Page 1 of Wake Me Up Before You Cocoa

Chapter One

Marina Cormier raced through the graveyard as if she were ten years old again. Her hair flew in a wave of gold around her shoulders while a smile teased at her lips.

The work of getting Miss Ruby Rose’s Antiquesup and running again after her grandmother’s death had taken up most of the past year. It was the perfect time to take a break and act like a kid under the towering oak trees of the old neighborhood cemetery.

Marina came to a screeching halt. Long rows of dazzling azalea bushes formed a hedge along the fence line. A surge of joy welled up in her throat. Azalea season was the best time of the year.

Marina glanced about to see if weeping mourners occupied the graveyard, but she was blessedly alone.

Taking a small pair of scissors from her handbag that she used for gift-wrapping small items in the antique store, Marina snipped a twig here and then another one there.

The deep violet, hot pink, and red petals were a riot of color. These would be perfect to add to the bouquet of roses and daisies she’d picked up at the florist to lay on Granny’s gravesite.

Marina scanned the dirt roads winding through the graveyard where giant two-hundred-year-old oak trees stood with bent and angled limbs.

A deep blue sky soared high above the shadowy trees while Spanish moss hung like lace on each limb. Quiet and musty, like ghosts from the past.

If she believed in that sort of thing.

Which she did. Kind of. Her granny certainly had.

A sudden shiver crept up Marina’s spine, glancing back over her shoulder while scanning the graveyard for dark shadows. After all, she would be thirty next month and didn’t think monsters lived under her bed any longer.

Even so, Marina figured she should personally verify that there were nobody sitting on the tall tombstones watching her while they painted their fingernails or sipped their cups of tea!

“Hey, Granny, guess what?” Marina said, dropping to her knees on the grass in front of the granite headstone. “I got good news to tell you.”

She swore she heard Granny’s voice whispering hello from the spirit world. “Oh, before I forget. I picked these for you.”

Marina stuck the bouquet of flowers into the little pot she had purchased, then ran a finger along her grandmother’s name while she blinked back the sting of grief. “Don’t they smell nice?”

Even though it had been almost a year, the engraved words,Darling Granny, We Love You Foreverstill got to her every time. She pictured her kicking up her heels and partying with old friends and family that had gone before.

Marina wiped at her eyes, laughing at herself for sitting in a cemetery having a chat with the ghosts of people from the past. All she needed was a cup of tea and an English biscuit!

“Okay, let’s talk business, Granny Ruby. I finally managed to finish the overhaul of the store you always wanted to do. Had to take out a business loan, too. Drat you!” she added in the wayshe and her grandmother always teased each other. “I wish you were here to see it. I love how it turned out, and I know you’d be tickled pink.”

A gust of wind snatched up the bouquet, causing it to tumble end over end along the row of headstones, as if a ghost was trying to steal it.

Marina sprinted after it, but the flowers kept going and finally, she launched herself on top of them, laughing at the weirdness of it. As if the flowers had a mind of their own—or her mischievous grandmother was playing a game with her.

“Now.Where was I before you rudely interrupted me with your shenanigans from the other side of the veil, Miss Ruby Rose Eldridge?”

Marina swore she heard her grandmother chuckle in the stillness, and another burst of emotion watered her eyes. Gosh darn, shemissedher. Real life had slammed into them like a freight train going off the tracks and blowing up the wheelhouse.

Except it wastheirwheelhouse when Ruby Rose’s Antiques abruptly closed when the cancer they thought was under control took her life so suddenly.

Marina sucked in a breath. “The contractor you recommended created cute corner pockets around the store with adorable wooden signs for each section. Things likeParty Dishes and Stemware.Books and Games. Clocks from the Past. Jewelry to Make Your Best Friend Envious, Nooks & Crannies, Things to Die For.”

“The best thing was tearing down the far wall of the store and creating an entrance to The Coffee Loft shop that opened last year.The open archway between the two stores is created with timber beams so it looks rustic and homey. Decorative hand-made tiles along the top of the curve.

“The coffee shop has cozy tables—andgourmet donuts. Perfect, right? My best friend from high school—you rememberJenna Thornton—rented the space and bought the franchise. The two shops will bring people to both our businesses and when I’m craving a maple pecan bar, I can grab a bag of them for that Lunch of Champions I’m such an expert at eating.”

Marina swore her granny tsked her tongue.“How you going to find a husband if you keep eating donuts like they’re going out of style, my girl?”

“I will have you know that I weigh exactly the same as I did in college!”

“Not for long you won’t!”

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