Christmas Cocoa Read online

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  Vampire Hunting Isn't for Morons

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  Transformation

  Resurrection

  Repercussion

  Absolution

  Illumination

  Destruction

  Annihilation

  Obliteration

  Standalone

  The Doll Maker's Daughter at Christmas

  The Journey to Normal: Our Family's Life with Autism

  Ghosts of Southampton: The Complete Three Book Series

  The Clandestine Saga Books 1-3

  The Chronicles of Cassidy Books 1-4

  Watch for more at ID Johnson’s site.

  Christmas Cocoa

  Heartwarming Holidays Sweet Romance Book 2

  ID Johnson

  Copyright © 2017 by ID Johnson

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Cover by Sparrow Book Cover Designs

  https://www.facebook.com/sparrowbookdesigns/

  Created with Vellum

  For my nephew Payton who is a remarkable young man.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  A Note from the Author

  Chapter 1

  The crisp November breeze billowed around her, stirring up the leaves and sending them shooting up into the cobalt morning sky. Delaney Young could sense the sun still sound asleep on the other side of the mountains, not yet ready to climb from beneath the solace of her blanket of fluffy cirrus clouds, content to put the day off a bit longer in order to catch a few more moments of undisturbed slumber. For Delaney, however, being a baker often meant rising long before most of the residents of Charles Town, West Virginia, ever left their last refreshing cycle of REM sleep, and as she hurried to her red Dodge Charger, she was thankful that she had a career she loved and enough energy to unwrap herself from her comforter and the land of dreams.

  The dashboard clock said it wasn’t quite 4:30. It was cold outside, but not frigid enough to take more than one crank to start her car, despite the fact that she had left it in the carport the night before instead of driving the few hundred yards more to the unattached garage her grandfather had built decades ago. Once the threat of snow became more certain, she’d go the extra mile, but for now, at least there was a bit of cover and easy access to the kitchen entry of the farmhouse she shared with her grandmother.

  Delaney turned to look behind her as she backed down the winding driveway that led to the country road she’d lived on most of her life. There was very little traffic this time of day, or any time of day, for that matter, and she made her way onto the lane with no problems. The heater hadn’t quite had a chance to thaw her fingers yet, so she rubbed her hands together and blew into them for a moment before pointing the car in the direction of town and easing her foot onto the gas pedal.

  Even though the three-bedroom farmhouse, complete with picket fence and chicken coop, was a few miles outside of town, it never took her more than ten minutes to get to the downtown area where her bakery, Delaney’s Delights, fit in nicely amidst the other quaint little stores one might expect to see in any antiquated shopping area in one of thousands of similar communities around the country. Yet, there was no doubt in Delaney’s mind as she pulled onto the main highway leading to Charles Town that this community was special. While other graduates of her class from Washington High School had complained about boredom and busybodies, claiming they would do whatever they could to get away as soon as possible, Delaney had always known she would never leave Charles Town, and as soon as she had graduated from culinary school in Frederick, Maryland, which really wasn’t even that far away, she had returned to start her own bakery, a dream she’d had ever since she was a little girl burning her fingers on the Easy-Bake Oven her grandmother had purchased for her for Christmas when she was four.

  Delaney’s grandmother, Nora Jean, or Nana, as everyone lovingly called her, had needed someone to move in with her about the same time, and things had just worked out that, as soon as Delaney returned from school, she could live in the farmhouse and keep an eye on her aging grandparent. Even though Papa Fred had passed away when Delaney was a little girl, she had wonderful memories of walking the dirt path between her own home and her grandparents’ modest dwelling. Summers filled with fishing on the pond, chasing lightning bugs with her older brother and cousins, and listening to Papa play the harmonica had been reason enough to compel her to take the upstairs bedroom that had been her father’s when he was a little boy and help Nana take care of household chores and remember to take her medicine. At seventy-two, she was beginning to show her age, even though she could still get around quite well and would have never admitted to anyone that she needed help. She would say that she missed her only granddaughter, however, and when Delaney asked her if she’d like some company, Nana had gladly accepted Delaney’s request to become her roommate.

  The living arrangement had certainly helped with the bills. She’d received a good scholarship to attend culinary school but had some student loans to consider. On top of that, she had rent on the bakery due the first of every month, and while the space itself wasn’t large, it was in the prime shopping area of the little town. Many of the buildings on that side of the street, including the bakery, belonged to Mr. Henry Gaston, and while he was a fair landlord, like everyone else, he wanted his money when it was due. It had been a bit intimidating taking on such a responsibility fresh out of school, but now, four years later, Delaney’s business was doing quite well, and she was able to employ a full-time worker, as well as several part-timers who often took the shifts Delaney would rather not have herself—like weekends, afternoons, and occasionally early mornings, though most of the time Delaney still preferred to come in early and get the baking done herself. She didn’t trust a whole lot of people with her recipes, particularly her award winning cocoa recipe which was extremely popular this time
of year.

  Delaney pulled her car into her usual spot behind the building in the “employee only” parking lot for the area and rested her head back against the black leather seat for a moment. She had always been a morning person, and sometimes she liked to take a moment to enjoy one last minute of solitude before she jumped into her day. The sky was still completely dark, and though she knew there were a few other shop owners nearby embarking on their Thursday, she could neither hear nor see anyone else in the world, which made her feel both important and insignificant at the same time. In this wide world full of billions of people, she was the only one occupying this particular spot at this particular moment. What might this day have in store for her? As she pulled her keys from the ignition and grabbed her purse, she was full of optimism, even though chances were this day would be a blur of baking and customers, of exhaustion and aching feet, and then of moments around the kitchen table listening to her grandmother chat about days gone by. Nevertheless, some days did tend to be more significant than others, so Delaney chose to start off each one with the hope that this one would be special.

  By the time her co-worker, Edie Strawn, made her way in the back door at a quarter to seven, Delaney had given up on the idea that this Thursday would be anything special. She’d already made dozens of doughnuts, muffins, croissants, and more pots of coffee and cocoa than she could count. She was just starting to make a batch of what she referred to as “afternoon goodies,” usually cookies or cakes, items people tended to request later in the day, and was happy to have someone man the front counter while she tended to the oven.

  “Mornin’,” Edie called, closing the door and sneaking her purse into their secret hiding spot. “Been busy?”

  “Yes,” Delaney called, wiping flour off of her hands onto her apron. “I’m not sure what’s going on, but I swear business has picked up this month. If it keeps up, I’m going to have to find someone to cover this first hour. I can’t get everything done that I used to in that hour between opening and when you come in.”

  “More business is good,” Edie said, tying a matching red apron around her waist. She was about ten years older than Delaney, in her mid-thirties, with red, curly hair that tended to have a mind of its own. She was also taller and wider, with a no-nonsense attitude and two children at home she was practically raising on her own since her husband was a truck driver who worked long hours and didn’t come home nearly as often as Edie would’ve liked. She was a hard worker, though, and Delaney had hired her the week she’d opened her bakery. Edie had never called in sick or missed a shift for any reason, and Delaney tended to think of her more as a partner than an employee.

  “That’s true. More business is good,” Delaney agreed, opening the oven and sliding two cookie sheets full of super-sized chocolate chip cookies inside. “But I don’t know who I can get to come in that early. The high school kids won’t want to get up and work an hour or so before making it to school, and it’s really hard to find anyone else willing to get up at the crack of dawn.”

  “I wish I could help you out,” Edie said, checking a tray of muffins on the cooling rack to see if they were ready to put out, “but I can’t drop off Billy and Samantha any earlier.”

  “Oh, I know,” Delaney replied as the bell over the door out front let them know that they had another customer. “I’ll figure something out. Maybe I should put a notice up or something.”

  “That’s a good idea,” Edie called over her shoulder as she made her way to the counter. “We could use someone for an hour or two. Especially if it stays this busy until Christmas. And maybe someone will be looking for some extra money this time of year.”

  Delaney heard her greeting Mr. Williams, one of their regulars, so she didn’t bother responding, but she did think putting a “Help Wanted” sign on the door was a good idea. She wasn’t sure what kind of help she might get for a few hours each morning, but it wouldn’t hurt to start looking. It seemed more and more people were trickling into town bright and early and deciding to stop off for a morning treat on their way to work. While she usually recognized almost every customer who came by, this morning there had been several she didn’t know, and a few had mentioned they usually drove right on by Charles Town on their way to surrounding cities for work, but they’d recently heard of the quaint downtown area and had decided to give it a try. Whatever was bringing people in, Delaney wouldn’t complain, but she’d either find some help or fall over trying to get everything done at once. Otherwise, she’d have to get up even earlier to get everything prepped before the customers started rolling in, and while she loved getting up early, setting her alarm for anything before 3:45 seemed almost impossible. Somewhere in the misty hours of the morning, there was a line that divided night owls and early birds, and Delaney wasn’t too keen on discovering what that magical time might be.

  One good thing about being busy was that the day tended to fly by. Delaney tended to stay at the bakery longer than necessary most days, but when they were particularly busy like they were today, her day went even longer. The afternoons were covered by a couple of high school girls who usually made their way in around 3:30 depending upon whether or not they had meetings after school. By the time Joanna Kinney and Courtney Tobak arrived, Delaney had already put in at least eight hours, often closer to nine, and while Edie tended to stay until 4:00 most days, she was supposed to be off at 3:00. The day was spent chatting with customers, refilling the display case, wiping off the half-dozen tables where more and more people were tending to enjoy their treats, and trying to bake more of whatever was selling best, which today seemed to be chocolate croissants and banana nut muffins. At 3:20, Delaney looked up at the clock and realized she hadn’t even taken a lunch break.

  Hustling back into the kitchen to throw a tray of brownies in the oven, Delaney heard the back door open and looked up to see Joanna’s smiling face. Delaney chose to use the word “dainty” to describe the slight blonde. She wore glasses and had frizzy hair which she usually wore in a ponytail, though the tendrils that framed her face refused to be tamed. A junior at Washington High, her mother dropped her off and picked her up most days as she still hadn’t gotten her driver’s license, and Delaney knew she was a bit socially awkward due to her overwhelming shyness. “Hey, there, Joanna!” Delaney said with a warm smile, sliding the brownies into the oven and double-checking the temperature. “How was school?”

  “Good,” Joanna replied as she tied her apron around her waist.

  Delaney knew the chances of her saying more without a prompt were slim to none, so she asked about a project she knew she was working on. “Did you get to work on your proton model today?”

  “Uh, yeah,” Joanna nodded, pushing her glasses up with her index finger. “We got a little bit of time to work on it in class.”

  “That’s good.” Delaney smiled at her, hoping to somehow pass off some of her own enthusiasm to the girl, though none of her other attempts had ever been successful. Joanna stood in front of her for a moment, as if she couldn’t decide whether or not the conversation was over. She took a step toward the front, like she wanted to pass Delaney by and go tend to whatever needed doing in the shop, and Delaney sighed, stepping backward out of the way. While she was hopeful that, eventually, with some effort, she could bring the girl out of her shell, she was too tired to give it much attention right now, and a few minutes later, the back door opened again, this time the whirlwind that always accompanied Courtney hitting Delaney in the face along with the chilly November wind.

  “Oh, my gosh, Delaney,” Courtney was saying, perhaps even before she was fully inside. “You will not believe what happened at lunch today!” Before Delaney even had a chance to attempt a guess, the brunette with long, free-flowing hair, complete with red lowlights, launched into a story about how one of her friends had asked some boy to the Winter Formal in front of the entire lunchroom, and he said no, embarrassing her friend, but also embarrassing Courtney who had to eat lunch next to her as if nothing had happene
d. At the end of the long-winded story, which contained more “likes” than Delaney could even, like, count, Courtney said, “Ooh, so needless to say, I won’t be able to make my shift Saturday, if that’s okay.”

  Confused, Delaney leaned back against the prep counter behind her. “I’m sorry—I guess I didn’t quite follow that, Courtney. Why do you need to miss your shift on Saturday?”

  Courtney sighed in a way only a teenage girl can do. “Because I have to go get my dress for the dance. Like I said, Holly is hoping that Rich will change his mind, so she’s going to go ahead and get her dress. Well, I have to go with her. I mean, it isn’t like I can let her go by herself. And if she gets hers before I do, I could totes end up with the same dress, and that would not be cool. Anyway, I haven’t asked off in, like, three weeks. So—you don’t mind, right?”

  Delaney wasn’t sure she understood the logic at all, but part of the risk in hiring teenagers was recognizing that they might need off from time to time, so even though she knew that meant she would have to cover the Saturday shift—something she wasn’t particularly excited about—she nodded. “Okay. What is it ten to two?”

  “Yup. Oh, thanks, D—you’re the best!” Courtney said flinging her arms around Delaney’s neck. Before she could respond, Courtney was off to the front, joining her exact opposite, Joanna, behind the counter as Edie greeted her and then came to the back. Delaney realized she was still leaning on the counter, the same puzzled expression likely still on her face.

  “You okay there?” Edie asked, nudging her as she took her apron off and tossed it over her arm.