Page 38 of So This Is Love

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Launch days are some of my favorite days, the excitement of releasing new things and all of the hard work finally coming to fruition. January and February are notoriously known to be the worst months in sales, but we opted for a February release anyway for the items that we weren’t able to get in time for our holiday sales and as a nice nod to Valentine’s Day.

But launch days also always make me extra nervous too. So many things, always circling through my brain the morning of launch that I have to fight to not have control of my thoughts.

Did I schedule all the social media posts that I needed to?

Did we do enough promotion before today?

Will we meet our sales goal?

Do we have enough inventory?

Do we have too much inventory?

I triple check to make sure the social media posts I have scheduled are good to go, exactly what I want them to be, and then shut my laptop and stand from my desk.

I need a break.

Everything is scheduled and ready to go for the launch, so I decide to take my lunch a little earlier than I normally would and get out of the office.

The weather outside is finally not so briskly cold so I walk the few blocks down the street to my favorite coffee shop. The bell on the door chimes as I step through the front door and I’m instantly greeted by the heavenly scent of coffee and pastries. It’s not very busy, the usual afternoon rush is still a few hours away and I’m grateful for the calm of the shop. It’s exactly what I need.

I walk up to the counter to order and the owner, Cheyenne, comes from the kitchen in the back. Her signature red locs pulled into a bun on top of her head.

“Hey darling, what can I get for you?” Cheyenne asks with a smile

I look at the pastry case with a frown, noticing that their most popular item, the cinnamon rolls, are sold out. “Damn, I was hoping I got here early enough for a cinnamon roll.”

Cinnamon & Spice is known all over town for their delicious handmade cinnamon rolls, so much so that if you come in the morning there’s usually a line out the door of people wanting to buy a cinnamon roll with their morning coffee. Cheyenne bakes them throughout the day, refilling the pastry case, but there’s still no guarantee that there will be any when you come in due to the high demand.

“If you have some time, I have a fresh batch coming out in about 30 minutes.”

I let out a sigh of relief. “Yes that works perfectly, I’ll pay for them now and come get them before I leave.”

I order a vanilla latte and a chicken pesto panini to have for lunch and cinnamon rolls for me and everyone else atLovely Dayas a launch day sweet treat.

My favorite booth is the one tucked in the corner by the front window and thankfully it’s available.

Less than five minutes later, Cheyenne brings my coffee and panini over to me at my table. I do a little bit of people watching while I eat my sandwich and drink my coffee, staring out the front window as people rush by on their way to their next destination. This lunch is everything that I needed it to be. I don’t scroll on my phone, or check emails, or any of the things I would usually do , I just let myself relax.

More and more people start to file in to Cinnamon & Spice as the lunch rush starts so I decide it’s time to get back to work. I slide out of the booth and go to the front counter to pick up my cinnamon rolls. Cheyenne hands me my box that was already set aside which is great because the pastry case is nearly empty again.

The previously blue sky has turned cloudy and gray and the air smells like rain is very near. I quickly walk back over toLovely Day, narrowly making it in the building before large raindrops begin to fall.

“I got cinnamon rolls,” I say in a singsong voice as I walk back into the office. “Cheyenne just made them too so they’re fresh.”

I stop in my tracks when I see Stella, Cass and Reagan all huddled around Cass’ desk with looks of shock and confusion on their faces.

“What’s going on?” I ask.

“Have you seen the numbers,” Stella asks.

My heart immediately drops. “Nooo, I was at lunch. What’s going on y’all are scaring me.”

Stella hands her tablet to me and my eyes go wide. Hundreds of items of inventory are down to just a few dozen of each and one of them, the lemon vanilla body butter, is already sold out.”

“How is this even possible? It’s only been like an hour?”

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