Free Chocolate Goodies by Jacquelin Thomas Page A

advice.”
    “She’s probably doing it because my mom is going with her,” Coco said. “Maybe she didn’t want to go alone.”
    “I would’ve gone with her,” Elle stated.
    “It’s not the same as when you and I go to the spa. It’s different when Mama and I go.”
    The food arrived.
    Elle said grace. Then, picking up her fork, she murmured, “I guess you’re right. What are Aunt Eleanora and Uncle Daniel up to?”
    “They’re getting ready to take a cruise to Greece,” Coco announced. “My mother’s been wanting to visit there for a long time now. They have been traveling more since Dad retired.”
    “Is Michael running the business?” Elle asked. “Mama said your dad retired a few months ago.”
    “Mama made him do it,” Coco said with a short laugh. “Daddy went kicking and screaming. Michael manages the factory and Daniel is overseeing the stores.”
    “My father loved working for the company.”
    “Daddy says that he was the best accountant they’d ever had. We all still think about your father a lot,” she told Elle. “He was a really nice man.”
    “I don’t really remember him like the others do, but I still miss him.”
    “I can’t imagine what I’d do if something happened to my dad.”
    “You’d find a way to go on,” Elle said. “You hold on to the memories that you shared. Nothing can take them away from you. At least that’s what my mother always says.”
    “I always thought that your parents had the perfect marriage,” Coco told her. “I feel the same way about my parent’s marriage.”
    Elle shook her head. “Trust me, Coco. No marriage is perfect. When Brennan and I were dealing with the baby mama drama, my mom told me that she and my dad separated at one point, but they found their way back to each other. Marriage is hard work, but when you truly love each other you can work through anything.”
    “Do you and Brennan ever see Lauren?”
    “Not really,” Elle responded between bites. “When he found out that she wasn’t his child, but his sister, it messed him up. He loves Lauren, but he still hasn’t forgiven Charis for the deception. I think he feels betrayed mostly by his father. That’s what bothers him the most.”
    “You handled it well when you thought that Lauren was your stepdaughter.” Coco sliced off a piece of her stuffed flounder and stuck it in her mouth.
    Elle shrugged. “There was nothing else I could do. Itwasn’t her fault—she didn’t ask to come into this world. I couldn’t stand Charis, though.” She took a sip of her water. “Coco, I’ll be honest with you. It did bother me when I thought another woman had my husband’s child. It would bother any woman.”
    Coco didn’t respond.
    After lunch, she went back to the shop and stayed until her assistant manager arrived.
    “I’m leaving early today,” Coco told Valencia. “Bryan will be in around two thirty. He’s working until closing.”
    She left and drove over to her parents’ house.
    Maybe I can get some answers from my dad. He and Uncle Prescott were close friends, so they probably confided in one another.
    Coco found her father out in the backyard. One of his favorite pastimes was gardening. “Hey, Daddy.”
    “I’m a little surprised to see you, Coco. I thought you’d be creating another one of your delicacies.”
    “I meant to bring you some of my chocolate-covered oranges,” she told him. “They’re delicious.”
    He gave her a sidelong glance. “Chocolate doesn’t go with everything, sweetheart.”
    “But it does, Daddy,” she said with a smile. “You just have to find the right ingredients.”
    Coco followed him into his office.
    “So what did you come here to discuss, baby?”
    She sat down on the love seat beside him, her fingers tense in her lap. As casually as she could manage, she asked, “Daddy, do you remember anything aboutthe time Aunt Amanda and Uncle Prescott were separated?”
    “Honey, that was a long time ago and it has nothing to do