Chapter 31
“This is the brilliant idea?”
It’s two days after the farmers’ market disaster, but the saltiness of that event is still bitter in my mind.
I’m standing in the kitchen at The Porch, trying to wrap my head around the redemption plan Zoey and Lennon have just pitched.
“Self-deprecation is your natural language,” Lennon says. “You can do this.”
“And then we bring in our secret weapon.” Zoey grins.
“Lorraine,” I say dryly, because apparently, my redemption is in her hands.
“Lorraine.” Zoey nods.
“How is Lorraine going to help get me out of this mess?” I groan, wiping down a clean counter because I need something to
do with my hands.
Zoey pulls out her phone, unlocks it, and hands it to me.
“What am I looking at?”
“That’s Lorraine’s channel,” she says.
I look down at the page she’s pulled up, and I see a little drawing of a cartoon Lorraine in a circle with a pink background.
Underneath is the word HeartSmart.
Zoey taps the screen, and I finally see what she wants me to see. Lorraine’s follower count.
It’s almost four million.
I look at Zoey. “She has four million followers?”
“Yes,” Zoey says. “I did her branding last year around the time her account blew up. She just keeps growing.”
Wow. I assumed Lorraine had a couple of random subscribers. This is . . . unexpected. Yet another assumption I’d made that had been completely wrong.
“What does she talk about?” I ask.
Zoey clicks on one of the videos. Lorraine is sitting on the little bench outside her apartment. She looks up into the camera
and adjusts her glasses then, like she’s only just realized it’s recording, and she smiles.
“Good morning, HeartSmarties! Today I’m back to answer another one of your questions. You know I can’t be anything but honest,
so I’m going to tell it like it is. This question comes from StrawberryLongcake03. She says, ‘I started dating a new guy a
month ago, and I’ve started to notice that he only texts me back late at night. Should I be worried?’”
Lorraine looks at the camera and laughs. “Oh, sweetheart, there’s a fine line between a butt dial and a booty call. If he’s
only texting you after hours, it’s not because he wants to be your pen pal. It’s time to tell this guy he can take you out
on a proper date, when the sun is up, and if he doesn’t want to do that, then move on. Life’s too short to waste your time.”
Hearing the words “booty call” come out of Lorraine’s mouth is hilarious and jarring. I’m surprised she even knows what that
is.
Zoey clicks the phone off, and the last bit of Lorraine’s blunt advice hangs in the air.
She’s right. Life’s too short to waste my time.
“Go over the plan again,” I say, feeling a bit more determined than I was ten seconds ago.
“So you make a video.” Zoey hands me an iPad. “I wrote out some bullet points. You simply tell your fans that you made a mistake.”
She shrugs. “Mistakes happen. Just be honest. You were so excited about the market that you mixed up the salt and sugar, and
you want to make it up to them. Then announce your plan for ‘Porch Swing Sidewalk Samples,’ a chance for them to swing by next weekend for a free treat. Your way of making it up to them and proving to them that you do know how to bake.”
I sigh. “This feels humiliating.”
“It’s not,” she says. “It’s honest. People respond to honest.”
Me included.
Lennon nods, bouncing Eve on her hip. “She’s right. People will love it.”
This makes me think of my old life.
The one I never fit into.
I realize that they’re right. I don’t want to pretend to be something I’m not. I screwed up. I’m going to own the mistake.
And people will forgive me.
Hopefully.
“Okay, what do I need to do?”
@theporch
Have you ever made a giant, colossal, HUGE mistake? Well, I did. You might’ve heard about it. I was so excited to unpack my
first round of supplies in my brand-new commercial kitchen that I did the thing my gram said to never do. I rushed it.
I can still hear her getting onto me about that. “If you rush, Claire, you defeat the purpose of baking. If you go slow, it’ll
calm you down. And all the noise of the world will just . . . fall away.”
I wanted The Porch to honor her memory, and what did I do? I forgot one of the most important lessons she taught me before I even opened the doors.
I mixed up the salt and the sugar.
It was a terrible mistake. And one I really regret, not only because I let you down, but because I let her down. And because . . .
in a lot of ways, baking has saved me this past year. I got divorced, moved to a new city, and took a huge gamble on opening
my own bakery. One that will bring all the things I love about life in a small town right here to the heart of the city.
I get that you’re probably scared to give me a second chance, but what if I told you that second chance will cost you nothing?
This Saturday, we’ll be serving Porch Swing Sidewalk Samples all morning. Free treats the whole family will love . . . sure
to get that salty aftertaste out of your mouth.
I truly believe that life is built on second chances . . . so come on out and help me build mine!
Minnie: Have you recovered?
Claire: Not really, but I will.
Minnie: I’m glad you didn’t quit.
Claire: Me too. But nervous for Saturday. What if no one comes?
Minnie: For free desserts? I don’t think you have to worry.
Claire: ??
Minnie: I saw you deactivated your account on Matched.
Claire: Yeah, I think maybe I need to spend some time on the relationship I’ve neglected the most over the years . . .
Minnie: The one with yourself?
Claire: Yep. Tomorrow we’re going to the art museum, just the two of us.
I hope she likes me. ?