Page 1 of Baking it Merry

One

“Eat your heart out, Food Network!”

Taking a small step back, Daphne Noelle studied the beauty of her cupcake Christmas tree with pride.It was going to be her signature piece this holiday season.Smiling giddily, she reached for her phone and began taking pictures to put up on her website.With any luck, she’d capture the perfect shot that she could also place on her social media profiles and start taking orders.

She ended up with around twenty usable pictures.Feeling satisfied, she moved on to take inventory of everything she was going to need to get her mobile bake shop set up tomorrow at the executive complex in downtown Raleigh.Every year for the last three years, she’d been lucky enough to get a spot in the lobby of the largest building in the complex to set up her pop-up bakery shop.They offered spots to people like herself every year as a way of supporting small businesses and besides her bake shop, there were typically a few others that were more arts and gifts-oriented.Each of the booths was customized for the best visual appeal, and while she didn’t do any baking on site, hers was set up to look like a giant gingerbread house.And, if she did say so herself, it was freaking adorable.

Having designed it herself, it made for the perfect holiday display, with plenty of space for all the freshly baked inventory she made daily.Most days it was a variety of cookies, cupcakes, muffins, and assorted cakes and pies, but the real money came from the orders she got from the people who worked in the twenty-eight-story building.

“Remember to bring extra cupcakes for Sara,” she reminded herself.Her best friend worked for the legal firm on the second floor of the building Daphne would be setting up in, and she was the one who actually got her the opportunity.“Cupcakes this week, cookies next.”

Tomorrow morning, she had a small crew of friends and family who would help her move the display and get it built in the massive lobby.The maintenance team on site was also on hand to help, and she made a note to have a box of goodies for them as well.Daphne didn’t mind the extra work; if anything, it made her happy to share her creations with as many people as possible.It was a labor of love and maybe someday she’d have the courage to open an actual bakery of her own.Right now, she rented kitchen space to do the bulk of the baking while also managing her website design business.

She had wo totally different careers, but both gave her the creative outlet she desired.The website business primarily paid the bills, but her heart was in the baking.

“And someday it will be the only job I have,” she said with a wistful sigh.

But for now, she was happy to juggle both careers.Her computer would be with her during the holiday season at the executive plaza, so during any slow times, she could work on the website jobs she was contracted for.Her busiest times to sell her baked goods were first thing in the morning, the mid-morning coffee breaks, lunchtime, and mid-afternoon breaks.Some days she stayed late to handle special orders or requests, but most days she was done by three.

After dropping off her trays and supplies at her rental kitchen and doing some prep work, she’d go home and eat a pitiful dinner before crawling into bed and starting all over again.Still, she would do it typically only four days a week—a girl had to rest sometime!—and it was only for the months of November and December.For the rest of the year, she baked only on request from orders through her website.The system worked well, but she kind of thrived on the daily face-to-face interaction with customers and potential customers at her little pop-up shop.

“Too bad they don’t have a coffee shop in the complex I could lease,” she murmured, but knew she would be too scared to consider even doing that right now.Maybe in another couple of years she’d be okay with it, but right now she just felt…well…not confident enough in herself.

Someday.

Maybe.

In the meantime, she’d bake and dream and pray that eventually she’d take the leap to make her dream a reality.

“Daphne!”someone called out.“Is this where the racks need to go?”

Turning, she spotted her cousin Tom waving her over.Smiling, she joined him.“Yup!That back corner is where the shelves and racks need to be.Thanks!”

All around her, things were coming together.The other vendors were setting up as well and it looked like there was a soap and scented candle booth, a hand-crafted jewelry booth, and an artist who specialized in pet portraits!It was loud and a little chaotic, but there was plenty of space for them, along with the people who were flooding into the building to start their workday.Everyone waved and several called out how they couldn’t wait to stop by later and see what she had available, and honestly, she couldn’t wait either!She was feeling so many emotions right now and as much as she loved watching her little gingerbread house come to life, she also just wanted it done so she could step inside and start selling.

“There’s my girl!”her father said as he walked over, adjusting his tool belt.“You look like a combination of serious businesswoman and Disney princess.”

“Dad…” she said with a laugh.“Stop it.That’s not a real thing.”

“Daph, trust me.You’re walking around observing everything and you have a very serious look on your face most of the time, but the purple dress and the matching hair bow make you look like a princess.”He hugged her.“I’ve always called you my little princess so…”

She seriously felt herself blushing even as she hugged him back.“Thanks, Dad.”When she pulled back, she smiled at him.“It looks like it’s almost ready.Should I call Mom and tell her to bring the van over with all the inventory?”

If it weren’t for the support of her family, Daphne knew none of this would be possible.Not only did they help with the building of the pop-up shop, but her mother always went with her to events and was eager to lend a hand wherever she was needed.

And today, that was driving the refrigerated van full of freshly baked goods here to the shop.

“It probably wouldn’t hurt to text her to start heading this way.By the time she gets here, we should be ready to help her unload,” he replied.“Let me go help Tommy secure that roof.It looks a little uneven.”

Stepping back, she had to agree.

Right now, her gingerbread building was really just the size of your average backyard shed without the bulk.Plus, for the first few weeks it had a fall theme to it—leaves instead of candy—and all of her treats were more about the flavors of the season.She had baked tons of apple cinnamon muffins, banana nut muffins and banana bread, cinnamon coffee cake, apple pies, glazed pumpkin muffins, plus a variety of traditional cookies and bars.But once Thanksgiving was over, Daphne would be going full throttle with holiday cookies, cupcakes, muffins, and bars here at the booth, as well as taking special orders for cakes and pies.Just thinking about it made her happy.

“Great, it’s that time of year again when all the crap shops clutter up the lobby.Awesome.”

Daphne turned and saw a guy who clearly worked in the building walking toward the bank of elevators.It had to be him who said it because no one else had been that close.Unfortunately, his back was to her so she couldn’t see exactly who he was.All she saw was a navy blue wool coat and a shock of dark hair.In the past, she hadn’t encountered anyone who was openly hostile about the booths being here for the holiday months, so maybe this guy was new or…

He turned as if sensing she was studying him, and she inwardly groaned.She’d seen him before.Actually, she’d seen him every day that she’d been here in the building over the last three years.They’d never been introduced, so she didn’t know his name, but yeah.In her head, she always just referred to him as Grinchy Grincherson because he never smiled.

---