Semi-Sweet On You (Hot Cakes #4) - Erin Nicholas Page 0,82
Cam was too. He knew that Grant and Aiden’s approval mattered to her. Ollie’s and Dax’s did too, but frankly theirs was easier to get. They were always up for something new and different. It was Grant and Aiden she’d have to convince the new idea was worth the money and investment of resources. And risk.
Finally Grant nodded. “I like it.”
Whitney let her breath out and her smile grew. “And…” She clicked to the next slide. “If things go well, we could reach out to groups that do animal education to see if they would want to include our treats as a part of their program. Zoos, of course. And the Department of Natural Resources does some educational programs. We could even do some specialized things. Maybe, for a group that does a lot with, say, penguins. We could do treats with penguin footprints.”
Cam looked at Ollie. Ollie’s eyes were bright and Cam could see his friend’s wheels turning.
“Fundraising,” Ollie said. “We could offer a portion of the proceeds to a program for penguin preservation or something.”
Whitney’s eyes brightened as well and she turned more fully toward Ollie. “Yes. There must be an awareness day for penguins. There are awareness days for everything. We could do something to coincide with that.”
“We could have various habitats on the website,” Dax said. “They could click a tab to interact with animals in the prairies and then another tab to interact with penguins and polar bears.”
“But penguins and polar bears don’t actually live together, right?” Ollie said. “They’re commonly put together in commercials and things, but they live on opposite poles.”
Dax frowned at him. “Are you sure?”
“I’m pretty sure.”
“But… the snow.”
“Polar bears live in the arctic and penguins live in the Antarctic,” Piper said, breezing into the room with a new carafe of coffee.
“Oh.” Dax seemed disappointed.
“You could still do different habitats,” Piper said, patting his arm. “Just have to put them on two different tabs.”
“I guess that’s true.”
“Maybe Drew would want to do alpaca treats,” Piper said, leaning over Ollie’s shoulder to refill his cup.
Ollie’s bright expression pulled into a frown. “Why would the alpaca farmer want treats? Nobody goes out there. Except you.”
Piper gave him a big smile as she moved to Cam. He held his cup up for her to fill.
“He and his brothers are talking about opening up the farm to some tours for kids. Day cares and preschools and things like that. Making it a full-time petting zoo so that kids can learn about the animals up close and personal. I was going to talk with him about teaching the kids about some of these wild animals too. Maybe looking around their property for jackrabbit and fox tracks. Drew and his brothers are real outdoorsy types.”
Typically Cam would have exchanged a what’s-going-on look with Aiden or Grant as Piper poked at Ollie—a not outdoorsy type at all. But he found himself looking at Whitney instead. She was watching him too. She gave him an arched eyebrow and he shrugged. But he also grinned. He liked sharing that little nonverbal communication with her.
Ollie scowled. “Kids will like Dax’s animals better, I guarantee.”
“I’m sure Dax can make it a lot of fun, but learning about real animals in the real world could be good.” Piper’s smile had faded. “You spend a lot of time in virtual worlds. Maybe some time in the real world where you don’t get to call all the shots would be good.”
Ollie swiveled in his chair and pinned her with a stare. “I call all the shots?”
She propped a hand on her hip. “You try to.”
“And then you go ahead and do whatever you want to anyway.”
“You mean, I fix the things that won’t work your way or that you mess up by forgetting that the real world doesn’t follow your rules all the time like Easton does,” she said, referring to the magical land in their video game.
“Piper,” Ollie said, his voice low and firm and far more serious than any of them were used to hearing. “Enough.”
Piper didn’t look intimidated. Or impressed. She looked pissed.
Cam felt his brows lift. Dax sat up straighter. Grant leaned forward in his chair. Aiden actually got to his feet.
“Okay. Let’s get back to Whitney and the presentation,” Aiden said in his best knock-it-the-fuck-off voice. “Piper,” he added, his tone gentler. “We can talk later.”
She stared at Ollie as she took a breath, then she looked at Aiden. “I’m fine. Everything is fine.”