The Cosy Seaside Chocolate Shop by Caroline Roberts

Author:Caroline Roberts [Caroline Roberts]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2018-06-10T16:00:00+00:00

28

On Saturday morning Emma lay in bed in a bleary fog. She’d already pressed twice on the snooze button on her alarm. She’d heard the ‘For Sale’ sign creaking in the wind in the night, taunting her. She’d tossed and turned, trying to come up with some way out of this nightmare situation, until her head and heart were sore. Now she felt totally wrung out. This really needed to be the biggest duvet day ever.

Alfie had managed to sneak in at some point and was there on the covers beside her.

‘Oh, Alfie boy.’ His fur was soft and warm under Em’s palm as she gently stroked him and he snuggled closer. Thank heavens for our four-legged friends.

She let a few stray tears hit the pillow.

‘Come on, Emma,’ a small voice inside began to kick in. ‘You’ve fought bigger things than this.’ And she had, she really had. But this morning it felt like the final straw, the kick in the balls that brought you tumbling down. She lay there a little longer, with her arm around Alfie.

On the third snooze alarm, she forced herself up. The shop had to open, after all.

She blasted herself under a warm shower, letting it stream down over her. Walking into the kitchen to make some tea and toast, she turned on the radio which was playing ‘Life is a Rollercoaster’. Hah, she’d had enough of that particular rollercoaster for now.

Despite it all, she forged her way through the day on autopilot, bravely fielding queries from her customers about the estate agent’s ‘For Sale’ sign that was hoisted up on the front of her shop like a stake through her heart. Her hopes and dreams for the future up in smoke once again. Why was her life such a bloody car crash?

She so needed some time out – which was why, soon after closing time, she was heading off down the hill with a bottle of rosé and a picnic basket of goodies to Nate’s beach BBQ. She’d found some pork sausages she’d bought from the local butcher in the freezer, and had some brownies left over in the shop that she’d cut down into smaller squares and put in a Tupperware box. That’d do.

It looked as though the weather was going to hold, and though clouds were starting to gather there was no sign of rain as yet. It was a warm evening too, a bonus. Past the harbour she went and into the dune car park, where she passed what must be Nate’s camper van, making her way down the sandy track to the beach. She could hear sounds of chatter and laughter, as though the group had already gathered. And as she came out on to the sands there they were, about twenty people so far.

‘Hi, Nate. Hi, all,’ she called, smiling as she approached. It was always slightly daunting when you didn’t know many of the gathering that well, Nate having made friends with more of the younger group in the village.

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