Sweet Revenge (Cocoa Narel Chocolate Shop Mysteries Book 1) by Morgana Best Read Free Book Online Page A

concoction of wood and steel that was labeled as a table. I’d always wondered how such hideous furnishing could be designed in the first place. What was wrong with just a bit of wood with legs on it?
    As I wondered about it, I received the text from Borage giving me the go ahead to start furnishing the shop. I couldn’t believe it. “Yes!” I shrieked, grinning broadly.
    “Okay, Narel, if you’re sure. I was actually joking, though.” Carl said, shrugging.
    “Oh, no, not the table,” I said as quickly as I could. “I got the text! We can start furnishing today.”
    Carl cheered and hugged me tightly. “Congratulations! Let’s get food.”
    I laughed. As excited as I was to begin decorating the store as soon as possible, I could never deny Carl—or myself—some celebration nourishment. Especially if there would be chocolate involved, and when Carl was around, that was practically a guarantee. We left the store, looking for somewhere to celebrate. I could still scarcely believe it.
     
     

Chapter 6
     
    I had made a list of shop fittings while I was in the hospital, and I hoped it would stand me in good stead. The store was quite clean inside, and I was measuring everything so I would know just where to put it. The glass display cabinet I had found online would look wonderful in the front of the store.
    I was bending over, wielding the tape measure once more and wishing Carl hadn’t had to work today and could’ve helped me, when two overly posh women entered the store.
    “I’m not open yet,” I said, stating the obvious. After all, the store was empty. I did a double take when I recognized them: Lucinda Shaw-Smythe and Mandy Makim. They stared through me blankly, so I figured they hadn’t recognized me. And why would they? I could easily slip into the Federal Witness Protection Program as I looked nothing like my former self.
    Lucinda looked down her long pointed nose at me. “And what sort of store will it be? I hope it won’t be another café. The town already has a surplus of those.”
    Mandy giggled. I looked at Mandy appraisingly. I had not seen her in years, while I had seen Lucinda on a rare occasion. I had stuck around town, whereas Mandy and Lucinda had left straight after school. Still, there was no mistaking Mandy: the narrow, cold grey eyes, the haughty expression, the stick thin figure. Had she been wearing green, I would have mistaken her for a praying mantis.
    “A chocolate shop,” I said abruptly. “I have a small sign in the window.”
    Lucinda waved one hand at me. “I can’t see properly at the moment. I’ve just had my eyelids lifted and it’s affecting my vision. Anyway, there have been chocolate shops in this town and they’ve never succeeded.”
    I shrugged, and went back to measuring. That appeared to annoy them, as they walked over to me. “Where are you from?” Lucinda demanded.
    “I arrived from Sydney the other day,” I said. That part that was true after all. I had no desire to tell her I was Cocoa Narel. She would find out soon enough, and then all the taunting would begin.
    I shuddered as I remembered the cruel pranks that Lucinda and Mandy had played on me in high school. The worst one was when they had set up a fake MySpace account for me. This was, of course, in the days before Facebook. I hadn’t even been on MySpace at the time, yet they took photos of me when I wasn’t looking and put them on MySpace. They had my fake profile saying all sorts of horrible things about the other kids. I had been ostracized even before that, but after the fake MySpace account, all the kids shot me horrible looks. My life had been an utter misery.
    Then there was the time that they sent the chemistry teacher roses with a highly suggestive and explicit note pretending to be from me. I had been unable to convince the principal that I’d been set up, and he had given me detention. Lucinda and Mandy had made my life a living hell. Luckily, Mandy had left town and I only had to