Be Mine, Valentine

by Jennifer Johnson

  “You’re back early.” She mounded soil around the last plant. “I’m finishing just now. Dinner will be on soon.”

  There was no answer.

  “Mike?”

  “Not Mike, Mary. Mike’s not here.” The voice was rich, melodic and...Irish.

  Mary slowly raised her head until her eyes met his.

  Holy Mother of God. Her flour-dusted denim skirt had a button missing, and a smudge of dirt trailed down the front of her blouse. She looked down at herself, sitting awkwardly on the ground, her braced leg splayed at an angle. Dear God, let me just die!

  “Mary?” He held out his hands and pulled her to her feet. He was taller than she’d pictured him; her head barely reached his shoulder.

  Dan Kennedy gazed at Mary with the bluest eyes she had ever seen. Still gripping her hand, he led her to the garden seat.

  They sat. She pulled her hand away, hoping he hadn’t noticed her short, ragged nails. “You weren’t supposed to come until tomorrow.”

  “My plans changed.” With his thumb, he guided her chin upward. “You were planning not to be here. Why, Mary?” His gaze rested on hers, softly probing. “Didn’t you want to see me?”

  “I was going to be away,” she murmured, moistening suddenly dry lips with the tip of her tongue. “But I did want to see you, Dan. I...I’ve wanted to meet you for a long time.”

  He glanced down at her brace. “You thought that would make a difference? Oh Mary, love! How little you know me. You are exactly as I pictured you...lovely as your letters.” A slow, heart-stopping smile spread over his even features.

  Mary felt her head spin. Surely he didn’t mean that. She opened her mouth to speak, but the words wouldn’t come.

  “How...did you know I was going away,” she managed at last.

  “I rang.” His jaw tightened for an instant as he stared toward the sentry-like line of poplars, their leaves gently bobbing. Then he focused once more on her face. “Your brother told me. He told me everything.”

  She let out the breath she’d been holding. “Mike did that?”

  “He did.”

  “And still you came?”

  Dan Kennedy placed his large, warm hand over hers. “I grew to love the girl who wrote those letters—I had to come see for myself.”

  “I never thought... I don’t know what to think...to say.”

  He raised one eyebrow quizzically. “I believe you were saying something about dinner.”

  Heat flushed Mary’s face. “It’s not much...just leftovers.” A wry smile tugged at her face. A fine thing, this! After all the comments in his letters about what glorious meals her brother must enjoy...and tonight she’d planned to use up the remains of Monday’s dinner. “I can understand if you’d rather not stay.”

  He grinned, deep crinkles fanning out from the corners of his eyes, their sparkling warmth disconcerting. “Leftovers sounds brilliant to me. Fact is, I’m going to be needing my strength if I’m to answer all your questions about Ireland.” He rose and drew her up beside him, her hand still close in his.

  Mary Maureen Brennan drew in a shaky breath. Then in a voice that sounded much calmer than she felt, she said, “Yes, Dan, tell me. I want to hear about everything—the village, the flowers, the church on the hill, the river that runs through the town, and especially the Medieval bridge. Perhaps, someday,” she ended shyly, “I might visit and see it all for myself.”

  Dan Kennedy pulled her into a gentle embrace, tilted her chin upward a second time, and before she knew it, dropped the merest whisper of a kiss on her startled lips.

  She swallowed.

  He stared.

  Then he lowered his mouth once more and captured her lips in a toe-curling kiss that seemed to go on and on.

  “Perhaps you just might have that visit,” said Dan Kennedy, when they finally broke away. “And a lot sooner than you think.”

  Love Takes The Cake

  Krista Ames

  Josh leaned against an old parking meter outside the town bakery. He’d been there a good half hour watching her through the display window covered with Valentine hearts. Annie had a booming business, no surprise there, she was a top-notch baker. Her customers always left happy and smiling. He wished like hell he could walk in there, chat and walk back out with a smile but his exit would be much more dramatic—like through her storefront window—and she’d have him paying for the replacement glass.

  He was probably better off going back home. The worst of it was he’d already promised his best friend Brian that he would drop off the final payment for the cake. The wedding was tomorrow and Julie, Brian’s bride, was already stressed out enough without him causing any more trouble.

  “As the best man,” he recalled Brian stating, “consider it one of your before-the-wedding, best-man duties, buddy,” giving him a hard slap on the back.

  Duty my ass. Those two both knew how he still felt about Annie. He’d been working so hard to avoid her lately even though she occupied his mind every waking moment. He had a sinking feeling they were setting him up, forcing him to see her. But how could he say no at this point?

  “Well no time like the present,” he mumbled as he pushed away from the curb. “She probably hates me so what do I have to lose?”

  As he reached for the door, he saw Annie standing at the counter and his stomach instantly churned. Did she have to be so breathtaking? The way her beautiful curls lay soft on her suntanned shoulders made him remember how it felt to run his fingers through their silkiness. And, she possessed a smile that made her eyes sparkle. Just her presence gave him goose bumps and she probably didn’t even know it.

  Idiot, just get your ass in there!

  In his anticipation, he pulled at the door with a little too much gusto, forgetting she had a bell attached to alert her to customers. The door sprang quickly closed behind him, jingling the bell a second time and catching her attention.

  When their eyes met, they both froze. Her ten seconds of focus felt like forever but was gone in a flash when a customer gained her attention once again. Crazy, but in that ten seconds, he felt warm clear to his soul, then just as quickly cold as ice as he witnessed a myriad of emotions cross her features. Emotions he recognized from their last horrible encounter, a day he would never forget.

  Damn it, he shouldn’t be there. He’d been avoiding any contact with Annie for that very reason. Yes, he was scared to death of what she might say, but more so of what she didn’t have to say, and what he knew he’d be able to see on her face. The love was there, she never could hide that from him, but the way her eyes showed lingering disappointment sent his gut wrenching.

  The hurt they’d inflicted on each other, intentional or otherwise, was something he would regret and live with the rest of his life. Just when he’d made the split decision to leave the bakery before any more damage could be done, the inevitable happened.

  “Hello, Josh…”

  Annie was every bit as surprised to see Josh standing there. He had been ready to turn and follow her last customer out when she mustered the courage to say his name. Now, as he hesitantly moved closer, she couldn’t help but abandon the edible flowers she was creating at her counter to hold her stomach for fear that all the butterflies would leap right out.

  Okay, yes, she was nervous. When she’d concocted this scheme with her friends, Julie and Brian, she was totally confident in her love for Josh, and knew she would be able to tell him—knew exactly what she wanted to say as she had been practicing for weeks. Now however, she felt like a mental case. Just seeing him put her heart into a tail-spin like a love-sick school girl on Valentine’s Day.

  She knew for a fact he had been avoiding her as much as possible and who could blame him? They’d ended their relationship very badly, mostly her doing. She said a lot of things she now regretted; things that now seemed so unimportant after these last few months without him.

  For some reason, Annie had been threatened by the fact that Josh was so secure and focused on his career
and his future, but she was only interested in his support of her furthering her own career and making a name for herself. Looking back now, he had done nothing more than support her completely until he couldn’t take it anymore. Annie now realized she had been very proud of Josh becoming a third generation detective. It was a very big deal for him and meant a great deal to his family as well. How selfish and utterly wrong it was of her to dismiss his dream as if he were just dabbling in mud pies.

  So, to make amends as best she could, with the help of her friends, she would use their wedding as her attempt at a make-up. Even with their wedding sharing the Valentine’s Day holiday and with her cake shop, Annie’s Place, being super swamped, there was no question she would be making them her famous heart-shaped, red velvet wedding cake.

  Which only complicated things.

  Unfortunately, it also meant she wouldn’t be able to be in the wedding but Julie had enough sisters to fit the bill nicely. Fortunately for her, however, Josh and Brian had been best friends forever so he was the best man and would be at the wedding.

  Annie had tried giving her friends the cake as part of their wedding present but Brian insisted on paying for it so there and then, the idea was born. Josh very likely wouldn’t forgive her when he found out she had planned this whole encounter but she was already in trouble over her head with him so she had to at least try. If she was fated to live without him for the rest of her life, she wanted to know she’d done everything possible to get him back. Her one and only goal was to be in Josh’s arms at the wedding reception. She refused to accept an alternative ending.

  Now, mostly over the shock of having Josh actually show up in her shop, coincidentally putting her plan in motion, they stood facing each other across the counter. With the customers and her employees all gone for the day, the room was quiet enough to hear a pin drop and Josh’s expression not only showed nervousness but apprehension and puzzlement.

  They knew each other so well. This shouldn’t be so hard, and after many grueling seconds, Josh broke the awkwardness, silence and eye contact when he looked down at his shoes, hands stuffed in his jeans pockets.

  “Sorry for showing up unexpected like this but Brian sent me to take care of the bill for the cake.”

  Annie smiled to herself because she knew exactly why he was there. Now to keep him from dropping and running.

  “I’m glad you’re here,” she said as steadily as she could, clearly achieving her goal when he quickly jerked his head upward.

  “You are?”

  “Yes I am, and it’s really good to see you Josh.”

  “Okay, wait…did I come into the wrong shop?” Hands on his hips now, he looked around in confusion.

  Annie laughed out loud at that. “Trust me, you’re in the right place and really, I am glad to see you. You look really great by the way.” No time like the present to pour out her heart.

  Deep breath.

  “Josh, there are some things I really need to say to you before I lose my nerve so could you listen for a minute?”

  “Okay...” He stood completely still, never moving his hands from his hips or changing the expression on his face.

  “I’m sorry.”

  She exhaled the deep breath, looking at the ground, realizing this was going to be harder than she had imagined in all her practicing. Josh, however, took her pause as an okay for him to talk but she quickly held up a hand, silencing him.

  “No, please, I need to do this and I need you to hear all of it.”

  Annie took yet another deep breath and forged ahead.

  “I have so many things to say I’m not sure where to start. Josh, I was wrong about all of the things I said and the awful way I acted toward you. You didn’t deserve that kind of treatment. I was selfish and never took your feelings into consideration at all. I took you for granted and I was very wrong.”

  She almost laughed when his expression clearly turned to shock.

  “I was so focused on my schooling and the confusing business part of my new business, I lost focus on us, you and the career that you chose and love. I criticized you for the long hours you were putting in when I was doing the same thing. You are a great detective, Josh, and I am so very proud of you and your accomplishments. I never meant any of the awful things I said about your job. I am sorry for everything.”

  As tears rolled down her cheeks, Annie closed her eyes and let out a deep breath, disappointed at how ridiculous he probably thought it all sounded by the horrified look on his face. Okay, if he was disappointed or disgusted, why was he approaching her with a smile on his face? Could it have been that easy?

  “Thanks Annie, I needed to hear that.”

  Then Josh reached for her hand with both of his, holding tightly. She was hovering on Cloud 9, his hands so warm and rugged, just as she had remembered them. That is until she felt something completely foreign in her hand as well, something that felt a lot like paper….

  Oh no.

  Dread crept into every corner of her heart. He wasn’t really holding her hand because he wanted to. He was doing just what he’d promised his best friend he would do; exactly what she had planned for him to do. What she felt in her hand was a check. The check Brian sent him to deliver.

  How stupid could she have been to think he might actually forgive her?

  She had failed.

  Big time.

  With no other option, she gracefully accepted defeat, pasted a smile on her face, which he would surely see through, and grasped the check. She fought back the tears, swallowed her pride and thanked him. Now she only hoped it would all end quickly.

  Seeming to read her mind, which was scary but predictable, Josh casually released her hand, simultaneously breaking her heart, and asked the last question she wanted to hear at this moment.

  “See you at the wedding?”

  Then, without waiting for her to answer, he turned and walked out of her shop. Annie stood weak-kneed until he was out of sight. He had just walked out of her life…again. Was this how it felt when lovers died of broken hearts?

  For the first time, Annie would be going home early, Valentine’s Day looming or not.

  As Josh steered his Jeep away from the curb in the quaint Texas town he’d grown up in, he was in total shock. He hadn’t anticipated Annie having that type of reaction to his visit. He was pretty proud of himself that he could muster the strength, especially while touching her, which always made him giddy and warm all over, to thank her and walk away.

  What his heart was telling him to do was wrap Annie in his arms and never let her go but his head protested big time. He hated the way they’d ended their relationship but in the little amount of time they actually saw each other between their schedules, all they ever did was fight. Nothing he ever did was the right thing or good enough, according to her. He couldn’t recall now how long he’d even put up with it before everything blew up and he’d walked out.

  The kicker was he never stopped loving her, and he knew that without a doubt now, after seeing her, touching her again. But could she really have changed? Human nature is a quirky thing. There’s no way he would live that same life again. Loving her didn’t mean he was willing to risk his happiness. She’d given a really convincing, heartfelt apology but it just couldn’t be that easy for him. She’d have to try a little harder…years in a relationship that should have been give and take, 50/50—not he gives, she takes.

  They needed to talk. A lot.

  The reception really wasn’t the place to do all this but what alternative did he have? She looked equally shocked that he’d allowed her to pour out her heart and with little more than a thank you, he was out the door. Hopefully she would show up at the reception. No way would she miss the wedding. Julie would be upset and Annie wasn’t the type to do that to her friends. So suck up her pride she would, and paste a smile on her face no matter how hurt she was. She had to be there, he was counting on it.

  Saturday morning. Wedding day. Valentine’s day.

  Doo
ms Day for Annie’s heart and her love life.

  Julie had already called bright and early, waking Annie from a fitful night’s sleep, to check on her friend after the incoherent blubbering tirade from Annie the night before. Julie already knew the cake was ready to go because her friend was a professional, if nothing else.

  Annie’s only dilemma that morning was whether to send a delivery crew to set up the cake in her place. The last 24 hours had proven to be more than she could deal with. She wanted to believe her friend would understand missing the biggest wedding their little town had seen in years. The problem was, she couldn’t in good conscience, not be there for Julie’s most important day. So, she would do as everyone would expect of her, suck up her pride, put on a smile, get that cake to the park and be at the church to straighten Julie’s train, as she made the most important walk of her life.

  Resembling a big bundle of nerves, Josh stood at the front of the packed church between the groomsmen and the groom. He was shaking so much one would think he was the guy getting hitched. Julie was seconds away from her famed walk down the isle and all he could think about was not seeing Annie seated anywhere in the pews. He knew that for a fact; had gone over every seat in the place with radar precision. She just wasn’t there. He never would have guessed she wouldn’t show up at all.

  Maybe she really didn’t want what he thought she did?

  Well no time to worry now, he had a job to do as he watched a blushing, smiling bride come toward her groom. He turned in his place as best man, trying to shake off the dread. The next half hour was not about him. After the ceremony he’d worry about whether his “tough love” theory had screwed up his chances of talking things out with Annie.

  Annie slipped quietly into the last pew after she accompanied the bride to the double doors of the sanctuary and waiting guests, straightening her train as Julie’s father lead her away to her future husband. This spot in the back of the church afforded her a quick getaway after the ceremony to make one last check on the cake before everyone arrived at the reception.