The Cosy Christmas Chocolate Shop

by Caroline Roberts

  Emma had been up late that Friday night, making as many chocolates as she could for the upcoming Fayre, and had boxes of chocolates and plenty of Christmas goodies all ready to go. She just needed to take them across in her car, and get set up by 1.00 p.m.

  Holly had told her that several care homes in the area were bringing their residents, including the ‘Golden Oldies’ pensioners group from Seahouses, for tea, cake and company. They’d decided on a Sunday for this event to try and get some more of the local community to attend and hopefully raise a bit more money.

  Emma was nearly set up. She had covered a trestle table with a festive holly-patterned tablecloth borrowed from Adam’s gran and had set out a couple of wooden table-top stands, made for her by the lovely Ron, to display everything nicely. She also had a mini Christmas tree, with miniature baubles and fairy lights for full festive effect.

  After two trips to and fro from Max’s jeep, her chocolate stand was ready – looking seriously pretty, with festive gold and red bows and curled ribbon adorning the carefully prepared packs. She had chosen her traditional favourites for this event: whisky and brandy truffles, berry-fruit centres, melt-in-the mouth caramels, mints, and her Christmas pudding truffles made with chopped raisins and a splash of sherry. She had made up gift boxes of chocolates and packs of fudge, both plain and choc-dipped, as well as bags of shortbread.

  There was going to be a raffle drawn later, and she had donated a box of chocolate goodies for that. She had also heard some more details on the planned auction, which was to be an auction of favours – things like handyman help, gardening, car-washing, and the like, which would be really helpful for the elderly and a great idea.

  Emma was hoping it would prove to be a good event, for both the community and the shop’s finances, which were better at the moment, but she still needed to make enough to cover the slow months of January and February, when there was still the rent to pay and other expenses. She had a few flutters in her stomach, hoping it would go well.

  After a slow start, several people started drifting in; Emma recognised some local families, and a few people she knew. At 2.00 p.m. a couple of minibuses arrived from the old people’s home in the next village. Her chocolates were selling steadily and she was pleased that it had been worth the time and energy in setting it all up. One of the organisers called at her stall, saying they were still looking for ‘lots’ for the auction and explained a bit more about what they were hoping for. It seemed to be an offer of time and a helping hand for the elderly more than anything, so Max, bless him, said he’d be happy to offer a couple of hours, mentioning that his background was the building trade and that he could turn his hand to most DIY jobs. The organiser seemed most grateful and added his name to the list.

  At 3.00 p.m, the auction was announced. There were tables and chairs set out through the centre of the room for people to sit and have their tea and biscuits or cake, and two old ladies that Adam’s gran knew had settled at the table closest to Emma and seemed to be eagerly awaiting the auction. Max smiled across and said hello to them.

  He was also recruited by the lady serving the teas and coffees to walk around and offer top-ups from a huge metal teapot. Emma smiled, watching him; he quite looked the part, chatting easily to the elderly as he went. Even the ladies beside Emma’s stall nodded in approval. She heard one of them saying, ‘What a nice young man,’ as he left their table.

  The other lady responded rather loudly, ‘Well, he is a fine figure of a man.’

  ‘Hmm, we haven’t seen anything like that in here for years, Dorothy.’

  Emma watched in amusement as the two ladies scanned the room, taking in the decidedly aged, white-haired, and rather wrinkly assembly of other gentlemen in the hall.

  ‘Ever.’ There was a mischievous twinkle in Dorothy’s eyes now. ‘My, I could have two hours of his time any day of the week.’

  ‘What’s he up for auction for, anyhow?’

  ‘Two hours of his time, like I said.’

  ‘Yes, but what for?’

  ‘Anything you like, I suppose.’

  Shirley, Adam’s gran, chipped in helpfully as she sat down beside them ready for the auction to start, ‘He was thinking DIY, building jobs.’

  ‘That’s not what I was thinking, Thelma.’ Dorothy winked at her friend.

  Emma couldn’t help but listen in.

  ‘Hey, what do you think about bidding? We could club together, Dot. We might raise more that way.’

  Dorothy gave a wicked grin. ‘There’s a lot I’d like to raise! Just imagine, Thelma, two whole hours with him indeed. We could have a leg each and share the middle.’ She cackled with laughter at that point.

  ‘I could put my winter fuel allowance towards the bid.’ Thelma was giggling now. ‘He’d certainly warm things up at home, anyhow.’

  Emma found herself blushing, surprised by the turn in the old ladies’ conversation, but then she began laughing uncontrollably as Max turned up with a confused frown asking what was going on, totally unaware of the chatter.

  ‘If only …’ sighed Dorothy, taking a good look at him. ‘If I was twenty years younger, well—’

  ‘Twenty? More like forty, don’t kid yourself, Dot,’ Thelma added with a cheeky grin.

  ‘Now behave, you two,’ Adam’s gran chided, a smile on her face, as the start of the auction was announced.

  There were bids for a delivery of logs, a voucher from the butcher’s in the next village, a gardener donating three hours of work, a holiday cottage for a weekend break, a few other lots, and finally Max’s two hours of DIY time.

  Thelma and Dorothy were whispering frantically as the bidding started. They clubbed together, were outbid for a second by another lady, and then upped their offer and won him for a total of £20, and then dissolved into a fit of hysterics. Emma wondered if she ought to warn him, but Adam’s gran had realised that she’d been listening in and said he’d be fine, it was all bark no bite; the ladies were neighbours in the old people’s bungalows in the next village and were hoping to have an hour each to fix up the odd picture, sand off a door that was sticking, and do a bit of general handyman work – best not to concern him with their capers. Looking at their smiling faces, it had made their day, and probably their week. Max stood up to a small round of applause from the audience and a wink from Adam’s gran.

  After the raffle, the event was drawn to a close. There were a few last orders from her stall, and it was time to pack up and get back to the shop to see how Bev and Holly had got on.

  Thelma and Dorothy came up just before they left, to thank Max and say how very much they looked forward to seeing him again soon. Emma had to duck down at that point, in the pretence of packing up a cardboard box ready to load the car, dissolving into laughter, whilst he made polite conversation with the elderly, sweet-looking pair.

  It had certainly been some event.

  All too soon Max had to leave. He explained that he’d promised to call on his parents in Morpeth on his way back.

  ‘Thank you so much for helping today. I hope it wasn’t too much of a bind. And now you’re giving up your time to do even more jobs.’

  ‘It’s fine. I enjoyed it. It was nice to cheer people up – I bet some of them are quite lonely back home.’

  Emma certainly knew how that could feel.

  ‘Yes, I expect they are,’ she agreed.

  ‘I’ll catch up with you next week, if that’s okay. I’ve got loads on through the week.’

  ‘Yeah, me too. It’s a bit of a hectic time in the shop just now.’

  ‘So, would it be okay to come up next weekend again? Or shall we just leave it for now?’

  ‘Ah, yes, that’d be lovely.’

  ‘Okay, great. I’ll ring you.’

  And with Max back at Hexham and at work through the week, Emma realised she was missing him a lot, missing that physicality, and looked forward to his daily texts so much. It was beginning to churn her up all over again. It felt like a dangerous rollercoaster
of emotions that she’d just stepped back on to and the question was: would it all be worth it?

  38

  ‘Emma, it’s Angela. How are you, darling?’ It was Luke’s Mum, her voice so warm and familiar.

  ‘Oh, it’s so lovely to hear from you. How are you getting on? How’s John?’

  ‘He’s not so bad. Still doing his cricket duties during the summer, more umpiring than actually playing nowadays. He’s finding all the running about a bit much, though he won’t admit it, of course.’

  Luke’s family were big cricket fans. She remembered how they’d all gone to Durham County Cricket matches over at Chester-Le-Street when she and Luke had lived in Durham. They’d even seen England play a 20:20 there once. The fancy dress and atmosphere that day had been incredible and the source of much hilarity. She’d never before seen a Bassett’s Allsorts squaring up to Batman and the Flintstones, it was all done in good humour though. It had almost been as much entertainment as the game.

  ‘Anyhow, we’re fine, darling. How are you?’

  ‘Extremely busy. I’ve just opened a café as part of The Chocolate Shop.’

  ‘Oh, how fabulous. You are doing so well. Do you like it there and is it working out okay for you still?’

  ‘Yes, it’s fine, thank you, Angela. I have my friends and James is nearby with his family. It’s a lovely village.’

  ‘Yes, it is pretty. I remember coming to visit you there a couple of years ago.’

  She wondered now if she should have invited them to the launch, but they lived outside Harrogate in Yorkshire and it would have been over a two-hour journey each way. She had meant to see them more, but gradually they had slipped a little from her life. She was still very fond of them and they tried to meet once a year. She remembered their birthdays and got in touch with them at Christmas. They always phoned her on Luke’s birthday too. They shared their loss, protectively.

  ‘And how’s the rest of the family? Nathan?’ asked Emma. That was Luke’s brother.

  ‘He’s been off travelling for some time. Australia, at the moment, been getting jobs all over, stays a while somewhere then moves on. He’s found it hard to settle since Luke …’ Angela let the words drift.

  ‘Yes.’

  It had hit him so hard, his older brother dying like that. It had hit them all hard.

  ‘I know it’s a little while away yet,’ Angela explained the reason behind her call, ‘but we’ve booked a holiday cottage up in your area for a long weekend before Christmas and we wondered if you’d like to join us for lunch one day or something?’

  ‘Yes, that would be really lovely.’

  ‘It’s over near Kielder Water. We’ll be doing some hiking, that kind of thing. Well, lovely to chat, darling. I’m sure you’ll be busy. I’ll call again nearer the time to sort out the details. Take care, Emma.’

  ‘Thanks. You take care too. Love to you all.’

  Emma felt so much for them, losing their son. How on earth would they feel if they knew she’d been seeing someone else? She’d been on cloud nine these past few days, enjoying the excitement of this passionate new relationship with Max and now it suddenly felt all wrong. Disloyal.

  39

  It was bloody freezing. Her finger joints were aching with the cold. At least she’d thought to put a thermal vest on and several layers of clothing under her puffy coat, but her legs were chilled through her jeans. She’d have to invest in long johns if she took on any more winter markets, and she hadn’t brought gloves other than the thin latex ones she used for hygiene reasons. Mistake. She could now hardly move her fingers, so it was really hard to handle the chocolates. She rubbed her hands together in a feeble attempt to bring them back to life, sighing out a puff of white, lukewarm mist.

  Emma was at her first-ever Christmas market as a stallholder in the historic town of Alnwick, a twenty-minute drive from Warkton-by-the-Sea. A host of white, tarpaulin-covered stalls were set out on the stone cobbles of the market square, and after spending a half-hour shipping goods to and from her car she felt proud of her very festive-looking Christmas Chocolate Shop, set out carefully with shelves of chocolate reindeer, snowmen, Santas, boxes and bags galore of fudge, truffles, and chocolate bars, all prettily wrapped in golds and silvers with green, gold and red bows and coloured ribbons. She’d strung up a set of twinkling fairy lights behind her and brought some festive decorations too, including a small tinsel Christmas tree which she had strung with chocolate stars and edible baubles.

  Now all she needed was some customers. The market opened at noon and it was now nearly 1.00 p.m. and she had only seen a half a dozen people and sold one bag of fudge. So, as well as freezing her butt and fingers off, she hadn’t made any money yet, though as the event wasn’t closing until eight, she’d try and stay positive. Right, she was going to head across to the Coffee Cabin place opposite to get herself a hot drink and try and thaw out a bit.

  She ordered a cup of coffee from the blonde-haired, rather buxom, fifty-something lady there.

  ‘Bit slow,’ Emma commented to the lady who had half-turned to start working the coffee machine.

  ‘Yeah. It’ll get going, don’t worry. Your first year here?’ She must have spotted Emma on her stall, and realised she was a newbie.

  ‘Yep. First market ever, in fact. I have a chocolate shop over at Warkton-by-the-Sea. Thought I’d see how a Christmas market might go.’

  ‘Ah well, this one’s always a bit slow to start, then it begins to fill. By evening it’s usually bustling, when folk finish work, school, and that. Gets a nice atmosphere after dark with all the Christmas lights and everything. That’s why I think people like coming out later.’

  ‘Oh okay. Well, good to know it should perk up.’

  ‘Yes, it will. This is my sixth year.’

  ‘Right. So, it must be worth coming back to, then.’

  The woman was busy frothing up some milk to pour in to the rich-smelling coffee. Emma couldn’t wait to get her hands round the warm cup.

  ‘Definitely. Your stall looks great by the way, really pretty. Do you make all the chocolates yourself?’

  ‘I do indeed. I usually sell them at my shop, The Chocolate Shop by the Sea.’

  ‘Ah, so that’s you. I saw something in the local paper the other day, I think. Have you just opened a café or something?’

  ‘Yes, that’s me.’

  ‘Going well?’

  ‘Yeah – pretty good. Early days yet and all that. But it’s keeping me busy. Got some help in there today.’ Holly was there, with Bev as second in command. They’d assured Emma they’d be fine and she hoped they’d seen a few more people than she had so far today.

  The woman handed the coffee over with a smile, and Emma paid.

  ‘I might have to pop across and get something from your stall later. Love a bit of chocolate. Going to be drooling here, looking across at it all day.’

  Emma laughed. ‘Well, I do have brownies and shortbread as well as the chocolates if anyone is looking for something to go with their coffee.’ It didn’t look like the Coffee Cabin had food, just drinks, for sale. She’d go back over and put them somewhere more prominent, she mused. They might sell well with having the hot drink stall opposite – fingers crossed.

  ‘I’ll mention it to my customers.’

  ‘Thank you.’

  As soon as Emma got back to her stall she rearranged her wares, and then headed back over to the Coffee Cabin with a dark chocolate brownie and two choc-chip shortbreads for her newfound friend. ‘A little taster for you,’ she offered.

  ‘Aw, thanks. They look great. And if you fancy another drink later, it’ll be on the house.’

  ‘Thanks.’

  ‘You’ve got a customer,’ the woman said cheerily, gesturing towards Emma’s pitch.

  Em turned to see a woman and child browsing the mini reindeer and snowmen. ‘Ooh, fab.’ And she whizzed back to take her place behind the counter area.

  ‘Hello, can I help at all?’

  ‘Oo
h Mum, look, chocolate Rudolphs! They’re so cute! Can I?’

  ‘Yes, okay, and you’d better choose something for Alex too.’

  ‘The snowy snowman.’ The little girl was pointing across, excitedly.

  The mother picked up both, passed them across to Emma, then carried on browsing, choosing a couple of bags of fudge, and a box of Christmas pud chocolates. ‘They look good,’ she said.

  ‘Yes, and they will all last until well after Christmas,’ Emma reassured.

  ‘Fabulous. Well, in that case we’ll choose something for Daddy and Auntie Faye too.’

  The little girl chose a big chocolate bar with honeycomb crunch topping for her dad and a box of salted caramels for her aunt.

  ‘Thank you.’ Emma bagged up the confectionery carefully. She had brought a stack of strong white paper bags with cord-style handles, and she popped in a pretty new business card that she had designed herself online for the shop and café – might as well spread the word. The order came to over fifteen pounds which cheered Emma.

  ‘It all looks so pretty. Thanks,’ the woman commented as she took the bag.

  ‘Can I eat Rudolph now?’ the little girl asked her mum hopefully.

  ‘I don’t see why not,’ she answered, and took it out and unwrapped it for her.

  Two happy customers! Despite the bitter cold, Emma felt a little glow inside.

  More people began to mill about the market and Emma’s parents arrived unexpectedly.

  ‘Oh, how nice of you both to come.’

  ‘How’s it going, pet? We couldn’t miss your first market, could we now?’ Dad beamed across at her.

  ‘Fairly quiet so far, but I’ve been advised it gets busier later.’

  ‘Oh, I’m sure it will do. And when it does they won’t be able to pass this stall by with all its delightful treats.’ Dad had always been one of her biggest cheerleaders.

  ‘It really does look wonderful,’ her mum commented as she took in the festive display.