“I apologize about the wait,” Charlotte repeated. “May I help you?”
“Is it common practice to serve without an apron?” the customer demanded.
Charlotte looked down, having forgotten she’d removed it. Before she could answer, the woman continued.
“And with your hair dripping onto your shoulders? You would make a better impression if you were tidier and wearing a clean white apron. Also, did you know the floor is particularly filthy? Most unappealing in a confectionery.”
Charlotte had come in trailing dirty water from the street. Normally, on such a day with rain falling, she or Edward would kick a towel around between customers to keep the floor looking presentable and not slippery. Today, neither had had a chance.
“Would you like to wait while I don an apron, dry my hair, and wash the floors?” Charlotte asked and then bit her tongue on her sour remark, much more suited to Beatrice than to herself. She needed to begin again.
Offering a pleasant smile, she said, “I apologize. That was ill-said of me. To tell you the truth, our confectionery is normally spotless and well-staffed, but today—”
“Whereisyour staff?” the woman asked. “I heard you have a duchess working here. May I speak with her?”
Charlotte hesitated. For the first time, she saw a hint of malice flickering in the customer’s eyes. “Not today, no.”
“Not today. Of course not. Maybe not any day,” the woman said. “It hardly seems like a place for nobility. It seems like the type of rumor a shop would put out to increase its patronage.”
“Would you like to buy something?” Charlotte asked, attempting to keep her tone neutral rather than sharp as she wanted, ready as she was to toss this woman out into the rain.
“Yes, I would like a variety so I can taste what you offer, and hopefully, you have time to explain what’s in them.”
“Of course. Would you like to sample anything first?”
“That seems like bribery. A free chocolate will taste better than one I’ve paid for.”
“Will it?” Charlotte asked, trying to follow the woman’s logic.What on earth did she mean?“You don’t have to have a sample if you don’t wish it. We offer one to everyone who enters.”
“Do you?Hm. That’s a nice policy. What do you suggest?”
Charlotte wanted to suggest she leave and go elsewhere. Instead, she said, “Everyone likes chocolate. Unless you have a particular hankering for toffee or marzipan, then please, let me give you a chocolate to sample.”
“Very well.” The woman waited, as Charlotte took a small saucer off the shelf behind her and chose a chocolate with the silver pincers, placing it on the plate before handing it to her. “That has a hint of orange in it. Delicious and refreshing.”
Just then, a couple entered, the man clearly doting on the woman, barely watching where he was going for gazing at her, and young lady equally distracted. Newlyweds, Charlotte would hazard a guess.
“Would you like a sample?” she asked them, while the woman in front of her ate the chocolate. “Or do you know what you want?”
“You don’t want this,” the woman said.
“I beg your pardon,” Charlotte’s attention snapped back to the difficult customer. Even the distracted pair looked up at her tone.
“If they want chocolate and orange, I mean, for there isn’t a hint of orange in it.”
Frowning, Charlotte retrieved the plate the woman held out to her and reached for another chocolate. She sniffed it and then bit it in half before placing it on the counter behind her.
“You’re correct,” came the words she wished she didn’t have to say. “Apparently, those are plain chocolate, put on the wrong shelf. How about raspberry and chocolate?”
“Since you don’t know what’s in your chocolates and since I can’t tell until I’ve eaten them, which might take all day, I think I would like to try the toffee.”
Ignoring the insult, Charlotte nodded and handed her a piece of Bea’s treacle toffee on the plate.
Then she turned to the couple. “Would you like a sample, perhaps chocolate with raspberry essence?”
“If you can believe it,” the woman muttered.
“No, thank you,” the man said. “We’ll take a half-pound tin of the chocolate-covered toffee, right, my love?”
