Finally

Chapter 1

Beep! Beep! Beep! Jamie Hughes rolled over in bed and hit her alarm clock. Her groggy eyes fluttered open and tried to read the time. 6:51. She needed to be at work by 7:30. With a look of sudden terror, she began to frantically scramble around her apartment like one does when running late. Dang it!, she thought to herself, Melanie hates it when I'm late.

Jamie hastily jumped into the shower washing only her body and managed to put in her contacts quicker than ever before. She pulled her long, wavy blond hair into a ponytail, slipped on some jeans, a light teal t-shirt, and her favorite black sandals. She applied minimal make-up, just enough to mask the bags under her eyes. What do I need now? Ah, breakfast!

Jamie microwaved herself some oatmeal to eat in the car. Before walking out the door, she added two extra scoops of brown sugar to the already sweetened oatmeal. Hey, it's a Friday, I could use a little sugar! Glancing at the clock next to her fridge, she saw that the time read 7:19. Just enough time, she thought. She grabbed her keys and her purse and ran down the stairs of her apartment and hopped into her small, blue car. She turned on Pandora to her "surprise" station and drove to work listening to all kinds of music.

Despite her late awakening, she managed to make it to work with a few minutes to spare. 7:27, perfect, she smile to herself, relieved. Ding. The bell above the door jingled as Jamie walked into the Nook, the coffee shop bookstore combination that she had been lucky to call work for nearly three years now. "Good morning Jamie!", Melanie Matthews called from the balcony above the main counter of the store.

Melanie Matthews was the sweet elderly owner of the Nook and one of Jamie's closest friends. Due to the fact that Jamie lived in Smithsville, South Carolina, and her parents lived in Jacksonville, Florida, Melanie had become like a second mother to Jamie. After Jamie graduated college and moved to South Carolina with her best friends, she was in need of a job and the Nook was in need of a new assistant manager. Melanie found it hard to run the fairly large shop by herself, and no sooner had she finished praying for God to show her the right one than Jamie walked in asking to apply for the job.

The Nook was remodeled by Melanie and her husband, James. James was a traveling missionary speaker, and the money he made enabled he and Melanie to spend their lives traveling the world. Though Melanie was unable to have children of her own, she found her happiness in the faces of children all over the world. After the couple retired, they found the old, abandoned building while driving downtown one day, and chose to remodel it; it was their pride and joy. They spent the next five years restoring the shop to it's former glory, and adding to it new glory as well.

The vintage-style building included a large, open bottom floor with high ceilings and a large balcony at the back where customers could take their coffee and relax or enjoy one of the books from the many bookshelves lining the back walls. The rest of the downstairs was occupied by tables and chairs and shelves full of carefully organized sweet treats, from Danishes to cupcakes, all made from scratch by a local baker and Jamie.

Jamie's favorite part of the shop was the sequence of three large, golden chandeliers that lined the ceiling and the towering clear glass windows in the front; the perfect combination of natural and artificial light. Working there felt like spending all day in wonderland, at least to Jamie.

After the Nook had been completed, James fell very ill. In his last days, he made Melanie promise to keep the store running long after his death. Soon after he died, Melanie was in desperate need of someone to run the store with her. That day Jamie walked in saved the store, and for that Melanie was forever grateful.

"Good morning Melanie!" Jamie responded. It wasn't soon after she slipped on her apron that a steady trickle of customers began to pour in. Thank you for giving me this job, Lord. Jamie thought to herself. Customers coming to the Nook came for either the coffee, the books, or both. Every day was both different and exciting, bringing with it new challenges and adventure.