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“It is. Do you want it?” Alissa asked, pulling a bracelet of the same design but with blue beads off the rack. “We can get matching ones.”
“Mommy should get one too.” Pearl plucked another bracelet off, one with green beads. “And Dane too.”
Alissa suppressed a smile and grabbed a red one for Dane. It was going to be a stretch on his wrist, but the idea of him wearing it was so not-Dane that she wanted to see it happen.
Alissa bought everyone’s bracelets and slid hers on, then Pearl’s.
“We got one for you too, Mommy,” Pearl said, handing Caitlin her bracelet. “And Dane too.”
“Oh?” Dane’s eyebrows went up. “Thank you.”
Alissa grinned as Dane put his beaded bracelet on. He didn’t have to, but she was glad he did.
They moved onto the rest of their day, going down the boardwalk first. A big candy shop a few businesses down from the end of the boardwalk captured Pearl’s attention immediately. Alissa was drawn to it as well. Anyone would have been.
It was bright and colorful, the sweet scent drifting through the wind. A few people were making hard candy right near the window. Alissa had seen them working on the building and was aware that it was opening this weekend, but she hadn’t looked into it more besides mentioning it in one of her columns.
“Let’s go in!” Pearl said, grabbing Caitlin’s hand and pulling her inside. Caitlin threw a look at Dane and Alissa over her shoulder.
“Want to go in?” Alissa asked.
“It’s hard not to.”
Alissa and Dane followed them into the shop. It was a kid’s dream. One wall was filled with candy in various glass containers, with tongs and little bags to stuff. The far wall had candy catered to adults—fine chocolates and hard candies with sophisticated flavors. The third wall was the candy-making side, where workers were rolling out huge hunks of sugar.
Pearl went straight to the huge wall of candy, looking up at Caitlin with pleading eyes. That look melted Alissa’s heart every time, and this time it worked on Caitlin.
“Just one bag, okay?” Caitlin said, handing her a bag. “And we have to use the tongs.”
Pearl’s smile brightened up half the room as she skimmed the selection.
“Oh, wow, I haven’t had this since I was a kid,” Dane said, spotting a container filled with small plastic packages. Colorful balls of candy were inside. “Did you ever have these?”
“No, what are they?” Alissa pulled out a plastic package.
“They’re little balls of malted chocolate.” He grabbed a pouch and filled it with a handful of the small containers. “I used to love these. One of our neighbors always gave them away at Halloween. While all the other kids wanted peanut butter cups or whatever, I wanted these.”
The almost boyish delight in Dane’s eyes was so adorable that Alissa couldn’t help but stare and commit it to memory.
“You’ll have to let me taste them.”
“Assuming I don’t eat all of them tonight.” He grabbed a twist-tie and wrapped it around the cellophane bag. “The funny thing about being an adult is having the freedom to eat nothing but candy for dinner but not being able to.”
“Or you could and regret it. I only needed to make that mistake once.” Alissa laughed, looking over her shoulder at where they were making candy.
“We’re starting a demonstration in a few moments, if you’re interested,” one of the workers said.
“I am!” Alissa turned and Dane followed.
A small crowd had gathered around a man wearing a bright pink apron. Alissa scooted closer to him as he spoke to the crowd.
“Thank you all for coming by,” he said. His apron said his name was ‘Pops’. “I’m glad I can finally share this old family recipe with some new folks.”
“An old family recipe?” Alissa stepped closer. She knew the beginning of a story when she heard it.
“I learned how to make this candy as a boy, but after a few travels, I found out I could make it even more special,” Pops said. “Which is how I came up with these Pops Candies.”
Alissa adjusted her glasses as she watched the workers make the candy, turning sugar and coloring into a sweet treat. They’d layered colors together and rolled it into a tube, putting it through a machine. At the end of the demonstration, they had candy with a heart shape inside.
