Page 3 of Rescued By the Vexed Vampire

“Stressed isn’t the half of it, honey,” she replied, finally letting go of my arm but gesturing for me to sit down at one of the small tables. “Sit, sit! Want coffee? Chocolate? Anything you want. We don’t get many new faces around here these days. I’m Alice, by the way. Alice Henderson.”

“I’m Bethany Snow,” I replied, sliding into the chair she’d pointed to. “And coffee sounds great, thanks. I...have kind of a complicated relationship with chocolate at the moment.” I winced at the memory of yesterday’s regrettable encounter with a forbidden chocolate cake. “It’s a long story.”

Alice nodded like she’d been there. “Chocolate has a way of doing that to people. Anyway, Bethany, let me give you the scoop. I’ve been working here for over twenty years—since before I got married. It’s the classic age-old tale. After giving my husband three beautiful children, he opted to run off with his dental hygienist—guess she was cleaning more than just his teeth.” She gave me a sly wink.

I snorted, not expecting that level of humor from someone who looked like they hadn’t slept in a week. “Oh, wow. That’s...something.”

“Isn’t it, though? So, I’ve been raising our three kids on this salary ever since. The old owners of this place treated me like family, but when they retired and moved to Florida, a corporate franchise, Sugar Rush, bought the shop. Things started going downhill after that.” Alice poured two mugs of coffee, setting one in front of me. “The new manager they hired, River Moss, well...let’s just say he’s not your average candy store manager.”

I raised an eyebrow. “How so?”

“Oh, you’ll meet him soon enough,” Alice said, taking a long sip of her coffee. “He’s into all that new age, self-discoverystuff. One day he went on a hike—one of his many ‘spiritual journeys’—and claims he had a transcendental experience after eating a mushroom he found in the forest.”

I almost spat out my coffee, holding back a laugh. “A mushroom?”

“Yep, a mushroom. It must have been a pretty magical one too, because he says he saw an angel. From that moment on, he decided to get healthy and went keto. Without telling anyone, he replaced all the sugar in our candies with prune juice. Guess he thought the town needed a cleanse.”

I couldn’t help it…I laughed out loud. “No!”

“Oh yeah. Of course, corporate found out and gave him the boot. He was already planning to resign anyway—something about living off the grid and starting a goat farm. The company’s sending in a new manager, but until then, we’re just trying to keep the place running.”

Just as Alice finished speaking, the door to the back swung open, and a man who could only be River stepped into the store. He wore a faded Grateful Dead T-shirt, Birkenstocks, and his long hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail. He looked like he had walked straight out of a 1970s time capsule.

“Alice! Who’s this?” he asked, clapping his hands like he’d just walked into the best news of the day.

“This is Bethany,” Alice said. “She’s here for a job.”

“Groovy! You’re hired!” River declared without hesitation, flashing me a huge grin.

I blinked, surprised by how fast this was all happening. “Just like that?”

“The universe has spoken! Why mess with the flow?” River said cheerfully. “I’m out of here in a couple of days anyway, so the more, the merrier.”

“Well...okay, then,” I said, still processing the fact that I’d apparently just landed a job. “Nice to meet you…I guess?”

River beamed and gestured toward the back. “Come on, I’ll introduce you to Noah. He’s our onsite candy maker.”

I shot Alice a glance, and she rolled her eyes. Following River to the back, I entered a small kitchen where a man in a brightly colored apron was hunched over, carefully sculpting what looked like tiny sugar pumpkins. I had to admit, they were adorable and hoped they didn’t contain any prune juice. Noah was a larger guy with an expertly coiffed blonde bouffant, and his hands worked with precision as he shaped the candy.

“Noah, this is Bethany. She’s going to help us out,” River said.

Noah’s face lit up like he’d just heard the best news of the century. “Oh, thank goodness! I’ve been dying for some fresh creative input around here. Corporate has me making all their bland recipes but take a look at these.” He whipped out his phone and flipped through photos of elaborate desserts, sugar sculptures, and chocolate creations.

I stared at the pictures, genuinely impressed. “You made all of these?”

“Every last one,” Noah said proudly. “Corporate won’t allow me to experiment like I used to, but once they do, watch out—this place will be a whole new world of sweet art.”

I smiled, warming to his enthusiasm. “I believe it. First things first, though. We need to spruce this place up.”

“That,” Noah said, nodding seriously, “is music to my ears.”

After my whirlwind introduction to Sugar Rush, I stepped out of the shop feeling a weird mix of excitement and exhaustion. There was so much work to be done, but for the first time in a long while, I was genuinely excited about something. I could see the potential, even if the shop looked like it hadn’t seen a broom in months.

My next stop was Gran’s house, a cozy little cottage at the edge of town. Her garden was still in full fall bloom, bursting with colorful mums and marigolds. I knocked on the door and was greeted by the sight of Twilight, Gran’s big gray storm cloud of a cat, peeking at me through the window. A second later, the door swung open, and Gran pulled me into a warm hug.

“Bethany! It’s so good to see you, sweetheart. How was your morning? Have you eaten yet? I just put on some tomato soup and was about to fix grilled cheese to go with it. Want to join me for an early lunch?”

“Busy, no, and yes,” I said, laughing as Twilight looked up at me and gave me a plaintive meow as if desperate for attention. I bent down and lifted him into my arms while Moonbeam, as expected, made a show of ignoring me. “Lunch sounds great, as I missed breakfast. I’ll help you prepare the sandwiches. And guess what? I got a job at Sugar Rush, the candy shop downtown.”

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