LITMIR.BIZ

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hand stilled. “Is it going to the same address?”

      “No. The other one is being shipped to Philadelphia.”

      “If you look in the drawer under the table, you’ll see a choice of note cards and envelopes. Take the ones you want to accompany your orders.”

      Selena reached for a white box stamped with the shop’s logo, filling it with brownies and miniature raspberry and peach almond cream tarts. She added two slices of a chocolate pecan torte and hand-rolled chocolate mocha candies filled with nuts and dried fruit.

      She packed a smaller box with four one-ounce jars of homemade preserves: strawberry, plum-vanilla, blueberry-maple and peach. “All first-time customers receive homemade preserves as a gift,” she told Xavier, as he stared at the tiny jars tied with blue-and-white ribbon.

      “That’s really nice,” he crooned. He handed her the shipping forms.

      Selena noticed that both labels were addressed to women with the same last name. She glanced at the return address. Now she had a name to go along with the face: Xavier Eaton. What she also noticed was that he lived in Charleston, so there was the distinct possibility that he would become a regular customer. Repeat business and local referrals had made Sweet Persuasions profitable.

      “They’ll go out today and they should receive them tomorrow.”

      Xavier took a small leather case from his pocket, and handed Selena a credit card. She stared at the plastic card. That’s when he realized she was staring at the tattoo on his arm. He’d been tattooed twice. The first time was the Marine Corps insignia—a globe of the western hemisphere with an anchor through it and an eagle on top—over his heart. He’d gotten the second tattoo after he was discharged.

      As she took his credit card, Selena noticed that the image of a helmet resting on a rifle between a pair of boots, with the words Never Forgotten was the same as the one her brother had tattooed on one of his biceps.

      Xavier’s eyebrows lifted a fraction. “Does my tattoo bother you?”

      Selena shook her head as she processed his payment. “No. My brother has the same one.”

      “Is he active?”

      “No. He was in the reserves. But after two tours in Iraq, he decided it was time to get out. His wife threatened to divorce him if he didn’t,” she said, trying to avoid his gaze. “Are you active?”

      Xavier exhaled an audible sigh. “No.”

      “Were you deployed?”

      There came a moment of uncomfortable silence. “Yes,” he finally said.

      Selena felt the handsome stranger withdraw, even though the timbre of his voice hadn’t changed. It was something she’d witnessed whenever her brother Luke had come home on leave. He’d spend hours locked in his bedroom, and when he’d emerged sometime later he was the brother she’d recognized from their youth—the practical joker.

      “I’m sorry for prying.”

      Xavier forced a smile. “It’s okay. You weren’t prying.”

      If he hadn’t worn a short-sleeved shirt, then she never would have seen the tattoo, he thought. He’d gotten it before the corps began cracking down on them. Suddenly, he seemed all too aware of it.

      The carefree demeanor Selena had exhibited when he’d walked into Sweet Persuasions was now missing. “I’ll be back to let you know whether my mother and sister enjoy them,” Xavier said, hoping her smile and the cute way her nose creased would return.

      “You can email me your comments.”

      He didn’t know whether Selena Yates was married, single or engaged. But there was something about her that made him want to see her again. “I’ll come by. Maybe next time I’ll buy something for myself.” She smiled, her eyes lighting up like a hundred-watt bulb. There were some people who smiled with their eyes or mouths, but with her it was both.

      “Thank you, Mr. Eaton. I’d like that very much.”

      She could not afford to turn away any new customer. She knew the risks of starting a new business, especially in a tough economy. But opening up a patisserie when she’d had no experience running a business at all defied common sense.

      “It’s Xavier,” he corrected.

      Selena extended her hand. “And I’m Selena.”

      He took her hand, holding it gently between his much larger one. “It’s nice to meet you, Selena.” Reluctantly he released her delicate fingers. “I’ll be seeing you.” Turning on his heels, Xavier walked to the door, standing aside to let a petite, dark-skinned woman with chin-length twists enter.

      “Thank you,” she crooned seductively.

      “You’re welcome,” he said, chuckling under his breath as he closed the door.

      Monica Mills pirouetted in a pair of flats before bowing gracefully. “Now that looks as delicious, maybe even better, than what you’re selling,” she said to Selena.

      Selena smiled at her next-door neighbor. “He’s definitely eye candy.”

      Not only was Monica her neighbor, but they were also friends. Monica helped out in the shop during her free time, while Selena looked after the single mother’s school-age daughter before and after school hours.

      “I’ll be right back,” Monica said over her shoulder as she walked toward the kitchen at rear of the shop. She washed her hands, and then pulled a bib apron over her head tying it around her waist. She covered her hair with a nylon bouffant cap, pushing the wealth of neatly twisted hair under the elastic band.

      Monica worked for a major Charleston law firm as a paralegal, and there were times when she didn’t leave the office until well past seven o’clock, which is why Selena Yates was such a lifesaver.

      Selena made certain Monica’s daughter, Trisha, got on and off the school bus, completed her homework and fed her dinner. Selena refused to accept payment for babysitting Trisha, so Monica helped out at Sweet Persuasions. For the past month, she’d put in sixteen-hour days at the law firm because of a high-profile murder case that was scheduled to go to trial soon. So she’d decided to take two weeks off in lieu of overtime payment. No amount of money could take the place of her spending time with her eight-year-old daughter.

      Selena was cradling the boxes to her chest when Monica emerged from the rear of the shop. “Please take care of the front, while I get these ready for the early pick up.” A courier from the shipping company came twice a day—before noon and at six. A morning pickup ensured next-day delivery and the afternoon was for two-day deliveries.

      “No problem, boss.”

      Selena rolled her eyes at Monica, who’d put off going to law school when she’d discovered a week before graduating from college that she was pregnant. Rather than tell her boyfriend he was going to be a father, Monica moved from Atlanta to Charleston to be closer to her family. When Selena had asked her neighbor why she hadn’t told the man with whom she’d had a four-year relationship that she was pregnant with his child, Monica had said she didn’t want to talk about it. Respecting her privacy, Selena never asked again.

      “I’m not paying you, Ms. M. So, I’m not your boss.”

      Monica mimicked Selena’s eye-rolling. “I should be the one paying you for all you do for Trisha.”

      Trying to avoid a pointless argument with her friend, Selena walked into the back of the shop. When she decided to open Sweet Persuasions, she’d had the contractor divide the space in the rear into a kitchen and a small alcove that she’d set up as an office. A desktop computer, printer, a two-drawer file cabinet and shelves stocked with boxes and shipping supplies was the mail-order lifeline of Sweet Persuasions. The kitchen where she baked her goodies was the heart and soul of the patisserie.

      Selena gift-wrapped

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