Searching For Love – the Bradens & Montgomerys (Pleasant Hill – Oak Falls)

by Melissa Foster

  “Carly went diving with him right there at the site,” Birdie said. “She should be on the show, too. Did you know—”

  “Shh,” Marie said. “Let him shine, sweetie.”

  Zev answered dozens of questions, and as the show neared the end, Sutton asked, “How many stars had to align for you to find this wreckage?”

  Zev cocked a grin and said, “I think the stars had a little matchmaking help to bring us together.”

  Carly could barely breathe. He was talking about them. Sutton asked more questions, but Carly had trouble focusing past the sound of her racing heart.

  “He’s doing so well,” Marie whispered.

  As the interview came to a close, Sutton said, “What’s next for Zev Braden? Where does a treasure hunter go after making a find like this?”

  “I’ll spend the rest of my life discovering everything I can about her,” Zev answered.

  A tear slid down Carly’s cheek.

  Sutton smiled into the camera and said, “There you have it, folks. A man and his vessel, a match made in the stars…with a little dose of magic.”

  As the closing credits rolled, everyone clapped and spoke at once, except Carly. She was frozen in thought, knee-deep in love.

  “That was incredible,” Marie said.

  “I felt like he was talking about Carly,” Birdie said.

  “What did you thi—” Marie turned to Carly, worry chasing her smile away as she took Carly’s hand. “Honey? Why are you crying?”

  “Carly? What’s wrong?” Birdie’s voice was laden with concern.

  Carly opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Her thoughts spun, her heart ached, and guilt consumed her.

  “Talk to me, sweetheart,” Marie pleaded.

  “I can’t…It’s like…” My words are stuck in my throat.

  “What’s it like, honey?” Marie asked. “What is it?”

  Marie’s eyes implored her to speak, and the words burst from Carly’s lungs. “It’s like eating Lucky Charms your whole life, and then suddenly Lucky Charms goes off the market and you try other things—Froot Loops, Cocoa Krispies, granola. And sure, they’re fruity, chocolaty, crunchy. They’re not your favorite, but they’re pretty good. So you make do, and year after year you shovel substitutes into your mouth because Lucky Charms just isn’t available.” Words flew like daggers, and Carly was powerless to slow them down. “Then one day you walk into a wedding and they’re serving Lucky Charms, but only for a limited time. And you know”—know came out like a curse—“that after that they’re only going to be offered across the country. You won’t be able to order them online, and you have no idea when they’ll be back.” She paced, her hands flailing as she spewed her heart all over the shop. “And you try to resist them even though you don’t want to. You’re terrified that after that limited time, you not only won’t be able to go back to the substitutes, but you won’t be the person you were before you took that first bite. But you’re salivating over the marshmallows, craving the unique taste of the oats, and the cereal is beckoning you, looking at you like your mouth is the only place it wants to be, and you just can’t take it anymore. So you take the plunge, and that first bite is out of this world! The more you eat, the more you remember how everything was better with Lucky Charms. The air was lighter, the world was brighter, you were more alive, happier, whole. You feel like you’re floating in a never-ending bowl of Lucky Charms even though you know they’re going away soon.” Her hands fisted, arms rigid as she wore a path in the floor. “You tell yourself you can do it. You can hoard enough Lucky Charms to hold you over until they come back. But you can’t! And then they’re gone, and nothing feels right anymore. You wake up at night craving the sugar, aching for the high they bring. You want the thrills of cliff diving and treasure hunting. You want to be part of the dream you helped create! You want to live moment to moment, because that’s what makes you breathe. You want to get on a plane and find Zev no matter what the cost!” She realized what she’d said and clamped her mouth shut before more hurtful truths tumbled out. She spun around to apologize to Marie, and found her, Birdie, Quinn, and about a dozen gaping-mouthed, wide-eyed customers staring at her.

  Beau and Charlotte stepped out from the crowd, and Carly’s cheeks flamed with embarrassment.

  “Why are you still standing here?” a tall blond woman asked. “Go get your man!”

  The crowd cheered.

  Tears poured down Carly’s cheeks, and she laughed, but then that guilt consumed her again, and she shook her head. “No. Marie, I didn’t mean that. I love this shop. I love you and Birdie and—”

  “It’s okay, honey.” Marie wrapped Carly in her arms and said, “This was never your dream. This was my dream, and you’ve been living in it long enough. Now it’s your turn to live your dream with the man you have loved since you were a little girl.”

  “I can’t just leave. I’m not done here,” Carly said, feeling like she was being torn in half.

  “You don’t have to be done,” Marie said. “I’m here to help, not to take over.”

  Carly gasped for air, her chest aching.

  “And I’m here,” Birdie said. “I promise no more fires!”

  “Don’t forget me!” Quinn said with a bounce in her step. “Just say the word, Carly. I’ll quit the bank and work here full time, extra hours, whatever you need. I love this business!”

  Carly crossed her arms over her middle, tears flooding her cheeks as gratitude swelled inside her.

  “Sweetheart, you don’t have to make any final decisions right now,” Marie reassured her. “Just go be with Zev for a few weeks, for a month, however long you need, and then decide. We can hold down the fort.”

  Carly looked at the woman who had welcomed her into her home, nurtured her until she was strong and brave again, and gave her a life and a business, and now she was offering her a chance at the future she’d always wanted. But she wanted time at the shop, too. Was that even possible?

  “A few weeks…?” Carly choked out. A few weeks would be enough to figure things out, or at least fill her up to hold her over a few more.

  “It’s okay, sweetheart. I love you, and you love him. That’s all that matters.”

  “Okay, I’ll go,” Carly said, swiping at her tears with a shaky hand.

  Cheers rang out, and Charlotte said, “Treat is at the festival! If anyone can get you on a plane fast, it’s him. Beau! Call Treat!”

  Beau pulled out his phone and made the call.

  Carly gasped, swiping at her eyes. “Thank you,” she said as Marie, Birdie, and Quinn enveloped her in a group hug.

  “Hey, I’m getting in on this!” Charlotte threw her arms around them.

  “Thank you all so much,” Carly said through laughter and tears.

  “Let’s go, Carly.” Beau put a hand on Carly’s back, leading her toward the door, and said, “Treat is on his way up the block.”

  He opened the door and Carly hurried out, smacking right into a hard chest.

  CARLY LOOKED UP with tear-streaked cheeks. “Zevy” slipped from her lips as “Carls” fell from his. He panted for air, short of breath from sprinting through town.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked, her whole body shaking.

  “I broke a promise and I had to fix it.” His nerves were fried from the long, stressful trip, but he was finally there, and he wasn’t going to waste a second. “I said I’d never hurt you again, but this morning when we FaceTimed I saw how hard you were trying to put on a brave face, but I know you, Carls. You miss me as much as I miss you.”

  She choked out a sob.

  “Babe, if treasure hunting means being away from you, then I never want to look for another treasure in my life. Nothing feels as good as when we do it together. You’re my adventure partner, my best friend. Carls, you are the love of my life. Hell, baby, you are my life. You need stability and you have a full life here. I don’t want to screw that up. I want to go cliff diving and deep-sea diving with you,
or not at all. I want to see that spark in your eyes when we find a concretion or pull a cannon from the sea, but we can fit those things in on vacations, when you have time off. They don’t have to rule my life. I want to be here with you, inspiring new chocolates and by your side to taste test them. I want to be the man dancing with you under the stars and handing out samples at the festival. I want to be at the Roadhouse Wednesday nights to give Cowboy and Dare a hard time and to make you hot and bothered under the table.”

  Chuckles rose around them, and Carly smiled despite her tears.

  “Can we clone him?” Quinn said, earning a “Shh” from Charlotte.

  “You can’t give up your life. I won’t let you,” Carly said, looking beautifully stubborn. “You’re living our dream. I was just coming to you to tell you that I want to be there with you, but I also want to be here.”

  His heart beat so hard, he was sure his chest would break open. “Then let’s figure it out, write it down, do whatever we need to do. I don’t care about the details as long as I get to spend every day with you. You’re the only treasure I need.”

  He dropped to one knee, vaguely aware of a collective gasp as he opened his hand, revealing a yellow plastic treasure chest.

  More tears spilled down Carly’s cheeks. She lifted a shaky hand over her mouth, laughing softly as she said, “Zevy…? Is that my treasure chest?”

  “It was, until you left it on my windowsill the night you agreed to be my girlfriend. But this is your ring.” He opened the treasure chest, revealing the pink plastic ring with the star on top he’d taken from her jewelry box before he’d left Pleasant Hill all those years ago.

  Sobs bubbled out of her lips, and she collapsed to her knees before him, her eyes glittering with love as she said, “You’re a thief.”

  “No. I was just a kid who had made a promise I never intended to break. I figured it was a fair trade. I left you my heart, so I took your engagement ring.”

  She laugh-cried as he withdrew the ring from the treasure chest and said, “Carly, baby, you are and will always be the very air that I breathe, the only treasure to my empty chest. I don’t want to spend another day waking up without you in my arms. Will you take another leap of faith and color outside the lines with me, Carls? Marry me so we can begin our greatest adventure yet? You’re the only one who can keep up with me. Say yes, and I promise we’ll figure out the rest with concrete plans you can count on.”

  “Yes!” she said breathlessly. “Yes to everything!”

  Cheers and applause rang out as he slid the plastic ring onto her finger. It stopped before her knuckle, and everyone laughed. He took the ring off and slid it on her pinkie.

  Gazing deeply into her eyes, he said, “I love you, Carls, and I will spend the rest of my life showing you just how much.”

  Kneeling on the front steps of the chocolate shop, surrounded by throngs of strangers and a handful of family and friends, Zev lowered his mouth to hers, kissing her with everything he had, which had already become more than he’d ever dreamed possible.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  BY NIGHTFALL EVERYONE Carly knew and all of Zev’s Colorado relatives had heard about their storefront proposal, and thanks to Beau, they all got to see it on video. Beau had taken one look at Zev’s face when Carly had run into him, and he’d followed his gut feeling of what was to come. Slipping off to the side, he’d captured the whole proposal on video. Carly couldn’t be happier. She’d been too stunned to try to memorize every second of their magical moment, and now she could relive it as often as she wanted. She and Zev had sent the video to their families and FaceTimed while they’d watched it. Their families were thrilled for them, though they hadn’t appeared surprised by the turn of events, claiming that Carly and Zev had always given off more sparks than Fourth of July fireworks.

  Birdie, Marie, Quinn, and Charlotte had thrown together an impromptu engagement party on the festival green. They had champagne toasts, festival food, and goodies from the shop. Kaylie Crew was singing one of her newest hits, and Carly felt like she was living a dream. She gazed at Zev, talking with Dare, Cowboy, Cutter, Treat, and a handful of his other relatives, and her heart swelled. She still couldn’t believe Zev put the biggest day of his life on hold to come after her—giving them both the best day of their lives.

  Zev looked over, his eyes instantly finding hers as if he’d sensed her looking at him. Jillian’s words sailed through her mind. Two sides of the same coin.

  Zev lifted his chin, their connection blazing a path between them, as it had all afternoon while he’d helped her hand out fudge samples and all evening since they’d arrived at their party.

  Birdie and Quinn sidled up to her, and Quinn said, “Want me to grab a drool rag?”

  “I’m still in shock,” Carly said, looking at her perfect plastic engagement ring. “Pinch me so I know it’s real.”

  Birdie pinched Carly’s butt.

  Carly squealed. “Birdie, I meant my arm.”

  “Your butt’s more fun.” Birdie giggled. “Are you going to leave me for good? Because I know I said I couldn’t move away from my family, but if Zev were my man, I’d go wherever he went and I might not ever look back.”

  “You’d never leave your family,” Quinn said. “Heck, I’d never leave your family.”

  “I don’t know. Zev and Carly make crazy love look mighty tempting,” Birdie said.

  “Crazy love,” Carly said, feeling good all over. “That’s pretty much what we have, isn’t it?”

  “I’ll say. All the man has to do is look at you and you get all wild eyed, like you want to rip your clothes off, go live in the forest, and have little Tarzan babies.” Birdie gasped and grabbed Carly’s arm. “If you have babies, can I be a godparent? Please? I’d be such a good godmother. I’d spoil your babies rotten.”

  “We haven’t had time to talk about tomorrow, much less about babies,” Carly said. “But don’t worry, Birdie. If or when we have kids, you’ll be a big part of their life. But I’ll definitely be back. Marie was right. While I love the chocolate shop, it wasn’t my dream, at least not like the adventurous life with Zev is. But the shop is an important part of me, and so are you guys and everyone else around here I’ve come to love.”

  “Good, because I would miss you,” Quinn said, eyeing Noah talking with two of his cousins. “By the way, I didn’t know Zev had so much family in the area. Are any of those guys single? I feel like I’m at a stud buffet, and Mama’s hungry.”

  “Dibs on the single relatives,” Birdie said.

  “Hey, that’s not fair. I’m the one who asked,” Quinn complained.

  As the girls bickered, Carly spotted Marie and Wynnie heading their way. She wondered what they would think of Birdie and Quinn’s conversation. She hadn’t had a chance to really talk with Wynnie yet about Zev, although Wynnie had congratulated them, and she was sure Birdie and her brothers had filled their mother in over the past week.

  Birdie motioned dramatically around them and said, “Most of the single guys in this town are either related to me or Dark Knights, and Cutter seriously wants to throw you on the back of his horse and ride off into the Valley of Cunnilingus with you. He’s been ogling your ass in that black leather miniskirt all day. It’s only fair that I get dibs on any fresh meat in town.”

  “Fresh meat?” Carly shook her head.

  Quinn and Birdie giggled.

  “For what it’s worth, Noah, the guy with the lighter hair, is single,” Carly said as Marie and Wynnie joined them. “But the other two are Treat’s brothers Dane and Hugh. They’re both taken and too old for either of you.”

  Wynnie gave Birdie a stern motherly look and said, “Much too old. I love you, Birdie, but you’re going to give your father a heart attack if you bring home a man that much older than you.”

  “Who says I’d bring him home to your place?” Birdie smirked. “I’m a grown woman, Mom. I have needs.”

  “Woo-hoo,” Marie said in a singsong voice. “Birdie has fl
own the nest.”

  Wynnie glowered at Marie. “Do not encourage her. She’s all about ruffling my feathers these days.”

  “I am not ruffling anything. It would just be nice to see some new faces around here.” Birdie tapped Quinn’s arm and pointed to a handsome man walking across the green. “Hello, silver fox.”

  “Birdie!” Wynnie snapped.

  Birdie doubled over in laughter. “You should see your face!”

  Marie put her hand on Wynnie’s shoulder and said, “Sorry, sis, but I miss this.”

  Wynnie sighed. “I suppose I would, too, if I weren’t around it all the time.”

  “I’m going to miss you guys so much,” Carly said. “I really appreciate your support earlier today when I kind of lost my mind.”

  “If by support you mean our pushiness,” Birdie said. “Then you’re welcome.” She tapped Quinn’s shoulder and pointed at another guy.

  “Aunt Marie, Wynnie,” Carly said. “You came to my rescue, and now I’m going to marry the man who had been instrumental in my landing here in the first place. Are you okay with this?”

  The two women exchanged a familiar matronly glance.

  “You didn’t need rescuing when you came here,” Marie said. “You just needed a new start. Someplace lower key, without all the memories of the two of you, so you could begin to see your past, and your future, more clearly.”

  “And we’re not the ones who need to be okay with your decisions, sweetheart,” Wynnie added. “Only you know what’s right for you, and you have excellent judgment. You can trust it, Carly. We do.”

  “I know that I want to be with Zevy, but I thought I’d see if you had anything to say.”