Page 69 of The Cosy Christmas Chocolate Shop

What could a girl fit in to four or five hours on a Monday evening with a rather gorgeous man? One thing rather vividly came to mind – but it was still very early on in their relationship for anything like that.

‘It’d better be good.’ She pulled herself back from her reverie. Thank heavens he couldn’t see her blushing.

‘Right. Well, I’ll see you later. Good luck.’ She heard a shout, another male voice echoing down the line. ‘Sorry, I’ve got to go, the lads need some help here.’

‘Right, no worries. See you.’

‘Bye, Em.’

Bev had busied herself plumping up the window-seat cushions, ready for their first arrivals. ‘Max?’ she asked with a big grin, evidently happy with her matchmaking skills.

‘Might have been,’ Emma answered with a smile, her mind still buzzing. What was he scheming? A meal out somewhere was the most likely, or a cinema trip? Who knew.

‘Love is in the air,’ Bev started singing.

Holly was grinning. ‘Now then, Emma, what has been going on? I knew I recognised that builder bloke the other day.’

‘Hah, now is not the time or the place,’ she answered cryptically. ‘We have work to do, ladies.’ And Emma walked to the shop door where she proudly turned her sign to ‘open’ with a flourish, singing, ‘Ta-dah’, accompanied by a big cheer from Holly and Bev.

Em poked her head out and looked up and down the street; unfortunately, no one was there.

‘We ought to be breaking open a bottle of bubbly or something,’ Bev said to lift the moment. ‘I should have thought and brought something along.’

‘Friday. We’ll wait till Friday and do that at the launch. Remember, we do actually need to work today.’

They took their places behind the counter and waited anxiously. Emma fiddled on, tidying the displays, then read over her new café menu – she’d designed it herself on the computer last night and printed it off on cream-coloured card. To be absolutely honest, there wasn’t an awful lot on the menu as yet: pots of tea (breakfast, Earl Grey, green or fruit blends), cafetière of local ground coffee, hot chocolate (with or without cream and marshmallows), milkshakes, brownies, cookies, chocolate cake (yes, the lovely Maureen had come up trumps!) or choc-chip shortbread. She had also put a chocolate truffle selection on the list too. She would extend her range as soon as she could, once she’d seen what might sell best, and she hoped to keep everything homemade, as well as having all her usual chocolate shop creations for sale too.

Earlier, she’d strung some festive stars up in the windows, to tie in with the pattern on the cushions, and they were catching the light beautifully. She hoped they might also catch the tourists’ eye. She’d have to plan her full window display in the next couple of days to have it ready for the launch – she hadn’t had time this morning – because she was going to go the whole hog and create a full-on Christmas display.

Ten past two, Emma found herself humming and strumming the countertop. Holly was beside her, anxiously checking the door, Bev replumping cushions. A few people walked by, taking a quick look in, but carried on past. Finally, at 2.25 p.m., came the ambling figure of Mrs Clark, pleased to find the shop back open for her chocolate brazils, no doubt.

‘Hello, Mrs Clark. How are you today?’ Emma beamed from behind the counter. ‘Welcome to the new Chocolate Shop Café. What do you think? You are our very first customer. Would you like to take a seat?’ Emma gestured to the new window-seat areas.

‘My, this looks fancy.’ The old lady had a good look around her.

‘And,’ Emma continued, ‘as you are our very first customer a cup of tea or coffee is on the house.’

‘Well, that sounds very generous of you, and I don’t mind if I do. That hill up’s always a bit of a bugger.’

Holly and Emma gave each other a grin.

Mrs Clark spent some time chatting with them from the comfort of her window seat, enjoying a pot of English Breakfast tea and a mini brownie, which she said was ‘delicious’ and she bought herself her usual pack of milk chocolate brazils. After half an hour she was thanking ‘the girls’, saying how absolutely wonderful it was to have the new café area, that she’d see them again soon, and she then set off down the hill again.

Having someone in seemed to start a small flurry of customers, much to Emma’s relief. Stan and Hilda came in whilst Mrs Clark was still there, and sat down at the other table for tea and chocolate cake. Then a gentleman who said he was staying in a nearby B&B called in for a couple of bags of fudge to take on his six-mile hike.

Then Adam called with a bunch of red and white carnations for Emma to celebrate the café’s opening, in a dash as he was meant to be working, but he wished them all every success, giving Emma a hug and Holly a quick kiss on the cheek before speeding off again.

Danny from the pub dropped by, just to see how it was all looking and how his mate had done, and he couldn’t resist picking up a bar of milk chocolate. He nodded his approval at the two window-seat areas, and confirmed that the payment in pints had been greatly appreciated. Emma asked him to spread the word down at The Fisherman's Arms about the new café and gave him a little poster to put up in the pub about her launch night on Friday – all welcome.

Emma had popped out to the kitchen to load the dishwasher, when she heard the door jangle open and the sounds of chatter and laughter. She headed back to help Bev and Holly out, to find four of Holly’s schoolfriends there.

‘Oh wow! This looks so cool.’ Jessica, one of Holly’s friends, was grinning as she looked around. ‘Even better than I could have imagined.’

‘Love it,’ the girl beside her added. ‘It’s so pretty. I just want to sit here sipping hot chocolate all day.’

‘Surrounded by walls of chocolate no less,’ another chipped in.

It was lovely to hear that the young ones liked it. Emma felt a surge of pride.