Sweet Addicted

Chapter 3. Fair-y Tale

"How was your night sweetie?" Nan asked me the morning after whilst we were preparing frosting, ganache and other last minute touch ups for the desserts and pastries.

I'd woken up pretty early considering I went to bed at almost four in the morning. I guess that had to do with the fact that I only had three mimosas and a heavy dinner prior to that.

Who am I kidding. I worked at a cafe/restaurant and most days I had to be up by four a.m so I was pretty accustomed to late nights and early mornings.

"My night went surprisingly well, actually. We went to a rooftop party at this stylish new night club. I was praying that Andrew wasn't going to drag us to some wild place with strippers and cages - you know how he is, but I was pleasantly surprised. It was quite the opposite. I know the architect, he's an old schoolmate of ours."

"Do I know him?" She asked.

"I'm not sure. His name is Aden Delluci. He was three or so years ahead of me so I doubt you'd know him."

She thought for a moment then shook her head. "No. Doesn't ring a bell. Is he handsome?" She asked eagerly and stopped her mixer.

She was waiting to hear some gossip. Typical Nana.

"The handsomest -not a word, I know but he's so so good-looking, Nan. I found out last night that he's English and Italian. And he's a proper gentleman, he spent almost the whole night with us. He's been that way, quiet but lovely, since high school so I know it's not just an act."

"Ay caramba."

I burst into a fit of laughter. "I'm one hundred percent sure that's Spanish, Nana."

"Potato, potato," she waved me off laughing.

Nana and I were super close so it came as no problem to talk about anything with her. She never judged and gave the best advice, which made the transition from teenager to adult much easier . 'I was young once,' is her favorite line. It always felt so freeing to simply let everything out in the open, rather than keeping secrets and suffocating in silence.

"He sounds lovely, Su. I'm glad you enjoyed your night. I was beginning to think you'd never leave your room for anything apart from cooking and work, hermit as you are," she teased.

I laughed along with her. "Hey now don't do me like that, Nana."

When our laughter died down I spoke up again. "Thank you for doing this with me. I'm so nervous. Today could either be the beginning of a great business venture or the end of something that hasn't even started."

She gave me a small smile and set her whisk down.

"It is okay to be nervous, darling. Being nervous only means that you are passionate about your craft, which is more than I can say for plenty of other business owners, both new and old. But you need to have confidence in your product, so that others have confidence in it too. Otherwise it'll just be a waste of time, talent and resources."

She stopped the mixer and turned to me. "Did you know that when I started sewing, I only had three articles sold in four months? I had my other cleaning job at that time so it wasn't like that was my only source of income, but things were still pretty tough at times. I had your mother and John to take care of. I remember one afternoon I was at Madame Shay's house and she saw me lugging this huge plastic bag behind me."

FLASHBACK

Julia dear, what do you have in that bag and why are you carrying it everywhere with you? It seems quite heavy," Madame Shay asked her worker.

Julia, not even realizing that she was indeed carrying the bag all over the house with her, shook her head and tried to calm her racing mind. As usual she was thinking of her beautiful children and how she could give them the best lives possible.