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Bless her heart, though Cailyn meant well, her obvious attempts to fix Anna up were embarrassing the socks off of Anna. The poor gentleman probably didn’t want her company, but he was clearly too polite to decline.
Reluctantly, Anna followed him to a small table near the window. His spicy citrus aftershave softly filled the air surrounding him.
He set the tray down on the table and held the chair out for her, something she absolutely loved in a man.
Chalk one up for his being a gentleman. Being an old fashioned gentleman like her father was one of the most important attributes on her list for a perspective spouse. Being a Christian was number one on that list.
He scooted her chair in, removed his scarf and coat and draped them over the back of one of the remaining chairs at the table. Holding his striped green tie close to his chest, he lowered his tall frame onto the seat across from her.
Anna set a cup of hot chocolate and the plate with the spumoni cookies on it in front of him and placed the other ones in front of herself, doing her level best not to look at him too closely.
“By the way, names Nicholas.” He held out his hand.
“Anna.” Still trying not to stare at him, she settled her hand into his and noticed how strong yet gentle his handshake was.
He tipped his head. “Anna? A good Italian name.”
“I was thinking the same thing about Nicholas.”
“Your family is Italian then?” he asked,.
Even though they had already established the fact that the two of them were both Italian during their spumoni cookie conversation, Anna replied with a hearty, “Yes. A very traditional Italian family which I love.”
“My family is too.”
Chalk up another good point for him.
His gaze went around the room. “You have a really nice shop here. Very festive. Very cozy. Very homey.”
Cozy. Homey. Two things she had worked so hard for when she designed and decorated her store. “Thank you. I want people to feel at home when they come here. You know, I want it to be a place where they can visit without feeling rushed. Where they can eat cookies and drink hot chocolate in front of the fireplace.” Her attention drifted over to the fireplace before returning to him. “Too bad it wasn’t a wood stove. But that would be way too dangerous and time consuming to keep up with.”
“Well, I think the gas fireplace is very nice. With the way you have the chairs and sofa arranged around it, it is very welcoming.” He smiled over at her, picked up his cup of cocoa, and swirled the drink with the swizzle stick. The instant he laid the swizzle stick on his napkin, Anna knew he saw one of her treasures. He picked up the plastic stir stick with her logo on it and wiped it off. “Matthew 6:20. Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven.” His gaze came up to hers as interest sparked in his blue eyes. “Are you a Christian?”
“Yes, I am.” And she was proud of it too. Make that proud to be a part of God’s family. Proud of her Lord and Savior Jesus and the price He paid for her sins.
“I am too.”
Hearing that exciting news, Anna’s insides did several back flips that even an Olympic gymnast would approve of. “That’s awesome. There is nothing better than to live for Christ.” She smiled and mentally check-marked another attribute he possessed on her list. In fact, being a Christian was number one on her list. Without it, none of the other things mattered.
“I agree.” Nicholas took a sip of his hot chocolate. “This is really good.”
“Thank you.” It made her heart do a little dance that he liked it.
His focus shifted to the swizzle stick still in his hand. “I think it’s great that you have a scripture on this.” His gaze came up to hers. “Do you ever catch any flak from people about it?”
“At first I did, but not anymore.” Anna took a sip of her own drink. Chocolate and cherry melted sweetly in her mouth.
“What do you mean, ‘not anymore’?” he asked as he adjusted his tie.
“Well,” Anna clasped her hands on the tabletop. “When I first opened, there was a woman who threatened me with a lawsuit. She said if I didn’t remove the scripture off of them, she would take the matter to court if she had to because Sweet Treasures was a public place and she was offended by religion being a part of a business establishment.”
“What did you do?” He leaned forward as if her answer was very important to him.
“I told her very kindly that it was my store’s logo and that if she was offended that I was sorry, but the logo was here to stay. I informed her that there were other shops in town, even named a few, where she could get a hot beverage.”
