The Cosy Christmas Chocolate Shop. Caroline Roberts

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      ‘Yeah, why not. Thanks.’

      Emma went to click the kettle on.

      They had their tea sat on stools in the kitchen. They’d soon pop through if they heard the shop door go.

      ‘So, what’s the latest with that Tom lad at school?’ Em asked.

      ‘Hah, nothing – exactly nothing. It’s like I don’t exist.’

      ‘Aw, sorry to hear it, Hols. He doesn’t know what he’s missing.’

      ‘It’s all right. It’s just we were such good friends when we were little. His mum and mine are still big buddies. We were too. It’s like he’s changed, totally. It’s all football, and flirting with the pretty, sporty girls. It’s like I’m just not important or interesting any more.’

      ‘I suppose we all change, life changes,’ Emma mused. ‘But that does sound a bit mean of him. There’s nothing to stop you being friends.’

      ‘I think he might have guessed that I fancied him and it’s probably frightened him right off. Oh, Em. I feel such an idiot. So now, I don’t feel I can even say hello. I go bright red and get a bit panicky.’

      ‘Oh dear.’ Young love, crushes. Why did relationships have to be so bloody complicated? ‘It’ll all work out somehow in the end, Holly. Just you wait and see.’ And as she said the words, she hoped to God that Holly never had to face what she’d had to. She’d learnt the hard way that there weren’t always happy-ever-afters. But why spoil the young girl’s hopes and dreams?

      After their cuppa and chat, next up for Em was making a batch of choc-dipped fudge. She was busy melting butter and sugar together when she heard the jangle of the door again. She hoped it might be Holly’s dream man, but the door closed very soon after it opened.

      ‘The post’s here.’ Holly popped in the back and handed over a few envelopes that Emma placed to one side as she went to fetch cream for her fudge mix from the fridge.

      Emma was soon pouring the mixture into a large metal tray to set and cool.

      ‘Mmm, that smells divine!’

      ‘Even better after the chunks get dunked in chocolate.’

      ‘I’d love it if someone brought me home a pack of that.’

      ‘Well, I think we can both think of a certain someone who you’d like to do that – and I’m not talking Tom now,’ Emma grinned.

      ‘Hmm. Do you think he’s got a girlfriend?’

      They both knew exactly who Holly was referring to.

      ‘I don’t know. Why don’t you ask him the next time he calls in?’

      ‘Nooo. I couldn’t!’

      ‘Why not?’

      ‘I’d look a right idiot if he has. After all, who’s he buying the chocolate for?’

      ‘But, if he hasn’t?’

      ‘Then I’d just feel daft and not know what to say next. I’d look too keen, apart from anything else.’

      Emma smiled. This girl had another huge crush by the looks of it.

      ‘What about you then, anyway?’ Holly was blushing furiously now, and was keen to divert the attention from herself.

      Hah, not another one trying to fix her up. She’d had enough of Bev’s meddling of late. The foursome with Nigel was looming ominously.

      ‘No one special in your life, then?’ Holly pursued.

      ‘Now stop getting cheeky, you. It’s none of your business, madam.’ Emma was still smiling, but sooo not prepared to divulge any information. Not that there was anything at all to divulge.

      Twenty minutes later Holly was out in the shop, keeping herself occupied dusting the shelves and the glass counter as it was that quiet, and Emma got around to opening the post. There was the usual junk mail, a bank letter, the quarterly electric bill – ooh, now that was a bit high. Oh well, it was the winter months, she mused. The fourth letter was handwritten on a thick white envelope. Emma opened it, drawing out a sheet of typed A4. It looked very formal. She recognised the name and address of her landlord.

      ‘I am writing to inform you …’ Emma stood there stock-still, the letter quivering in her hand.

      She was still staring into space when Holly popped back through to put the polish and duster back in the kitchen cupboard.

      ‘Everything okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost or something.’

      Emma wished it had been a ghost. It would be far less trouble than the contents of the letter.

      ‘Ah, no, just a bit of a shock.’ She wondered whether to share the news, no point worrying the girl unnecessarily, but oh, she needed someone to talk it over with.

      As Emma began to read the words aloud, she felt like her heart was being squeezed. ‘I am writing to inform you that as from 1 March 2017 your monthly rent payment for 5 Main Street, Warkton-by-the-Sea, is to increase to the sum of £900. Nine hundred pounds! That’s a further one hundred and fifty pounds a month. I really don’t know where I’m going to find that, Holly.’

      ‘Oh no. That’s so not fair, Em.’

      It might not be fair, but it looked like she had no choice. Either pay it or get out; the landlord was giving her one month’s notice. Bollocks! She started reading again, her hand trembling: ‘This is due to the desirable nature of the village properties, and the increase in holiday trade.’ Basically, her landlord could turn this into a holiday cottage and make a mint, no doubt.

      ‘It’s not just my business, it’s my home too, Holly.’

      ‘Oh Em, it’ll work out somehow. It has to. Warkton just wouldn’t be the same without your gorgeous little chocolate shop, or you. It’s our little chocolate heaven – all my mates love popping in here. And, you’ve become a real friend to me. No, The Chocolate Shop can’t possibly go – nor you. There has to be a way.’

      But the massive implications were starting to sink in. Emma began to feel sick.

      For the rest of the afternoon Emma’s stomach was churning and her mind was on fast-spin. She could see all the dreams she had had, the business she had grown, her home and her new life here in this lovely village by the sea, all come crashing down. If she couldn’t meet the new rent payments, what then?

       9

      As soon as the shop closed that day, despite it turning dusky outside, Emma headed down for her usual walk past the harbour and towards the dunes to the sea. There was no one else on the beach, just a few terns who would soon be ready to go home to roost. Home … That thought, that word, made her heart sink even more. Where would СКАЧАТЬ