In the Company of Coffee — Christine DePetrillo

A simple cup of coffee. An intention filled with love. A chance to change the world… Frank Behman expects to be a cabinetmaker like his father. He has been helping Pop since he was old enough to hold a hammer and looks forward to making his customers happy as he enters the family business. Now all he has to do is find a nice gal to settle down with and he'll have the necessary ingredients for the life of his dreams.And Frank has a gal all picked out. Molly Willmington catches his eye while he and Pop are working for her father in the wealthy part of town. She's classy and witty and not someone who should be interested in the likes of a small-town cabinetmaker covered in sawdust.But she is.Molly and Frank attempt to get to know one another, but when the United States is swept into World War II, Frank and his two best friends are drafted into service. They're forced to leave the place they've called home for their entire lives. A thermos of his mother's coffee and letters exchanged with Molly are all that connect Frank to who he once was.War is brutal with crushing losses. Frank finds solace, however, in brewing coffee for his fellow soldiers who have come to believe drinking it is keeping them safe in battle. It's a simple task, but coffee brings them all hope in a time when hope is hard to find.What will life be like when the war ends? Are the dreams Frank had still possible? Will Molly wait for him? Can coffee truly keep him alive? He has to keep fighting to get the answers he seeks.        In the Company of Coffee is a historical journey to the 1940s in the midst of a tumultuous world where war, romance, and progress teach a boy to be a man.