Page 19 of Christmas Candy

“How?”

“Well.” He coughs into his palm. Stalling. Then his eyes widen. “That’s a restaurant. He has a restaurant license. You don’t. You have a regular business license.”

Shit.“So, what, you’re going to fine me for having a single burner to melt caramel? Come on, Will. It’s Christmas.”

“No, not fine you. The code says we have to shut you down while I inspect the unsafe condition and present my findings at the next council meeting.”

My heart sinks. “Shut me down? It’s five days before Christmas. When’s the next council meeting?”

He looks up, his lips moving as he’s counting days. “That will be January 18.”

“No.” I can’t believe what I’m hearing. “You can’t shut my store down during the busiest time of the year and then not reopen it until mid-January. That would kill it. I’d never be able to reopen!”

“Rules are rules, Hank.” He shrugs and starts writing on his clipboard. “Nothing I can do about it. I’m afraid you’re going to have to close.”

Panic sets in. “Will, come on. There has to be something I can do to stay open.”

“No, afraid not.” He gives me a sad look. “I have to follow the law. It’s not personal.” Turning, he heads back out the door. “I’ll give you half an hour, but if you haven’t ceased operations by then, I’ll have to call Sheriff Green.”

I fist my hands, but there’s nothing to be done. Will leaves and walks past the window with his head down.

I glance at the class going on across the street and see Olive walking around among her students and inspecting their poses. She finally got her wish.

Reaching under the counter, I flip the switch that darkens my sign for good.

Olive

“So, was it magical,amazing, like finding the last unicorn, what?” Candace stares at me as I unbraid my hair. “Come on, give me the details. I want to live vicariously!”

“I enjoyed it.” Understatement of the year. I’d never been with a man like Hank—one who took charge in the bedroom and also made a mean apple pie.

“How big was it? Huge? He’s tall so it must be huge, right?” She takes the brush from my hands and starts running it through my locks as I lean closer to the mirror in the studio’s private bathroom.

Given the soreness between my thighs, I’d have to say he was well endowed, but I didn’t kiss and tell. “He was, let’s say, more than adequate.”

“More than adequate?” She smiles and brushes my hair with gleeful vigor. “I knew it.”

“You guessing he’s hung doesn’t exactly mean you’re the oracle of Hollyton.”

“Oh, shush. I wasn’t even talking about that. I’m saying that I knew he was the one for you.” She finishes untangling my hair and then perches on the vanity. “Ever since high school, there’s been something there.”

I snag my tube of mascara and begin applying it to my lashes. “That reminds me of something. Did you know that Pace Beverly told everyone that we were sleeping together?”

She shrugs and avoids my eyes. “I heard a rumor, yeah.”

I stop the wand mid-stroke. “Youknew? And didn’t tell me?”

“Well, back then, I figured it would sort of, I don’t know, help your goody-two-shoes reputation. Remember when we got invited to all the parties the second half of senior year?”

“Yeah.” I gawk at her. “I do.”

She pretends to pick a piece of lint from her top. “I’m pretty sure we got into those because of the rumors.”

I ram the mascara wand back into the tube. “Candace!”

“What?” She hops off the vanity and backs to the door. “Oh, come on. That was forever ago, and we all know Pace is now happily married to a man. No harm done.”

I snatch up the wooden paddle brush and brandish it at her.

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