Kate shook her head. “I’m still cramping and spotting a little. Not as much as before, so hopefully that might be good. The nurse said the doctor should be in soon with test results.”
“Were you doing anything? Or did this just come out of nowhere?”
Kate looked at Jack and then back at her mother. “I may have overdone things a little this morning. I had a burst of energy after breakfast and decided to organize the babies’ room. I was maybe lifting a little more than I should have, rearranging the closet and moving stuff around.”
“I read her the riot act. It won’t happen again. Right, Kate?” Jack’s words were strict, but he was holding Kate’s hand and Lisa could see the love in his eyes. He was worried sick about his wife.
“No. I’ll be more careful.”
A tall man carrying a clipboard and wearing a stethoscope around his neck came into the room.
“Kate, I have your results back. All your bloodwork came back good. There’s nothing else going on here. Your babies are fine. Your cervix is still blocked, the placenta previa condition you’ve been told about before. But, it doesn’t look any worse. You just aggravated the area, and that caused the bleeding. So, it’s okay for you to head home, but please don’t overdo it. Rest and relaxation. Got it?”
Kate nodded, and both she and Jack looked relieved. “Yes. I promise to take it easy. I was just feeling so good this morning. I won’t make that mistake again.”
“Good. It’s normal to go a little early with twins, but if you can at least get to thirty-six weeks, that would be ideal. They might still be small, but they should be healthy if you get that far.” He frowned. “If you don’t take it easy, you run the risk of more bleeding and possibly going into very early labor, and that is not ideal.”
“I understand. Thank you.”
The doctor left and said the nurse would be in shortly with Kate’s discharge papers.
“Thank goodness. I hope you’re going to go home and stay in bed the rest of the day, at least until your cramping eases up,” Lisa said.
“I can’t wait to crawl into bed and just watch movies the rest of the day. I’m going to take the day off from writing.”
The nurse came in with the discharge papers and they all walked out together. Lisa gave them both a hug before she left.
“Call me if you need anything, honey.”
“I will. Thanks, Mom.”
Chapter 20
Izzy was grateful that Marley decided to extend her stay on Nantucket and was still taking an interest in helping her. Her new larger store officially opened two weeks ago, when all the additional merchandise she’d ordered came in and she stocked the shelves and excitedly removed the divider between the two shops. The other side looked great, and everyone that came in was full of compliments.
But she didn’t see the sales bump she was hoping for.
“Don’t be discouraged,” Marley said. They’d met for coffee again and were both at the Corner Table sitting side by side with their laptops open. “What are your sales normally like at this time of year? Can you look up last year’s info?”
Izzy quickly pulled it up.
“Oh, that’s interesting. We’re actually a little ahead of last year for this month.”
Marley nodded. “By how much?”
“Eighty dollars. Not much, really.”
“No. But it shows this is a very slow month, and you’re at least a little ahead. The store looks great. The people just aren’t here yet. And there’s not much you can do about that.”
Izzy sipped her coffee and worried. She knew it was good to be ahead of where she was last year, but if she factored in the rent increase, she was actually behind.
“I know what you’re thinking, that you’re paying more in rent, so you’re not really ahead?”
Izzy laughed. “Was it that obvious?”
Marley smiled. “Well, it’s what I would be thinking too if I were in your shoes. But that’s why we need to go where the people are. It’s time to focus on driving traffic to your online store. How are sales there?”
Izzy pulled up her Shopify dashboard and was surprised by what she saw there.
“I don’t understand. According to this, I sold more online yesterday than in the store and it’s double what I did the day before. How could that be?”
Marley looked pleased. “That’s encouraging. Did you set up the social media accounts we talked about? Maybe something was shared. That could account for a sudden spike.”
Izzy nodded. “I already had an Instagram account for the store, and Facebook. I added TikTok and Pinterest and I’ve been putting pins up that link to the online store.” She thought for a moment and grinned.
“What is it?” Marley asked.
“My friend Will stopped by the store yesterday. We were chatting and he told me I looked cute. I was wearing some new stuff we were also selling in the store. I do that as much as possible—it helps sell the clothes when people see them on me. Anyway, he actually suggested we shoot a little video of me in the store, talking about the clothes.”
“That’s a great idea!”
“It was just fun and silly. We had a good time with it. I was wearing this new Nantucket sweatshirt in this gorgeous pale yellow and paired it with navy leggings that have a cool texture to them. And I was wearing these ankle boots. They’re super cute and comfy too.” She lifted her leg so Marley could see the camel-colored boots.
“Very cute. So what did you do with the video?”
“Uploaded it everywhere. First as an Instagram story, then repurposed it to Pinterest with a link back to the store. I have Instagram automatically set to copy to Facebook and I managed to put it on Tik Tok too.” Izzy looked up each site, beginning with Instagram. There was a good response everywhere, but when she looked up Pinterest, they both dropped their jaws.
“Well, isn’t that interesting? It looks like you went viral on Pinterest. Look how many people have pinned you. And look where you’ve been pinned.”
Izzy quickly saw a running theme. “It’s all pregnancy-related boards. New moms. How to look good when you’re expecting.”
“I think we’ve just uncovered a great little niche for you.”
“But I’m not a pregnancy shop,” Izzy protested.
“You don’t have to be. But while you’re pregnant especially, you should take advantage of it and regularly shoot little videos like this with you modeling different outfits that look good. You can do by topic too—The first three months, How to hide your bump, Where did my waist go? Have fun with it.”
Izzy laughed. “Where did my waist go? I love it.”
“Do you have that sweater for sale in the shop, by any chance?” Marley was eyeing the classic Fisherman knit sweater that Izzy had paired with her faded blue jeans. The sweater was a gorgeous natural oatmeal shade with cabling all over. It was soft and made of all organic cotton. Izzy had seen a picture of it and fell in love instantly. It was even prettier in person, which was rare.
“I do. This just came in yesterday and I couldn’t wait to wear it. It is pretty, isn’t it?”
“It’s gorgeous, and it screams Nantucket. When we finish here, let’s go by the shop and I’ll shoot a mini-video that you can post everywhere, but we’re going to take it a step further and turn the post into an ad. This is the kind of thing that people go nuts over on Pinterest.”
Izzy liked the idea. “I never thought much about it before, but I’ve bought clothes off Pinterest. It’s easy to lose track of time there as you click from one photo to another.”
“Exactly. What about the jeans? Do you sell those too by any chance?”
“Yes. These are my favorite pregnancy jeans so far. Just as an experiment, I ordered some for the shop. And they’ve been a good seller since I put them out a few weeks ago. It’s hard to find this kind of thing on Nantucket.”
“Excellent. We are going to have fun with this. We can actually shoot a few videos in the store, starting with this one. You can model a few other outfit
s and post those on different days this week. And let’s make a plan for your marketing for the next few weeks. This is what I think we should do…”
Two weeks later, Will stopped by Izzy’s shop to say hello. He stopped in whenever he was downtown, which was usually at least once every week or two. He’d just had lunch with a friend at Oath Pizza, which was right around the corner from Izzy’s place.
The store was empty when he stepped inside, but Izzy was a whir of energy, packing a sweater into a box at the counter and he noticed that there was a stack of boxes behind her, all addressed and ready to go to the post office.
“Hey there. How’s everything going? What’s all this?” Will glanced at the pile of boxes behind her.
Izzy smiled as she taped up the box and took a break for a moment.
“You’d never know it by this empty store, but I’m having my best month ever. I’ve never been so busy. It’s all the online sales. Thanks to Marley.”
“Really? That’s wonderful. Do you want some help to carry this to the post office?” It was just a few blocks away, and if he helped, Izzy wouldn’t have to make multiple trips.
“If you have the time, that would be wonderful. This is the last one that has to go out today.” Izzy printed out a label for the box and then they were ready to go. Will gathered up as many boxes as he could carry while Izzy put a sign in the window that said she’d be back in twenty minutes. She gathered the remaining boxes, and they walked over to the post office.
“Is it like this every day now?” Will asked as they walked.
“No. Some days it is, though. It depends if I’m promoting an item that my vendor can ship or something that is only available in my shop and that I have to mail out myself.”
“I’m glad it’s going so well. And once the weather gets better, the store sales will pick up too.”
Izzy nodded. “Usually once Daffodil weekend comes, the foot traffic starts getting better each week. I’m actually kind of glad the store is slow now, so I can handle the post office runs and all the packing and shipping I’ve been doing lately. If it stays like this, I’m going to need to hire a dedicated person to help with this while someone else watches the store.”
Will grinned. “That’s a good problem to have.”
“I know! I’m excited that it’s off to such a good start. I really didn’t anticipate this, so soon. It’s all because of Marley. She’s been like my retail guardian angel.”
“She’s still here? I thought she was only staying for a month.”
“She extended her stay and is looking to buy something soon. So, hopefully I’ll be picking her brain for a long time to come. I think she’s going to make a business out of it—doing consulting for other retail sites. She really knows her stuff.”
“That’s awesome. How are you feeling? You look great.” Izzy’s skin was glowing and while it was finally obvious that she was pregnant, she’d only really gained weight in her stomach and Will thought she looked adorable. But that was nothing new. She always looked adorable to him, pregnant or not.
“I’m good. Really good. I’m not as tired as I used to be. I’m in a high energy phase that I hope continues.”
“How much longer do you have?”
“Not quite two months. It’s going fast.”
Will hated asking the next question, but Izzy never mentioned Rick so he wasn’t sure if he was still in the picture or not.
“How are things going with Rick?”
“Okay. We’re both busy, so I haven’t seen a lot of him. We usually meet for dinner or a movie once every week or so. I let him know I won’t be rushing back into anything. I really need to see how things go with Rick once the baby comes. It’s impossible to know for sure, until then.”
Will nodded. Her answer made sense, even though it disappointed him that she was still considering a future with Rick.
“You still up for trivia tomorrow night?”
Izzy grinned. “Of course. I wouldn’t miss it.”
Chapter 21
“This is insanely good,” Marley said as she took another bite of Lisa’s lobster quiche. It was a Saturday morning, and she had a full house for breakfast. The inn itself was still slow, and Lisa was glad for multiple reasons that Marley had decided to extend her stay. There was no one else at the moment, though she did have several rooms rented for the coming week and people checking in later in the day.
“That’s one of the best things my Mom makes. Everyone goes nuts for the lobster quiche,” Kate said as she cut herself a second slice. Kristen, as usual, was just having some fruit and a toasted bagel with butter. Abby was already on her second helping, and Lisa was too. Rhett was sitting back and sipping his second cup of coffee.
“How are sales going, Mom?” Kate asked.
Lisa frowned. “Not so well, to be honest. I’ve called around to a few restaurants, and the only place that was interested so far is Mimi’s Place. Paul said he’d be glad to try a lobster quiche for their Sunday brunch and he ordered a few key lime pies. Rhett did too.”
“Once we open for brunch on Sundays in the summer, I’ll add the quiche, too. It’s just too slow right now.”
“Oh, I know. I don’t know what I expected. Of course it’s slow this time of year.”
“Have you given any thought to online sales? We talked about it initially as a possibility. I know you wanted to start with the local shops first,” Marley said.
Lisa nodded. “I don’t know much about online sales or, as it turns out, local sales either.” Lisa was feeling a bit sorry for herself and wondering if she’d made a mistake adding the commercial kitchen.
“Well, I think it could potentially be a much bigger market for you. Especially if you start with this lobster quiche. It’s delicious and unusual. It could be your signature item. Your only item, initially.”
“You can get the lobster at a discount through Jack—the wholesale price he gives all the restaurants,” Kate said.
“And lobster is a premium product. People expect to pay a higher price for it. And they expect Nantucket in general to be higher priced,” Marley added.
“If you’re open to it, we could work on a social media strategy for you, one that is consumer facing. That’s entirely different from what you’ve been doing locally where it’s business to business,” Marley explained.
“I ran into Izzy at the post office the other day,” Kristen said. “Her arms were piled high with packages that she was mailing out. She said her online sales were crazy good.”
Marley smiled. “We could take a similar approach with you. And once we get you up and running, we could look into partnerships with places like Gold Belly. You need to be ready for that though—have systems in place for a higher level of production and a track record of sales and social media proof.”
“Social media proof? What is that?” Lisa hadn’t a clue what Marley was referring to.
“It’s when people comment on your social media posts and your website, raving about your product. And once they taste it, they will.”
“Oh! Okay. Well, just tell me what to do and I’ll do it.”
“First, we’ll get the Beach Plum Cove Inn more visible on social media. We’ll go deeper everywhere and post more often. Do you do that yourself now?”
Lisa shook her head. “No. Kate handles all my ads and social media.”
“Okay, so let’s have Kate sit in our meeting, if she can?”
Kate nodded. “I’d love to. I really enjoy the marketing stuff and would love to learn more from you about the ad stuff.”
“I’m happy to help. This could serve double-duty too. You can promote the inn at the same time that you promote the lobster quiche. They reinforce each other. People will like the idea of ordering a quiche from an actual Nantucket Inn.”
“Well, I think it sounds like a great idea,” Rhett said. “And with all this talk of lobster quiche, I have to go get myself a slice.”
Lisa and Kate sat down with Marley the next day and mapped
out an online marketing strategy for the lobster quiches that involved free social media posting and paid ads. The orders came in slowly at first, none at all the first day, which Lisa found discouraging, but Marley told her not to worry.
“It takes time to get things rolling. The orders will come, trust me.”
And they did. Two orders the next day. Three the day after that. Then five for a few days. And then the social media proof came. The comments on the posts and ads raving about the sweet fresh lobster and creamy custard and flaky crust. And some of the first round of people ordering came back for more, sending as gifts or just more for themselves. Lisa was shocked when she opened her laptop to check incoming orders and saw that they’d doubled from the day before. She had ten quiches to make that day. A week later, the daily average doubled.
Which was wonderful, but also created a new problem. The time had come to hire someone to help. Lisa was spending more time packing and shipping the quiches than actually making them. If she could have someone else take over the packing and shipping part, she could handle what she was good it—making the quiches. She also talked to Marley about cutting back on the ads a little. She was worried that sales might increase to a level that she couldn’t easily handle by herself.
“Of course, we can put the brakes on things a bit. Now that we know the ads work, we can scale them up or down pretty predictably. And even cutting back, you might still see a steady growth in sales as your social media proof continues to grow too,” Marley said.
“I might know someone who could be interested,” Abby said. “My friend Shannon was saying not too long ago that she’d love to find something part-time now that her kids are in school full-time. I think she’d want mother’s hours, so probably afternoons and home for when the kids get out of school.”
“That might work. Do you want to have her get in touch with me?”
Having Shannon a few hours a day was such a huge help. She came around one each day and worked until three, packing up the day’s orders and taking them to the post office. Shannon worked as an office manager before she had her children, and she quickly took charge to organize Lisa’s shipping and packaging. Because the food was perishable, it had to be packed carefully, with dry ice and shipped overnight, which was expensive, but Lisa quickly discovered that people expected it with food, so they didn’t mind. Shannon worked a full day on Monday as they had double the orders to fill, as Lisa took Sundays off from baking. She needed the break.
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