Posting a little late today! Sorry about that! It's been busy!

Chapter Twelve

I was so excited and nervous for today. Alice and her fiancé were coming to try out some cakes. I had fixed a ton of different types of cakes and different fillings. Alice didn't really give me a preference, she just said to fix a bunch.

And Billy had finished the room in the back. It looked so good. I painted the walls a light blue because Billy had put in white wooden floors and I thought white walls would be too much white. I put all of my supplies in the supply closet Billy made for me.

I had gotten some furniture from Liam's store. He had a couple of pop up tables and some cushioned chairs to go with it. The pop up tables looked a little funky, but I got some pretty cloth tablecloths and put it over the tables. It actually didn't look too bad. I had gotten a few decorations, like a vase of realistic looking flowers, a couple pictures. I mean, it didn't look like I'd win an award for decorating anytime soon, but it wasn't hateful. It would do.

I didn't ask Maggie to help me this time. I didn't really need her since it was just the two of them. Plus, she had to get ready for the school year to start. I desperately needed to find help before she left for school.

I was a little bummed I'd be losing my help soon, Maggie was great and so helpful, but I knew she had to go to school. She was a junior now and she seemed to be pretty popular. Her friends always came into the store to chat with her. She probably enjoyed the social aspects of school more than I did.

The bell on the door rang and I walked into the front room. Alice was standing there, dressed beautifully, as usual. And the man beside her, her fiancé Jasper, was standing beside her. He was very tall, with somewhat shaggy blonde hair. He was very handsome, and they looked perfect together.

"Hello," I smiled, "It's good to see you again, Alice." I shook her hand.

"Bella, it's so food to see you too," She smiled back then looked to her fiancé, "This is my fiancé, Jasper."

"It's so nice to meet you," I shook his hand, "Congratulations."

"Thank you," he nodded.

"I've made a bunch of different cakes for you two to try," I said as I led them into the back, "And this tasting will be a little different. I actually have a decent room for you two to try the cakes, instead of in the kitchen."

"Oh, I thought the kitchen tasting was fun," Alice said, "I was telling Jazzy how delicious everything was."

"It must've been delicious," he chuckled, "Alice said she was doing a dessert cart, not a whole buffet."

Alice laughed, "I was toying with the idea. And with all the people coming, I want to make sure it'll be amazing, and everyone is happy."

"All that matters is if you and Jasper are happy," I said, "And just from the few times I've met you, I can tell your wedding is probably going to top any other wedding ever."

Alice smiled widely, "Thank you! It's going to be amazing."

They sat at the table and I brought out the first eight cake slices. They were very large slices, but just enough for the two of them.

"Now, for the first round of cakes I decided to use a vanilla base for all of them. I just went with the simple bases. Vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry. And then I added in some fillings. I can also mix and match fillings and flavors. So if there's a combination you'd like, I can most certainly do it." I said.

I felt slightly awkward standing there while they took bites of each cake. I wanted to step into the kitchen to give them some privacy, but it didn't take them long to take a bite of each cake.

"I really like this one," Jasper said, as he took another bite of the third cake, "The frosting is what I really like."

"That one wasn't my favorite," Alice said as she made a face, "I did really like the frosting though just not the cake itself or the inside. What kind of cake is it?"

"It's a vanilla raspberry cake. There's raspberry infused into the cake part. But if you really like the frosting, I can use that frosting on another cake."

"Mm, well I really like the frosting." Jasper said.

"Can we try some more before we decide?" She asked.

"Of course," I said, "I made plenty."

"I did like the cake to this one though," She pointed to the first one.

"That's a vanilla dream cake."

She nodded, "It's good."

I took the cakes and brought out the second round of cakes. This time, all of the cakes were chocolate.

"Ohh," Alice said, "Chocolate is my absolutely favorite."

"Excellent," I said, "Chocolate is my favorite to bake. There are so many verities."

They tried each one, but I noticed they took more bites of these cakes.

"Oh, I'm in love," Alice said, "This one is my favorite."

"Yeah, I'm with you on that," Jasper said as he took another bite, "What is this one?"

"This one is a three layer triple chocolate cake. I use white, milk, and dark chocolate. The frosting is milk chocolate. And between each layer, I make fudge, flatten it down and soften it. It's something I sort of made up in my head when I was baking. I was hoping it went over well."

"It's amazing," Alice took another bite of the cake.

I smiled widely, "So, is this a possibility?"

"Honestly, Bella," Alice said, "I think this may be the winner. I love it so much. What do you think Jazzy?"

"I love it too," He said, "I'm more than okay with this being our wedding cake."

"Well perfect then," I smiled.

"My issue though," Alice wiped her mouth, "I wanted my cake to be white. My colors are white, red, and gold. Christmas colors. I wanted my cake to be white and have red and gold accents."

I nodded, "I can do the outside white, no problem. I actually had some ideas for the design. I drew them out last night in my sketch book."

I opened the book to the first page, "I know you said you're having over three hundred people. So, I was thinking of something like this."

She looked through the designs.

"Now, the flowers and the decorations I can do in red and gold," I said, "I just hadn't colored anything in."

She looked at the first picture, "I like this one a lot."

I nodded, "It's a stacker cake. Very tall and extravagant. And since your wedding theme is Christmas, I can do either roses or poinsettias."

"Everyone does roses, how about poinsettias. Those would be beautiful. And unique." She said.

"It would be," I said, "Now this one is very different, you don't typically see them at weddings, but I thought it might be cool."

She looked at the picture, "I do like it, but is it a little too different?" She showed the picture to Jasper, "You know how everyone is. I don't want to hear people say how different the cake is, I want them to say it's beautiful."

"Well how about you check out this one," I turned the page, "This one is different, but it's beautiful. It cuts beautifully too. I think people would love it."

"Oh wow," Alice said as she looked over the sketch, "I do love this, a lot. It looks so extravagant and elegant. I want this one."

"Very cool," I smiled, "I can do a lot with this too. Do you like the position of the flowers? Again I can change the flower types if you'd like."

"I think poinsettias would look so beautiful with this cake. It'll be unique but also elegant."

"And the greenery I was going to add to fill in the flowers, I can add in gold sprigs too. It'll be so beautiful."

"And this cake can feed three hundred people?"

"Oh yeah," I nodded, "It's going to be a very, very large cake. So large that I'll have to assemble the pieces at the venue. That way it cuts down on the risk of falling apart during travel or falling over."

"That's okay. You'll get early access to the venue that way you can set up."

"Why thank you," I closed my sketch book, "So, we've decided on the cake and the design. That actually didn't take as long as I had planned."

She laughed, "Yeah, there weren't so many opinions this time."

"It was nice though," I said, "I liked your family. It was so big and loving."

"Did you have a big family growing up?" She asked.

"No, I didn't." I said, "It was just me and my parents. I have some half distant cousins or whatever on my mother's side, or my grandmother's side, it's confusing. But we didn't have contact with them."

"Why's that?" Alice asked.

"Eh, it's kind of a weird story." I said.

"Oh shit," Jasper said, looking down at his phone, "Babe, I have to get to work."

"Is everything okay?"

He glanced at me, then glance back, "It'll be okay. But I can't bring you. I'll call someone to come get you if you don't mind staying a bit."

"Well, I'm sure Bella's busy."

"That's okay," I said, "You can stay until your ride gets here. I was just going to be cleaning up if you didn't mind."

Alice nodded, "Okay, it'll be fine. Go ahead Jasper."

He left very abruptly, nodding in my direction as he passed.

"What does your fiancé do for a living?" I asked, "It must be very important."

"It's very boring," She said, "But now that you have time, tell me about these half cousins."

"Oh, well, my grandmother remarried and had a son with my mother's stepfather. But my mother told me that my stepfather was terribly mean and didn't like her so much. So, my mother took off as soon as she turned eighteen. She didn't have contact with them ever since."

Alice nodded, "Huh, I've always wondered what it's like being an only child. I've always had a big family. And we only have a few members in our family who've been removed," She laughed.

I smiled, "It seems like you guys are really close."

She nodded, "We are," she said, "So, what do your parents think about your business venture?"

"Well, my parents died several months ago."

"Oh, I'm so sorry," She frowned.

"It's okay," I shrugged.

She sat at the counter in the kitchen while I cleaned the plates.

"Where did you come from?" She asked, "You're not a New Yorker."

"You're right I'm not a native New Yorker," I said, "I'm from a small town called Forks. It's in Washington state."

"What's it like?"

"It's very rainy, and dark. The sun is hardly ever out. And it's mostly cold. And it's one of those small towns where everyone knows everyone. Certainly not as exciting as New York."

She nodded, "So, are there any romantic interests in your life?"

I chuckled, "No. Not at the moment. I'm way too busy for that right now."

"Ah, c'mon," She said, "There isn't anyone in your life that interests you? Or did interest you?"

"Nope." I smiled.

"Wow," She said, "I thought I was pretty locked down growing up. I wasn't allowed to have boyfriends."

"Why?"

Her eyes widened, as if she said the wrong thing, "Uh, we're just very religious."

"Oh," I nodded, not pressing it, "Okay. I've heard of that. How did you meet Jasper? In church?"

"My father introduced us. He knew we'd be a great match. We met about six months ago."

"Only six months?" I said, "Wow, that's amazing."

"Yeah. It was love at first sight. He was so kind. Just a gentleman. I knew we were meant to be together." She said in a lovey dovey voice.

"Aw, that's so sweet," I said, "I have to run up to my apartment really quick. Do you mind waiting here a moment?"

"I'll come with you. I'd love to see your apartment," She said.

"Okay. But I must warn you that it's very basic. I don't have much in there. And it looks a little rundown, but it's a work in progress." I said.

She shrugged, "That's fine with me."

She followed me up to my apartment. I was a little embarrassed about the state of it, but like I had told her, it was a work in progress.

"It's cute," Alice said as she looked around, "I can already picture what I'd do with it."

"How would you decorate it?" I asked, "I've never really decorated anything before. Except for the bakery, but everything down there is just simple."

"Well," She said, "If I were you, I'd keep this place as homey as possible. Cute little furniture and warm colors. Browns, oranges, and just a few splashes of blue so it doesn't look like too much. Just simple things."

I nodded, "Hmm, well, I definitely love browns and blues. I had planned on doing some paintings the walls. Like around the doorframes and stuff."

"Do you like to paint?" She asked.

"I do," I said, "I was painting before I discovered baking. And then I found the art, and my love, in that."

"That's how I am with clothes," She said, "I'm working on a fashion line now. It should be ready in a few months. I had to take a little break to plan the wedding and everything."

"That's pretty cool," I said, "As you can tell, I'm not really into fashion. But, looking at you I figured you were a fashion designer or something. You look so beautiful."

"Oh my gosh, thank you," She said, "You just made my entire day."

"Actually, your entire family is really beautiful. When I met you guys the other day, I was a little shocked by how beautiful you all were."

"You're so sweet," She said, "I'm so glad you're our family baker. I think we'll be pretty good friends."

I smiled at her as I grabbed the other bottle of dish soap from under the cabinet.

"And who's this cutie?" She asked as Cinnamon darted from out of the bathroom.

"That's my cat, Cinnamon." I said.

"Aw, he's so adorable," She said as she stroked his ears. He meowed loudly.

"He's given me a lot of company here," I smiled at him.

Just then her phone buzzed. she pulled it out of her pocket and checked it.

"My brother is here."

"Okay, I'll walk you out to him."

We walked out of my apartment and back down to the bakery. Edward was getting out of his car; his very nice car I might add.

"Hello," I smiled at him.

"Bella," He smiled widely, "It's so good to see you. How are you?"

"I'm doing well," I said, "Thank you for asking."

Alice stepped off of the sidewalk and into Edward's car, "It was good seeing you Bella. I'm sure we'll see each other again."

I smiled at her.

"I'll walk you in. I still owe you for today." He said.

Alice got into the car while Edward followed me into the bakery.

"So that'll be two hundred for today," I said.

He got out his checkbook again. I was worried he'd overpay me again. I knew I shouldn't be complaining about being overpaid, but it was just too much. I mean, what if he expected something in return?

"Here you go," He said, quickly putting his checkbook back into his pocket.

I sighed as I looked at the check, "Edward, this is way too much again."

He shrugged, "Oh well. Consider it loose change, I wanted to get rid of it."

"I think you're the only person in the world who could consider a thousand dollars loose change."

He chuckled, "Yep. Thank you for today, Bella. I'm sure I'll see you soon."

"Bye Edward," I waved.

When he left I looked back down at the check. A thousand dollars was great, I could put it all into my savings. There were a few things I needed to buy for the bakery, but a thousand dollars wouldn't cover it.

As shallow as it sounded, I really hoped the Cullens asked for more of my business. They pay me more than I make an entire week.