Page 26 of Christmas at Valentine Inn
“Anyway. Thanks for trying to play the hero today. I better go.”
“Wait.”
I once again got my hopes up, thinking he might want to continue playing the hero and have the starring role in my Christmas dramedy.
“You have a chocolate mustache.” He grinned. “And some jelly on your coat.” He took way too much pleasure in saying it.
I cringed, hating my life. “Thanks.” I threw open his door with gusto, letting the biting air whip my burning-with-embarrassment cheeks. I jumped out and slammed the door, marching off like the little drummer boy, sad and lonely. Pa-rum-pum-pum-pum.
“Izzy,” Charlotte cried as she sank into the corner chair in our office.
I had just delivered the blow-by-blow account of theincidentat the grocery store. I was racking up way too many incidents. I should mention this was after I cleaned myself up. Patrick was not lying about the chocolate milk mustache. We are talking 1980s Tom Selleck mustache. Too bad Antarctica was out as a hideaway. I googled it before I came home and there are no restaurants there. I can’t live like that.
“I know, Char. I’m so sorry. I tried my best, but someone leaked something to the foul man.”
“I don’t blame you.” A few tears trailed down her cheeks.
I knelt in front of her and took her hands. “Maybe you and Drake should take Jameson out of school and elope.”
“I can’t get married without you and Mom and Dad. That wouldn’t seem like any wedding at all.”
“Okay, maybe we can all secretly fly somewhere.”
“Maybe.” Her lower lip trembled. “But my dream is to get married here. This is where Drake’s and my love became a reality. Where Jameson was created. I don’t think it would feel right anywhere else. Besides, Daisy would haunt me forever if I didn’t get married here.”
I knew she truly believed that, and maybe it was true. I didn’t know what to believe anymore. “Well, honey, you’ll just have to get ready for a zoo then.” I squeezed her hands, knowing that the zoo was going to be more like a three-ring circus with flying monkeys and I was for sure going to lose my ish. Assuming I hadn’t already. It sure felt like I had lost it somewhere along the way.
“Drake is going to have someone’s head.”
“Probably. But we’ll make the best of it.”
“Yeah.” She didn’t sound so sure.
I stood, feeling terrible, even though I knew it wasn’t my fault. It was someone connected to the florist. I paced and sighed, wishing I could make it better. Wishing Patrick had never taken me into his arms. It was like giving a mouse a cookie. I wanted all the cookies now. Well, not with grumpy Patrick.
“How are you?” Charlotte asked. “That must have been awkward with Patrick.”
“Awkward doesn’t begin to cover it.”
“But he jumped in and pretended you were engaged?”
“Yeah. It was weird and totally unexpected.”
Charlotte rubbed her hands together. “This is so good. It’s like that movie we loved to watch when I was a teenager,Drive Me Crazy. You’re Melissa Joan Hart.”
I wrinkled my nose at her. “I’m not some angsty teen girl who needs a date to the centennial dance. And Patrick is not the boy next door who needs to make his ex-girlfriend jealous. He’s a widower who hates me.”
“No man would do what he did today if he hated you. And we’ve read and watched enough romances to know that all these fake relationships lead to real ones.”
“Listen to yourself. You are talking about make-believe. This is real life.Mylife.”
“Izzy, I know. I just don’t think this is all a coincidence. I think Drake is right: Patrick wishes he had never let you go. Maybe today was his way of trying to get back into your life.”
“Right. If he wanted to get back into my life, he could have just asked me out for coffee or something.”
A knock startled me. I looked up to find Patrick standing outside the French doors as if conjured up by magic. Inn magic, no less.
Charlotte gave me an impish grin.
