“Thanks, babe. I’ll get to them as soon as I finish with this cake.”
“No need. I’ll fold them myself.”
I smirked at him and asked myself for the gazillionth time if he was too good to be true.
He poured himself a glass of juice and then poured one for me before he handed it to me. I turned away from the stove and rested my hip on the counter as I drank my juice.
“So, what do you want to do for the fourth?” he asked, pulling his glass from his mouth.
“I don’t know. My parents usually have a big cookout with family and friends over and then a large fireworks show at the end of the evening—a competition with the neighbors, so to speak. What about yours?”
“We do the same, but we do it at the beach house. They have a big bonfire at the end of the night with a fireworks show.”
“That sounds nice, but I don’t want either of our families to feel left out. Even if we go to one parents’ house for the first half and the other parents’ house for the second half, someone’s bound to get in their feelings, wondering why we didn’t come and eat there or come to their fireworks show here.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, you right about that. So, what you thinking? Staying at home and chilling?”
“As wonderful as that sounds, I have another idea.”
“I’m listening, beautiful.”
“How about we create a celebration of our own. Not just our friends or anything like that, but I was thinking about a community function. Something that the entire group of business owners can get behind, and we do it for the community we serve. That way if there’s anyone in any of those neighborhoods who doesn’t have plans, they won’t feel left out. We’ll do all the cooking, provide the drinks, and the entertainment.”
“Like bouncy houses and facial art for the kids, maybe some balloon sculptures, and live music.”
“Yeah, you’re getting my drift,” I replied before I turned back to stir the mixture again.
“We could even donate our services and goods. Like I can offer haircuts from the staff and me, if they’re game and don’t have other plans, between certain hours out on the street, you can offer up free cupcakes or something, and maybe Mrs. V can do a story time.”
“I love this idea, but before we run with it, we’ve got to make sure that everyone is on board, Harlem.”
“Yeah, and we’ve only got three days to pull this off. Today’s already July first, and most people might already have plans.”
“Right.”
“Nothing beats a failure but a try,” he declared, pulling his phone from his pocket.
“Who are you calling?”
“Everybody. You just worry about that cake for now, Baby.”
I giggled as he immediately launched into speaking with Eli. My mixture had become thick and bubbly now that the water had evaporated. I poured in half a cup of spiced rum and finished making my glaze.
By the time that the cake was finished and the glaze had been poured, Harlem had spoken with no less than seven people, all who agreed to support in whatever way we needed them to. While the cake cooled, I called Palmer and my staff to see if they were onboard, and I was happy to see that everyone was. Some of them would arrive a little later, but they were all coming.
We both hopped on our computers to create some marketing materials to promote the event and distribute it among all the participating vendors so that they could hang it in their stores immediately.
It was Wednesday afternoon, one of the few days that I had taken off, so I emailed the materials to the print shop down the street from the bakery, and I asked Mimi to pick them up. Sheand Naina would pass one out with every order and place one flyer on the door, two on the counter, and one at every table in the bakery.
I wasn’t sure how many people we could get through to with last-minute notice, but the more that I thought about this, the more it settled deep within me that it was the right thing to do.
“What made you want to do this, bae?” he asked, folding a royal-blue towel.
I sat across from him, folding a jade-green towel.
“I have spent many holidays with family and friends, having a blast. This year, I wanted to pick up where my mother left off, giving back and serving others. For years, she had us volunteering in the same community that I now work in. I guess I figure it’s my turn to start something. Are you sure that you’re good with giving up your holiday tradition with your family?”
He set the folded towel aside and moved to where I sat on the couch. He lifted me onto his lap, wrapped his arms around my waist, and he kissed my temple. “I’m good with doing whatever, as long as I get to do it with you. You’re what matters most in my life now, bae.”
