Chapter Four
LEVI
“ M aggie, leave it alone. You know I can’t leave the bakery today,” I huff as I place a new tray of heart-shaped sugar cookies in the display case.
There’s a line out the door of people waiting for their holiday treats, and the last thing I need to do right now is run around town looking for hints to find a date I didn’t ask for.
“Lacey’s just putting her apron on in the back. We can handle it,” Maggie says, handing John Dexter his change with a wide smile. “Thanks for coming in, Mr. Dexter. I hope Mrs. Dexter likes these treats you’ve picked out for her.”
“Oh, I know she will. Between your Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies and the roses from Romance in Bloom, she’ll be giddy until Easter. You’ve done wonders with this place, Levi. Not that your Grandma didn’t as well, but the new additions you’ve come up with have the town talkin’!”
“I’m happy to hear it,” I say, forcing a smile.
I know he means well, but taking over the bakery last month and being thrust into participating in the Valentine’s Day events has overwhelmed me and made me question my sanity. Lacey throwing my name into the town’s ridiculous Love Search is testing my sanity even more .
“Hey, bro. You haven’t taken off to find your true love yet?”
Speaking of the one testing my sanity.
“You have your name in the Search and are still here? What are you doing, Levi? Go and find her!” Edna says, slinging a fabric tote filled with crochet hooks and yarn sticking out the top over her shoulder. If I’m not mistaken, she also has a crochet hook sticking out of her grey hair.
“Even if I wanted to, I can’t. I have cookies in one of the ovens, and I need to get more brownies in next. I need to ice the mini cakes…”
“And I can do all of that while Maggie here helps all these wonderful customers,” Lacey replies with a wide smile.
I don’t know why she signed me up for this or why she’s so happy about it, but it’s starting to get on my nerves.
“We don’t mind waiting if it means you’re following your clues!” Edna says, causing the people in line behind her to announce their agreement.
“See, we’re just fine,” Lacey says.
I lean in so only she can hear me. “Why are you so invested in this?”
She lets out a fake gasp. “Why, brother. You can’t think I have an ulterior motive, do you?”
I study her, seeing she’s up to something, but I can’t figure out what it is.
“Come on, Levi. You deserve this,” someone in the shop says.
“Go find out who it is!” another says.
“You owe me,” I say to Lacey under my breath.
“You mean, ‘Thank you, little sis. I couldn’t do any of this without you. I’ll remember to send you a thank you present as I’m riding off into the sunset with the love of my life. ’”
“There will be no riding or sunsets. This is a waste of time. ”
“We’ll see about that,” she smirks before going through the swing doors.
“She always has to have the last word,” I mutter.
“So, come on. What’s your first clue?” John says, leaning over the counter with his box of treats.
“Yes, maybe we can help!” Edna adds.
“I have his box right here!” Maggie exclaims, reaching under the counter and pulling out a red box with my name on a tag.
“How did you…?” I start before Maggie’s smirk stopped me.
“Do you really think I’d let this go?” Maggie chuckles.
“You got her in on this, didn’t you?” I ask Lacey.
She brings her hand to her lips, runs it across, and turns at the corner. “My lips are zipped.”
I roll my eyes at them both.
“Jelly Beans, Cinnamon Hearts, Jellies…what could this mean?” Todd says, looking over John and Edna’s shoulders at the open box.
“Oh wait, there’s something on the bottom!” Emma exclaims from beside Todd.
Edna reaches past John and moves the candies to the side, revealing a small chocolate heart with writing on it.
“What does it say?” Emma asks, trying to get a better look.
That’s when everyone in line starts to rush to the counter, filling up every possible space and trying to see what’s inside the box. They all start talking at once, giving me an instant headache.
“‘LUV CONTENT,’” someone reads.
“Love continent? What would that be? France?” Another says.
“France is a country, Stu. It’s in Europe…”
“What does that have to do with candy? ”
“Aren’t they known for their chocolate? Isn’t that a Conversation Heart?” someone else chimes in.
“I might play along with this just so I don’t have to listen to this nonsense anymore,” I mutter, rubbing my eyes.
“But what does it mean ?” someone else yelled.
“I know! The tree!” Emma says, her eyes widening. “The tree in the town square is decorated with those hearts with sayings on them! I bet the second clue is there!”
“What are you waiting for? Go get the girl?” someone in the back yells.
“You make it sound like I’m in some romance movie. There’s no ‘ get the girl. ’ It’s a set of clues trying to lead me to someone in town I was likely matched up with by a name generator,” I say loudly so everyone can hear me.
How did I get here?
When I came into the bakery this morning, my mind was only on the orders I had to fulfill and the extra baking I had to do for those who would stop in today. Now, I’m dealing with what feels like half the town crammed into my small space, demanding I follow a pointless scavenger hunt for no reason other than the town’s entertainment.
Why I chose to come back to this town after culinary school, I’ll never know.
“Come on, big brother. Where’s your sense of adventure?” Lacey asks, bumping her hip with mine.
“I used it all buying this place from Grandma,” I mutter.
“What if it’s more than just a computer-generated match? What if it really does lead to the love of your life, and you waste it because you’re stuck here being Mr. Grumpy-pants on Valentine’s Day?”
I don’t know why Lacey is so enthusiastic about me doing this, but she’s practically shoving me out the door with how she’s nudging me with her arm.
I take a deep breath. “Fine, I’ll go. But I hope you’re all this happy when I get to the barn tonight and see how it’s been an absolute waste of my day.”
Everyone erupts into cheers as I take off my apron and head to the back.
“I’m going to pay you back for this,” I whisper to Lacey as I pass her.
“Sure you will, big brother,” she retorts with a wide smile as she rushes to the back.
What am I doing here?
Standing in front of the oversized, overly-decorated tree in the middle of town, people rush about with candies and cards in their hands, laughing and giggling to each other. Cassie has a booth with coffee and hot cocoa, and Brianna has one with different candies. It’s as if someone replaced all the Christmas decorations and festivities for Valentine’s ones.
The only constant thing is the snow, which I’m trudging through now.
I make my way to the base of the tree and look up, blinded by the winter sun reflecting off all the glitter from the decorations. I’m not sure how the town pulled all this off so quickly or got all the decorations in time, but they did, and it’s…something.
Squinting through the blinding pink light, I scan the branches of the tree to find some sort of clue as to what I’m looking for. A note hidden in the tree’s bushes? More candy? A present? At this point, I wouldn’t rule out a neon sign pointing to some overly decorated Cupid.
As much as I envision that Cupid, played by Curt in some ridiculously themed outfit, would make this whole mess of finding clues much easier, that’s not something I want to see .
Now, I wonder if Lacey’s right in me being some sort of a Valentine’s Mr. Grumpy-pants.
When did this happen? I’m not grumpy. That’s not who I am. I try to think back to when this shift in my mood started, making me stop in my tracks.
Yesterday. I’ve been feeling off since yesterday.
I was conflicted when I saw Rachel sitting in the cafe, but her reaction to me, along with Cassie and Holly’s interrogation, set me off in a way that I couldn’t understand.
Maybe I should be looking at this Love Search as some sort of distraction. Maybe by doing this, I can get my mind off of Rachel and on to something more positive. As much as I really do believe all these pairings are made by some computer-generated randomized matching system, maybe it could be fun to get out of my comfort zone and see what the town has in store for me. Candy Cane Creek isn’t so big that I would end up with someone I don’t know, but maybe instead, I’ll be paired up with someone I wouldn’t normally talk to.
Maybe this could be…fun?
Circling the tree while sloshing through the snow, I wonder just how fun this could be. My feet are getting wet and cold, and the bottom of my pants are soaked. I dressed this morning for the bakery, not for trapezing halfway across town.
And there’s the grumpiness again.
Not knowing what I’m looking for isn’t helping, either.
As if the Search wants to end my seemingly never-ending frustration, a red envelope with my name is between two branches behind some glittering garland.
Reaching my hand to grab it, it’s met with a force, knocking it away.
“Sorry, excuse me,” a soft voice says.
And there they are again, those beautiful brown eyes.
“You. ”
“I have a name, you know. You don’t need to keep referring to me as ‘you.’” I smile, seeing that my words have an effect on her.
“I know that,” she hisses.
I chuckle, pulling my envelope from the tree, seeing she has a matching one in her hand.
“You have my number, too,” I say, tucking my envelope into my jacket pocket.
“Hmph,” she replies, turning away from me.
“What? Still not happy to see me?” I ask sarcastically and loudly as she begins to walk away from me.
“You know what?” she responds loudly as she whips around, taking a step toward me. Her finger is pointed right at me, painted bright red, which stands out against the white snow surrounding us. “It’s not worth it.”
She turns back around and starts to stomp away.
The thrill of poking the bear is gone; now I want to know what I did that was so horrible that she feels the need to treat me like this.
“Talk to me, Rachel,” I plead.
“There’s nothing to talk about.” She doesn’t turn around, but she stops walking.
“There’s obviously something bothering you. We got along just fine at the wedding, or I thought we did.”
I could be mistaken, but I thought I heard a soft, “I did, too.”
“Hey.” I take a deep breath, knowing that my next actions could very likely get me physically harmed.
Reaching out, I place my hand lightly on her arm and have to quickly recoil with my hands in front of my face with the force with which she whipped around.
“Don't ‘hey’ me, Levi.”
“See, you do know my name,” I joke. I probably shouldn’t. The way she’s looking at me makes me more than a little afraid for my life, but she’s talking to me, and I don’t want that to stop. Why is that when I was just looking for a distraction from her just a few moments ago? Who knows, but now that she’s talking to me, it’s all I want.
“I don’t know why you are so insistent I talk to you, especially after, well, everything.” Her cheeks are turning red, and she lets out a little huff at the end. She looks like she could be one of those fire-breathing dragons and probably wishes she could be one right now to burn me to a crisp. While I’m thankful she’s not, it’s cute. Like a cute little fire-breathing dragon.
Not that I would ever call her that out loud. She really might be burn me to a crisp then.
“I really don’t know what you’re talking about,” I answer honestly. I wish I knew what I had done that had made her feel like she has to avoid me. Testing the waters, I take a step forward. “Tell me, please?”
Her shoulders drop as her eyes meet mine. “What’s the point, Levi? It’s not going to change anything.”
“But what if it does?” I still don’t know why I’m so invested, but I need her to know that whoever she thinks I am is wrong. “Please, tell me what I did so I can make it right.”
She opens her mouth to answer but then snaps it shut, looking down at the red envelope in her hand. “Does it matter? Maybe I have a clue to my soulmate here. Then would it matter what did–or didn’t–happen between us?”
“It matters to me.” I take another step. I’m so close that I could reach out and touch her if I wasn’t afraid that I would lose my limb in the process.
She may have dropped her dragon glare, but I sense she’s still dangerous.
“Rachel!” A voice yells behind me, drawing her gaze away from mine and over my shoulder.
“I have to go.” She strides past me, the fabric of her jacket brushing my arm. It was light but just enough to remind me of the night of the wedding, when we danced and laughed .
Where did it all go wrong?
Pulling the envelope out of my pocket, her words hang heavy in the air around me. Maybe I should focus on who the search is leading me to.
Opening the flap of the envelope, I pull out the card decorated in red and pink glitter, which is now all over my hand. It looks like an arts and crafts project from the elementary school, which it may have truly been the way the community has pulled together to make this Valentine’s event happen.
Levi,
Roses are red, violets are blue,
Look for stories of love and adventure too,
Where quiet whispers and pages turn,
A world of romance awaits to be learned!
“Stories of Love? Quiet whispers?” I mutter, looking down at the handwritten note in my hand.
The library!