Sweetheart Cottage (Cranberry Bay #1) (17 page)

Look for the second book in the Cranberry Bay Series in June 2016.

Please enjoy the first chapter of Mindy’s Young Adult Romance,
Weaving Magic

Shantel

I read the letter and stuck it in my
purse. My heart pounded but there was nothing I could do about any of it right now. The
best thing was to pretend nothing was wrong, just like I always did when trouble found me. I
pasted a smile on my face and pulled open
the screened back door of the bakery. The smell
of freshly baked bread and coffee brewing
always made
me
grateful
Mia
owned
a
bakery
and
not something like a fish market. I spent a lot of time at the bakery. Mia relied on me to help out when she
had to be at home with baby Owen. I didn’t mind
so much. After I’d pop the muffins or scones
into the oven, I could usually steal a few minutes
to work on
homework.

I
grabbed
an
apron
from
the
red
hook
by
the large stove and slipped my purse under
the counter. Tying the apron around my waist,
I made my way to the front. Funny, there were
no customers. Usually, on a Saturday morning,
the bakery
was
packed.
But
before
I
could
say
anything, Mia appeared in front of me with a tray of chocolate truffles. Her dark curly hair framed
her round face, and her eyes were shadowed
with dark
circles.

“Try one?” she
asked.

“Mmm…” I took one of the chocolate
balls, as the bright red painted tulip on the
tray caught my eye. Mia believed tulips should
be
everywhere. Tulips sat in small, red and
blue vases on the round bakery tables. Tulip
pictures covered the walls of the bathroom—both
men and women. There were even sugar
cookies in the shape of tulips. Mia thought tulips
were the
best
way
to
remind
people
the
small
valley town had something
special to share.

Local folks knew if it weren’t for the
tulip festival, tourists would never stop
in Riverview. They would just keep driving past
on their way up to the Canadian Border. But
every spring, around Easter, the annual Tulip
Festival drew millions of people to the fields to snap
pictures of the colorful red and yellow blooms.
People crowded the shops and restaurants,
and sometimes, some of them returned later in
the year to enjoy a peaceful weekend
strolling around the brick buildings and poking into
the boutique and antique
shops.

The chocolate oozed around inside
my mouth and I bit back a moan. Mia never made chocolate truffles
unless there
was
something
special,
like
a
wedding
or an engagement party. She always said
chocolate was too much work for a small bakery.
“What’s the occasion?”

“It’s
for…
“Mia
bit
down
on
her
lip
and swallowed hard. Her face paled and the dark
circles seemed to stand out even
more.

I touched Mia’s shoulder gently. I loved Mia and I never liked to see her hurting. She was only eight years older than me and more like
a sister
than
an
aunt.
But
Mia
and
I
handled
life very differently. Now, as her shoulders shook.
I wanted to tell her to just pretend life worked
out. Pretend everything was fine. Just like when
we were kids, and Mia and I pretended to set up
our own bakery. And look what happened.
Mia owned the best bakery in
town.

Wasn’t it enough for chocolate candy to be delicious?
Did we
really
have
to
talk
about
the
reason
for
the chocolates? I picked up a paperback romance
lying on the counter. I moved my tongue over
my lips, in what I thought might pass for a slow,
sensual movement the authors wrote in the
ro
mance stories I loved. I even let out a small
sigh as if the chocolate was as good as a kiss. I
didn’t ever tell anyone that, although I am fifteen,
the only kissing I ever did was at Adam's
seventh grade party. And that kiss was only because
Adam made a mistake in the dark and thought I
was Courtney. When he found out it was me,
he quickly pulled away and muttered
something like, “Wrong girl,” before he scrambled
towards the kitchen. Mortified, I pretended Adam
really did like me, and he’d just needed to run to
the kitchen for a glass of
water.

“I
miss
her,”
Mia
said.
“I
know
the
chocolates won’t bring her back. But…” She
blinked back
a
small
tear
in
the
left
corner
of
her
eye.
“I just miss
her.”

Stop.
I wanted to reach out and shake
Mia.
Just stop.
We don’t have to talk about this. We
can play the pretend game. My pulse pounded. We
needed
to play the
pretend game. “What’s this about?” I asked
brightly as I flipped the pages of the paperback. “A
pirate who
captures
a
maiden?
Two
people
who
hate each other and are stranded at an inn by a
snow storm? You know the last one we read was
really good.” Play along with the pretend game,
I pleaded silently.  Please.  Pretend.  It will all be better if we can just
pretend.

Mia pulled out a tissue from her
apron pocket, and blew her nose. The tissue
looked pretty scruffy and I thought she could use a
new one. Quickly, I turned and grabbed my
purse from under the counter. I loved my bag.
I’d found
the
scrap
material
in
an
old
costume
box
left outside the children’s theater. ‘Free’
was printed
in
bold
black
letters
across
the
top.
It’d been
easy
to
sew
it
together,
and
the
purse
was roomy enough to fit everything—especially
my romance
paperbacks.

I grabbed a bag of tissues and my tablet. I couldn’t wait to show Mia how
I would be reading the romances. “Look what
I bought,”
I
said
as
I
pressed
the
on
button.
“Do you know how many romance books I can hold at one time?” I’d already loaded the reader
with five romance
e-books.

“I like my books,” Mia said, and
sniffed.

“But, this keeps what I read secret.” I winked. Everyone always assumed that, as
the State Science Champion of the Year, I would
be
reading something scientific and factual. But
my favorite stories where about kind
Sebastian sweeping independent and feisty Cassandra off her
feet.
Mia
introduced
me
to the world of romance. It didn’t take much to hook me, and I convinced Mia to form a
book club that only read romance. Each month, we met at the bakery and dove into the steamy
love stories. Romance book club was my favorite
part of
the
month.
I
could
have
lived
and
breathed romance books. “So what are we reading
this month?”

Mia wiped her eyes, and tucked the
tissue back into her pocket. “I’m not sure about the
title, but I think the main character is a scientist.” Mia slid the chocolates off the tray onto a thin
platter.

“Perfect.” I’d been dreaming how, one day, my own Sebastian would walk into my life, and I’d have my happily ever after. Oh, we’d
probably fight at first—isn’t that what happened in
all romance stories? But then, we’d see how
happy we made each other, and live happily ever
after.

Mia reached under the counter and
pulled out
a
small
stack
of
gold
embossed
paper
cups. She sat down on a red stool, behind the
counter, and began to wrap each piece of chocolate in
the paper. With her left hand, Mia pushed the
paper cups toward
me.

“Where is everyone this morning?” The tables
didn’t
have
a
single
crumb
or
used
cup
on them. The tins of coffee were all still
full.

“Street fair,” Mia
said.

“Right!” I was supposed to help at
the Children’s Theater Street Tent. I took a quick look at the watch on my wrist. The watch
bracelet
was
a
gift
from
Dad
and
I
rarely
took
it
off. On my thirteenth birthday, we had gone into
Seattle and spent the day walking through
Fremont and Wallingford looking for just the right
gift. When we’d gotten home, instead of lying in
bed, Mom made dinner and set the table with her
special blue and gold
china. That day was one of the good
days.

“Shantel,” Mia said
softly. “If you want to talk…”

“I’m
fine.”
I
waved
my
hand
airily
at
her. “You know,” I said, “today could
be
the
day
when
I
find
my
happily-ever-after.”

Mia only gave me one of her looks, and
I grimaced at her. Finding a happily ever after was much
easier than thinking about those chocolate truffles
or letters.

* * *

By the time the town square clock chimed one o’clock, I was a sweaty mess
and we’d run out of the stepping stones at the Children’s Theater street fair tent.  Both the theater’s manager, Gloria, and I had
been
busy since the booth opened. Children and parents packed the tables and I didn’t
see how
either
one
of
us
could
leave
to
fetch
more stones from the hardware store across
town.

On the other side of the booth,
Gloria helped a young girl insert a broken dish
piece into mortar on a stone. The girl’s anxious
mother stood nearby. My throat closed and I
quickly looked away.

Don’t think about it, I admonished
myself, and smiled at
Gloria. Unlike Mia, Gloria would not pester me about today. Gloria and Mia had been best friends for
as long as I could remember. They attended
high school together, and both decided to stay in Riverview. Gloria
ran the Children’s Theater and always needed
to raise money for the shows. Each year,
Gloria thought of a different art project for kids and their parents. The projects were collected
during the day and, at night, sold at a hundred dollar
a plate auction. Last year, we used blank
canvases people could paint. The year before Gloria
found a local glass artist who was willing to teach
people how to blow glass balls. Although that
hadn’t really worked too well, as most people wanted
to keep their glass balls and not auction them
off.