19. Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Nineteen
W hy was she so stubborn?
Jackson reminded himself that Carrie was never quick to change. She was more of the stick-to-her-routines, proceed-with-caution type. That must be why she kept throwing up every roadblock imaginable.
Still, he’d seen the jealousy in her eyes when she thought he’d been kissing Brittany. His nose curled up at the thought. He pushed away the unwanted memory of that unwanted kiss. He supposed it might have been worth it, if that’s what it took for Carrie to realize the depths of her feelings for him.
He was more certain now that she cared about him. And his love for her kept growing every day. But where did he go from here? How did he get her to take his hand and step into the future together?
Instead of going home, where Jackson knew he would do nothing but pace, he went next door. The storefront was coming together. He went in search of Mark. He had some new ideas he wanted to run past him.
He didn’t have to go far to find him because as Jackson headed for the back door, Mark was entering the building. “Mark, do you have a moment to talk?”
“Sure.” Mark gave him a concerned look. “Is everything okay?”
Jackson rubbed the back of his neck, finding it stiff and sore. His first instinct was to tell his friend he was fine, but then he realized maybe he needed someone to give him some perspective.
Before he could change his mind, Jackson said, “It’s Carrie. You know how important my friendship with her is?” When Mark nodded his head, Jackson continued. “I want to take our relationship to the next level, but Carrie doesn’t. Or at least that’s what she says.”
“And you don’t believe her?”
Jackson shrugged. “I think she’s afraid to find out what we could have together.”
“I’m sure it doesn’t help that Brittany is throwing herself at you.”
Jackson rolled his eyes. “So you heard about that too?”
Mark nodded. “Heard about it a half hour ago.”
“This town could medal in the fastest grapevine.”
Mark nodded in agreement. “So, what’s the deal? Are you seeing both women? That sounds very dangerous.”
“What? No. Of course not.” He frowned at Mark. “I don’t know what Brittany was thinking before she threw herself at me, but I had absolutely no part in it.”
“Actually, I hear your lips were involved.” Mark let out a laugh at Jackson’s obvious distress.
Jackson’s frown deepened. “This isn’t funny. I’m serious. I have a problem.”
Mark subdued his amusement. “Does Carrie know your version of the story?”
“I tried to tell her, but she didn’t seem to want to hear it. She said that even if Brittany wasn’t an issue, that we still wouldn’t work.”
Mark was quiet for a moment. “Maybe what you have to do is show her that you two work together.”
He liked the sound of this idea. It was the implementation he was struggling with. “You mean do the things I would do if we started seeing each other.”
Mark nodded. “Do you have a plan of how to make it work? Are you going to have a long-distance relationship?”
This was the part that made him a bit nervous. Making changes in his life both big and small wasn’t easy. But if he could pick up and move to another country, he could do what it took to make their relationship work.
And so, he told Mark his plans. He’d always assumed Carrie would be the first person he told his plans to, but it didn’t appear she was ready to hear them. Saying the plans aloud gave them life. It gave his plan some finality.
The more he talked about the future, the more certain he became that these changes were the right thing for him—even if the worst happened, and Carrie never gave their relationship a real chance. He needed these changes.
After speaking with Mark, Jackson went to visit his mother. He needed her blessing to put his plan into action. He just hoped she would be agreeable because he didn’t have a plan B.
Had she made a mistake?
The biggest mistake of her life?
The questions and doubts kept Carrie awake most of the night. She kept replaying her conversation with Jackson. She kept trying to figure out how to make things work for both of them. In the wee hours of the morning, the answers had eluded her.
She was miserable. Even when her mother had called that morning, her mother detected that something was wrong. Carrie dismissed it as her being exhausted after such a busy week at the chocolate shop. Thankfully, her mother accepted her answer and let the subject drop.
“You’ll never believe what I heard from Ester Holmes, who heard it from Mary Thompson. Well, apparently Jackson and Brittany are seeing each other.”
“What?” It took Carrie a second to realize her mother must have been talking about the kiss. “No, they’re not.”
“I don’t know, sweetie. That’s not what I heard.”
“If you mean the kiss...”
“They kissed?”
Oops! She shouldn’t have said anything. “No. They didn’t kiss. Brittany kissed him and caught him by surprise.”
“Oh. I see.” Her mother was quiet for a moment. “But it wasn’t exactly by surprise. From what I’ve heard, they’ve been spending a lot of time together.”
Really? Carrie didn’t want this bit of gossip to be true, but how was she to know what he was doing while she was working. Her mind said it didn’t matter what he did, but her heart said it mattered very much.
Her gaze strayed over to the clock in her parents’ kitchen. She realized it was time to go to work. She was never so happy to have to go work.
“Sorry, Mom. I have to get going. I have a lot of work to do. Tomorrow is Valentine’s. I’m hoping today will be our busiest day of the year.”
“Of course, sweetie. I still feel awful that we weren’t there for your grand opening.”
“It’s okay, Mom. We can have a celebratory dinner when you get back in April.”
“It’ll be a big dinner with all of the trimmings. Maybe we’ll invite some people, including Jackson, if he’s in town, and his mother. Make it more of a party...”
“Mom, I have to go.”
“Oh, yes. I hope you have a good day. Love you.”
“Love you too.”
Carrie put on her snow boots and then shrugged on her winter coat. With her purse in one hand and her insulated coffee mug in the other, she headed out the door into the several inches of newly fallen snow.
James Hall was there, plowing her driveway. When he spotted her, he pulled up and hopped out. “Good morning.” He sent her a friendly smile. “I’ll have your driveway plowed in just a moment.”
“Thank you. I appreciate it.”
“I would have been here earlier, but I made the mistake of stopping at Edna Conners’ house. She brought out some coffee and a muffin, which was very sweet, but then she talked and talked and talked.”
Carrie forced a smile to her lips. “Edna loves to talk. It was kind of you to stay and visit with her. I know she’s lonely now that her husband passed on.”
He shrugged. “I don’t mind most days. It’s just with all the new snow overnight and more in the forecast, I have a lot to do. Speaking of which, I shouldn’t keep you.” He paused and looked at her. “You look real pretty this morning.”
It was then she wondered if he could be her secret valentine. She was tired of dancing around people, and that morning she just didn’t have any patience. Maybe it was the lack of sleep that allowed her to be so straight forward. Or maybe it was her frustration with Jackson. Either way, it didn’t matter. She just wanted some answers.
“James, you wouldn’t happen to be my secret valentine, would you?”
“Me?” His brows lifted high on his forehead. “Nope. Wasn’t me. I’m honored you’d think to ask me. I hope whoever it is, that he’s good to you.”
She shrugged. “It’s no big deal.”
“That’s not what I heard. Seems like whoever it is has gone to a lot of trouble to make it special for you.”
She couldn’t deny it. “They have. I just don’t know who to thank.”
“Well, tomorrow is Valentine’s. Something tells me that whoever it is will reveal themself.”
She nodded. “I’m sure you’re right.”
“Well, I need to get going. The snow waits for no man. And I have a lot of driveways to clear around town.” He walked to his pickup. “I’ll see you next snow.”
And then he was back plowing the last of the snow from her driveway. She followed him out of the driveaway. He went to the left while she turned to the right.
Even though the roads had been plowed, they were still a snowy white. The tires crunched over the snow-packed roadway. When she approached a stop sign, she pressed the brake pedal. The car kept going, sliding over the ice. She let off the brake and tried it again. The car still kept going. Her heart raced as she glanced in each direction of the four-way stop. Luckily, there was no one at the intersection. Finally, the car stopped, on the other side of the intersection.
Carrie white-knuckled it the rest of the way to the bakery. Once she was parked, she took her first full breath. As she was walking toward the rear entrance of the bakery, the delivery van pulled up and parked near the bakery.
Archie hopped out and made his way to the back of the big brown van. “Good morning.”
“Morning. It’s really slick out...” Her foot hit a patch of ice. Her arms windmilled as she tried to regain her balance, but it wasn’t working. Gravity pulled her down.
And then there were arms reaching out to her. They drew her upright. She was once more standing.
“Thank you.” When her gaze met Archie’s, she realized just how close they were standing.
He didn’t immediately release her. “Looks like I was in the right spot at the right time.”
His gaze dipped. Was he looking at her lips? No.... No. No. No.
She braced her hands on his chest and pushed back until he released her. Thank goodness because there was absolutely no chemistry there—at least none on her side.
If he was her secret valentine, she had to tell him here and now it wasn’t going to work. She’d have to figure out a way to do it gently, of course.
“Archie, you wouldn’t happen to be my secret valentine, would you?”
He smiled at her with an eager gleam in his eyes. She looked at Archie’s uniform. It was a bit wrinkled as well as being askew. And his blond hair was mussed up, as though he’d just rolled out of bed without combing it. He didn’t strike her as the type to pay attention to details like her secret valentine had done.
His smile broadened. “If I say yes, does that mean you’ll go out with me tonight?”
Archie was a nice guy, but she didn’t think she’d ever said or done anything to encourage him. And she didn’t want to do anything to hurt him. So, she had to handle this carefully.
“I have to work this evening for the Happy Hearts event. And...” She really hoped that this wouldn’t upset him. “And I think we’re better off as friends.”
He sighed and shrugged. “You can’t blame a guy for trying.” He opened the back of the van. And then he turned back to say, “And to answer your question, I’m not your secret valentine.”
“Thanks,” she mumbled before unlocking the door.
She let herself inside and found the lights were already on. Alice must be in early. That would be a big help, since business should be brisk that day.
As she took off her coat and boots, her thoughts quickly returned to figuring out who her secret valentine might be. With Archie and James off the list of suspects, that only left Codi, her ex-boyfriend. She didn’t think it was him. Alice had informed her that he’d been in the shop to buy chocolates for his new girlfriend.
So now, Carrie didn’t have any guesses of who her secret valentine might be. But she didn’t have time to worry about it. She had chocolates to make. She entered the chocolate shop and got to work.
It wasn’t until lunchtime that Alice stepped into the kitchen, and Carrie took a break. “I’m sorry I haven’t been out front, helping you. How is it going?”
“Business has been steady.”
Steady? That wasn’t a description for record-breaking sales. Carrie was deflated. “But it’s not our biggest day?”
“Did I forget to mention that part?” Alice sent her a big smile. “Business has been steadily picking up to the point that I need your help.”
Carrie breathed a sigh of relief. At least something was working out for her. “That’s the kind of news I like to hear. Just let me wash up and change my apron, and I’ll be right out.”
She was thankful for this very busy day, in more ways than one. Because the busier she was, the less time she had to think about how her last conversation with Jackson had ended.