18
A merry bell jingled as Fina entered the village general store. The pungent smell of earth from the produce nearby returned her to her childhood. She and her brother used to skip into the store with a little pocket money they had earned from chores. They’d save it up to buy lovely paper bags of sweets. Liquorice allsorts, fruit salads and sherbet fountains. And then long sticks of peppermint rock.
Behind the counter, a line of jars still held the precious sweet cargo. Even though she wasn’t hungry for once in her life, the sight of them made her salivate.
Focus, Fina, focus.
“Well I never. Can that be Fina Aubrey-Havelock?” A small round man with a bald round head, clad in a candy-stripe apron, ducked underneath the counter and opened his arms wide to Fina. She had intentionally cho
