Sugar Rush

Sugar Rush by Rachel Astor Read Free Book Online Page B

Book: Sugar Rush by Rachel Astor Read Free Book Online
Authors: Rachel Astor
through a rough time.
    What better magic was there?
    She ran her hand across the heavy leather cover, sent a silent message of help to the sugar gods, and flipped to a random page.
    “Ode To Love,” Lila said, her voice thick with admiration. “Good choice.”
    The Ode To Love had been in circulation for years and was a good seller, but Dulcie wasn’t sure it had a big enough wow factor. She imagined Grams rolling her eyes from eight blocks away at them “playing it safe.”
    They decided to make a batch anyway, just for testing. Besides, they’d sell the extras in the shop, so it wouldn’t be a waste.
    Everyone got to work as Dulcie continued flipping through the Spell Book.
    Mocha Milk Chocolates, Cola-Infused Pistachio Truffles, Apricot Pecan Bark.
    All good choices. All popular with their customers. All…
    …safe.
    She sighed and shut the book. Everything seemed like old news she’d replayed a hundred times. Maybe she was too close to the product to figure out what the most special ones were.
    “You guys pick something,” she said, sliding the book across the table.
    Lila broke into a huge grin, diving for the book, and Ava put her hand to her chin as if in deep concentration. At least she took it seriously.
    They made Constance’s choice first, the Snowstorm—one of Dulcie’s personal favorites, maybe because she’d picked out the name as a kid. White chocolate covered a creamy minty green center and was sprinkled with cracked sugar; a store favorite in the winter, and perfect for an after meal refresher.
    Lila’s choice proved to be a little less conventional. She wanted to go all out with an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink confection. The Pile Up had a chocolate wafer bottom with a drizzle of caramel, a coconut infused puff of marshmallow above, and a whole almond on top, which was encased in a seventy percent cocoa coating then sprinkled with toasted coconut. An assault on the senses for sure, but in a totally amazing way.
    Ava reserved her choice until they’d made the other two, and it proved to be a good one. A few years back during the chai tea craze, her mom had designed the Chai Chocolate. Her creation was a lesson in subtlety, with slight hints of cinnamon, ginger, and cardamom whispering through the Swiss chocolate, almost making you wonder whether you’d even tasted them at all. The Chai was a chocolate of curiosity, before and after you’d eaten it, and in Dulcie’s opinion, one of her mother’s greatest candy accomplishments.
    Ava was a smart, smart girl.
    The store smelled like Christmas by the time they finished. Dulcie pictured a fireplace burning, even though they only had a crappy furnace in need of replacement.
    They got their tasting plates ready, and of course made one for Jess, who was more than happy to be the impartial judge.
    As Dulcie lifted the first taste of heaven to her mouth, a staccato of banging came from the storefront.
    The other ladies were as bewildered as Dulcie. “Probably some customer desperate for a last minute anniversary gift for his wife or something,” she said, smiling.
    Constance and Ava nodded. People often came rushing up after they’d already closed, begging for them to open for an “I forgot her birthday and have to come up with something spectacular” moment of desperation.
    Dulcie could not have been less prepared for what stood on the other side of the glass door.
    A tall, lanky, way too handsome, and unfortunately familiar guy in a Gatsby cap.
    She stopped in her tracks, which she told herself had much more to do with the shock of him showing up—especially after the incident at the farmer’s market—than it did with the way his mouth curled into that mischievous, though friendly at the moment, smile.
    She got herself together and stutter-stepped to the door, her feet heavy.
    “What are you doing here?” she asked, cringing at how bitter the words came out.
    “Truce?” he asked, raising his eyebrows and holding out a white

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