Page 9 of Sweet Valentine
“You’re scared,” she murmurs. It isn’t a question. He doesn’t answer it. “That’s human, Colton. You were hurt, so now you’re scared of getting hurt again.”
Every muscle in his body tenses with the impulse to deny it. But how can he? It is all over his face, already. All over his words. Still, she’s looking at him like this—with calm understanding, that cuts right through him. No voyeurism or looking away from the gristle and blood; her palms cradle his heart. It smarts, the vulnerability that claws at his chest from within.
“I don’t do this, Patty,” he repeats. His voice is a hoarse whisper now. “I don’t do any of it. I’ve kept my head down for a long time—changed almost everything about the life I had once. I just do my job, and mind my business, and try to help as best I can. But you…” His heart thrums to life, hammering frenetically behind his ribs. “You make me feel. It does scare me.”
Her palms are a cool relief against his hot cheeks. “Don’t be afraid of me. Please. You don’t have to be,” Patty cajoles, her forehead flat against his. He would bet she can taste the bitterness in his laugh. “You say that… but people leave. They don’t keep their promises. They just go. No forwarding address sometimes.”
“Not everyone,” Patty pushes back, gentle – but firm, fierce. “Not me.”
He swallows hard, and the lump in his throat goes nowhere. Something inside him unspools, however—something Colton has no name for. For the first time in a long time, he can’t deny that he wants to believe. Wants, despite many instincts, totrust. The locks and chains around a heart he’d boarded up have grown rusted over the years.
A palm drops to his chest as if it’s a thought she can read all over his face. “You are a good man with a good heart and it would kill me to hurt it,” she breathes. “I’m not asking you to change who you are today, right now, right here, because I’ve got sweet nothings to ply your trust with. That isn’t how trust works. I don’t expect it to. But I’ve been here – I’ve been shattered. I’m not your ex-wife. You’re not Jonah.” Honesty, so often, wasconfused for obnoxious bluntness. Those people, Colton thinks, should make Patty Sullivan an acquaintance.
He looks at her, and the sincerity that brims in her tender gaze is nearly too much to bear. He looks into those pools, and he may as well be standing at the edge of a cliff, looking down into the unknown. Yet, somehow, Patty—with a literal store oozing evidence to the contrary, boasting of her worldliness and spontaneity—feels steady. She makes it detrimentally hard, looking at him as she is, to believe that he may hurtle towards the ground but it wouldn’t be without a parachute.
A hefty breath, and he allows, “Okay.”
Patty’s mouth sprawls in a wide, wild grin. “Okay,” she agrees.
Chapter Five
PATTY
When Pattyfinally pulls back from Colton, color blooms in her cheeks. None of the copious pairs of eyes on them bother with tact. Their mouths don’t either—some tittering here, some whispering there. It doesn’t render her as irritable as it has been. For the relief that finally smooths out the lines marring Colton’s forehead, she stumbles back; when she does so, though, it’s with nary a regret.
It’s nice to be reminded, no matter by what circumstances, that she’s still someone who can make someone feel less alone. To feel better. Symbiotically, she feels better too. She turns over another card, to read the way it says:Follow the trail, Sweethearts.
As they step forward, she notices a subtle change in the atmosphere. The familiar scent of her bookstore drifts on the air, but something catches her eye. Tiny heart-shaped candies are scattered along the path, each one carrying a different message. Patty bends down to pick up a few, reading the words witha mixture of amusement and confusion.Be Mine. True Love. Second Chances.
Colton stands beside her, watching her reaction closely. “This isn’t just any trail, Patty,” he says softly. “It’sourtrail.” Her heart pounds as they follow the path of candies, the faint glow of twilight making everything feel dreamlike.
At first, she thinks it’s a coincidence, but then Colton gently nudges her forward. “This trail leads to something important.” Her breath catches as they approach the Whispering Willow, where the entire town stands gathered, each person holding a small handful of the colorful candies.
And standing at the center is Colton, holding out the final candy just for her. She reads the words on it, her heart swelling.Forever Yours.
Laughing under her breath, Patty bends down to pick up the next piece of candy. Her fingers brush against the faint layer of snow clinging to it. As she straightens, Colton steps closer, his voice low. “I wanted to remind you that wherever you go next... I want to be there with you.”
Patty’s heart flutters, a warmth spreading through her chest. She opens her mouth to respond, but before the words can form, a sudden cheer erupts from the crowd. The sound jolts her from the intimate moment, and she glances around, realizing just how much attention is on them. The townspeople are grinning, some snapping photos, others whispering excitedly.
Colton squeezes her hand, his smile soft but knowing. “Looks like we’ve got an audience,” he whispers, his breath warm against her ear. Patty chuckles, feeling the weight of the moment lighten.
As the crowd begins to disperse, she tugs Colton’s hand gently, leading him away from the gathering. “I think we’ve given them enough to gossip about for one day,” she says, her voice teasing. But as they walk, her mind races with the wordsshe wants to say, the emotions bubbling to the surface, waiting for the quiet moment they can share again.
At first, she thinks it is a coincidence, but then Colton gently nudges her forward. “This isn’t just any trail, Patty. It’sourtrail.” Her heart pounds as they approach the Whispering Willow, where the entire town stands gathered, holding up books from her shop, each with a personalized note written on the inside cover. And standing at the center is Colton, holding out the final note just for her.
Laughing under her breath, Patty bends down to pick up the next piece of candy. She has to blow hard, getting rid of the faint layer of snow clinging to it. On the trunk of the enormous maple tree she spots the piece with another card: This time, a bright, giddy red envelope. There isn't a poem, just a reiteration of the last card, slightly altered:
Keep the candy. Create the poems.
Patty flips over the candy heart in her palm. The tiny red letters spell out, ‘BE MINE.’ When she holds it up for Colton to see. “Look, another one. You think this trail will take us to something real, or are we being messed with?”
Finally, it’s an easier smile he slips her. “Maybe both,” he allows. With a hint of a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth, Colton shrugs. Patty, meanwhile, tucks the little heart into her pocket. She adds it to the small collection they’ve already accumulated. She brushes her palms off on her thighs right after.
The trail was more and more obvious, the more to the right they leaned. Patty is quick to deduce it means they’re nearing the end. It looks a lot like a sign that someone gave up being as tricky as possible. Giddily, she skips towards another piece, closer toa different cluster of trees, no longer as skeletal the farther they get from the depths of winter.
Colton walks beside her, more accompanying her than participating himself. Whether he’s sapped of energy or not, it doesn’t feel like it. There’s something in the air he’s no more impervious to than she is. He chases her chasing a whimsical candy trail, and it’s young and silly and ridiculous, but Patty can’t help but feel like they’re on the cusp of something deeper than fun.
Not that it keeps Patty from pushing her luck, and prompting, “Any theories on the meaning of these candies, Sheriff?”
