Thomasina strolled down the sidewalk taking in the wintery and festive sights. Seeing the snow and colorfully decorated shop windows reminded her of how much she loved the small town of Mistletoe, how much she'd missed being here, and just how much she missed her Aunt Bethany.
Going through Aunt Bethany's things yesterday had been hard, harder than she had expected. But today was a new day with even bigger challenges ahead. She had to visit the bakery and speak with the workers. For the hundredth time since the reading of the will, she wondered what on earth her aunt had been thinking to leave her a house and a bakery. Okay, the house she somewhat understood. But the bakery? She knew absolutely nothing about baking. She was all about numbers. She could handle inventory, bookkeeping, and taxes, but baking?
Thomasina mentally shook herself from her thoughts as she breezed into Jingle's. If she was going to attack the day, she wanted to do it with a big cup of hot cocoa.
The small coffee shop was warm and inviting, which certainly explained why people lingered-sitting around sipping their drinks and chatting. She strolled up to the counter ready to place her order but stopped short when she realized that only a small girl was behind the counter. Thomasina looked around for a worker or owner but saw only patrons.
"Well, what would you like?" asked the little girl.
"Oh, um...I'll take a large hot cocoa to go, please." Thomasina leaned over the counter a bit to watch the young girl scamper off to collect a cup and measure out ingredients. The child couldn't have been more than ten. Curiosity getting the better of her, she asked, "do you work here?"
"Yes! My daddy owns the shop, and I help out." The little girl smiled over at Thomasina as she mixed up the cocoa and worked the milk frothing machine.
"And what an excellent help she is!" A man responded as he pushed through the doors that she assumed led into a back area.
"Good morning, I'm Nick Jingle." He extended his hand toward her over the counter, which she politely shook. "And my lovely assistant, who is also my daughter, is Noel." He reached down and hugged the child to his side as she placed Thomasina's to-go cup on the counter.
"Well, it's nice to meet you both. I'm Thomasina, Thomasina Bell. How much do I owe you?"
"Bethany's niece from the big city, right?" Nick noticed her startled look of surprise and jumped in before she even had a chance to pose the question. "Your aunt and I were pretty good friends. We were in and out of each other's shops quite a bit, which isn't so surprising since we're next door to each other. She was so proud of you-talked about you all the time."
His smile was genuine as he talked of her aunt. "She was a wonderful lady and will be greatly missed. I'm so sorry for your loss." With that, he reached out and gently squeezed her hand.
At a loss for words, she simply nodded and then remembered about the cocoa. She lifted the cup and started to speak, but he cut her off.
"It's on the house. Welcome back to Mistletoe, Thomasina. I'll see you around." He smiled warmly at her and watched as she left the shop.
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