“Does that smile mean yes?” Rani’s voice is so excited, I feel bad.
“You know, guys, it’s such a generous offer. I’ve pretty much been thinking about it 24-7 since last week…”
“But?” I can tell by AJ’s expression he knows what I’m going to say.
“But I can’t. As much as I’d love to travel full-time, I have too many commitments here. I don’t want to have to turn down other work. I still want to travel, and I’m happy to use your service and take pictures we can use. I just can’t do it full-time.”
“We thought you might say that.” Rani leans to the side so I can see them both.
“I’m sorry. It really is the most generous offer.”
“Since we were anticipating your decision, we went back and looked at our original payment agreement.” AJ slides a sheet of paper in front of him, and my eyebrows rise.
“Okay…”
“So our original agreement was the flat fee to cover the website design and development, the plugins and support.” He’s going down the list, and I’m nodding. “We included bonuses for hitting our launch dates, which you did easily.”
Again, I nod. They don’t have to know how close I cut it on the soft launch. “Were you wanting to change something?” I honestly have no idea where this is going.
“We reported a glitch in one of the airlines’ reservations tools we were using. The fault was theirs. Basically, it was overbooking flights, causing delays and super pissed off customers…”
“What? That’s horrible!”
“Yeah, it was a mess.” Rani jumps in at this point. “They were so happy, they gave us a dozen travel vouchers. It’s way more than we can use in the time allowed… so we thought we’d give some to you as a bonus to thank you for all your hard work—”
“And in the hopes you might use it to try out a few of our packages, see if they’re as good as we’re claiming, and take pictures.”
My heart jumps. “But not as a job?”
They look at each other, and Rani’s brow furrows. She asks a question I can’t hear, and AJ shrugs then nods. “I’m sure we can get you some comps if you use our recommended places.”
“It’s a deal!” I say it fast before they can change their minds, then I start to laugh. “It’s an amazing deal. Thank you so much.”
“Aw, thank you.” Rani tilts her head to the side, and we laugh some more. “We’re so excited to get this off the ground. It’s our dream come true, you know?”
“I do, and I’m excited to be working with you on it.”
We spend a few more minutes basking in the excitement of their new business venture before saying goodbye and ending the call. AJ says the final payment and vouchers should be in my online accounts by the end of the day.
Running to my bedroom, I quickly change out of Chad’s old tee, which has completely lost his scent—thanks in part because I finally broke down and washed it. Now it just smells like me. I slip into a short red print dress with spaghetti straps and large, tropical flowers all over it.
My hair is on my head with a pencil stuck through it. Pencil out, and it falls around my shoulders. I smooth it with my fingers, add some mascara, lip gloss, and I’m out the door, headed to town. I can’t wait to tell Emberly what just happened.
I have no idea how many vouchers they’ll give me or how much they’re worth, but depending on what happens, maybe I can give her enough to take a trip with Coco or take a trip with me… I park in the space in front of the bakery and dash up the steps. The little “Be right back” sign is turned and the door is locked. Checking my phone, I see it’s noon, and I guess she must’ve walked to Betty’s for a poboy.
“Emberly!” I exhale a little squeal of excitement and dash up the connected porches, past Wyatt’s place and through the door. It rings loud, and I stop short. The place is full of people. Betty’s standing at the counter with Roxanne talking to André about how he comes up with his recipes.
Roxanne’s saying something about New Orleans when she sees me. “Hey, girl! That’s my future travel partner, right? Ready to get crazy?”
André’s eyebrows rise, and he gives me a look like What?
I just shake my head. “Hi, Roxanne, Hi, BP—is Emberly here?”
“She’s in the back talking to Donna.” Betty winks at me, and I freeze on the spot.
“What does that mean?” Seriously, I have no idea why BP is winking at me. It has never happened.
“Tabby!” Her voice is scolding. “Donna has a wedding coming up. Liam proposed… I told Emberly to tell her about the new offerings in cakes.”