Christian Romance: Heaven on Earth... [4 Beautiful Christian Romance Stories] (2 page)

Elise made her way to her office and
checked her agenda. The reports she had been working on were
already done, and she already had Lou Anne send it to her
accountant. The most important part of her day was the meeting with
Suzanne Saldana, a local celebrity who was known for her soulful
singing. Suzanne was getting married here and had called them. It
was by far the biggest order they have had since Tabitha’s
AngeliCakes was founded and she and her Aunt Jem had to close the
deal, she reviewed her notes on Saldana again as she waited for
time to pass.

It was exactly 9:00 when Tristan came
through the door. Everyone else, on the other hand, had arrived at
least 10 minutes early.

The man was incorrigible. He reminded
Elise of those school jocks who broke the rules and smiled about
it, knowing they would never really be punished. She was going to
let it go. It was his first day anyway and she had the Saldana
account to worry about.

“Hey darling, how was the interview
yesterday? You didn’t give him such a hard time did you?” said her
Aunt Jem, peeking her head through the door.

“I don’t know what you mean auntie. I
am a professional, and I expect others to act that way too. That’s
all,” replied Elise, as Aunt Jem shook her head and came
in.

“I know you’re really pressured with
this Saldana wedding coming, but I do hope you take time off. Lou
Anne told me you left later than she did last night. There’s more
to life than work Elise, I think that’s a lesson your mother taught
that you forgot. Tabitha worked hard but she always had time for
you and your brothers, and that’s what made it all worth
it.”

“I don’t have children Aunt Jem, my
brothers are all busy and we see each other every day, that’s all
the family I need right now.”

“You think that, but it’s not true.
When was the last time you took a day off or went out with your
friends? Do you even have any friends anymore Elise?”

“Of course I do Auntie. We just
haven’t talked in a while. I am very busy you know.”

“I do know darling. That’s why I want
you to go out once in a while. Darling you’ve never even had a
boyfriend and you’re already 25? What are you waiting for? You
already have a steady business and people you trust who work for
you. You should learn to live a little.”

“Auntie please, let’s talk about this
when we get the Saldana event okay? It’s a very important account
and it could be the push we need to open branches across the state.
I need to focus, and so do you.”

“Alright, alright,” her aunt said as
she got up to go. “I just wish you’d take the time to enjoy life
too. Your brothers are just the same, what would Tabitha say?” and
she closed the door behind her.

It wasn’t the first time her aunt
pestered her about this. Since she had turned 24, her Aunt Jem had
tried to get her to start dating. But like she said, it was not a
priority at the moment.

It was 10 minutes past one o’clock
when the awaited customer arrived. Suzanne Saldana’s orange Bentley
pulled up right in front of the shop and she stepped out with an
older woman and her husband, a successful business man Elise had
heard about, Jonathan Cane.

They were led into the mini-conference
room; it was beautifully furnished with a table and six chairs and
was mainly used for talking with prospective clients.

Aunt Jem and Elise both stood up and
shook hands with all three.

“Miss Saldana, Mr. Cane, I’m Mary
Elise Coleson, and this is my aunt, Jemima Shaw, we would like to
welcome you to Tabitha’s AngeliCakes. We hope we can be of service
to you on your upcoming nuptials.” Elise started
formally.

“Why yes, of course. Well, you know us
both, this is my mother,” said Suzanne, who was truly beautiful
with her rich curls and tanned skin. “We actually came here first
because a friend of mine, Anna Reed, she said she ordered the most
divine cake from your shop for her mother’s 63rd birthday and
that I just had to try it here.”

“Oh yes, Anna, she got the double
layer chiffon with the gold ribbon fondant decoration. Yes that was
lovely,” said Aunt Jem with a smile. You had to give it to Aunt Jem
for remembering almost every single customer they ever
had.

“Yes, that’s exactly right. I feel
better already,” said Mrs. Saldana, “You can expect a wonderful
cake from people who remember the exact cake someone ordered a
month ago Suzanne.”

Suzanne looked toward Jonathan, who
just smiled and shrugged.

“Well, I was thinking of having a four
layer wedding cake with silver fondant and gold flower
embellishments. And I want butter cream filling and maybe some red
velvet cupcakes for the guests too.”

“That’s all very doable for us, we’ve
done a lot of weddings and we can definitely give you a cake
that’ll be the highlight of your reception, I can guarantee you
that.”

“I know, and I’m sure you
would have done a great job but…”
Uh
oh,
thought Elise right then. “I was
thinking of a more daring cake. I saw your previous cakes and they
were all lovely, I just want a bit of an umph to it, you
know?”

“Well we can provide you with all the
umph you’ll need Miss Saldana. We have the best cake decorators in
the city and highly qualified bakers. We have the best right here
and you won’t get any better.”

“Well, we actually already have an
offer from Hotel Continental, they’re doing the catering and
everything, but their best pastry chef left and their new hires
were just so…new. So we thought we’d get our cake somewhere else,
but we do want a bit of Tristan’s touch on our cake. He used to be
the pastry chef there and he was a dear friend of ours. I just
don’t know if AngeliCakes has that same flare.”

Elise nearly jumped at what was just
said. Who would have thought Tristan Maine would be the reason she
got one of the most important events in the whole city, maybe even
the whole state? Aunt Jem was blushing too, but she knew Elise
would say it better.

“Miss Saldana, didn’t I tell you we
had the BEST bakers in the city. You’ll both find your dear friend
Tristan in our work stations. He now works for Tabitha’s
AngeliCakes.”

Tristan Maine was late. Again. Elise
was starting to get tired of it all. She had half a mind to fire
him already if it weren’t for that Saldana-Cane account, and the
fact that he was miles ahead of their own chief baker, Kathy
Miranda, who was good but, as Suzanne put it, didn’t have that
flare.

Tristan arrived at 9:15 and looked at
her almost apologetically but breezed right on to the baking
station. Elise could only shake her head. The Saldana-Cane nuptials
were coming in 8 days and they were coming in a few minutes to have
some tastings for the cake base.

Tristan was in charge of most of it,
but Kathy was helping him. What Kathy lacks in creativity, she more
than makes up for in efficiency. Kathy was a fast and reliable
worker, things that Elise valued. Tristan was sloppy and tardy,
Elise’s pet peeves. But he was brilliant and Suzanne and Jonathan
were his friends apparently. She had to let it go.

At 1:30, Suzanne Saldana and Jonathan
Cane came by for the cake testing. This was Auntie Jem’s turn to
show them around while Elise busied herself with making calls and
getting a read on market prices. It was what Aunt Jem always called
the boring part of baking.

At 3:30, Elise heard the Bentley drive
away and took a deep breath. At least now it was finally over and
she could let Aunt Jem worry over the cake itself. Elise expected
her aunt to come by at any moment. But instead of Aunt Jem’s brown
mane, it was Tristan’s blonde head that came to surprise
her.

“Hey, Jem asked me to come by and
update you on the Saldana-Cane nuptials. It’s pretty bad,” he said
almost apologetically but still with that annoying
smile.

“How do you mean Mr. Maine?” Elise
said as coolly as she could, though she did feel a little
warm.

“Well, she wants a four layer cake
with different flavors, hazelnut, chocolate, mocha, mint, with
tiers and a bride and groom statue that’s maybe more than a pound
in weight. She wants it slender but with filling so it won’t be
structurally sound, but with some extra wire work, it’ll be
possible.”

“I reiterate my question Mr. Maine,
what’s the problem?”

“She wants five hundred butter cream
cupcakes at the reception, and unless we ice them in the reception
area itself, those cupcakes are gonna look like…well bad,” and
Tristan shrugged his shoulders as if he was taking the burden off
his shoulders and into her own.

“Couldn’t you reason with
her?”

“Suzanne knows what she wants, and
Jonathan wants what Suzanne wants so…”

Elise closed her eyes. She wanted to
strangle him, yes definitely strangle him right now.

“So…is it possible?”

“Like I said, unless we ice them at
the venue itself, 30 minutes before we serve them, then it’s
possible.”

“Then that’s what we’ll do. What other
concerns do you have?”

Tristan stood up shaking his head, but
before he got to the door, he suddenly turned and said, “Oh yes, I
almost forgot. Jonathan and Suzanne invited us to a party that
Milestone Records are going to hold for Suzanne on Friday, to
congratulate her and all that. Aunt Jem thought it was a great
opportunity to meet new clients and told them the two of us would
go. So what do you think? Should I pick you up at 8:00?”

It had been a trying day. After that
little bomb Tristan had set off in her office.

It had been a trying day. After that
little bomb Tristan had set off in her office, Elise gathered
composure and said she’d think about it, as she might be otherwise
employed. Tristan was getting into her nerves and maybe under her
skin too. She can’t let this happen. He was an employee and she was
a business woman, that was all it was supposed to be, she can’t be
feeling anything else. It was settled then, she wasn’t
going.

“Hey dear, can I have a word?” said
Aunt Jem as she passed by the office.

“Of course auntie, what is
it?”

“It’s about the party this Friday,”
Elise groaned internally. “I know your first priority is your
business right now, but this is a good thing. You can do business
and have some fun at the same time. Not to mention get to know our
chief baker a bit better. You have to admit, he’ll be a great asset
to our company.”

“Nonsense, he’s not half as good a
baker as you, and Kathy’s really good too.”

“Say what you like Elise, but
Tristan’s the main reason we got the Saldana-Cane
wedding.”

Tristan? Now that she thought about
it, Tristan had called her aunt simply as Jem earlier. These two
seemed to be getting chummy now, and that was a bit dangerous.
Elise took a deep breath.

“I’ll be busy on Friday.”

“Doing what?”

“Important things aunt. Why don’t you
go out with ‘Tristan’?”

“I have Friday night dinner with Mabel
and the girls, you know that. And it’s your responsibility to
market the company right? Why don’t you do that? There’s sure to be
many big wigs at that party. A good businesswoman would do it I’m
sure.”

Elise couldn’t think of a reply. What
could she say? Her aunt was right.

“Fine, I’ll go. Tell Mr. Maine to meet
me here at 8:00 tomorrow night.”

“Nonsense, he’ll pick you up at your
house. I’ll tell him where and he’ll come to your doorstep and take
you in his car. Like a proper first date.”

“It won’t be a date but more of a
business meeting.”

“Don’t forget we have Mass on Saturday
so don’t stay out too late.”

“There will be no reason for me to be
out late and of course I’d never miss mass. I have to give thanks
for all my blessings and this week was especially
fruitful.”

“I think so too,” said Aunt Jem,
smiling slyly.

Elise could only shake her head. Her
aunt can romanticize it all she likes; there was nothing more to
this party than a business venture.

Despite swearing that it
was nothing but a business venture, Elise couldn’t help but be
nervous though she really couldn’t say exactly why. Couldn’t or
wouldn’t? There was nothing to do but to admit it. Tristan Maine
was dreamy. He had the looks that could make any woman swoon, and
if Elise allowed herself, she would probably fall to his feet too.
She saw how the girls looked at Tristan, even Kathy stared at him
sometimes, and Elise knew that Tristan was very aware of his own
good looks.
That’s why he’s so fresh all
the time,
Elise thought to
herself.

She looked at her reflection. It had
taken nearly an hour and a half, but she had finally settled for
her purple, floor length halter dress. She had loved how it looked
at the store and it set off her gray eyes wonderfully. She pulled
her hair into a simple bun and wore no jewelry. She wanted to
impress any prospective clients and, though she would never say so
out loud, she wanted to be beautiful for Tristan too, and for
herself.