Chapter 8
Noel barely slept a wink last night, and this morning she ran around like a madwoman straightening items she overlooked yesterday.
She found a few leftover Thanksgiving decorations that needed to be put away and picked up a handful of random pieces of candy the kids must have dropped on the floor at some point.
She thought about letting Levi and Laney sleep in while she opened the store at eight o’clock but then decided against the idea.
Last year when she did that, they eventually wandered downstairs in their pajamas with their hair all a mess, asking for breakfast and wanting to snuggle like the three of them often did in the mornings.
At this point Noel still sacrificed breakfast, but the kids had cereal and changed into regular clothes while she worked.
All three of them proudly wore their Santa hats.
Noel adjusted the light dimmer one more time trying to get the lighting just right for this time of morning.
She knew she would shift it throughout the day depending on the sun’s location, cloud coverage, and whatever other variables happened to occur.
A knock came at the door, and Noel jumped.
When she collected herself, she headed toward the front of the store, but the person outside had her back to the door as if surveying the street.
Noel glanced at the cuckoo clock and twisted the lock to open although it wasn’t quite time for the Black Friday kickoff.
“Good morning,” Noel greeted enthusiastically, running on adrenaline rather than sleep.
Mrs. Madelyn turned around in her oversized coat. “Where are all the people?” she asked.
“What people?”
Noel scanned the sidewalks and saw a fair number of pedestrians wandering in winter clothes: coats, boots, toboggans, and all the warm items that begged for snow Beaufort rarely received.
She wondered if some shops opened early, or if everyone came out for breakfast or a cup of coffee to warm their bones before shopping.
“The Black Friday shoppers,” Mrs. Madelyn exclaimed. “I thought I would have to wiggle my way through a line of hungry folks waiting for the complimentary cinnamon rolls.”
Noel’s green eyes suddenly bulged. “Oh no,” she called out and then covered her mouth with both hands. “Oh no.”
Noel grabbed Mrs. Madelyn’s glove-covered hand and pulled her into the warm store.
“What’s wrong, Noel?”
“I forgot,” she realized out loud, her energy instantly sagging.
“Forgot what?”
“The cinnamon rolls, the social media posts—everything,” she exclaimed in one rushed phrase.
“Calm down, sweetie, we will take care of all of it, and no one will ever know the difference.”
“I thought I remembered all the details this year,” Noel claimed, standing near the register and staring at the time which was shouting to her that the eight o’clock tune would sound in less than ten minutes.
“I wrote check-off lists so I wouldn’t drop any balls.
How did I forget to invite the first fifty customers for the complimentary cinnamon rolls that I also forgot to bake? ”
As the words spilled out of Noel’s mouth, the bell on the door jingled.
“I even forgot to lock the door,” she uttered louder than intended.
A gentleman around her age wearing a dark full-length overcoat let the door close behind him but stopped his gait just inside as he apparently tried to decipher the meaning of her comment.
“Good morning, handsome,” Mrs. Madelyn greeted with a smile. “Welcome to Beaufort Candy Company.”
“Morning, ma’am. It sounds like I may have shown up at an inconvenient time.
If you will be kind enough to point me in the right direction, I can come back later for some of your delicious-smelling candy,” the customer responded.
“I just arrived in town and was wondering where I might find the best breakfast Beaufort, North Carolina has to offer. I tried the restaurant across the street, but apparently they aren’t open. ”
“We aren’t open yet either,” Noel spouted.
“Yes, we are,” Mrs. Madelyn countered wondering if Noel even heard a word the guy spoke.
The man with slicked-back black hair stood there appearing confused. He glanced back and forth between them seemingly waiting for a conclusive response.
“How does a complimentary cinnamon roll for breakfast sound?” Mrs. Madelyn invited.
“It sounds delicious,” the man accepted.
“But,” Noel started then she stopped glancing at the customer and back to Mrs. Madelyn. “We don’t have cinnamon rolls.”
“Sweetie, we have cinnamon rolls. I placed them in the refrigerator last night before I left for the evening. We just need to turn on the oven and bake them.”
The man furrowed his brow. “I can come back another time,” he mentioned again wondering what he stepped into the middle of.
“That might—” Noel began.
Mrs. Madelyn immediately cut her off. “Absolutely not, you are our first Black Friday customer, and you and the next forty-nine guests receive a complimentary cinnamon roll.”
Mrs. Madelyn set her purse on the counter, reached in for her wallet, and turned back to the man. “What is your name, sir?”
As soon as the question reached his ears, cackles erupted from the stairway as Levi and Laney ran down exuberantly making a grand entrance. “Mrs. Madelyn,” they hollered in unison. “It’s Black Friday,” Laney shouted.
All eyes focused on the children as they hurried in for hugs.
“Good morning, Levi and Laney, my Santa hat darlings.”
A moment later the customer interjected, “Apparently, you are Mrs. Madelyn, a very special person to these two beautiful children.” He paused temporarily to smile as the attention turned to him. “I am Cavin Dawson,” he shared, answering her previous question.
“Kevin,” Levi called out as Mrs. Madelyn reached for his outstretched hand. “You are wearing your Black Friday coat.”
Cavin glanced down at the black overcoat he picked out this morning.
“It’s not a Black Friday coat,” Noel corrected. “That’s not a thing.”
Cavin let go of Mrs. Madelyn’s hand, looked up at Noel, and then turned his gaze to Levi. “Actually, I am,” Cavin agreed. “This is my Black Friday coat, but I didn’t think anyone would realize it. You are a very observant little boy, Levi.”
Levi chuckled. “I knew it,” he mumbled confidently with a cute smirk covering his proud face.
Mrs. Madelyn handed Cavin a twenty-dollar bill.
“What is this for?” he inquired with a wrinkle between his eyebrows.
“Does the first customer receive twenty dollars to spend on candy?” he asserted, glancing around at the edible merchandise taking in a scene that reminded him of childhood.
He could almost taste the chocolate, and another smell also stood out, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.
“Coffee,” Mrs. Madelyn announced. “We need coffee,” she insisted. “Me, you, and Noel all need coffee.”
“I like coffee,” Cavin replied jubilantly, shrugging his shoulders and then looking down at Laney. “Now I know everyone’s name. You are Laney,” he deduced reaching down to squeeze the ball on the end of her hat before looking up at Noel. “That means you are Noel.”
Noel’s gaze shifted to his warm brown eyes. “Yes,” she confirmed. “And I need to bake fifty cinnamon rolls in record time.”
“By the time you return with coffee, yours will be ready,” Mrs. Madelyn promised with a smile.
Without another word Noel scurried down the center aisle toward the Christmas tree before vanishing through the door leading to the kitchen.
“She’s not always this high strung, Mr. Dawson,” Mrs. Madelyn reported.
“Maybe the coffee will help,” he surmised with a grin.
“Mom loves coffee,” Levi shared.
“She drinks it every morning,” Laney disclosed, drawing out the words. “But maybe she forgot today,” she added with a shrug.
“Where might I find this coffee?” Cavin pondered aloud.
“That’s right; you mentioned you are new in town,” Mrs. Madelyn murmured. “Cru is just around the corner,” she acknowledged, pointing him in the right direction.
His brows rose toward his hairline. “Cru?”
“Cru is a coffee shop and wine bar,” Mrs. Madelyn explained. “Best coffee around.”
“How do you take your coffee, Mrs. Madelyn?” Cavin inquired. “And what does Noel prefer?”
Mrs. Madelyn answered Cavin’s questions while Levi and Laney ran to the countdown to Christmas signs, where they flipped the numbers to twenty-six.
After making the day official, the two skipped around the store reacquainting themselves with all the new Christmas candy.
This morning during breakfast they talked about how they looked forward to showing their friends from school where to find all the good stuff when they came in with their families today.
“That’s a lot of information; would you like me to write it down?” Mrs. Madelyn asked Cavin.
“No ma’am, I think I can remember the order.”
“I don’t need any money back,” she noted. “I am buying your coffee, too, and you can keep the change.”
“That’s mighty kind of you,” Cavin replied.
“Oh, one more thing,” Mrs. Madelyn interjected. “Tell everyone you see that the first fifty customers receive a free cinnamon roll fresh out of the oven. If you have the social media, tell those people, too.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Cavin agreed with a grin on his face, somehow able to hold in the chuckle in response to her arrangement of the words the social media.
When the cuckoo clock sounded, Cavin turned and walked out the door, and Mrs. Madelyn hustled to the cash register area to remove her coat and put away her things.
Since no one else entered the store by the time she felt put together enough to start work, she scurried back to the kitchen to check on Noel.
“How are things going in here?” Mrs. Madelyn inquired while taking in the scene.
“You’re acting differently this morning,” Noel announced rather than pointing out she already pulled the first batch of cinnamon rolls out of the fridge to slide into the preheating oven as soon as the temperature reached the desired level. She figured all of that appeared obvious anyway.
“You think I’m the one acting differently?” Mrs. Madelyn quipped while she humored her friend.
“You called that man handsome,” Noel retorted as she set two cups of icing on the stainless steel counter.
“He is handsome; didn’t you notice?”
“Of course I noticed, but why did you offer him a cinnamon roll that he has to stand out there and wait fifteen minutes for?”
“He’s not waiting,” Mrs. Madelyn shared.
A puzzled expression appeared on Noel’s face. “He left?”
“He’s gone to get coffee for us, remember?”
Noel’s hands quit moving for the first time since Mrs. Madelyn stepped into the kitchen. “You gave a stranger twenty dollars and asked him to get coffee for us,” she asserted emphasizing the word and. “Don’t you think that qualifies as strange?”
“Cavin seems like a nice enough fellow, and I figured it would give him something to do while waiting for the best breakfast in Beaufort,” she replied with a grin. “Plus, did you see the coat he wore?”
“The Black Friday coat?” Noel laughed while feeling herself relax a little for the first time since Mrs. Madelyn arrived. “What about it?”
“The man doesn’t need twenty dollars,” she pointed out. “But he does need coffee and breakfast. And he is not wearing a wedding ring,” she added with a wink.