“My friend and I do, yes.”
“Wow! That’s impressive.”
“Is it?” she said, trying to be polite.
“Definitely.” The woman smiled widely at her. “So, do you enjoy it?”
“Owning this shop?”
“And working here, making candy.”
“I do, yes. It’s always been my dream to own a place like this and take people back in time a little.”
“I work for a law office as a receptionist. I can tell you that wasnotmy dream,” the woman shared.
“No?”
“I wanted to be a teacher for a while. Then, I thought I would be a nurse. I settled on law school eventually and hated it, but now, I’m trying to be a paralegal, working in an office until I can make that happen.”
“Well, sounds like you’re working toward something,” River replied before the door blissfully opened, and two new customers walked in.
“Hey, do you ever get a break?” The woman went for it, just as River had guessed that she would. “There’s a coffee shop down the street. Maybe I can wait around, and we can grab some together?”
“I’m the only one here right now, so I can’t get away, but thanks for the offer,” she said.
“Another time, then?”
“I appreciate the invitation, and I don’t want to presume anything here, but I do have a girlfriend,” River told her.
“Oh.” The woman nodded. “Got it. Of course, the hot candy shop owner has a girlfriend.” She nodded twice more and added, “Well, I’m going to go with my tail between my legs. You have a good day.”
“You too,” River replied.
When the woman turned on her heels and headed out the door, River walked out from behind the counter to her new customers and offered to help them. After bagging up theirselection and making their root beer float to-go, she rang them up and heard the back door open, indicating that one of her part-timers was there now and would be able to take the front for a bit in order to let River go in the back and slice up some freshly made fudge.
“Hey,” Calista said when she walked in an hour later. “I promise, I’m not just here because you texted that you saved me fudge.”
She held up her hands in supplication.
“Why do I doubt that?”
“Because you save me fudge all the time and I don’t always show up,” Calista replied. “I’m blocked.”
“New book?”
“The publisher wanted me to try to segue from children’s to young adult, and I gave them this whole series pitch that they loved, but now, I have to write it, and I’m struggling a bit. So, I came here to work and get distracted, but also for chocolate and my friend.”
“Mostly for the distraction, though, right?” River teased her as she poured out a heavy pot of melted sugar onto the counter. “Want to help me here, or work out front?”
“I think I’d like to work out front.”
“Go ahead. Michaela is out there now, but I’m sure she could use some help. We’re about to get busy. Just that time of day.”
Calista left the back room, and River went about adding the flavoring and coloring to her sugar that she then spread around and swirled until everything was all mixed together how she wanted it to be. This would be a tart cherry-and-cream combo, and after she pulled it and it hardened, she’d snap it off into tiny pieces and put them into little bags. Some would go into the variety bags she had sitting over on another counter, waitingto be filled, and others would go in their own individual-flavor bags.
“Hey, can you come up? We’re pretty busy. I guess the storm scared literally everyone from Disney and has deposited them randomly around town,” Calista said, holding the door open as she did.
The candy was already hardening, so River could come back to it in a bit after getting the line down. She walked out front and helped slice and wrap up fudge, make sodas, and box up some of the more specialty candies that didn’t go into bags, while Calista helped people on the floor and Michaela rang them up. Finally, at least two hours later, the line was gone, and the shop only had two customers in it.
