Love at the Candy Heart Cafe, Chapter 7, by Valerie Hansen

Love at the Candy Heart Café,

chapter 7,

by Valerie Hansen

Chad Hersey had been surprised when he'd gone to speak with his sister, Taffy Apple Hersey, because he'd discovered her talking on the phone to her friend, Ginger Spice. He couldn't catch all their conversation but he did pick up the tone. Taffy was more than angry, she was as hot as a fresh batch of fudge right off the stove.

"I know," Taffy whined into the cell phone. "It's worse than I thought."

Apparently Ginger was commiserating because Taffy clutched the phone and wailed, "Yeah. Can you believe it? I thought it was all worked out and now this! It's like trying to drink lemonade without adding any sugar."

Thwarting Chad's desire to know more, his sister quickly ended the call, grabbed her in-line skates and headed outside. If she skated away he'd never be able to keep up with her unless he ran the way he used to when he was on the high school track team. That was much easier to do dressed as a beach goer than in a suit and tie, so he raced to his room to change into shorts and a T-shirt while Taffy donned her skates.

Chad barely kept her in sight. Wait! She was braking and curving into the Candy Heart Café! Now what was she up to?

Out of breath, he reached the doorway just as Taffy rolled up to the counter, slapped it with her palms and shouted, "Hey, how about a little service?"

You could have knocked him over with a swirl of cotton candy when he saw Bruce Tart coming out of the back room with Candy. The other young man was smirking at Taffy as if she and he shared a private joke but Taffy didn't seem amused.

Chad gaped at Candy. Taffy gaped at Bruce. Bruce gaped at Chad and poor Candy gaped at everybody. "What are you doing here?" came from all four at once. Dead silence followed.

Finally, Chad found his voice, joined his sister and
demanded, "All right, Taffy, what are you trying to pull?"

Taffy whirled on him, tears welling, cheeks as red as cinnamon apples. "This is all your fault. Why did you have to come back to Sweet Tart Village? You've ruined everything."

"Me?" Chad felt as if a giant gumball was lodged in his throat, and judging by the pained expression on sweet Candy's face, she might feel the same. Something was rotten at the Candy Heart Café and it wasn't the pies or cakes.