Chapter 5
Chapter Five
PATTY
When Patty finally 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 with a 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’s our trail.” 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 words she 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’s our trail.” 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 to a 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?”
Colton raises a brow. His breath fogs palpably, the chill even brisker now that afternoon’s begun to melt into twilight. “Besides the obvious?”
Laughing lightly, Patty suggests, “No, like… The deeper meanings. People just toss things like this out. ‘Be Mine’ and ‘True Love’ — and words are just words. Obviously. Harmless. Until they aren’t. Then they mean something.” She pauses, and pivots to catch him looking at her with such raw reverence she forgets what to do with her hands. It’s thickly that she adds, “Maybe I’m just old fashioned too, I don’t know. I overthink, as if there’s such a thing. All I know is – every time I pick one up, it just makes me wonder how many people have traded an identical one in different parts of the world and not meant it. Or cared about meaning it.”
Colton pauses for a beat. He approaches slowly, silently. His eyes scan the ground as they walk. “It’s not overthinking. It’s true,” he says finally. “Though I’m hardly the poster child for normal takes on loyalty, for obvious reasons. The fact is that people do toss out those things. People can give things to other people without realizing the weight of what they’re handing over sometimes. A lot of the time, maybe.”
“Like what?” she questions, fascinated.
Colton is quiet again. She wonders if his mouth would taste like blood if she kissed him, given how often he bites his tongue. But it means something to her, when he still tells her, “Stuff like ‘forever,’ I guess.”
“You really think that’s just a word?” Patty asks.
Colton nods to the snowy path their boots imprint across. “Depends on who’s saying it,” he allows. “Not everyone understands a promise when they make it. Not everyone cares.”
It’s a callous view of the world, Patty thinks. She wasn’t a cynic—but she finds it fascinating that he is one, though perhaps not incurably. Patty smiles, her hand lingering by the scattered candy. She doesn’t toss another piece this time but instead turns to Colton, intrigued. “Trust, huh? More important than love?”
Colton’s gaze doesn’t waver as he answers. “Yeah. Trust is everything. I don’t give it easily. It would be stupid to, after being burned.” His voice softens as he adds, “But that’s where I am.”
Patty hums in agreement. “Same.”
Patty nods along, humming agreement. “Same.”
“Jonah?” Colton asks. She bites her lip, confirming. “Yeah. Jonah.” There is no pang when she says his name. At least, the pain isn’t piercing. It’s a duller throb of a bone that’s healed, but still aches every time it rains. Patty finds herself wanting to say more—not because Colton pushes for it, but because he leaves her room to fill if it is her prerogative to do so—and when he’s already poured out so much to her today; how can she not pour back? “I wasn’t always this confident cool chick. You know the weird girl who ate her hair in the back of class in the Breakfast Club? That was more my territory. And then high school was over and I grew into myself. It’s all good. It was better than good when the once upon a time captain of the football team asked me out. I loved him. And I really thought we had something very evolved and real. But when it came down to it, if I wasn’t always there, always catering, it wasn’t enough. That’s a – love I’m not interested in. It’s flimsy.”
“You deserve any kind of love you want,” Colton says firmly. Patty beams at him. Almost, she adds something snarky, willing to offer him levity in exchange for his bravery today. She’s surprised when he continues, “No, seriously. If he couldn’t see what he had, that’s on him. It should never be an out of sight, out of mind thing. Look at you– how could you ever be out of mind in the first place?”
Her beam softens to a candlelight intimacy. For a moment, Patty is perfectly glad to walk beside him in silence. It’s unmissable, the sharp hitch of her breath when the back of his hand grazes her—and Colton is the one who leaps, reaching out and tangling their fingers together for real. He adds in a squeeze for good measure. Patty squeezes back.
This time, it’s him who bends down to grab a piece of candy. “Call Me,” Colton reads out the message.
“Think one’s too outdated, Mr. Old Fashioned?”
“No ma’am,” he snorts. “Still counts so long as phones exist.”
Nodding seriously, she holds open her pocket for him to drop it into. It clacks like a seashell with the others. “So,” Patty falls back into step with him, matching him stride for languorous stride, “which one would you choose? Out of all of them.”
Colton comes to a standstill, not answering right away. But he looks at her in a way that makes her certain he has an answer. It’s just one he’s afraid to say out loud. Patty reminds him again, “You don’t have to be afraid of me.” Only a few words, and she can see the way they make him braver. They let him admit, tenderly, “`Trust Me.` Not because I’m asking you to, but… Because I’m trying to.”
Her heart takes hope and runs with it, picking up the pace as the rhythm turns jump rope levels of skipping. “I’d pick that one too,” she admits.
They squeeze each other’s hands at the same time, startling a laugh out of both their mouths.