The Cosy Seaside Chocolate Shop: The perfect heartwarming summer escape from the Kindle bestselling author. Caroline Roberts

shelf rack along with the rows of goody bags of fudge and truffles. On the walls, there were some black-and-white photos of Warkton in the old days, showing the fishing boats down in the harbour. Old Mrs Clark, whose husband Jim had been a fisherman, had given them to her. One image was of his old coble boat, Silver Spray. He’d died over twenty years ago, so Mrs C had told her sadly.

      It was after Emma shared a little of her own loss that the old lady came up with the photos, saying she wanted Em to have them, so they could be displayed in the shop for all to enjoy, far better than being tucked away gathering dust in her cupboard.

      The shop was very much a part of this community, of its history. It had seen its share of love, laughter and loss too. But tonight, Emma had a good feeling, was going to be a particularly fun one.

      Next some music. She took out her small portable speaker and chose some easy-listening tracks on her iPhone to give the shop a more relaxed ambience. Great.

      It was soon time to dash upstairs for a quick shower and change. The girls were due around seven-thirty. She chose to wear her black work trousers, trying to keep her outfit true to how she might dress for the formal party nights, and teamed it with a soft-pink floral top. She popped her long red hair into a ponytail, to keep it neat and out of the way.

      She was just about to head back down when she heard a knock at the back door and then Bev’s voice calling up the stairs, ‘Only me! I take it I’m the first. I’m a bit early. I’ll come on up, shall I?’

      ‘I’m nearly ready, so I’m on my way down, actually. Hang on.’

      Emma was soon heading down the stairs.

      They greeted each other with a hug in the hallway. Bev had brought a lovely square glass vase filled with pink and cream roses. ‘For you.’

      ‘Aw, thanks Bev. They’re beautiful.’

      ‘Well, I can’t exactly bring you chocolates, can I?’ She smiled. ‘Oh, and these, to help with supplies.’ Bev winked, and presented her with three bottles of prosecco, which Em placed on the kitchen side.

      ‘Ooh, I’ll put these flowers straight through into the shop. They will complete the look perfectly.’ Em placed them carefully on the second window table. The first table being ready with the glass flutes, the bottles of alcohol to add to the truffles that she’d set out earlier, and a set of black aprons she had sourced online especially for the truffle-making session and had printed with The Chocolate Shop by the Sea logo and gold writing that read: ‘Love, laughter, chocolate and prosecco!’

      ‘Hah, these are brilliant.’ Bev was opening one out.

      ‘Thought it’d be worth the investment. Make it feel more professional, yet fun.’

      ‘Love them. This is so going to work, you know, Emma. It’s such a bloody good idea, dare I say so myself.’ Bev was virtually preening. ‘Prosecco parties are so my thing … Let’s pour out a glass and toast their future success.’

      ‘Oh, yes. Why not.’

      There’s nothing quite like the sound of the popping of a cork; the sight of straw-coloured bubbles rushing into foam down the side of a glass; that first blissfully refreshing mouthful.

      ‘Cheers, Bev.’

      ‘Cheers, hun. To the most fabulous chocolate and prosecco parties ever! And to The Chocolate Shop by the Sea making lots of money.’

      ‘Yay! Now that would be brilliant.’ A secure financial base would be just wonderful, for who knew what might happen next to the rent or the property after the bloody landlord’s last visit. But, those negative thoughts needed to be pushed back for another day. Tonight was for enjoying themselves. ‘Well, the good news is, it might not be too long before I can do the proper licensed parties. I’ve done my research and I’ve already booked a licensing course. Once I’ve passed the exam, I have to make an application to the council.’

      ‘Ooh, landlady Em. You’ll need to invest in some leopard-print gear, big dangly earrings and a push-up bra!’

      ‘Hah, you’re thinking Bet Lynch or Barbara Windsor’s character at the Queen Vic!’

      ‘Ooh ah, I bet Max’ll love it.’

      ‘Behave woman, but hah, he probably would. Though may I say, it’ll be a much classier affair here.’

      With that, two eager faces appeared at the shop door. Holly and her best friend, Jess.

      ‘Come in. Come in. It’s open,’ Emma called out.

      ‘Hi Em. Wow, it looks a-mazing in here. Love the new evening ambience.’ Holly grinned.

      ‘It’s really pretty,’ Jess agreed.

      Within a half hour all nine guests were there, including Chloe and her friend Hannah, and were hands-on, dipping strawberries into bowls of white and dark chocolate that Emma had set out in the centre of the table.

      ‘I want to eat them all already. How long do they take to set?’ Jess asked.

      ‘Um, about twenty minutes for these. I’ll pop them in the cooler kitchen area for a while.’

      That gave them time to have another glass of bubbly and have a chat. It all seemed to be going well, Emma mused.

      ‘Top-ups anyone?’ Bev was wielding the next prosecco bottle promisingly.

      ‘I’ll skip this time.’ Em intended taking it steady for now whilst she was teaching and observing how the session was going.

      The others were keen for refills.

      ‘Okay, so next we are going to make the chocolate truffles. There’s a little more technique to this.’ Emma was trying to keep it sounding professional.

      ‘Oh my, so I need to concentrate,’ Sheila, from the grocer’s, piped up.

      ‘It’s like being back at school,’ added Jo, with a smile.

      ‘Hah, school was never this fun!’ Ali grinned.

      ‘And since when did you ever get served prosecco at school?’ Holly added.

      ‘Good idea if they did, mind,’ said Jess. ‘Might ease the pain of exams.’

      ‘You’d never get any work done, girls,’ Sheila retorted sensibly.

      Emma went off to fetch more bowls of tempered chocolate for the truffle-making session, to which they would add cream and their chosen liqueur. The mixture would then need to be chilled in the fridge for at least an hour before being moulded into small balls and dipped into even more chocolate to coat. Chloe offered to give her a hand.

      ‘Seems to be going well. It’s a really lovely idea, Em,’ she said, once the pair of them were in the kitchen.

      ‘Yeah, fingers crossed. Even if I could only do one or two a month to start, that’d be good.’

      ‘Well, I’ll help spread the word. There are lots of mums at the school gates, desperate for a night out. And this would be right up their street.’

      ‘Thanks.’

      They were soon back out carrying bowls of melted dark chocolate.

      ‘Right, I’m going in with the Baileys liqueur.’ Laura took the bottle of Irish Cream in readiness.

      ‘I fancy the whisky,’ piped up Ali.

      ‘Ho ho ho, and a bottle of rum for me, then.’ Holly took up the last bottle. ‘We can share, Jess.’

      ‘You only need a tablespoon for your mixture. So it’ll go a long way.’ Em was passing out the small dishes of melted chocolate – one for each person. ‘Don’t add the alcohol just yet, by the way. There’s another step to do first.’

      ‘Em, do you have any of that raspberry gin left?’ Bev asked as the hostess-with-the-mostest reached her. ‘You remember, we opened