Starting from Scratch by Stacy Gail

Author:Stacy Gail
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2013-11-22T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

“I can’t believe Bitterthorn is suffering a traffic jam.” Celia peeked out the sweet shop’s front window at the chaos going on beyond the glass. It was quite a feat to see anything out the shop’s front windows. They were now decorated with Celia’s artistic concept of a Christmas cookie factory run by a robust Mrs. Claus that resembled Pauline. Celia had been hired around the same time as Lucy to man the counters, but when she’d volunteered to paint the front windows with a summer theme, she proved herself to be far more valuable as the shop’s decorator. Manning the register was still her primary role, however, and it was a task she seemed happy to ignore as she tried to get a look at the madness going on beyond the shop.

“I wouldn’t call having to wait for Sheriff Berry to wave you through an intersection a traffic jam.” Since the ovens were now off and the pieces of Mayor Weems’s gingerbread house were ready for transportation tomorrow morning, Lucy did Celia’s job and rang up the last customer of the day. “Traffic is much worse in San Antonio. I’ll take Bitterthorn’s version of congestion any day.”

“Since I haven’t gotten my license yet, I guess I have to take your word for it.” With her dark eyes glued to the wall clock, she pounced on the front door the moment it was closing time, turning the dead bolt and flipping the sign to Closed. “You lived in the big city before you came back to Bitterthorn, didn’t you, Luce?”

“Bigger than Bitterthorn, but I wouldn’t call Fort Benning a big city.”

“Do you miss it?”

Surprised, Lucy hit a couple of keys on the register. “Every now and again, I guess. But Bitterthorn has everything a larger place has, Celia, believe me. Now come on over here and total up your receipts for the day.”

Celia groaned. “My totals always come out differently. Last week I did it three times and each time it came out a different number.”

“Willard’s still in the back office, he can help you if you need it.”

“I’d rather watch the mess Sheriff Berry’s making of the traffic flow while setting up tomorrow’s parade route. Omigod, there are the Brody boys.” A squeal escaped her before she waved with such wild abandon it would have been enough to flag down a ship passing Gilligan and the other castaways. “Aw, man. They didn’t see me.”

“They must be blind.”

“I know, right? Maybe I was hidden behind Mrs. Claus.”

“Or,” Lucy drawled, coming to hand the cash drawer to the teen, “they did see you, but decided they didn’t want to play with lovely, oh-so-tempting jailbait.”

“Another year and I won’t be.” With a sniff, Celia headed for the back office. “You’ve got no romance in your soul, Lucy, but I’m not like that. Maybe true love is only for the young.”

“I’m twenty-six,” Lucy began hotly, then gave up when she realized the door was already closing behind Celia. Who gave

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