The Chocolatier's Secret (Magnolia Creek, Book 2) by Helen J. Rolfe
Authors: Helen J. Rolfe
Ads: Link
these workshops, she loves it.You go and take good care of Dad, send him my love.’
What he really wanted to do was lock up and go home to his family, shut up shop until all this was sorted out. But he couldn’t. When it was your business, no matter whether you were at death’s door, you showed up and ran the place. Word had already started to spread regarding the workshops, and it was exactly what the business needed. Already they had today’s kids’ workshop plus another two booked tomorrow, a hen party at the weekend and an adult corporate group next week. If he thought too much about the recuperation time following an operation as well as the business needing him, not to mention Gemma, it’d send him into a blind panic. But they were a strong family. They could get through this.
Andrew roped Stephanie in to help with the workshop. She was more than willing; it was a nice break from wrapping and labelling the chocolates. She’d finished packaging up various different chocolates, given them all lot numbers and used the label maker in the office to produce the legally required information for the back of each pack. Now she made labels for all the children in the workshop, allocated aprons for each of them and made sure Andrew had all the props – the poster he liked to show kids that illustrated a brief journey of the cocoa bean until it became the confectionery they knew and loved; the replica of a cocoa bean; the pot of chocolate chips from the packets they bought in bulk.
Andrew fastened his apron. Each child today would be mesmerised by chocolate, keen to learn, ready to get messy and make their own creations to take home. He loved seeing all those little faces light up and their eyes grow as big as the moon. A lightbulb from the circuit board of his mind went on again. Julia had deprived him of the chance to be a dad. He’d never watched his daughter’s first steps or heard her first words. He hadn’t seen his daughter’s face light up when she tasted her first chocolate, he’d missed out on Christmas morning excitement, he’d never hugged her close when she fell and grazed her knee. Julia had taken it all away from him.
Andrew worked hard to battle thoughts of Julia, block out worries of Louis, and thankfully the kids were a great bunch. Sometimes there was one scallywag intent on showing off to his peers, but today they were all calm and eager to learn. When they’d started these classes, Gemma had had to give Andrew a few tips. She was a natural with the kids. Gemma’s smile lit up a room and kids instantly warmed to her. She seemed able to effortlessly suss out the little ones and get on their wavelength, making them laugh and have fun as they learnt. She’d make a good mum. A really good mum.
When the kids were decorating enormous chocolate discs with gold lustre paint, hundreds and thousands and crumbled dried fruits, Andrew went to help out upstairs. Some of the parents liked to wait up there, read a book, generally relax until it was time to take their little monkeys home.
He wiped his hands on his apron and rang an order through on the till as Bella, owner of Finnegan’s café, came to chat with him.
‘You’re busy,’ she said, taking a seat on the stool at the counter, ordering a signature hot chocolate.
He shut the till and handed his customer their change before starting to make Bella’s hot chocolate. ‘Are you missing the café?’ he asked. Finnegan’s had perished in the bushfires and was slowly being rebuilt.
‘Like you wouldn’t believe.’ She looked around her.
He crossed his arms and smiled. ‘You’re checking out the competition.’
Her red-lipsticked mouth opened to protest, but instead she grinned.
Upstairs in Magnolia Creek Chocolaterie it wasn’t just the modest café that drew people in, but also the floor to ceiling windows allowing a view far into the distance, into the bush, the magnificent Dandenong Ranges. When they’d decided to put in a café up
What he really wanted to do was lock up and go home to his family, shut up shop until all this was sorted out. But he couldn’t. When it was your business, no matter whether you were at death’s door, you showed up and ran the place. Word had already started to spread regarding the workshops, and it was exactly what the business needed. Already they had today’s kids’ workshop plus another two booked tomorrow, a hen party at the weekend and an adult corporate group next week. If he thought too much about the recuperation time following an operation as well as the business needing him, not to mention Gemma, it’d send him into a blind panic. But they were a strong family. They could get through this.
Andrew roped Stephanie in to help with the workshop. She was more than willing; it was a nice break from wrapping and labelling the chocolates. She’d finished packaging up various different chocolates, given them all lot numbers and used the label maker in the office to produce the legally required information for the back of each pack. Now she made labels for all the children in the workshop, allocated aprons for each of them and made sure Andrew had all the props – the poster he liked to show kids that illustrated a brief journey of the cocoa bean until it became the confectionery they knew and loved; the replica of a cocoa bean; the pot of chocolate chips from the packets they bought in bulk.
Andrew fastened his apron. Each child today would be mesmerised by chocolate, keen to learn, ready to get messy and make their own creations to take home. He loved seeing all those little faces light up and their eyes grow as big as the moon. A lightbulb from the circuit board of his mind went on again. Julia had deprived him of the chance to be a dad. He’d never watched his daughter’s first steps or heard her first words. He hadn’t seen his daughter’s face light up when she tasted her first chocolate, he’d missed out on Christmas morning excitement, he’d never hugged her close when she fell and grazed her knee. Julia had taken it all away from him.
Andrew worked hard to battle thoughts of Julia, block out worries of Louis, and thankfully the kids were a great bunch. Sometimes there was one scallywag intent on showing off to his peers, but today they were all calm and eager to learn. When they’d started these classes, Gemma had had to give Andrew a few tips. She was a natural with the kids. Gemma’s smile lit up a room and kids instantly warmed to her. She seemed able to effortlessly suss out the little ones and get on their wavelength, making them laugh and have fun as they learnt. She’d make a good mum. A really good mum.
When the kids were decorating enormous chocolate discs with gold lustre paint, hundreds and thousands and crumbled dried fruits, Andrew went to help out upstairs. Some of the parents liked to wait up there, read a book, generally relax until it was time to take their little monkeys home.
He wiped his hands on his apron and rang an order through on the till as Bella, owner of Finnegan’s café, came to chat with him.
‘You’re busy,’ she said, taking a seat on the stool at the counter, ordering a signature hot chocolate.
He shut the till and handed his customer their change before starting to make Bella’s hot chocolate. ‘Are you missing the café?’ he asked. Finnegan’s had perished in the bushfires and was slowly being rebuilt.
‘Like you wouldn’t believe.’ She looked around her.
He crossed his arms and smiled. ‘You’re checking out the competition.’
Her red-lipsticked mouth opened to protest, but instead she grinned.
Upstairs in Magnolia Creek Chocolaterie it wasn’t just the modest café that drew people in, but also the floor to ceiling windows allowing a view far into the distance, into the bush, the magnificent Dandenong Ranges. When they’d decided to put in a café up
Similar Books
