Page 85 of Emerald Moon
They boxed up every single macaron, even the less-than-lovely looking ones, took a deep breath, and made their way back to the pack house, through the front door, and down the hall to Parisa’s office.
The door was cracked, but Jo knocked anyway, careful not to drop the boxes of macarons as they balanced on their raised knee.“Alpha Parisa?”
”Come on in, Jo.”
They tensed their entire body, head to toe, then let everything go, hoping their nerves would disappear, too.Pushing open the door with the corner of a box, Jo realized Seraphine was in the office, too.Parisa sat behind her desk, an array of planners and documents on her desk, while Seraphine sat opposite her in a chair with her red binder propped up on one knee as she crossed her legs.
Two sets of eyes landed on Jo and they lost their voice for a beat before they forced out the words they could manage until they got their footing, “I made lots of macarons, like, my favorite, or, like, my best ones.I made my best macarons for you today and I made a lot, but it’s for a reason.I really respect what everyone does at the bakery and I love being able to help bring everyone else’s creations to life, but what I really want —“
One of the boxes slipped and Seraphine reached out to push it back into place.
Jo dipped their head in thanks and kept going.“What I really want is to contribute, too.Not just by cutting fruit and getting things prepared.I want to make things.Macarons.I want to make my macarons and sell them in Violet Moon.And maybe these aren’t ready for that yet, or maybe I’m not ready for that yet, but I think I could be, but it’s up to you to decide.So here’s some to look at and try.”
They robotically stepped forward and placed the boxes on Parisa’s desk.They glanced at Seraphine who was beaming from ear to ear.
Parisa opened the top box for a second and closed it.She tucked a piece of brown hair behind her ear and smiled.“I was wondering when you were going to ask.I’d love to.”
”What?”
”I already know the quality of your work and how much you’ve improved.I think the macarons in these boxes would be a welcome addition to the cases out front — today.”
Jo stared at her, mouth slightly open, glancing between Parisa and Seraphine and waiting for her words to sink in.
Seraphine flashed them two thumbs up.
”Thank you,” Jo managed, looking back at Parisa.“Are you sure you don’t need to look at them and check?The things we sell are so beautiful and I’m not sure these are up to those standards yet.I can make a few more batches before —“
”You can if you want to, but I know what you can do.These are ready for the store.We’ll have to clear some space for them, but I know no one will mind.”
”Are you sure?”
Parisa puffed out a laugh.“I’m certain.”
Seraphine leapt out of her chair, binder clattering onto the floor.“Let’s go!Let’s go!We can make a spot for them, make a sign letting customers know there’s something new, get cute little cards for each flavor to show them off.We can go now!”
”Are you sure you don’t want to try any first?I brought them here for y’all to see.”
”I mean, if you’re offering a macaron, I’m hardly one to say no to anything sweet and delicious,” Seraphine said.
Parisa unstacked the boxes.“Which flavor would you recommend we try?”
”If you want classic — vanilla.If you want weird, either the chocolate and earl grey one, the coffee and orange one, or the savory one.”
”The savory one?”Seraphine questioned.
”Yeah, my girlfriend doesn’t have much of a sweet tooth, so I experimented and made a sort of everything-bagel type shell with cream cheese filling.”
“Girlfriend, huh?”Seraphine’s grin widened again, but she mercifully turned back to the boxes, wiggling her fingers.“I’m going to try one of each.”
”You’re going to upset your stomach,eshgham,” Parisa reminded her.
Seraphine waved a dismissive hand.“The savory one will balance out all the sugar, obviously.I’ll have that one first so all the others are dessert.”
”You know, the more you eat, the fewer we’ll have to sell,” Parisa said.
Seraphine stopped short of grabbing her first one and looked at Jo.“Are you sure I can have some?”
“Yeah!I brought them for y’all.I never even thought they’d make it out there today,” Jo said.“Whatever we sell today is a bonus,” they added, still mentally pinching themselves to make sure this was really happening.
