All's Fair in Love and Chocolate (Marietta Chocolate Wars #1) - Amy Andrews Page 0,29

wonderful to let the busybodies and the gossips bring her down.

This week she was kicking Marietta ass. And she finally knew how she was going to do it!

The idea had come to her as she’d walked past the Java Café this morning and three people left carrying steaming to-go cups of hot chocolate. She’d known it was hot chocolate as opposed to coffee because two of them were arguing with the other one about Sage doing much better hot chocolate than the Java because she specialized in all things chocolate and the idea had pinged into Viv’s head like the flick of a light switch.

She knew exactly how she was going to drum up interest in the shop and get people through the door because she kicked hot chocolate ass.

Delish kicked hot chocolate ass.

It would probably put the fox back in the henhouse again but it wasn’t like that ship hadn’t already sailed.

Putting her idea on hold for a moment, Viv went through her morning routine and opened the doors on the dot of nine. Of course, there were no hordes to greet her so she was able to get on with planning her campaign.

Flicking through her phone contacts, she found what she was looking for and tapped on the number. It rang three times before picking up. “Good morning. This is Copper Mountain Chocolates. Sage speaking.”

“Sage…it’s Viv. Can we talk?”

*

By the end of the day, with a lot of time on her hands given there’d only been a half dozen customers—no Reuben either, he must have been busy—Viv had pretty much set everything in motion for the Marietta Hot Chocolate Wars to commence in the morning. It wasn’t called that officially but there was going to be a competition between her and Sage and she wanted to win.

There were to be two categories. The first was the most popular, which would be a simple ballot paper count and everyone in town could vote multiple times if they wanted. Viv had no hope in hell of winning that one. But the second category was the best hot chocolate, which was to be judged by a professional in the field and Viv was totally gunning to come out champion.

Edwin Vidal, the new head chef from the Graff, Marietta’s poshest hotel, was suggested by Sage as someone who’d be a good judge. Not only impartial—professional ethics and all that—but with a trained palate for quality dining. He was apparently French born and French trained although he’d mostly grown up in Boston.

Viv had agreed readily and they’d set the date of the judging to take place during the famous Marietta Stroll on the first weekend in December.

Sage had been an absolute trouper about it. She’d loved the idea right out of the blocks and was already gearing up for some healthy competition. She’d even suggested that rather than them both carrying voting forms that they only be available from Delish and that people would only be given a form once they’d purchased a hot chocolate from Viv. This would force locals into buying from Delish, if they wanted to vote for Sage.

Which of course they would.

It was a win-win for Viv. All she needed was to get people through the door and the product sold itself.

After all the details had been hammered out with Sage, Viv printed up a couple hundred ballot papers then spent the rest of the day in a Delish apron, making the hot chocolate stirrers that were her secret weapon.

Well…not so secret really.

Anyone who had been to a Delish store anywhere in the country in December would know about them but Viv, who had already tried Sage’s and the Java’s hot chocolate, doubted they’d ever had anything like this around here and she was all about the wow factor.

Wow factor created buzz and word of mouth was what she needed.

Viv was confident people would come through the door begrudgingly because it was the only way to support Sage and then they’d see how Delish did hot chocolate and she’d have them hooked.

The stirrers were easily created in the commercial kitchens that were installed in every Delish store directly behind the counter during fit-out. They weren’t big kitchens as the vast majority of Delish merchandise was prepackaged, but big enough to make the odd specialty items for in-store promos. And every Delish kitchen ran red hot during December!

It was five minutes to closing and Viv was sampling the brandy hot chocolate stirrer in the kitchen when the bell dinged. She