Christmas Kisses

Chapter 16: Deck the Coffee Shop

Cecelia unlocked the door to her coffee shop, walked to the back and disarmed the alarm, and then returned to Sean who had slumped into a rebellious heap in a chair. She pulled another chair out from the table and joined him. "What do you think of my coffee shop?"

He barely glanced around. "It's okay."

She decided to do some teasing. "Just okay? Hey, this place is fabulous. After I bought it I was so scared that I'd made the biggest mistake of my life, but now..." She made an expansive movement encompassing the room. "I consider it the best move of my life. Sometimes you have to take chances." She waited a second and added, "Like you did with your dad."

Sean frowned. "Are you about to give me a pep talk?"

"Do you need one?"

He glanced away. "No."

Cecelia saw him reading the menu posted on the wall above the cash register. He almost smiled.

"Do you like the names of our drinks and pastries?"

He said aloud, "Fluffy-Puffy," and then he grinned, which transformed his face so drastically that Cecelia inhaled sharply. In that moment he looked like a happy-go-lucky young man whose greatest worry was how to impress the girls.

Cecelia said, "I'm always open to new names. If you think of any, please run them by me."

"You mean something like, Happy Zappy or Groovin' Grinds or Mornin' Mocha?"

Cecelia laughed loudly, "You're good...really good! I may have to hire you."

The tinkling of the bell above the door distracted them.

One of the Tanner twins held the door open for his mother and two others, Tessa Branigan and his identical twin brother. Cecelia could never tell the boys apart.

* * *

Sean watched several people enter the coffee shop. As soon as the first group arrived, they were followed by another and then another. The teenagers stared at him and he figured introductions would soon begin.

Cecelia jumped up and started welcoming everyone. She'd turned out to be a pretty nice lady and even though she and his father had denied any hanky-panky, he wondered if they were lying. He slid his gaze to the chubby girl who'd entered with the first group. Normally, he didn't pay much attention to girls who were overweight, but she was really cute.

"Hello everyone and welcome," Cecelia said loudly and the gathering of maybe a dozen people stopped talking to listen. "I just want to express how grateful I am that you've taken time out of your day to help me decorate the coffee shop for Christmas." She laughed and lifted her hands in an expressive motion, something she did often. "I know...I know...it's not even Thanksgiving. Not to worry. I'll be dressing the shop with Thanksgiving items on the tables. But for today, let's turn this place into Santa's North Pole Workshop."

One of the twin boys said, "I'm ready to get started."

Cecelia grinned at the boy. "We will in just a moment. But first, I'd like to introduce a young man visiting our town. His name is Sean Barfield." She pointed toward Sean.

Sean wanted to groan. He hated introductions.

Everyone in the room spoke almost in unison.

"Hi Sean."

"Nice to meet you."

"Welcome to Paxtonville."

"Hello, good to have you here."

Sean wanted to groan again when Cecelia said, "Instead of me introducing everyone, why don't we go around the room and you can give your name and tell something about yourself?"