Free Back for Seconds by Ginger Voight

and Joely turned right into a powerful congratulatory hug. “She was the first customer to buy one of the cookies and everyone sort of used her as the guinea pig. One bite and she declared that we better keep those cookies coming because she’d be back for seconds.”
    “She’s a regular,” Xander told her. “We can use her image, take a photo, put the caption on it and market it on the website, drawing more people into the restaurant.”
    Joely was confused. “What are you talking about?”
    “You’re going to keep making the cookies, right?” her mother asked.
    “I… guess?”
    Lillian laughed. “Bless your heart. You really don’t know what’s happening right now, do you?”
    Xander grabbed the price gun and started stamping each picture-perfect cookie at $3.99.
    “Four bucks for a cookie?” she queried, staring at the larger cutout cookies with a critical eye.
    “They’re paying for artistry,” Lillian told her. “They can see by looking at it how much time and care you put into it. Francine, that first customer I was telling you about, ended up buying three. She ate one here, she took one home and planned to give the other one away as a gift.”
    “What you do,” Xander told her as he kept pricing each cookie, “you offer other goodies, like those wonderful cinnamon rolls I tried the other day, maybe some individual cakes, perhaps some candies. Give your customers a range of products so that they can see the value of each treat. They’ll be shoving so much money at you that you won’t know what to do with it all.”
    Joely’s head was spinning. Customers? Marketing? These were just some homemade cookies she’d whipped up in the kitchen. When she said as much to her mother, Lillian guided Joely around the counter to stand next to Xander in time for their first customer to walk up. It was an older lady, a total Texan from her teased hair to her embroidered shirt and her turquoise jewelry. “Hey, Lanie, how are you doin’?” Lillian asked as she greeted the familiar face.
    “Can’t complain,” the woman named Lanie replied. She put her purse onto the counter to fetch her wallet, and that was when she spotted one of the big, pretty cookies on the tray. “Well, look at that!” she exclaimed as she held one up in her hand to examine it closer. “These are gorgeous, Lil. Where’d you find ‘em?”
    Lillian beamed as she put her arm around Joely. “My daughter made ‘em,” she said with a big smile. “This is Joely.”
    Lanie reached across the counter to take her hand. “It’s so nice to meet you. You are very talented. These are beautiful cookies.”
    Joely shrugged a bit, uncomfortable by the lavish praise. It was just a cookie. She’d made hundreds in her lifetime. Thanks to her peripheral vision it didn’t escape her notice that Xander noted her shy response. His infuriating grin only proved it. “Thank you,” she told Lanie.
    “The real question is do they taste as good as they look?”
    “Only one way to found out,” Lillian responded with a smile.
    Lanie seemed to agree. She reached into her wallet and pulled out some one dollar bills, handing them over to Lillian. In the thirty seconds it took her to get her receipt, Lanie pulled off the cellophane and savored that first bite with a rapturous roll of her eyes. “Oh my Lord,” she said as she grabbed a couple more, before reaching back into her purse for her credit card. “These are wonderful. Do you just sell cookies here or can you cater? Because I have a church event coming up next month and I’d love to order some.”
    Joely stared at her, opened-mouthed, until Lillian nudged her ever so slightly in the side. “I… yeah. I mean. I take orders.”
    “Wonderful,” Lanie smiled. “Do you have a card?”
    Again Joely stammered and sputtered through her response. This time it was Xander who spoke up. “We’re taking orders for her at the moment. Give us a call, tell us what you need and you both can negotiate a