Sweeter Than Chocolate


 
 
 
 Table Of Contents
 Chapter One
 Chapter Two
 Chapter Three
 Chapter Four
 Chapter Five
 Chapter Six
 Chapter Seven
 Chapter Eight
 Chapter Nine
 Chapter Ten
 Chapter Eleven
 Chapter Twelve
 Chapter Thirteen
 Chapter Fourteen
 Chapter Fifteen
 Chapter Sixteen
 Chapter Seventeen
 Chapter Eighteen
 Chapter Nineteen
 Chapter Twenty
 Chapter Twenty One
 Chapter Twenty Two
 Chapter Twenty Three
 Chapter Twenty Four
 Chapter Twenty Five
 Chapter Twenty Six
 Chapter Twenty Seven
 Chapter Twenty Eight
 Chapter Twenty Nine
 Chapter Thirty
 Chapter Thirty One
 Chapter Thirty Two
 Chapter Thirty Three
 Chapter Thirty Four
 Chapter Thirty Five
 Chapter Thirty Six
 Chapter Thirty Seven
 Chapter Thirty Eight
 Chapter Thirty Nine
 Chapter Forty
 Chapter Forty One
 Chapter Forty Two
 Chapter Forty Three
 Chapter Forty Four
 Chapter Forty Five
 Chapter Forty Six
 Chapter Forty Seven
 Chapter Forty Eight
 Chapter Forty Nine
 Epilogue
 
 
 
 Sweeter Than Chocolate
 Copyright @ 2021 Lizzie Shane
 
 All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereinafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.
 
 This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
 
 Print 978-1-952210-58-7
 eBook 978-1-952210-59-4
 
 www.hallmarkpublishing.com
 
 
 
 Chapter One
 There was nothing in the world so heavenly as the smell of fresh chocolate. Lucy Sweet had learned that at a very early age, standing at her great-grandmother’s knee in the kitchen of her family’s chocolate shop.
 Burned chocolate, on the other hand? Not so great.
 Which was why Lucy was currently hiding from the acrid, bitter scent—and the sneezing fit it had triggered—in the front area of How Sweet It Is. Her grandmother was training their new clerk, and Lucy was trying to stay out of their way, pretending to restock the display cases, while an ancient fan directed the charred chocolate fumes from the shop’s kitchen toward the back alley. Away from the sensitive noses of any potential customers.
 Lucy wasn’t in the habit of burning chocolate. But then she wasn’t normally as distracted as she was today, obsessing over the sign that had appeared this morning on the empty storefront across the street. 
 COMING SOON: LA VIE DOUCE. FRENCH DELICACIES.
 La vie douce. The sweet life. 
 Her stomach had been in knots ever since she’d spotted it, and the burned chocolate wasn’t the only casualty. She’d also ruined two batches of caramel before admitting to herself she was wasting her time…and ingredients.
 Fortunately, her grandmother was too busy assisting their slow trickle of customers and training Georgie to notice the kitchen mishaps. She didn’t want Nana Edda worrying. Lucy had taken over How Sweet It Is when her grandfather had passed. Keeping it running was her responsibility and no one else’s. And she would figure out how to stay afloat—even if another sweet shop was opening right across the street.
 Typically, when the shop was slow on a Friday afternoon, Lucy would retreat to the kitchen and take advantage of the quiet to whip up a batch of whichever sweet treat they were running low on, but she obviously couldn’t be trusted in the kitchen today. So instead, she crouched behind one of the display cases, rearranging it for the fourth time and trying to pretend she wasn’t quietly panicking, when the chimes over the etched-glass front door released a delicate cascade of sound, announcing a new customer.
 Lucy looked automatically toward the entrance. Her best friend of twenty-five years struck a dramatic pose in the doorway, head thrown back, one arm in the air. At the sight, a smile broke through Lucy’s La Vie Douce preoccupation. Lena could always be counted on to jolt Lucy out of her worry-spirals. She was a human tidal wave of energy, crashing through life and leaving chaos and laughter in her wake. 
 “It’s official.” Lena thrust her left arm forward, elbow locked, fingers down. “We’re engaged!” 
 The diamond ring sparkled in the sunlight streaming through the shop windows as Tyler, Lena’s boyfriend—no, fiancé, apparently—appeared in the doorway behind her. Tyler was tall and steady, as silent as Lena was talkative, and his lips quirked in an affectionate smile.
 At the opposite end of the L-shaped counter, Nana Edda squealed with delight. “Lena!” 
 Her grandmother rushed around the counter toward Lucy’s best friend, dragging the new clerk Georgie in her wake. Even the two teenage customers, who had been debating the merits of various cocoa bombs for the last five minutes, rushed to gather around the newly engaged couple, but for a single stunned moment, Lucy didn’t move.
 She crouched behind the display case, shock holding her in place as a single thought rang loud inside her mind. 
 She’s leaving me behind.
 She rallied quickly, shoving the thought away and kicking herself into motion, hurrying around the counter to join the knot of noisy congratulations and jewelry admiration. 
 Lena beamed, glowing with the attention. She looked so happy. Lucy couldn’t imagine why she’d felt that little flicker of hesitation. It wasn’t exactly a surprise. Lena had been hurtling toward this moment since the second she met Tyler nearly a year ago.
 “I thought for sure he was going to do it on Valentine’s Day,” Lena gushed to her eager audience. “Since that’s the anniversary of the day we met. But he knew I was expecting that and that I would obsess about every little detail, worrying about what I was going to wear, and whether I had anything in my teeth, so he surprised me last night. There we were, in the kitchen eating takeout kung pao chicken, and suddenly he’s down on one knee.”
 Lena shot her