Chocolate Reality by Steena Holmes Read Free Book Online

situation becomes humorous. It’s all at my expense, but then, what else is new?
    “It’s nice to know not all things have changed,” Jude manages to utter in between his laughs. He takes Stacey’s bag and leads her to the front door. As they are walking, Stacey calls out from over her shoulder.
    “Wynne, it was certainly nice meeting you. A bit interesting maybe, but it was nice. Thanks so much,” she said as she waved her purse in the air. And with that they left me standing there not believing what had just occurred.

     
    Chapter 5
    The light blinked on my phone. A message. A part of me doesn’t want to listen to it.
    “Hey girl it’s Tracey. It’s Friday night, kids are in bed, Mike is working on a sermon, and I’m in the mood for a chick flick. If I bring the movie and popcorn, will you supply the coffee, chocolate and blankets? Give me a call when you get in.” Beep. Whew. I’m not usually hesitant to listen to my messages, but with the way the past few days have been going, I have no idea who could be calling.
    Watching a chick flick with a girlfriend is an excellent way to end the horrible day I had. After Jude and Stacey left the store, I had to endure teasing from Judy and Tracey. It’s bad enough that I felt utterly embarrassed, but to listen to others enjoy my humiliation was more than I could handle. After about ten minutes of their teasing, and repeating the story to new customers as they walked in, I ordered those two wisecrackers out of my store. I threatened to banish them if they repeated the story of my humiliation to one more person. I’m not sure if it worked or not, since they ended up leaving the store with tears of laughter rolling down their faces, but at least I felt better.
    All day I had people who I thought were my friends come into the store. Not to offer me sympathy, but rather wanting more details.
    Can you imagine? I don’t understand these people. The man I was about to marry, but ended up breaking his heart finally comes back into town after three years. My first time seeing him includes having to meet his new girlfriend and make a complete fool of myself.
    That being said, I did end up selling a lot of product though, since I made everyone who needled me for details buy something from the store, whether it be chocolate, candles, or coffee. No one seemed to mind, which was good. After a long and tiring day, I just wanted to go home and relax. I dreaded the thought of having a full answering machine, thinking that those who didn’t come into the store would call wanting details, but thankfully, the only message was Tracey’s. But then, that’s small town life for you. No one is a stranger, and you always know when someone sneezed.
    Before Tracey comes, I decided to indulge and make a pan of hot fudge brownies. These have become my absolute favorite, and something that I don’t make for the store. I realized about a year ago, I needed to keep some things sacred to only me. So smoothies, Pina Colada’s (made from home with no alcohol) and hot fudge brownies would be my prized possessions. I only share them with a few sacred friends. It’s been a while since Tracey and I have had one of those good ole chick nights, so I figured this is a special enough occasion to indulge ourselves.
    With the Pina Colada mix ready and the beeper on my oven about to go off, the doorbell rings.
    “Come on in,” I yell. “I’m in the kitchen.” I assume it is Tracey. The beeper on the oven goes off, so I hear a voice calling to me, but can’t quite understand the words.
    “You’re just in time. Our drink is ready, and the brownies are fresh out of the oven warm. Now all we need is the popcorn, and our chick night can begin. What movie did you bring?” I began my monologue with my back turned to the doorway. I have my flannel pajamas on, with my “I’m so sexy” apron on and my big fuzzy pink princess slippers. With it being girls’ night, flannel and fuzzy slippers only seemed