How Sweet It Is (22 page)

She smiled at his frown. “The grand opening
is rushing upon me and there’s a lot to do. Stephan and Minnie have
been a help, but since I have to train them in everything, it’s
taking longer than I thought.”

“Can you take a break? My mom asked me to
bring you to church, but I think I’d rather stay right here with
you.”

Delphine toyed with his shirt collar. “You
know, I found a store front church that has the kind of music I
think you like.”

Brad raised an eyebrow. “Do they have a
Wednesday service?”

“I think so.”

“Do you want to go? That way if I miss at my
church, I’ll have a good excuse.” He shook his head. “Trust me, my
mom will ask.”

“I’ve only been there once, but it seems
like a nice place.”

He glanced at his watch. “Well, it’s after
seven, so we’d better get going.” Brad rested his hands on her
shoulders, his gaze intense. “Of course, if you just want to stay
here and kiss me and feed me chocolate all evening, I’m open to
that, too.”

“Just let me lock up here and we’ll go out
the back door,” Delphine said quickly. She wasn’t sure she could
entirely trust herself around him. He was just too charming for his
own good. Better to be in public.

They decided to walk. After locking up the
shop, Brad took her hand in his and dipped his head for one more
lingering kiss before they headed to the church.

Sixteen

They arrived at the storefront and were
ushered into the room that served as the sanctuary. The worship
team was in full swing.

As she and Brad found seats, Delphine
experienced the tugging on her heart provoked by the music. Being
reconciled with him also had a profound effect. She found it easy
to enter into the worship and hoped he enjoyed the service as much
as she did.

After the musicians left the stage, the
pastor came forward and began a sermon about the importance of
godly relationships. Delphine found sitting next to Brad, with her
hand in his, and hearing the Bible preached a very moving
experience. She’d never considered attending a church service
together a romantic thing, but she realized it made sense to be
around other believers and focused on God as a couple. He, after
all, was the creator of love and romance.

Brad glanced down at her and smiled. She
wondered if he felt the same way.

After the service ended, the pastor
approached Delphine and shook her hand. “Sparrow?”

At her expression, he cringed. “Sorry, I’m
terrible with names. It was something else, right?”

Brad gave her a questioning look and mouthed
‘sparrow’?

“It’s Delphine, and this is Brad,” she said.
The two men shook hands and conversed for a moment. While they
talked, Delphine remembered how upset she’d been the last time she
was there.

When they paused, she cleared her throat.
“Pastor, I wanted to thank you for listening to me when I was here
last.” Her face heated as she remembered going to pieces. “I have
to admit I haven’t quite managed to discern all the mysteries of
the universe and my place in it, but I feel a peace that I’m in the
right place to start.”

He patted her shoulder, his gaze warm. “I’m
glad to hear it. My wife and I have been praying for you.”

After a few more minutes of visiting, she and
Brad walked back to the shop hand in hand. Brad chatted about how
much he liked the service and that he wanted to return.

The orange remnants of the sunshine shimmered
through the layer of haze, creating an especially poignant sunset.
It made Delphine think that God and truth and love were out there,
pure and unsullied—but sometimes it seemed one had to go through so
much smog to find it.

“What are you thinking about?” Brad asked,
giving her hand a little tug.

Delphine shook her head. “Silly, melodramatic
thoughts.” She squeezed his hand. “I’m just glad to be here with
you.”

Brad bent his head and kissed her mid-stride.
“And I’m glad we’re back together,” he said softly. “Do you know I
fasted from chocolate while we were apart?”

Delphine widened her eyes. “What? That’s
really weird, Brad.”

He grinned. “Seriously! Not a touch of
chocolate. And I want you to know I craved it even more in my
distress. But to let someone else’s chocolate pass my lips would’ve
felt somehow wrong. Like gastronomical adultery.”

Delphine laughed at loud.
“
Wow
.”

They arrived at the back door of the shop and
she unlocked it. “It’s time to break your fast. And today I just
made some chocolate covered toffee rolled in ground toasted
hazelnuts. You’ll have to tell me what you think.”

Brad put a hand on his chest, a look of
almost religious illumination on his face.

****

After Brad had managed to sample at least one
of every variety of confections the store offered, he licked his
fingers. “So, when do you plan to open?”

“In two weeks. It’s been announced in the
paper, and the reporter will be here that day, too. He wants to get
some pictures and that’s the soonest he can make it.”

Brad followed her into the office. “Do I get
an invitation?”

Delphine blushed. “Of course.”

His eyes gleamed with mischief. “Oh ho! You
weren’t going to invite me because of…you know.”

She rummaged through a stack of envelopes on
her desk and pulled one out, holding it up so he could see the
Larsen name on the outside. “You were invited regardless. After all
your help to make the shop happen, I wouldn’t dream of being so
petty.”

Brad put his hands around her waist. “I
should’ve known. You’re never petty…” He glanced at the desk heaped
with papers. “But you do seem a little disorganized.”

Delphine gave his chest a little shove,
knowing he was right, but embarrassed to admit she’d fallen behind
on her paperwork.

“I’ve been so focused on the candy-making
and grand opening, and then when we…” She let her voice trail
way.

With a self-deprecating smile, Brad pulled
her closer. “I understand. But while I’m here, maybe I can help
out.” When she protested, he said firmly, “I have that degree just
going to waste.”

Delphine blew out a sigh. “If you can make
sense of it. Stephan thought I needed to install some software on
the computer to make it easier, but it’s so much work getting set
up and—”

Brad gently pushed her down onto a chair next
to the desk. “Don’t worry about a thing.” He pulled up another
chair and began to sort through the piles. After booting up the
computer, he turned to her with a smile. “Hey, I just had an
idea.”

“What idea?” she asked, enjoying his
presence back in her life more than she’d thought possible.

He leaned forward and took one of her hands.
“Well, I know this guy who’s looking for work. He majored in
business management and this would be a great project for him to
tackle until he has to get a real job.”

Delphine had to bite the inside of her lip to
keep from smiling. “Got a degree, does he?”

Brad nodded gravely. “And as he’s currently
unemployed, he can start right away.”

Her smile drooped. “Um, as much as I would
love to hire this guy, my budget is already strained to the limit.
So far I’ve had all expenses and no income.”

He regarded her from under heavy lids.
“Here’s the thing. This guy doesn’t need a whole lot of money, in
fact he can work for nothing.”

“
Vraiment!
What a paragon. How does he
manage to live on nothing?” Delphine waited to see how he’d wiggle
out of that one.

Brad cleared his throat. “This guy is
temporarily living with his parents and doesn’t have many
expenses.” He held up a hand. “And before you form a low opinion of
his sterling character, his mother is having a very hard time
letting him go. In fact, she almost cried when she caught him
looking in the classified ads for apartments. But that’s another
story.”

She struggled not to laugh. Poor Elaine. Her
baby wanted to move out for good.

He leaned forward, caressing the inside of
her wrist with his thumb. “And, you should probably know that this
guy, in his past, was a mega-star, a world-renowned athlete—”

“Really?”

“No. And don’t interrupt.” Brad grinned. “He
would’ve been number one in his field but there was like this
conspiracy that kept him down. Everyone knows that under their laid
back demeanors, surfer dudes are maniacal, power hungry fanatics
crushing anyone who gets in their way.”

Delphine stifled a giggle. “Uh huh.”

“But even against those odds, he still
managed to win several competitions, and he invested most of his
prize money and has supported himself that way in between jobs. So
as you can see, he’s put his excellent business skills to work to
better his own situation.”

“He sounds too good to be true. He won’t
want to work for nothing forever.”

“It’s the bennies he finds most
attractive.”

“
Chez Chocolates
does not yet offer
employee benefits,” she said primly.

Brad leaned forward and kissed the corner of
her mouth. “There are compensations that go way beyond
financial.”

Delphine regarded him, for the first time
understanding that Brad’s love for her was true. It had been her
own thinking that was tainted. She slid her arms around his neck,
savoring the chocolate flavor of his kisses.

“How soon could he start?” she mumbled
against his mouth.

“How about right now?”

Releasing him, she leaned back in her chair
and motioned to the papers on the desk. “Tell him he’s got the
job.”

****

At ten o’clock, Brad looked up from the
computer over at Delphine. In her chair next to him, she’d fallen
asleep, with her chin on her chest and her hands folded in her lap.
He took the pen out of his mouth and set it on the desk. Poor
thing. She’d get a crick in her neck if she stayed like that.

Brad glanced at the computer screen. He’d
installed several programs she’d purchased and had just begun to
enter figures. At the same time, he couldn’t leave her to suffer.
He grimaced at the small, overstuffed sofa along one wall of the
office, then glanced back at the monitor. He was on a roll and
hated to quit.

He came to a decision.

Brad got up from his chair and gently awoke
Delphine, just enough to coax her to the sofa. At first, she looked
disoriented, but when she saw him, she gave him a muzzy smile. “Hi,
Brad.”

“Hi, honey. Just lie down and rest for a
little bit while I finish up this paperwork.” He smiled when she
fought against her fatigue. In the next moment, she curled up and
went back to sleep. He took a chenille throw from the back of the
sofa and settled it over her shoulders.

****

Delphine blinked several times and opened her
eyes. She frowned when she realized she was in her office. Slowly
bringing herself to a sitting position, she noticed her desk looked
neat and orderly.

Brad entered the room and smiled. “You look
cute.”

She stared at him. His blond hair stood up in
all directions, blond stubble dusted his chin, and he had faint
shadows under his eyes. He stood just inside the doorway, sipping
from a ceramic mug.

“Want some coffee?” he asked as if it was
the most natural question in the world.

Delphine stretched a little. “What time is
it?”

“Just after six.”

Delphine let out a squawk of alarm. “We’ve
been here all night?”

Brad shrugged. “It took that long to get
everything done. I finished a few minutes ago.”

She pushed her hair out of her eyes. “I can’t
believe my paperwork was so far behind that it took you the entire
night.”

He sat down next to her on the couch and took
her hand. “Well, after I organized your stockroom and put together
a computerized inventory and ordering system, I got all the
programs plugged into the computer, balanced your books, and even
came up with a business plan in which you open up three more stores
in California within the next five years. You also might want to
consider opening a mail order store on the side.”

Delphine, impressed by his
latent industrious streak, had to smile at his excitement.
“You
have
been
busy.” She glanced at the wastebasket overflowing papers and…candy
wrappers.

Brad followed her line of sight and his face
turned red. “I had to have sustenance to carry me through.”

“I suppose since you’re technically working
for free for the time being, you’re entitled to a few perks.”

Brad rose from the couch and grabbed some
paperwork off the desk. “Actually, if my projections are correct, I
could technically be on the payroll within a few months.”

She stood and kissed him soundly on the
cheek. “Thank you for all your help.”

Brad nuzzled her neck. “I’d rather have
kisses anyway.”

Delphine became aware of her disheveled
state, knowing for a fact she looked hideous in the morning. She
gave him a little push. “I need to go home and clean up before
starting work.”

“Me, too,” he said, rubbing his chin.
“Couldn’t find razors and shaving cream in your bathroom.”

She laughed. “Really. I’ll have to correct
that.”

Brad turned and shut down the computer. “I’m
also suspicious that this isn’t the first time you’ve spent the
night here.” He held up his hand and ticked each finger. “Blanket
and pillow on the couch, dental hygiene and hair products in the
bathroom, along with several changes of clothes hanging on the back
of the door.”

Delphine shrugged and spread her hands in a
gesture of acquiescence. “Sometimes I work late and fall asleep.
Sometimes I just don’t want to go home.”