when he was excited about something. “Fairy cakes!”

I scoffed. “I told you…fairy cakes don’t sell. They’re under-frosted cupcakes. Nothing special.”

“We’ll make them special,” he enthused with a confidence that made my dick twitch.

I ignored the insistent pulse below and fixed him with a no-nonsense look. “How?”

“By developing a new selling point.”

“Theo…”

He let go of my wrist and leaned against the booth. “Holidays and occasions make it easy. You start with a catchy name and a gimmick. Fairy Cake Valentine Madness, for example—terrible name, but bear with me. The gimmick could be something simple, like DIY decorating kits that you sell by the dozen…complete with frosting, sprinkles, etcetera. You could sponsor decorating parties year-round with themes like Fairy Cakes in Winter, Fairy Cake Easter Hop-Along. Pupcakes are a fun idea too. Cater to dog lovers and kids and…get everyone talking about one specific product. Fairy cakes.”

Theo raised his glass in a toast, swallowing the rest of the contents just as our server came by with our appetizers and a second round of drinks. We placed our order, eyeing each other over our salads until we were alone again. I speared a tomato and pointed it at him when Theo opened his mouth to launch into another sales blast.

“I like your enthusiasm, but there’s just one problem, Theo. No one talks about fucking fairy cakes.”

“They’ll talk about mine.”

“Yours?” I arched a brow as I popped the tomato into my mouth.

“Mine. I’ll come by your bakery one day this week and whip up a batch of my famous chocolate chip cupcakes, but—” He held up his hand before I could correct him. “I’ll make them into fetching fairy cakes instead. My icing is scrum-delish. You’ll be offering me a job in no time.”

I picked up my wineglass to hide a smile. “No doubt, but I don’t need help with baking. Just marketing ideas.”

He inhaled deeply. “Fine. Listen, I can tell you’re not sold on fairy cakes, so I propose a soft launch. Try the DIY option for a week and see what your customers think. Who handles your newsletter?”

“Uh…I don’t know if I have one, but—”

“You do. I joined it when I found your website. I take it you don’t send out monthly updates. Does anyone on your staff do that for you?” he asked, looking genuinely concerned that the answer might be no.

“No.”

Theo sighed theatrically. “Okay. I can help there too. It’s a vital tool for growing your customer base. Having a pop-up is nice, but you need to let your fans know you’re there and that you have something fun in the works.”

“Like fairy cakes.”