Page 63 of The Cosy Seaside Chocolate Shop

With the deposit money on the booking, Emma had bought a set of glass flutes for the shop, which were already set out on a tray in the kitchen awaiting the cork-popping moment once the girls arrived.

There were ten minutes to go – the group being due to arrive at eight o’clock. Holly and Bev were inside the shop making some last-minute touches to the arrangements, and Em paused for a moment to stand on the back step, gazing out at the courtyard. Her mind drifting off to her own engagement with Luke. They had been so damned happy and excited. They’d held a party for their friends, family and schoolteacher colleagues at a small hotel just outside Durham. It was great fun with a disco and dancing until the early hours, with all the people that were special to them there.

The proposal itself had been at their home and was quiet but just right. Luke was not a showy character, but he’d made it special all the same. She smiled as she remembered. It was the night she took an after-school baking class, so she never normally got back until around seven. When she opened the front door, she could smell that something delicious was cooking. She walked through to the living room, on the coffee table was a hand-tied bouquet of soft pink, white and cream flowers. And, even better – Luke knew how much she loved chocolate – was a beautiful heart-shaped box of artisan chocolates.

She’d thought it was just a romantic meal he had planned, and how lovely was that? But as she walked through to the kitchen where she expected to find him cooking, he was down on one knee, with a huge grin on his face. It tugged at her heart all over again.

She and Luke had never had their special day. Her wedding dress still hung in the wardrobe in her mother’s spare room – she couldn’t bear to give it away. She still felt so very sad even after all these years, but not bitter. She wished Maddi and Mark the best for their big day ahead and for their future because she wanted to cling on to the fact that love could work out, and that most of the time the world was a good place. If she wasn’t meant to get her happy-ever-after, then at least other people could have theirs.

That’s why she’d worked extra hard to make tonight special for Maddi and her friends. A night for them to remember. A night of chocolates and prosecco, but so much more than that too: of fun, friendship and love.

Right then, Emma, let’s do this thing.

She wiped away a tear that had crowded her eye and headed through to the shop to be with her assistants, who had both been keen to help out tonight. ‘Ready?’

‘Yep.’

‘Looks great in here. Thank you, ladies.’

‘You’re welcome.’

Emma then opened the shop door, just as a white minibus pulled up outside.

There was fun, there was laughter, there was popping of corks, and tasting of chocolates. The courtyard worked wonderfully for the first couple of hours, and as the dusk began to fall and the pinky-peach glow of the sky gradually darkened, the walled garden began to change into something truly special, with white lights twinkling magically.

Glasses chinked, and Emma raised toasts to the bride-to-be, Maddi, and then her hens. There was such a lovely atmosphere within the group.

They moved inside for the Raspberry Gin truffle-making session, which proved messy, somewhat chaotic, but heaps of fun. There was much hilarity, especially when one of the girls, Rachel, no doubt aided by a glass or two too many proseccos, managed to get her long brunette hair dipped into the melted white chocolate. (Maybe she ought to provide optional hair caps, or at least hair ties at the next function, Emma mused.)

‘Hmm, chocolate-dipped hair.’ Maddi started laughing and joked that it looked like a new style of balayage and that it might just catch on.

‘At least you could eat it when you got bored with it,’ one of the others added.

‘OMG, I am in such a mess,’ Rachel admitted.

The girls all ended up in a fit of the giggles.

Once the hands-on session had ended, the girls ordered a couple more bottles of the prosecco and sat and chatted excitedly about all the wedding arrangements and their plans for the weeks ahead. There were make-up sessions, hair trials, dress fittings and much more to come.

Maddi had already chosen her dress, and couldn’t resist showing Emma, Holly and Bev a picture of it. It was just beautiful, floor-length ivory lace with a prettily embroidered bodice.

Em could picture her looking stunning in it. ‘Wow. That will be just perfect on you,’ she said.

Holly was swooning at this point and Bev said, ‘It’s wonderful.’

‘Thank you. Ooh, there was something else, yes. The favours.’ Maddi became animated. ‘Emma, would you be able to make me up some cute mini boxes of your truffles for my wedding favours? I’ve seen the ones in the hotel in the village and they are so pretty. I’d just love that, and I’m sure they’ll be popular.’

‘Definitely.’ ‘Absolutely!’ the girls called out around her.

‘Of course. It would be my pleasure, and we can style all the colours of the box and ribbon ties with your wedding theme.’

‘Perfect. I think we have over a hundred guests coming now, so there will be lots to make.’

‘That’s no problem at all.’

Typical that her new business idea was starting to flourish, just when she might not have a place for it to be any more. But Emma knew she had to stay positive. No one had come to view as yet so she’d carry on as normal for as long as she could.

It was soon nearing the midnight hour.