Chapter Two
LEVI
“ Y ou.”
It isn’t the welcome I expected as I walk into the cafe, but the narrowed chocolate-brown eyes of the brunette beauty has me smiling.
This is the last thing I expected, and I’m not entirely sure it’s a welcome surprise. Seeing her beautiful face again hits me like a punch to the stomach, knowing that the last time we were together ended in the way it did, leaving me with a lot of ‘ what if’s ’ and ‘ what did I do? ’
“Me,” I quip, shaking the snow off my jacket. It just started to fall during my walk from the bakery, but it came in with a fierce blast of cold wind.
And that has nothing on the icy glare being sent my way.
“You two know each other?” Cassie asks, sipping her mug like she’s watching some sort of reality show.
In all fairness, this might turn out like one of those Housewives shows, table-flipping and all. I wince internally, thinking about how I even know about those.
I have my sister to thank for that.
“You could say that,” Rachel says with a huff, turning so her back is to me.
I tentatively step into the cafe, slowly pulling my gloves off and watching her like an animal about to pounce.
And with the way we left things, she just might.
“We met at your wedding.” I take another step, a smile crossing my face as I see Rachel’s back stiffen.
“Unfortunately,” she grumbles.
A chuckle escapes my lips, and before I know it, she’s whipped around, her laser-focused death glare targeted at me once more.
Now, I outright laugh.
“I need to know what the story is here,” Cassie says, eyes wide as she watches our exchange.
“There’s nothing to tell,” Rachel says while I say, “It’s complicated.”
“What happened at my wedding? Why didn’t you tell me?” Holly asks, reaching for Rachel’s hand across the table, concern laced through her voice.
“Nothing worth mentioning, or that I couldn’t handle.” Rachel takes her hand back and takes a large sip of her coffee, looking longingly at it as she places it back on the table. “I should go.”
“What? No!” Holly protests.
“But your Amour au Cannelle!” Cassie exclaims.
“Your…what?” I ask. When did Cassie start speaking French, and what does that have to do with Rachel?
“Coffee,” Cassie says, exasperated, as if I should have known the answer.
“Don’t leave on my account. I’m just here to finalize some details for tomorrow with Cassie. I’ll only be a few minutes.” Guilt wracks through me for making her uncomfortable. Just like our time together at the wedding, I only wanted to push her buttons and get the sassy, witty comebacks she throws my way. Once again, I feel like I’m being punished for something I don’t know I’m doing .
“This has nothing to do with you ,” she throws my way, along with another glare. “I have work to do.”
“At least let me put your coffee in a to-go cup.” Cassie jumps up and swipes a mug from the table, rushing to the counter.
“Really, I can come back later,” I add.
“Leave, stay; it has nothing to do with me.” Rachel stands up and puts on her jacket before grabbing her bag from the floor and putting some things from the table into it.
She says goodbye as she accepts the paper cup from Cassie and brushes past me, sending me a huff as she passes and makes her way out the door.
“What did you do to her?”
I turn back from watching Rachel leave to find two very angry women staring at me, their arms crossed and their eyes narrowed.
I’m in trouble.
“Don’t look at me like that.” I throw my hands up in surrender. “I didn’t do anything, I promise.”
Not that I know of, anyway.
“Her reaction to you says something different,” Holly responds.
I sigh, dropping my shoulders.
“Spill,” Cassie says.
I cross the distance between them, knowing I’m not getting out of here until they get an answer they are satisfied with. Lowering myself to the seat Rachel just left, I wait for them both to sit back down before I begin.
“It’s going to sound ridiculous and overblown when I tell you.” I can think of one thing that might have set her off, but it really isn’t that big of a deal, or, I didn’t think it was.
“We’ll be the judges of that,” Holly says.
I look at Cassie for some backup, but I find the same hard and confused look that Holly has. Sitting across the table from them, I feel like I’m being interrogated. Which I’m probably about to be. They might as well bring out a bright lamp and shine it right in my face.
Cassie wouldn’t deny me my Holly Jolly Latte, would she?
Now I’m really regretting not making my coffee at the bakery first.
“Alright,” I rub my palms over my face. I can’t believe I came here to do a last-minute confirmation for Valentine’s Day, and now I’m being questioned about how I made someone I never thought I’d see again upset.
“I saw her on your wedding day and thought she was pretty. During the reception, I went up to talk to her, and she didn’t like my pick-up line.”
“What did you say?” Cassie asked, her eyebrow raised. “I’ve known you my whole life, Levi. I know that it couldn’t have been anything too bad.”
“I don’t, uh, remember it exactly.” I look down at my jeans, brushing out invisible flour from them.
“Levi,” Cassie presses. I wince—visibly this time—knowing I won’t leave this cafe until I tell them everything.
While I’m not overly close to Holly, I’ve known Cassie our whole lives. Growing up in a small town and being the same age means we know each other pretty well. This is why I know that her tone tells me that she wants the truth, and she wants it now.
“I may have used a corny Christmas line I heard somewhere.” I try to be as vague as possible, looking at the drink menu behind the counter, even though I know it by heart.
“Out with it, Harrison,” Cassie presses.
Ouch. Last name engaged. I’m really not getting out of this one.
Making sure to avoid eye contact with them, I take a deep breath. “Are you a Christmas Tree? Because you light up this room. ”
The room is filled with an uncomfortable silence. You could hear a pin drop, or, worse, it would echo when it did.
There’s no coming back from uttering the words that came from my mouth a second time now. When I said them to Rachel, I wanted to make her laugh. I was hoping that the usual small-town, cheesy charm would work on her that I can usually get away with.
But now that I’ve heard it said back to Cassie and Holly? I can see why Rachel wanted nothing to do with me.
I’m pulled out of my shame—and thrust further into my embarrassment—when the two women burst out into a fit of laughter. Daring a look in their direction, I see their heads are thrown back, tears streaming down their cheeks.
“It’s not that funny,” I stammer, crossing my arms in a huff.
I’m sulking. I know I’m sulking, but I can’t help it.
“Yes, it is,” Holly responds, wiping the tears from her eyes. “Thanks, Levi. I needed a laugh like that.”
“I know you’re popular with the single ladies around here, but that can’t be your usual pick-up line. There’s no way,” Cassie adds, trying to get her breath under control. “If you needed help with them, you should have just asked for help. Light up this room.” Cassie continues, causing both of them to break into another fit of laughter.
“That’s it. I’m going to go, too. I’ll come back later to go over everything for tomorrow.” I stand and turn to leave but am stopped by Cassie’s hand on my arm.
“I’m sorry,” she says, pulling me back to my chair. I’ll stop. We’ll stop.” She glances at Holly again, and they both stifle a laugh. I can tell they are trying to hold it back on my account, but it’s failing—terribly.
Even I can’t hold it in looking at the two of them. I stifle a laugh, covering it with a cough, praying they didn’t notice that I’m not brooding about my poor choice of pick-up lines.
Which I still am .
“There’s no way that Rachel’s reaction to you was just because of that. What else happened?” Holly asked, now able to control herself.
“Nothing that I know of.” I sigh. “She turned me down, and yes, rightfully so with that line, but then she was so witty with her comebacks and the way she kept talking to me, even if it was to have a laugh at my expense. So, I kept going. I can’t remember everything I said to her, but I promise it wasn’t inappropriate or horrible. I thought we were having fun. We even danced, teasing each other. I thought we were having a great night.”
“And then what? That doesn’t make sense,” Cassie adds.
“That’s it. It doesn’t make sense to me, either. The next thing I knew, she was gone. I haven’t seen or talked to her again after that. I gave her my number, too, but she never called. I just thought that was it and moved on. That is, until I saw her here today.”
Even though we spent the night teasing each other, I honestly thought we had a connection. When she snuck away without saying goodbye and fled town before I could see her again, I had the smallest glimmer of hope that she would have called me, texted, something , but no.
“There has to be something else,” Cassie says, narrowing her eyes at me.
“There isn’t, I promise.”
“I’m going to go see what I can find out,” Holly says as she stands from the table and puts on her jacket.
“I’ll make your drink to go, too,” Cassie sighs.
I would have just called if I had known that coming into the cafe today would cause such drama. I sigh to myself as I rub my face with my palms.
With a quick goodbye from Holly, I’m left alone with a very perplexed Cassie. Normally, that wouldn’t mean anything, but she has a look on her face that tells me I won’t get out of this easily .
“I’ll let this go–for now. But there’s something else I want to know.”
Forget that; I want to go back to talking about Rachel. Her quick change of the subject, letting this go, and the look in her eyes tells me I won’t like it more than my welcome into the cafe.
“I saw your name down for ‘The True Love’s Search.’” The knowing smirk on her face lets me know that she takes great joy in the fact that my sister, Lacey, signed me up.
I didn’t know she had done it until I received an email from the town organizers about the process and what to expect tomorrow, which was just as cryptic as Lacey’s text saying, ‘ Soooo, I did something you’re not going to like. Just remember I love you .’ She’s been dodging my calls and able to avoid me ever since, which is nearly impossible considering how small Candy Cane Creek is and how she works for me at the bakery. But she’s managed it.
“How did you know about that? You’re one of the organizers, aren’t you?” I lean forward in my chair, narrowing my eyes at her. “Don’t tell me you have your hand in this. If your planning of the Singles’ Pinata is any indication, you’re looking for ways to take out your romantic anger through the town’s events.”
She gasps at my accusation, placing her hand over her heart. “One, I planned that pinata because I thought it would be fun. If the single people in town don’t have anyone to share their Valentine’s with, I don’t see why they shouldn’t at least get to hit things and get some candy out of it. And two, I don’t have ‘romantic anger.’”
“So, how are things going with the owner of the Inn, then?” I cross my arms and lean back.
Check and mate.
“We aren’t talking about Jacob and me,” she huffs.
“So there is a you and Jacob?”
“Stop changing the subject! This is about you and finding your love.” Her cheeks are turning pink, and I don’t think it’s from the warmth of the cafe.
I smile to myself, knowing that I’m onto something. Cassie and Jacob have been doing this weird dance around each other for the past year or so, and it’s been highly entertaining to watch. Mainly because I’m not involved. They flirt, and then they bicker. They work together for the Christmas season–he helps her with deliveries and some markets, she helps him with his usual holiday high tea–and then they’re back to acting like they can’t stand each other. It’s like watching a tennis match and the town’s source of entertainment during the off-season.
But now they’ve planned a Valentine’s matchmaking hunt, and I’m involved. I don’t want to be involved, but here I am.
“I don’t need to find love. I’m just fine, thank you.” I say that as convincingly as I can. It’s true that I have a bit of a reputation as a flirt around town, but if I’m honest, I like my time alone. All the flirting is really just me being nice and having some fun.
Except for Rachel.
I was truly interested in her and thought we had a connection until she up and left without even saying goodbye.
“Well, either way, you’re signed up and committed now. I guess you’ll find out who you’re paired with tomorrow.”
“Can’t wait,” I answer sarcastically. “Can we finally go over this order for tomorrow? Please?”
She sends me a smirk, likely thinking she’s won whatever little battle we were just having, but she quickly drops it as she stands. “Fine, I’ll grab my iPad, but just know this isn’t over.”
Of course, it isn’t.