Emma: Lights! Camera! Cupcakes! Read Online Free PDF

myself!”
    â€œWhaaaaat?”
    I stared at her without blinking. She’d heard me right. I wondered what she would say.
    â€œOh, honey, that is so exciting! Congratulations!” My mom clapped her hands in celebration, but I didn’t really feel like celebrating. I was too stressed.
    â€œBut, Mom, I can’t even tell my friends!”
    â€œOh, I’m sure it wouldn’t matter if you just told . . .”
    â€œI’m not allowed!” I practically yelled. “That’s the problem. If word gets out, it could ruin the whole thing!”
    I explained to her about Romaine being stalked by the press (I’d decided to wait to tell her about my run-in with the press because she would really freak out) and about how Romaine had specifically staged the premiere here to cover up the wedding and how all she’d ever wanted was a private backyard wedding in her mom’s garden.
    â€œOh, that is so sweet and romantic!” said my mom, her eyes all wistful.
    â€œYeah, and I can’t be the one to wreck it,” I said.
    â€œHmm,” said my mom. “Well, I can help you with the order!”
    â€œThanks. It might come to that. I mean, no offense, but I wish it was my friends. I’m not evensure how to price these cupcakes, never mind make them all by myself.”
    â€œAre they elaborate?” she asked.
    â€œMmm . . . well, I think we’re going to do a plain white cake but different-colored pastel frostings. Maybe each with a different flavor.”
    â€œPretty!” said my mom.
    â€œYeah. Not too hard in terms of assembly. Just a little time-consuming to do all those mini batches of frosting. And she needs more than a hundred of them all together. Ten dozen. I want them to look perfect, though. And Mia and Katie usually do the decorating.”
    â€œWow. A hundred and twenty cupcakes?”
    I nodded and watched a beagle mix named Skipper, one of my dog-walking clients, taking a walk across the street with my neighbor. I sighed. Walking dogs was an easier way to make money than baking for celebrity weddings.
    â€œSo what’s your next step?” asked my mom.
    I sighed. “I need to do a pricing e-mail and contract for Romaine and send it out to her today. I’ll just use an old sample of Alexis’s and kind of cut and paste it.”
    My mom nodded. “Smart. Okay. Well, let me know if I can help.”
    â€œThanks. I feel better already just having someone to talk to about it. I’d like you to read over the e-mail before I send it, okay?”
    â€œSure. Can we go inside now? I’m dying for a cup of coffee!”
    I laughed. “Let’s go.”
    That afternoon I struggled over the e-mail and finally came up with a draft that looked okay. Even though I called Romaine by her first name in person, Mom said I should address her by her last name in the e-mail. It said:
    Dear Ms. Ford,
    Thank you for your interest in Cupcake Club cupcakes for your event. We propose baking ten dozen white cupcakes, frosted in an assortment of six pastel frostings, each lightly flavored with an extract of your choice (suggestions include: lemon, raspberry, lavender, lime, orange, blueberry, and so forth).
    Frosted cupcakes will be delivered for assembly by the Cupcake Club onto platters at the Ford Residence at ________ a.m. on Saturday, May 4.
    Pricing will be $300.00. (That’s still only $2.50 a cupcake—a bargain!)
    Payment due upon receipt of cupcakes, please.
    Many thanks for your continued business.
    All the best,
    Emma Taylor
    The Cupcake Club
    (555) 555-2129
    I printed out the e-mail and trotted downstairs for my mom to review it again. She thought it looked great, so I went back upstairs and sent it. And then I sat at my computer and stared at my in-box for twenty minutes, hoping for a response.
    I was nervous. Three hundred dollars was a lot of money, but it was a big and stressful job to do alone, and part