Page 53 of Conquered Obstacles

The factory employees thought all of the wolves were at the remote locations handling the pickup orders, but we had others covering it. There weren’t going to be food trucks going during that crazy, and we had others from the New Jersey factory covering.

And in return, they received a whole ton of food for their covens and families. Done.

I would have anyways since they’d all been doing such a good job. We’d gotten out all of the Costco exclusive Easter sprinkles they had ordered and a hundred pallets extra they’d added on. We had gotten so much of our own blends to Amazon that it made my head spin, and it had all sold out as well.

So they were working. They were working. I knew it was that they needed the money and overtime with the hard times they’d fallen on, but… Let them. We could get another factory going, but people were buying, so let them.

And Costco always wanted some sort of sprinkles bag from us now that people had gone nuts for it. Another issue for another day. I’d even let them design it if it was such a big seller or something they could have for certain markets, not everything so focused on the US.

The orders were crazy but went well. We had permission from the city to basically use the street as our private driveway so we didn’t create the traffic issues of last time even if it wasn’t our fault. People could park and get out for more or to add to their order, or one of the twins was managing a drive-up option of only their orders.

And a lot of people wanted that.

But yeah, we started with a lot of crazy of people waiting before the bakery even opened to get extras and the fun planned.

Which was Colton being one of the Easter bunnies. I knew we were doing another sort of festival atmosphere in the plaza with us as the focus, but other stores were joining in now too. Some had games for the kids and prizes. Some were giving out candy for their Easter baskets.

And all of them were thrilled I was bringing this much attention to the shopping center. None were pissy or rude that the focus was on the bakery. Everyone was in good spirits and lively.

So was I until one of the Easter bunnies gestured for me to step off to the side. He wanted me to go to the alley by the bakery.

“Do I look that stupid?” I demanded, my guard up and annoyed that a worker would be that bold when children were around—allowed to be around children even.

“Arabella, it’s me,” Colton hissed from under the head.

“Oh! I wondered where you were,” I muttered, hurrying off with him.

He waited until we were far enough away from everyone and yanked off the head. I almost burst out laughing. He was bright red and dripping sweat.

I made my juice blend appear on ice and handed him the big glass of it.

“Thank you, fuck, thank you so much,” he groaned. “This was exactly what I was hoping you would do. They kept chasing me—” He moaned as he took several long gulps. “I did this so you would think I was adorable and not scary like Jamie and—kids are monsters. Do you know how many have kicked me? One kicked me in the nuts to see if bunnies had them. His dad laughed.”

“Never even apologized?” I gasped, frowning when he nodded. I touched his cheek and cooled him off, glad when he moaned in relief. I also aired out the costume and cooled it off. “It just had to be an unseasonably hot day.”

“Yeah, I think it karma to make me suffer for hurting you when I did this to look cute to you,” he grumbled before having another long gulp. “Shit, that so hit the spot. Are things going well otherwise?”

“Yes, your idea about getting a permit from the city was perfect. Over half are just pulling up for their orders and leaving. We’re giving them an extra container of fudge or Krispies, but that’s it. Mary says only a few have complained, but she told them not to hold up the line and move along.”

“Good. Yeah, it’s their choice, but enough people complained last time that they didn’t want the fanfare, just their orders. I thought it was a good balance. Apparently, the jewelry store is getting some massive orders for Mother’s Day. They were smart and put out displays of their custom goods for that and it’s going well. They better thank you.”

I leaned in and kissed his flushed cheek. “You make an adorable bunny. Go take a break.”

“Thanks for the save,” he whispered.

“It’s what friends do.”

For now. It was for now and we both knew it.

For now.

14

After we finished all the orders and all the extras were sold out, everyone was exhausted. We got the word from all the locations that it went well and there weren’t any problems besides a few here and there bitching that there weren’t extras and they thought we’d just said that for social media.

Well, that was their stupid.

I was giving all my employees Easter Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday off paid. We were always closed Tuesday, but we needed more than that to recover from all of this. Even if it had gone smoother than Halloween when there had been fewer orders, it was still a lot and everyone busting their asses.

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