I hadn't planned on updating again, but what the hell. I'm already working on chapter fourteen. I'm actually kind of shocked by how many of you love this story. I really didn't think it would be very popular but so many of you love it! I'm glad though! Anyways, I hope you're having a great Monday and that your week is wonderful!

Chapter Eight

Bella's POV

The past few days have been a whirlwind. Since that night, those thugs had come in, I've been on high alert. I had been petrified to even walk to my apartment. The gun stayed on my hip and my hand was constantly on it.

I had even went and got more bullets. Well, Liam got more bullets for me. I had told him what happened and that's what he had been referring too. We talked about it a little, and he advised me to beef up my security, but didn't know how. He just said these people are dangerous and the police didn't really care.

I also cut my hours and Maggie's. I didn't want to be doing this too late. That's what got me in trouble the last time. It was late when they came in. I hadn't told Maggie what happened. I didn't want her to worry.

I had wanted to call the cops and report it, but Liam told me that it wouldn't do any good. Everyone on the street had tried to cops, but they never helped. Liam said that he believes the cops are apart of that little crime ring.

I was in the kitchen now, baking more specials as fast as I could. Those things were selling like crazy. I'd have to bring them back around and maybe make it a seasonal thing.

"Bella, when will the specials be done?" Maggie asked as she poked her head through the kitchen.

"About ten minutes." I said, pulling the cookies out of the oven.

Business had been great. More people were coming by, which made me feel like I was doing something right.

"Okay, here are two dozen specials," I said as I brought them out of the kitchen.

Maggie started to wrap them, and I walked back into the kitchen to make more cookies. Those were selling fast too.

I walked out with a tray of warm cookies and was happy to see the store filled. My store was doing surprisingly well. It made me happy that I was getting so much business and that I was doing so well.

I brought out the large tray of cookies and put them in the display. I then started to help Maggie with the orders. It was very busy around this time. Maggie and I did well filling out orders and everything, but it was very stressful. If it got any busier, I'd have to hire someone else to help.

Plus, Maggie would be leaving soon. Her private school would be starting again soon, and I'd lose my helper. I would also start working with her on Sundays and teach her how to bake. I was nervous to teach her because I had never had any formal training. I just learned by doing and watching television and following old recipe books.

When I phone rang, I stepped away to answer it, "Swan's Bakery."

"Hi, is Mrs. Swan there?" I recognized the voice. She had called me about ten times this week.

"Mrs. Cullen, how are you?" I asked.

"Oh hi, I didn't recognize your voice." She laughed.

"I'm a little winded, the shop is busy," I said, "How can I help you?"

"I wanted to see if it would be okay if a few of the girls from my bridal party came?"

"Uh, yeah that's fine," I said, "How many people will there be in total?"

"Nine, I hope that's okay. My family is really close." She chuckled nervous.

"Of course, that'll be fine," I said, panicking slightly. At first it was only five, but now it bumped up to nine. I would have to make some serious adjustments.

"Thank you so much!" She gushed, "We'll pay you extra for it! Thank you!"

Before I could say anything, she had hung up. I was about to tell her not to worry about paying me extra, but I needed to be more financially stern. If people wanted my services, then they needed to pay me fairly.

"Maggie, would you mind hanging out a little later to help me set up for tomorrow?" I asked her.

"Sure, I can stay."

I had to get some stools for the kitchen. I didn't really have a place where they could sit and taste things. I just prayed it would be okay that they'd be sampling things in the kitchen. They were already paying me fifteen hundred for a buffet of desserts to just taste, I just wanted to make sure they had a nice experience and didn't get mad. It wouldn't be good for business.

By closing time, I was exhausted, and I wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed, but I had to stay up to clean and bake. Maggie looked exhausted too, but she didn't complain.

"Okay, so what can I help you do?" She asked.

"I was going to see if you'd help me set up for tomorrow. I won't be able to do a deep clean in the before they come, but I was hoping to mop the floors and wash all of the dishes and everything." I said.

She nodded, "Okay, that sounds good. What about the baking?"

"I'm going to start baking once we finished mopping. They'll be here around one, but I need to prep some things." I said.

"Can I come in the morning and help prep and bake?" She asked in a hopeful tone, "You don't have to pay me."

I gave her a look, "I would love your help and I will absolutely pay you for helping. I'm going to need help because there are nine people coming to taste tomorrow. I know it's not the most exciting job, but I was hoping you could help me with serving and what not."

She nodded, "I can do that. So, what are you serving tomorrow?"

"Well, I'm going to have lemonade, ice water and coffee for drinks. And Mrs. Cullen requested a full dessert bar of different kinds of desserts. So, I have a list of things I'm going to make. I will be up at the crack of dawn baking the desserts for a bar."

"So, is she not doing a wedding cake?"

"Oh no, she is," I said, "She told me that she wanted to try out my desserts for their bar before asking me to do a wedding cake. Which I understood. So, hopefully if things go well, I'll be baking for the entire wedding."

"That would be really nice," She said.

"Yes it would be," I said, looking at the messy kitchen, "Let's go ahead and get to cleaning. Then if you're feeling up to it, you can help me start prepping." She smiled at me and we went to work.

It took us two and a half hours to deep clean the front and back of the store. I wanted everything to be spotless. It was eleven o'clock at night by the time we finished. We were both sore and exhausted from cleaning. But Maggie was a hard worker and kept up.

I ordered us takeout from a close Chinese restaurant, and we took a little break to eat. Maggie called her parents to let them know she'd be late, but not to worry because I'd be walking her home once we were finished. I offered to walk her home earlier, but she wanted to stick it out, which was really impressive.

"Alright," I said when we finished eating, "Let's start prepping for tomorrow."

"What time should I be here to help you bake tomorrow?" She asked.

"Um, I'm going to be up by five to start. I really wasn't sure what Mrs. Cullen wanted for a dessert bar, so I kind of panicked and decided to bake everything I could think of."

"How many desserts are you planning on baking?"

"Fifty," I laughed.

Her eyes widened, "Wow, that's a lot."

"Mrs. Cullen said she has a big family and picky members, so she said the more the better. And I want to do a good job on my first wedding job."

We pulled out all of the stuff to start the prepping. She was super focused on what we were doing and asked a lot of questions. It was kind of weird teaching someone who was only a few years younger than I was. But I really liked Maggie and she was a hard worker.

"Alright, I think we've prepped all we can for tonight," I said after a two hours.

She wiped the flour off her forehead, "Okay. I'll come back tomorrow morning."

"If you don't want to get up until later don't feel obligated too," I smiled at her, "I know it's late."

"I'll be here." She smiled, "I like baking."

"More than cooking?" I teased.

"No, I don't think I like it more than cooking," She laughed.

"Well, let me walk you home." I said, taking off my apron and throwing it to the side.

Maggie walked into the front room while I wiped up the counter. I looked around the kitchen; it was clean and sparkling, I prayed it would be up to Mrs. Cullen's standards.

I walked her to her apartment and made sure she was inside before walking back to my apartment. My hand rested on the gun that was in my pocket. Now that I was walking alone, I was terrified. I couldn't help but continuously look over my shoulder.

When I got into the apartment, Cinnamon started meowing loudly and running around my legs.

"I'm sorry I'm so late," I said as I kneeled down and started petting his head, "I'm trying to make everything perfect for the wedding appointment tomorrow."

I walked over to my bed and thumped down. Cinnamon jumped up beside me and curled up beside me. I stroked him for a few minutes before curling up in the blanket and going to sleep.

The Next Morning

My alarm went off at five and scared me awake. I was momentarily confused because I didn't know why I was getting up so early, but then I remembered that I was doing a dessert tasting for a wedding.

I jumped out of bed and brushed my hair out, applied the smallest amount of makeup, then got dressed. I wished I had an outfit that was a little bit fancier or maybe had my bakery's name on it, but this was the best I could do.

I didn't having anything I could just grab and eat for breakfast; I'd have to grab something later. I walked into the kitchen and pulled my apron on. I was glad Maggie had stayed and helped me prep things last night. I would've had to stay up even later and rush if she hadn't helped me.

I pulled out the first dessert and went to work. About an hour later, Maggie walked in. I looked her over and thought to myself that I really needed to make shirts with my bakery's name on it. Just so it looked a little more professional. Oh well, I'm sure that wouldn't make us lose business.

"What do you want me to get started on?" She asked.

"Would you do me a favor and just make sure everything nice and tidy?" I asked, "It should be fine, but just look it over and make sure. Then come back in here and you can mix the candies."

She nodded and walked out to the front. I knew it was clean, but I just wanted to make one hundred percent sure.

We were making excellent timing. It was 12:30 when we started to plate everything and make it look pretty. My kitchen was covered in dainty desserts. I was so excited that we had made such great time.

"It looks like Candyland in here," Maggie chuckled.

I nodded, "Yeah, I really hope they like it."

"They will, you make the best desserts," Maggie said, "People tell me all the time how much they love your desserts."

I smiled at her, "Well, thank you."

The bell one the door dinged, and my stomach flipped a little. I changed my apron and threw a clean one at Maggie. Then I made sure my hair was someone straight and I didn't look like a total ragamuffin walking out.

I walked out into the main room with a big smile, "Hello, I'm Bella Swan."

"Hello," The tall, caramel colored haired woman said, "I'm Esme Cullen." She was pretty, nicely trimmed with just a little softness, and dressed very nicely, "I'm the mother of the bride."

"Nice to meet you," I said as I shook her hand.

"I'm Alice Cullen," The short, petite woman with black pixie cut hair said. She was really cute and dressed just as nicely as her mother, just a little more fashionable. This was the bride.

"It's very nice to meet you," I said, "And congratulations."

She smiled widely, "Thank you."

"I'm Rosalie Cullen, sister-in-law." The last woman had long blond hair and looked like she should be on the cover of vogue. She was so beautiful that I felt insecure just standing near her. I could tell from the clothes they were wearing that they were very wealthy, but I knew that before seeing them. Their clothes and general attitudes just confirmed that.

"It's so nice to meet," I said, "This is my assistant Maggie."

Maggie smiled and shook everyone's hand.

"Everyone else will be here shortly. We just wanted to get here first."

I nodded, "That sounds good. So, I'm going to go ahead and apologize because we have to do the tasting in the kitchen. I don't have a designated tasting area quite yet. There's a room in the back, but it needs so much work it's ridiculous. I hope that's okay. We deep cleaned it and made sure it looked presentable."

"That's okay," Alice said, "We're fine with whatever. So, what kind of desserts did you make?"

"I ended up making sixty desserts," I chuckled nervously, "I wanted to make sure I baked something you'd like."

"Well, we loved those desserts you baked," Esme said, "My son, Edward, brought them to us a few weeks ago."

"I met him," I said, "He ordered nearly everything in my display. He was very nice."

Several more women walked into the bakery and introduced themselves. I couldn't really remember all of their names, but they had to be related to the Cullens. They were all very beautiful and dressed nicely.

"Alright, since everyone is here we can go ahead and started." I said, leading them back into the kitchen.

"Your bakery is very cute," One of the older women said; I think her name was Mary.

"Thank you, I did my best to make it all look decent," I smiled.

"If you ever need any styling tips, I'm an interior decorator," Esme said, "It's my little side business." She reached into her purse and handed me a business card.

"Thank you, I appreciate it." I said as I put the card in my pocket. I really needed to get business cards, I felt like I was lacking as a business owner. "This is my kitchen, please take a seat anywhere. And we'll serve you the first round of desserts. There's also water, coffee, and lemonade. Maggie, could you grab glasses for everyone and fill them up for me please?"

Maggie grabbed the paper cups; again, I should've planned better and gotten real cups, but at least I sprung for the someone thicker, fancier cups.

"So I've made a total of sixty desserts. I'll explain everything that's in the dessert as we serve them. Please let me know if you have any allergies, because I can make accommodations on most of my items or replace something," I said.

We served the first five desserts, "Now, this is an éclair, a mini cherry pie, crème caramel, mixed chocolate fudge and a swiss roll."

They tried the desserts and discussed their favorites. They asked me a few questions about the desserts, but otherwise talked to each other about how they liked it.

"So, I really liked the éclair and the crème caramel," Alice said, "I think they looked really pretty, and they tasted good. I also liked the mini pie, but I was wondering if you could do more flavors? I think that would be really cute to have a variety of mini pies."

I nodded, "Absolutely. I can do cherry, apple, chocolate, blackberry, raspberry… well, any kind of pie you can think of."

"I definitely want the cherry again, and I'm not picky about the other flavors. I think I want three different kinds. Would that be alright?" Alice asked.

"Absolutely," I wrote it down in my book; I was keeping a book of all the things Alice wanted.

"Could you make one of the pies pecan?" Mary asked, "It's our great aunt's favorite."

I nodded, "Of course I can."

"And could one pie be blueberry pie?" Esme asked, "My husband loves blueberry pie."

"So, one cherry, one blueberry, and one pecan?" I said.

Alice nodded, "Yes, that sounds good to me. Like I said I'm not picky about the other flavors."

"Alrighty, so the pies, the éclairs, and the crème caramel." I said as I wrote it down in my book.

As we served the next five desserts the woman named Carmen asked me if I could provide any diabetic options.

"I can definitely do some research and add a few sugar free desserts. I know I can make sugar free brownies and cookies. But if you'd like to come back and taste some of the sugar free options I can arrange that." I said.

"Well, I trust that you'll do a good job, so if you could just add in some sugar free options I'd appreciate it. My husband is diabetic, but I don't want him to feel like he can't enjoy himself." She said.

I nodded, "Absolutely. I'll add in some sugar free options. Is that alright with you Alice?" I asked.

She nodded, "That's fine with me. Now, what is this again? I really like it."

"That's actually something I've made up myself. I don't have a name for it, I just call it a messed up s'more or a s'more cake. I take chocolate pudding and thicken it, then I melt marshmallows and layer the chocolate pudding and marshmallows a few times, then I make homemade graham crackers and put a generous spread on top."

"I want this," She said, "I just love it."

I smiled and wrote it down. I was glad she liked it, now I'd just have to make up a better name for it.

"Now, Alice wants a big dessert bar, but I want to make sure everything's labeled properly and that maybe a list of ingredients? The caterer has these pretty cards she's using for the food, we were wondering if you had anything like that?"

"We have flowers and candles we're going to put on the dessert bar, but I want your cards or whatever you're using to match what she's doing." Alice said.

"I don't have anything like that, but if you have your caterer's number, I can call her and find out and order some."

"Thank you, I'm not meaning to be a pain, but we have some family members who are allergic to different things. We just want to make sure everyone's happy."

"How many people are attending the wedding?" I asked, "Just so I can start calculating how many desserts I'll need."

"Right now, 230 people have rsvp, but we've invited 300." Alice said.

"But the rest of them will come," Esme said, "They're just taking a long time to send in their rsvp's. But they'll all be there."

I nodded calmly, but internally I was freaking out. Three hundred people. I've never baked for that many people in my entire life. Holy cow.

"We have a very large family, plus many family friends," Esme said, "I hope that's not an issue, we really love your desserts."

"I can do it," I said, "I can definitely do it. It's a little frightening because I've never baked for that many people, but I do like a challenge."

Alice nodded, "Cool. Because I like all five of these. I really want you to bake for my wedding."

I smiled, "Of course. I would love to bake for your wedding."

The ladies sampled all the rest of the desserts and Alice ended up picking forty-three of the desserts I had baked. I had written everything down and was formulating a plan to bake for this wedding.

"Thank you so much for this," Alice said, surprising me with a tight hug, "It's a lot to ask for, I know."

"Hey, this is your wedding, I get it," I chuckled.

"Now, I would really like it if you could do my cake as well, if that's not too much to ask for."

"No of course not," I said, "You'll have to come back and try some of the cakes and we can go over designs. I do have a design book for extravagant cakes."

"It'll just be my fiancé and I." She said, "I'll call you to set up an appointment."

"Of course, just give me a call and we can arrange that." I smiled.

"And I did tell you that my brother was coming by to pay right?" She said.

"Yes, I'll be here," I said, "It was very nice meeting you. Good luck with the planning."

She smiled and walked out of the kitchen. I turned back and looked at the huge mess in front of me and sighed. This was going to take a while to clean.

"Well, today was fun," Maggie said.

I nodded, "Yes, it was certainly fun. But now the real fun begins. Cleaning all of this."

She smiled, "I'm sorry I can't stay. I promised Billy I would babysit Jake for him."

I waved my hand, "It's okay," I said, "Oh, before you leave let me go ahead and pay you for today."

She nodded and waited as I pulled out my checkbook. I paid her three hundred today. She had worked so hard and she was such a big help.

"I think the ladies left tips too in the jar," Maggie said.

"Oh, okay well we can split that like usual." I said, surprised that they had left tips, "Do you want to do that now? Or wait until Monday?"

"I have to go to Billy's house. Just give me mine on Monday."

"Okay, sounds good. I'll see you later."

I walked out of the kitchen and grabbed the tip jar, then walked back in. I figured I'd take just a short break before cleaning this messy kitchen. I popped the lid open and dumped the money out.

There were several bills in here, ranging from fifties to hundreds. I nearly choked on the water I was drinking. Holy crap, there was at least six hundred in tips here.

I counted it out and found that there was exactly 650. I could've cried from the happiness I felt. That was 325 dollars I had. I was so happy because that meant I could add even more to my savings.

I was saving up to do a few things around the bakery. Plus, I liked having the safety net. My father made sure I knew how important it was to save money. And I knew that I just had myself to rely on, so I needed to be smart about my money.

I took the money and folded it into my pocket and started cleaning.

Bella has now met every female in Edward's family! Pretty intimidating stuff. But I think Bella did pretty well! Let me know what you think!