Chapter 2
MELANIE
Iwas a cheater. Paint a big scarlet “A” on my chest.
Until recently, I thought he felt the same. We’d talked on the phone almost every night for six months, but all that cut off once I got to Wildwood Valley. I hadn’t even gotten a response to my texts. I’d given up after a few days.
Maybe I’d been dumped, so it wasn’t cheating, after all.
Luca had left me at my booth mid-afternoon, and I actually sold a couple more pieces—a planter and a vase to the same woman. No one was interested in my angels. I just hoped that would change if I participated in the Christmas festival.
I covered my table with one of the vendors’ tarps, then headed to my car. I wasn’t meeting Luca for another eighteen minutes—definitely not counting. If I showed up at the diner across the street too early, he’d think I was anxious. I should be fashionably late.
What was I doing? I shook my head as I got behind the wheel and considered my options. I lived a full half hour away, so I couldn’t just pop by my apartment and change. That meant I was going in the clothes I’d worn all day.
This wasn't a date, though—just a business meeting, or at least that's how we'd playfully framed it. But I had a job. Crafts were just something I did on the side. Was I going to quit my decent-paying gig as an assistant at a real estate office in my hometown and move here? No, I could help out with his crafts fair on the side, but it definitely couldn’t be a full-time venture.
Sighing, I started the engine and headed toward the diner. I was being silly about the whole thing. It wasn’t like I could date this mountain man, even if he was hotter than I’d ever imagined my online boyfriend as being. But I felt betrayed by Lumberjack47 anyway.
Yeah, I was a mess.
My heart was pounding as I entered the diner. The place was packed—no surprise, considering the market had just ended.
“It’ll be about a twenty-minute wait,” the teenage hostess told me.
“There’s not a guy waiting alone for me already, is there?” I asked, looking around.
It was a stupid question. I could see for myself there was no gorgeous mountain man just sitting at a booth by himself.
No, every table was filled with families, and a familiar pang shot through me.
I'd actually gotten my hopes up that I might have kids of my own someday—that I'd finally get Lumberjack47 to meet me, it would be love at first sight, and we'd be married within weeks.
But suddenly, all that felt wrong. How could it be love at first sight when what I’d felt with Luca had been so strong? Overpowering, almost.
I moved over to the side and stood awkwardly near the bathrooms while more people poured in, filling the area between the door and the counter where they served ice cream.
On busy nights like this, they served full dinners to those who sat there.
But there was no seat available at the counter, either.
It was a shame. I liked the thought of sitting side by side with Luca, our arms occasionally brushing, the heat from his body radiating over toward me.
I stared down at my phone, checking for a message from my lumberjack. Nothing. Just a couple of notifications about orders that had been placed. I’d have to package all that up and ship it when I got home.
“Melanie?”
I turned toward the voice and there he was—Luca, weaving through the crowd toward me. He’d changed clothes, trading his festival attire for dark jeans and a flannel shirt that made his shoulders look impossibly broad.
“You made it,” he said, that slow smile spreading across his face.
“Barely. This place is crazy busy.”
“Yeah, I should have thought of that. The whole festival crowd descends on this place every night.” He glanced around, then back at me. “You know what? Forget this. I’ve got a better idea.”
“Oh?”
“My place isn’t far. I could make us dinner. Nothing fancy—just burgers on the grill, maybe some of that oat milk coffee you love so much afterward.”
The words hit me like a physical blow. I stared at him, my heart suddenly hammering for an entirely different reason.
“What did you just say?”
His face went pale. “I said…burgers on the grill?”
“No. After that. About the oat milk.”
He ran a hand through his hair, looking suddenly nervous. “I…well, I noticed you ordered it at the coffee stand earlier. At the festival.”
“I never ordered coffee at the festival today, Luca.”
The silence stretched between us, broken only by the chatter of the crowd around us. I watched as the realization dawned in his eyes—that he’d given himself away.
“You’re him,” I whispered. “You’re Lumberjack47.”
He closed his eyes briefly, then opened them and looked directly at me. “Yes.”
“The cartoon lumberjack avatar. It really did look like you.”
“I’m sorry, Melanie. I wanted to tell you so many times, but—”
“But what? You thought it would be fun to mess with my head? Make me think I was developing feelings for two different men?”
“No, it wasn’t like that.” He stepped closer, lowering his voice.
“I was scared. What we had online, those phone calls…it meant everything to me. But I’m not good with people in person.
I haven’t been, not for a long time. I thought if you met me first as just some guy with a business proposition, maybe you’d give me a chance. ”
I studied his face, seeing the vulnerability there, the fear that I was about to walk away. “Why did you stop responding to my messages when I got to town?”
“Because I knew I was going to meet you here. I knew I’d have to choose between keeping up the lie or telling you the truth, and I…” He shrugged helplessly. “I was a coward.”
The crowd jostled around us, but I barely noticed. All I could focus on was the way he was looking at me—like I was something precious he was terrified of losing.
“Are you attracted to me, Luca?” The question came out before I could stop it.
His eyes widened. “What?”
“I need to know. Everything I felt with you today, all that chemistry…was it real? Or were you just being nice because you felt guilty?”
He stepped even closer, close enough that I had to tilt my head back to maintain eye contact.
“Melanie, I’ve been attracted to you since the first photo you sent me six months ago.
Meeting you in person today… God, you’re even more beautiful than I imagined.
And the way you talked about your angels, your passion for your art.
I’ve never wanted someone the way I want you. ”
Heat flooded through me at his words, at the intensity in his voice. “Then why are we standing in this crowded diner?” I asked.
His breath caught. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying yes to dinner at your place. And Luca?” I reached out and touched his hand. “There’s something you should know about me. Something I never told you in all our phone calls.”
“What’s that?”
I took a deep breath, feeling my cheeks warm. “I’m twenty-three years old, and I’ve never…I mean, I’ve never been with anyone. Not…that way.”
His eyes searched mine. “Melanie…”
“I want it to be you,” I said, the words rushing out before I lost my courage. “Tonight. I want it to be you.”
The look that crossed his face was pure hunger mixed with something deeper, more tender. “Are you sure?”
“Not a doubt in my mind.”
He threaded his fingers through mine. “Then let’s get out of here.”