Concocting Love

Chapter 1

Grace was mortified that Dakota had found her in such a crazy situation, stuck to the wall with taffy. Seriously, what adult trying to make candy wouldn't know to step close to the gooey crazy mess as she worked it through to a soft texture. To make it worse, the only manner which seemed to work to get her tresses unstuck was peanut butter, and by the end of the rescue, she must have looked a holy terror.

She had asked to go home, and then she would see him back at the shop after closing so they could review a few things. She was in her room, having a good cry when a knock sounded on the door. She didn't want to see anyone, but after the disaster she had created, she figured hiding out from everyone wasn’t the thing to do.

She moved toward the door of the small bungalow and prayed that whoever it was here to see her was not mad. It seemed that Grace had a bad habit of angering her half-sisters, sometimes by just being alive.

She was trying to start fresh with all of them and honestly hopeful that in the next year, while they were stuck here in Wadelin Shores due to the terms of her late father’s will, things would improve.

She was the result of her father stepping outside his marriage with her mom at a low point, as he once described it to her; whatever the cause, that indiscretion had torn everything in their family apart.

Grace never had a nuclear family of her own but could put herself in Mira, Aria, and Lara’s shoes as everything they had grown up believing was shattered. Still, she didn’t like carrying the weight of decisions made by grown adults before her, but sometimes life wasn’t fair. All she could do was play the hand that she had been dealt.

Opening the door, she found her Aunt Lynn outside. She was her dad's sister and the mother figure who had raised her when her biological mother passed, bringing her into the world.

She didn’t even have stories about her mom, as there had been no family willing to engage with her after the tragedy.

That left a hole in Grace's world no one, even her sweet Aunt Lynn, had been able to fill.

“Hey,” she said, backing up to let her aunt in.

This was the closest she had come to a mother figure in her life, and she was grateful it was her and not one of the sisters.

She never did know why Aunt Lynn agreed to take her in as an infant but was grateful every day. She had never married and devoted huge amounts of time to Grace, her activities, and was so involved. She was blessed to have her around and grateful she was here in Wadelin Shores, as it would make things easier.

“How are you?’ Aunt Lynn said, looking at the hot mess that was her hair at the moment.

She needed to shower before too long but had given herself just a second or two to try and collect herself.

“Well, that was Dakota; who does that blog I told you about, and who I wanted to have show me some tricks and tips with the new candy ideas I have,” she said as the tears threatened to overfill her lids again.

“Now, I’m pretty certain he regrets making the trip.”

“I’m more worried about if you will be missing patches of hair,” Aunt Lynn said, glancing at her hair with a grimace. “I mean,” she bit down on her lip to stop the laughter.

“You do know you look like you got in a food fight and lost.”

“Worse than that one event we were part of for raising money for the band? Remember that attendees could purchase pies to hit us with,” she replied with a horrified look, recalling the hot mess she had been that night.

Maybe even as mortified as she was right now, considering that was high school and everything was more emotional.

“I think this might eclipse that,” Lynn said, glancing at her face in a soulful way that made Grace feel like she was staring through her inner thoughts.

“How are you really doing? I can tell how hard you are trying, and you looked beside yourself when you got caught up at the candy store.”

“I am trying so hard to make peace with Mira, Lana, and Aria. It seems like two steps forward and one back every time,” she sighed. “I love the candy shop idea and finally being able to contribute to the family business. I enjoy having you here, and this place is amazing,” she said with expressive eyes toward her aunt.

“Then I have a massive dumb day like this.”

“Honey,” Aunt Lynn said with a chuckle, ‘You have the best heart, and I know your intentions are always in the right spot. Truly today could have happened to anyone, and I believe your sisters know that," she remarked, shaking her head.

”Though, you have always had a knack for keeping me on my toes. This one, though, getting stuck to a wall of taffy – I have to say might go down in my top five favorite memories.”

“Great,” she mumbled, not happy to see how gleeful her aunt was over her bad fortune.

“I don’t even know what happened. It was like when I walked out and received a concussion just by tripping on the grass. I didn’t even see it coming; today was just as blinding to me.”

“Oh, that episode was back when you hurt yourself, and I had to watch you for three days worried you had permanently damaged that brain of yours,” her aunt said, biting on her lip as her eyes gazed into the past, remembering that moment.

“Listen, take a shower, get yourself settled, and then go see Dakota. If he is nearly as good as you say in the candy industry, he is the voice of experience I’m certain you are looking for. Second chances seem to be something we all are getting these days, so I doubt he will be any less likely to give you one if you do the right amount of groveling.”

“We need his help,” she sighed, “I don’t like how the story with the shop and all the cool history is going. They just gave up making fresh treats and their own signature items in front of the customers as they once had. That bagged garbage is not what we should be selling, and I think Dakota will be able to give us a branding of our own. Even maybe come up with a unique candy that is just Shoreline Candies own.”

“I love that spark in your eye,” Aunt Lynn said to her, “How are things going with the sisters? I know you have all been trying to communicate better these last few weeks.”

“Yeah,” she sighed, bobbing her head side to side, “We are definitely trying. It seems we dance around the tough topics if that makes sense. We can divulge a little about experiences, memories, and the like, but there is still a line.”

“I would expect nothing less. You and Aria didn’t talk to each other or Mira and Lara after the divorce. There are years of hard feelings and tough emotions to wade through. This is definitely going to take longer than a minute to put behind all of you.”

“I know,” Grace sighed, “I hope we get there before the clock runs out on this one-year deal. Are you sure you didn’t know that my father was planning to dictate we all come here to live?”

“I didn’t know it,” Lynn said, but there was a hint of something on her face.

For a moment, she seemed to gaze off into the distance as someone does when accessing memories. Grace just remained quiet to see what else she might divulge.

“I know he always talked about how upset he was that you and the other girls wouldn’t talk or have a relationship with each other. He didn’t want his mistake to define his life and all of you the way it did. For that reason, I’m not overly shocked that this was how he tried to solve that situation. Besides, this was his happy place.”

“Really?” Grace said.

She thoroughly enjoyed learning more about her father, but Lynn wasn’t a big talker in that regard over the years.

“Yeah, we came here all the time when we were kids. In fact, all summers until I was twelve, I spent here,” she sighed, “Our grandparents adored this place and kept it going to their death. They said each business had its own personality and couldn’t think of parting with any of them. I was shocked that Drake never sold any of it off – but I have to say I’m grateful to be back here.”

“Me too,” Grace said, “I just hope I can revitalize the candy shop and start a fresh legacy for the place.”

“You’ve always done everything you set your mind to,” her aunt said, “I’m not going to believe this will be any different.”

“Thanks,” she said as a big peanut butter blob fell to her shoulder, “I guess I should get a shower out of the way so I start to look normal again. I might scare Dakota off before I get a chance to pick his brain with all my questions for him.”

“Yeah,” Lynn chuckled with a shake of her head as she went to open the door, “Just think – how much worse could things get. As the saying goes, when you get to the bottom of the barrel, there is only one place to look.”

“Up,” Grace finished for her, “I sure hope it doesn’t get any worse, but I’m going to keep praying anyway.”

“Good idea,” her aunt chuckled as she gave a slight wave and slipped through the door.

Grace watched after her a few moments, then turned toward the bathroom to try and put herself back together for tonight’s meeting with Dakota.