She smirked. “What you know about Pinterest?”
I gave her a dry look. “I got eyes, baby. I see you scrollin’ on that shit.”
She laughed, then turned when a tall white woman in a black apron walked over. “Hi, I’m Bella. And welcome to Bella’s Cakery! You must be the future Joneses?”
Nyomi beat me to it. “Yes. I’m Nyomi, and this is Keon.”
“Perfect,” Bella said, all perky and shit. “Come on back to our tasting suite. We’ve got five flavors to try, based on the notes your mom sent over.”
I ain’t say shit but followed them to a private area in the back. There was glass water cups, silver tastin’ forks, and a tiered platter of cake slices already laid out.
Bella pulled out a lil’ menu card. “So today we have red velvet with cream cheese, vanilla almond, lemon raspberry, brown butter caramel, and chocolate ganache. All from scratch. Let’s start with the red velvet.” She handed us both a plate wit’ a small slice.
Nyomi already had her fork up, moanin’. “Mm, okay, this looks moist.”
I cut a piece wit’ my fork, then popped it in my mouth. “Damn,” I muttered. “That shit kinda good.”
“Right?” she said, eyes wide, chewin’ slowly. “Not too sweet. The cream cheese is giving.”
I glanced over at her. “The cream cheese givin’ what?”
She grinned. “It’s givin’ ‘book us now.’” Bella laughed, then moved to the vanilla almond cake.
“Bet this gon’ taste basic,” I said before tryin’ it. “Like some shit for a baby shower.”
Nyomi took a bite and nodded. “You ain’t wrong. It’s cute, but definitely basic.”
Next was lemon raspberry. Bella was hypin’ that one up, sayin’ it was a client favorite. I took one bite and shook my head. “Hell nah. Too fruity. That’s a no.”
Nyomi agreed. “Yeah, I don’t want fruit in my wedding cake. I want decadence.”
“Say that then,” I said, tossin’ my fork down.
We moved on to the brown butter caramel, and that shit had to be illegal to be that fuckin’ good. Nyomi’s eyes were already closed, like she was somewhere else. “Oh my God,” she whispered. “That’s it. That’s the one.”
“Shit tastes like money,” I said. “Like luxury.”
Bella looked pleased. “It’s one of our most requested wedding flavors.”
“Yeah, I see why,” I said, leanin’ back. “Put a lil’ edible gold on that, and we locked in.” The last flavor was chocolate ganache. It was good, but it ain’t beat the brown butter. Me and Nyomi leaned back, sippin’ water, lookin’ satisfied.
“So… what’s your verdict?” Bella asked us, holdin’ a clipboard, all nervous and shit.
Nyomi wiped her mouth. “That brown butter caramel. Hands down.”
I nodded. “And I’m guessin’ we doin’ the big four-tier joint?”
Nyomi looked at me sideways. “I mean… we can do three tiers. That’s perfect, babe.”
“Aight,” I smirked. “Long as I get a big ass slice at the end of it, we good.”
Bella clapped her hands. “Perfect! I’ll mark your selection and send an updated invoice.” I told her I’d pay for that shit right now, and we took care of that lil’ twenty-five hunnid dollar payment.
Nyomi’s eyelashes fluttered. “Thank you so much. Everything was incredible.”
I nodded at Bella. “Yeah, we ‘ppreciate you.” Nyomi and I stepped out into the brick cold air, her tucked into my side as I opened my truck’s passenger door.
“Get in, trouble.”