Bella nodded. “And you can do it for that price, without leaving yourself short?”
“Yes. There’s not much profit in it, but it’s incredible advertising for the business.”
“In that case, it’s a yes from me! We can trial them at the market.”
“Trial what?” asked Fred, coming in through the back door with Warren.
“Gift-sized Coast Roast packets in the crackers,” said Bella.
“That’s a great idea!” Fred was instantly enthused. “And we can check their reception on the feedback forms—”
“We have feedback forms?” Bella asked.
“We do now,” said Fred. “It’s one of the things I’ve been working on as part of the marketing strategy for the business, going forward. I’m thinking we do maybe a bimonthly newsletter to our online customer base; you know, waxing lyrical about life and the seasons and talking about the design processes, offering sneak peaks, that sort of thing. And in the newsletter at the end of January, we include a feedback form; it’s a great way to make sure we’re keeping up with expectations and see if there’s a gap in our product line that our customers would like us to fill.”
Seeing her daughter inspired and brimming with ideas was so uplifting, Bella wondered if her feet were still on the floor. She saw Liam smiling at her and knew he was feeling it too.
“It’s nice to see you haven’t let the grass grow under your feet,” said Martha. “That reminds me, I was thinking the other day about that time capsule the two of you buried and how interesting it would be, now that you’re both back, to see if any of your predictions for the future came true.”
“Oh, yes!” said Bella. “I’d forgotten about that. Where did you bury it again?”
“Can’t remember,” Ryan and Fred said in unison, and laughed.
Martha nodded. “That’s right, you made a pact never to tell anyone.”
“We didn’t want to take the chance that Benj or Rab would dig it up,” said Fred.
“Oh, they’d have dug it up for sure. I was a big brother and that’s exactly what I would’ve done,” said Liam, chuckling, and Martha agreed with him.
“Surely you can tell us now?” Bella pressed.
“We pinkie swore,” said Fred.
“How old were you?” asked Warren.
“Twelve?” Ryan looked at Fred, who nodded confirmation.
Bella watched Warren looking between them; he was smiling, but it was awkward.
“You two were inseparable,” said Martha. “Always sneaking off to god knows where and getting up to god knows what,” she mused.
“Anyway,” Ryan said, exaggeratedly. “Back to coffee in crackers…”
Bella laughed. “Yes. Tell me about your Christmas blend.”
“I’ve experimented with a few combinations of beans and different roasts to get a chocolatey raisin flavor, and then infused the ground coffee with cinnamon sticks and cloves.”
The idea made Bella crave a cup; she imagined it served with a cream liqueur. “Could you maybe have half a cinnamon stick and some cloves in each individual coffee bag?”
“Absolutely,” said Ryan. “Or a little muslin bag of mixed spice, like a mini Christmas bouquet garni. I’m playing around with some gingerbread flavors as well, so you’d have a couple of choices for the crackers.”
“Oh, that would be wonderful,” Bella agreed.
“Is coffee still considered a luxury item, these days?” asked Warren. “Is it the sort of thing one might expect to find as a gift in a bespoke cracker, I mean? Fred was just showing me some of the handmade gifts you use; they’re upmarket items.”
“It would be a special roast,” said Martha. She was smiling but her voice held a trace ofhow fucking dare you. “Exclusive to Hallow-Hart Crackers.”
“All the big stores have a Christmas blend,” Liam agreed. “Harrods and Fortnum’s…”
