Page 67 of Cinnamon Strudel
“Yes, ma’am.”
“I thoughtyouwere the dominant one,” Alexander taunted.
The plastic village included a house with dancing gingerbread men, enormous lollipops, and giant candy canes. Each couple took turns taking pictures, with Morgan dipping her into a surprised kiss with the last one. Then, because the two brothers kept bickering, she decided to teach them a lesson in playing nice by flagging down a bystander to take a group picture.
Their afternoon together was completed with a stroll through the rest of the park, winding around an artificial lake, through picnic areas with lots of seating and ping pong tables.
On the way home, Morgan suggested that they could spend the evening at his apartment’s indoor pool, which she was all for. They settled in with snacks and enough water for all three of them and soaked up the laziness. Morgan even jumped in to swim some laps along the wall of the pool while she added the last layer of colour to her client’s portrait.
When he pulled himself out of the pool, beads of water dripping down his chest and his muscles twitching, Ruby couldn’t help herself. “Could you at least try and be less sexy. You know I’m trying to work here.”
He cocked his head towards her, intentionally flexing his abs as he came closer. “And why would I do that?”
“Because your woman is trying to make money right now.”
“I have money, send me an invoice for the time lost.” He grabbed a towel and scrubbed himself dry. “How else would I make your dream of being a housewife come true?”
“Well…” She practically drooled over her man, mouth watering as he did nothing but stand beside her. “I want that, but maybe I can also not upset my current client.”
“I sincerely apologise for my rudeness.”
“You’re not even sorry.”
“Not one bit.” But as he sat in the lounge chair beside her, his face turned serious. “Do you still want illustrating to be your full-time job?”
“I would like that very much, but at the same time, it’s also super scary.”
“And why is that?”
“It’s unpredictable. What if I hit a drought or a creative block hits me?”
“It is scary, but you always have to prepare for the worst and hope for the best.”
“Was that a fear you had when you started out?”
“Most definitely. Becoming self-employed is a huge risk, but I tried not to focus on the negatives too much.”
“Unfortunately, that is one of my talents.”
“Do you have a plan?”
“Not really. It’s been more of a hobby and the whole researching and luring enough clients in for income is overwhelming.” Focusing back on her paint strokes she added, “Maybe I should get more serious about it, but self-doubt is so loud.”
“It’ll never go away, but if that voice becomes too loud, I’m more than happy to cheer and clap for you until you can no longer hear it.”
“So, you think I need to sit down and flesh out a whole business plan?”
“First of all, I would try to figure out what your goal is and then you’d do market research.”
“So, like where I see myself in a year or two?”
“Yes, and then figure out how to get there.”
“Sounds easy enough.”
“Do you have a website, or do you run it all on social media.”
“Social media. Is that something you could help me figure out?”
