Page 3 of Valentine's in Bayberry

After a moment, Alice shrugged. “Whatever it was, it’s stopped now.”

“Good. That’s the last thing we want for the grand opening.” Carrie took another sip of cider. “Let’s open up early. Maybe this will garner us some goodwill with the gossip mill.”

“I don’t think you have to worry about that. They’re going to love this place. Most of those ladies can easily be bribed with chocolate.” Alice grabbed the bottle of sparkling cider, screwed the cap back on and placed it behind the counter, along with both glasses. “Okay. We’re ready.”

Together, they carefully removed the curtain from the window without disturbing the chocolate display. From the ceiling, they’d hung various-sized empty candy heart boxes in shades from pink to red. On display shelves, they’d arranged open boxes of chocolates. There were six stuffed teddy bears with little sweaters that read: I love you.

But it wasn’t the chocolate treats in the window that Carrie was paying attention to. It was the smiling faces of the people on the sidewalk. Her gaze searched the crowd. She tried to tell herself that she was just seeing who was there, but she really hoped her oldest friend would be among those friendly faces. But he was nowhere to be seen. She pushed the troubling thought to the back of her mind.

Instead, she told herself to live in the moment. After all, this was the opening day of her very own chocolate shop. Something like this would never happen again.

And then she spotted her grandmother stepping up to the shop. Carrie was touched that she’d turned out for this event. She waved to her. Her grandmother waved back, and so did the people around her.

Carrie rushed over to the door and raised the blinds. She flipped theClosedsign toOpen. Her fingers trembled as she went to turn the deadbolt.

She looked over her shoulder at Alice. “Here we go.”

“We’ve got this.” Alice sent her a reassuring smile.

Carrie pulled open the door. “Welcome to Totally Chocolate.”

“The window display is beautiful, dear.” Her grandmother was the first in the door. Carrie had a feeling her grandmother had elbowed her way to the front of the line. Her grandmother wasn’t shy when it came to her family.

Once inside the shop, Gran exclaimed, “Oh. Wow! This place is so cute.”

Cute?It wasn’t the first word that Carrie thought of when she looked at the result of months of hard work, from creating a business plan to getting a small business loan to renovating this shop. It was impressive because there were moments when Carrie didn’t think she’d be able to pull it off. It was monumental because it was the biggest endeavor she’d ever accomplished. Still, she knew Gran meant only the best, and in her grandmother’s world she used the wordcutea lot.

She gave her grandmother a quick hug. “Thanks, Gran.”

Her grandmother smiled brightly at her. “I’m so proud of you. Now I need to get some chocolate before you’re sold out.”

“Don’t worry. We have lots of it.”

Carrie stood at the door, welcoming a long line of locals from town gossip Edna Conners to Abby Clark, who owned the Steaming Brew, Kate Taylor, who ran Bayberry Candles, and Sadie Plummer, whose family owned theBayberry Gazette. She was so excited to see her close friends. It meant a lot that they’d showed up for her today.

Bang! Bang! Bang-bang-bang!

What in the world? This time the banging was so loud it could be heard over the murmur of voices in the chocolate shop.

Carrie turned a worried look to Alice, who was working behind the counter. Alice looked at her and shrugged.

“What is that noise?” The question was asked repeatedly by the patrons.

When the questioning gazes turned in Carrie’s direction, she assured the customers that the curious sound hadn’t come from the chocolate shop. She quickly made her way behind the counter where Alice was working. All the while, the banging continued. If anything, it had picked up in pace and sound.

Instead of her first customers paying attention to the chocolates she’d painstakingly created, everyone was standing around discussing the pounding and wondering about its source. The banging was going to ruin everything. She had to stop it.

“I’ll be right back,” Carrie said.

“Carrie, I can’t do this on my own.” Alice had a small flat box in her hand, which she was filling with chocolates.

“I just need two minutes. I have to stop the banging.”

Alice was hesitant but then nodded her head. “Hurry.”

Carrie turned and rushed through the kitchen and out the back door. The sound was coming from the vacant store next door to hers. Both of the stores were housed in the same building. But she wasn’t aware of anyone renting the other unit.

She walked over to find the back door propped open. That was odd. She stepped closer.

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