Christmas Cocoa Read online

  Nearing the farm, he finally pushed thoughts of Delaney out of his mind, which allowed another perplexing issue to creep into his awareness. He hadn’t been too surprised the week before when his father had told him he’d like to retire soon—and that the only person he trusted to take over the farm was Josh. While he’d been honored to hear his father talk about how his responsibility and understanding of how to cultivate the land and care for the trees made him proud, Josh had always assumed his older brother would take over the farm when his dad was ready to hang up his saw and shovel the final time. Kent had explained that his oldest son, Travis, just didn’t have the work ethic Josh had, and he was fairly certain Travis wouldn’t want to leave his position at the car dealership anyway. He was good to work on the weekends a few times a year, but that was it. Josh was the one who understood how Taylor Tree Farm needed to be run, how making Christmas magic was an honor and a privilege. Kent said he knew that Josh liked his life in Washington but that Josh’s home was here, with his family, working the land.

  Josh had told his father he’d think about it—and that’s exactly what he was doing now as he pulled the truck and trailer into the drive that led to the house. He’d spent many years and lots of money on student loans to get his degree in computer science, and while he wasn’t fond of passing long days cooped up in an office, he did enjoy his work. He didn’t get a lot of recognition or appreciation, but the company he worked for was a good one, despite it being a headhunting firm, and he had made several friends over the past four years in the big city as well. The question had caught him off-guard, and he definitely needed to consider his options. While he enjoyed working alongside his father and the rest of his family for these few weeks each year between Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve, taking on the farm full-time was an option he’d never really given much thought to. Not only was it potentially a lot less income, there was also a chance he could lose the whole thing with a failed crop or two.

  He pulled the truck into its usual spot, the best for loading the trees once they were brought in, and climbed down from the cab. Glancing at the time, he knew that his father, brother, and the rest of the crew would still be out in the western acreage gathering trees for next weekend. He intended to head out there, but first he wanted to stop by the shops and see how his mother and nieces were doing. He’d spotted several cars in the lot on his way in, and they hadn’t asked for a lot of help actually selling the trees, so she may have needed a hand. Josh climbed aboard one of several ATVs and headed off in the direction of the Christmas village he and his father had built a few years ago, hoping his mother hadn’t been overly busy all day.

  It took just a few minutes for him to cover the half-mile or so that brought him to the parking lot next to the village. He pulled to a stop near the fence and noticed at least a half dozen cars in the lot, which was pretty good for this late in the afternoon still in the month of November. He stepped inside and saw a few families milling about, some looking at pre-cut trees, another standing outside the reindeer pen. There was a gift shop where his mother generally hung out, ringing up trees and other assorted Christmas collectibles. She also sold her baked goods in a candy shoppe next door, as well as hot drinks—though in retrospect Josh wasn’t sure he could ever call the concoction they mixed up here hot cocoa after having tasted Delaney’s. Though the stores appeared to be separate entities from the outside, there was a large walkway between them on the interior, which allowed Lydia to monitor both sides and help guests with collectibles and candy at the same time.

  Josh was relieved to see his nephew, Payton, helping a customer at the tree shaker. Most of the time, they shook excessive needles off of trees as they brought them into the village, but whenever a customer cut their own tree down, it would need to be shaken before it could be tied up and strapped to their vehicle. This was not a job his mother was particularly good at, and Payton was one of the more reliable teenagers in the crew even though he was also one of the youngest. Josh gave him a quick wave before he headed toward the shop to see if his mother was managing the customers okay while keeping an eye on his nieces, Bridgette and Chloe.

  Lydia was working at the crafting table she had set up near the cash register when Josh walked in. Bridgette and Chloe were giggling, ribbons and glitter everywhere, and Lydia had a smile on her face. Josh knew Lydia loved all of her children and grandchildren, but these two gifts from his brother Travis were her pride and joy.

  “Girls, I think you got more glitter in your hair than on the ornaments!” Lydia laughed, brushing a strand of sparkly blonde hair out of Bridgette’s face.

  “What are you girls up to?” Josh asked with a smile.

  “Uncle Josh!” both little ladies proclaimed as they skipped over to him and wrapped their arms around him.

  “We’re making ornaments,” Chloe said in her sweet baby voice.

  “And mine is gold and silver!” Bridgette added. Her smile was missing one front tooth on top, and with her freckles and pigtails, Josh couldn’t help but think she’d look perfect on a Norman Rockwell Christmas card.

  “That looks like so much fun.” He squeezed both girls and then waited for them to let him go so that he could check in with his mom. A scurry of footsteps and flying dress hems later, the girls were back behind the table carefully selecting their next glitter colors.

  “How was your drive?” Lydia asked, patting her youngest son on the cheek. “Everything go okay?”

  “Yeah, just fine,” Josh replied, stopping in front of the counter. There were no customers in the shop right now, but he could tell from bare spots on a few shelves that his mother had been busy. “You able to manage down here?”

  “It’s been a challenge,” Lydia admitted with a chuckle. “We haven’t been this busy in November for as long as I can remember. But Payton came down to help, and the girls have been assisting with the candy selections, so we’ve been making it.”

  “Assisting with the selections or sampling the candy?” Josh asked, resting his hands on his hips and giving the girls a mischievous look. He could tell by their giggles they’d had a few pieces themselves.

  Lydia lovingly ran her hand across each girl’s hair. “Both, I do believe,” she admitted. “It’s been fun though.” Leaning in, she added, “I can’t say I’ll be able to manage them every weekend, but today has been memorable.”

  Josh nodded, giving a chuckle. He knew what she meant. The closer they got to Christmas, the busier it would be, and they would need to bring in even more help to make sure no customer had to wait too long to get what they needed. “Well, I just wanted to swing by and check on you before I head up to help dad. I assume he’s still over in the western acreage?”

  “He is,” she confirmed. “They’ve brought in three loads already, and he said they had at least one more to get in today. And then they’ll all need shook, tied, and some of them loaded… all that fun stuff.”

  “Right,” Josh nodded, knowing full well how the routine went since he’d been helping his father with the process since he was about Bridgette’s age, though things had gotten a lot busier the last few years. “Do you need anything before I head out?”

  “No, I think we’ve got it handled,” Lydia said, still smiling.

  “Good,” Josh replied. “Holler if you need one of us.”

  “Will do!” Lydia assured him.

  “Bye, princesses,” Josh said, lovingly patting each girls’ head.

  “You’re not going to stay and make ornaments wiff us?” Bridgette asked, struggling with the T-H sound because of her missing tooth.

  “Not today,” he replied. “I’ve got to go help Grandpa with the trees.”

  Though both of their little faces looked crestfallen at first, a quick redirection from Grandma got them interested in a new shade of glitter, and Josh was able to make his way out the door, glancing briefly over his shoulder at the two little angels as he made his way to the ATV. He was hopeful that someday he’d find the right woman and settle down which
would allow him to contribute his own little cherubs to the grandchildren pool. For now, he would try to focus on Christmas trees, though, as he started up the four-wheeler, his thoughts of starting a family led him back to the beautiful smile of a certain baker, and he spent the few minutes it took riding out to join his father wondering what sort of a mother Delaney might one day be.

  Delaney had just finished adding her secret ingredient to the cocoa mixture and putting its container back into the hiding place where she kept it so that the other employees wouldn’t suspect that’s what made her cocoa so much better than everyone else’s when she heard a knock on the back door. She glanced at the clock on the wall and saw that it was twenty till 6:00, which meant Cameron was five minutes early, a good sign on his first day. She brushed her hands off on her apron and went to let him in.

  “Good morning, Miss Delaney,” he said, a bright smile on his face indicating that he must be a morning person.

  “Hi there, Cameron,” Delaney, said stepping back so that he could enter the bakery. “You can just call me Delaney.”

  “Oh, okay,” he replied, a sheepish grin on his face. He was dressed in khakis again with a nice button down shirt, and this one appeared to have been freshly ironed, judging by the creases. He had a backpack slung over one shoulder, which Delaney assumed was for school later. “I brought the paperwork you needed.” He handed her the requested documents.

  “Awesome,” Delaney said. “If you want to grab a damp cloth and go wash down the front counter and the tables, I’ll get this taken care of. You can put your backpack over here,” she said, gesturing to the place where the ladies stored their purses.

  “Yes, miss,” Cameron answered as he slid his backpack off and placed it in the specified location.

  “You really don’t have to be so polite.” Delaney stepped over to the little area where she kept the “business” part of the bakery. She had a small desk next to a filing cabinet. Without even sitting down, she began to fill out the paperwork she’d need in order to formally hire him. “You make me feel old.”

  “Sorry,” Cameron muttered, and Delaney glanced up to see some color in his cheeks. “My mom always tells me it’s important to be polite.”

  “Your mom is right,” Delaney agreed writing Cameron’s date of birth into the appropriate box and shuddering to see that he was so much younger than her. Almost a decade…. “But we are all friends around here.”

  “I’ll try to remember that,” he said as he grabbed the cloth she’d asked him to get and dampened it. “What’s this?” he asked, peering into the large metal container where Delaney kept her finished cocoa mix.

  She glanced over her shoulder. “Oh, that’s my cocoa. It’s a secret recipe. I’ll finish it in just a second. Just be careful not to get it wet—or spill it.” Images of the dark powder tumbling to the ground filled her mind, and she secretly prayed that Cameron wasn’t a klutz like one of the other kids she’d hired last year who couldn’t seem to keep anything in its container.

  “That’s cool,” Cameron replied, and Delaney wondered if he really thought it was cool or if he was still being mannerly. Cameron went off to the front of the store, and she could hear him wiping everything down, the screech of chair legs on tile letting her know he was being thorough. Technically, nothing really needed wiping as she had just disinfected everything when she came in about an hour ago, but it was something easy for him to do that didn’t take a demonstration or careful directions.

  Once she was done, she called, “I have your paperwork back for you, Cameron.”

  He appeared in the doorway. “That was fast.”

  “It’s not so hard when you’re a small business. If you’ll come over here, I have a few things for you to sign and then you can put these away.”

  Cameron put the dirty rag on the sink, washed his hands, and wiped them on a paper towel before tossing it and coming over to the desk. A few minutes later, he was an official employee, and Delaney gave him a high five before stepping past him to go turn the lights on up front and flip the sign. It was time for Delaney’s Delights to open.

  Luckily, they weren’t too busy for a Monday morning, and she was able to show Cameron how to use the cash register. She also showed him how to make the coffee and where they kept everything he would need for making all of the various drinks they offered, including the cocoa. Once she was sure he had the hang of it, she returned to the kitchen to finish making her secret concoction, though she did come up front for the first two customers. By then, Cameron had proven he was able to handle the work, and Delaney returned to the kitchen, a smile on her face.

  Delaney went about making sure they had plenty of fresh treats on hand just in case they got busy and between batches, she went up front to check on Cameron and show him how to refill cups, lids, straws, and other items when he wasn’t with a customer. She also showed him where they kept the list of other work that could be done if he wasn’t busy. Once she returned to the kitchen, she heard him talking with one of their regulars, Mrs. Sampson, and smiled. The kid really seemed to know what he was doing.

  As Delaney finished mixing a batch of muffins, her mind began to wander. She’d spent most of the weekend thinking about the conversations she’d had with Josh—the tree farmer from Shepherdstown. She couldn’t quite put her finger on what it was, but she couldn’t get him off of her mind. Maybe it was that heartwarming smile, or the way his hazel eyes sparkled when he talked about Christmas. While she knew chances were she wouldn’t see him again, she was hopeful that maybe he would stop by, and every time the door chimed, she secretly hoped it was him.

  She knew she was acting silly. The goofy grin she’d been wearing most of the day before wasn’t lost on her grandmother, and she’d had to make up a story about one of the customers telling a joke in order to get out of it, ending with, “I think you had to be there.” But still, after Bradley had broken her heart, Delaney wasn’t sure she’d ever be interested in dating again. If nothing else, it was nice to know that spark of interest could still be lit when the right guy came along. Whether or not Josh Taylor was that guy remained to be seen, particularly if he never returned to Delaney’s Delights. How would one go about hunting him down if he didn’t come back for another cup of cocoa?

  “Miss… I mean, Delaney?” Cameron called from the doorway, startling her back into reality.

  “Oh, hey, Cameron,” Delaney said, hoping her face wasn’t red as she brushed her hair off of her forehead with the back of her hand, glad she hadn’t dumped the muffin mix when she jumped. “What’s up?”

  “Are you okay?” he asked, clearly holding back a grin.

  “Yeah. Just… thinking. I guess I forgot you were here.”

  He smiled and nodded. “It’s almost time for me to go to school, and I was just wondering if there was anything else you’d like for me to do before I go.”

  Delaney looked up at the clock hanging on the wall above her head and saw that he only had five more minutes before he needed to take off if he was going to get to school on time. “Are there any customers right now?” she asked, unable to see the front from where she stood.

  “No,” Cameron replied. “And I refilled everything and wiped the tables and counter down. I also washed the front window and the glass in the door.”

  Her face lit up. “You’re so good!” she said, putting the muffins aside and stepping over to him. “I guess there’s nothing else for now then. You can put your dirty apron in that bin over there, and I’ll get you a clean one tomorrow. Eventually, I’ll get one with your name embroidered on it.” She knew Nana would be excited to get to make an apron for a new employee, especially since this one was a male—something new and interesting to chat about with the ladies at church, no doubt.

  “All right,” Cameron said as he untied his apron and approached the dirty laundry bin. After he tossed it in, he looked around for a moment awkwardly, and Delaney wondered what he might be thinking. “So… tomorrow then?”

  “Oh, r
ight!” she replied, realizing she hadn’t even talked to him about a schedule. “Yes, if you could come every morning at this same time, that would be great.”

  “Cool,” he replied, with a smile.

  “You’re sure you’ll make it to school on time?” she asked, glancing at the clock again.

  “Oh, yeah,” he answered, slinging his backpack on. “I’m a fast peddler, and it’s not that far.”

  Delaney hadn’t realized he didn’t have a car until that very moment. It made sense though. Why would a kid who needed a job to help out his family have a car? She thought it was too bad he wouldn’t be able to save his paychecks to get one either. “Okay—well be careful on your way to school. You did a great job today, Cameron. Thanks again.”

  “Thank you,” he said, with a smile. He waved at her and made his way out the back door. As he went, Delaney absently thought she needed to make sure he could pick up some hours on the weekend, if he wanted them, to help with his situation at home and maybe let him earn enough for some wheels. Business was booming right now; it just made sense that she’d let him work if he wanted to. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be making much more than a hundred bucks a week before taxes and that wasn’t enough to help his family and still have some money for himself. He was a good kid, and if today’s performance was any indicator of what she could expect, she hoped he’d be working for her until he graduated from high school and went on to college.

  Just to be safe, Delaney went to the front and checked the till. She added up what she’d started the day with and looked at receipts to see what had been sold. Everything added up correctly, and with a sigh of relief, she muttered, “And he’s not a thief. Good kid, that Cameron.” The bell over the door rang, making her jump, and Delaney forced a smile at one of her regulars, even though she was disappointed it wasn’t Josh Taylor. As she went about fixing Mr. Eberson’s cocoa, she wondered if Josh Taylor would ever enter her establishment again. She certainly hoped so.