Chapter 24
“Okay,” Melody said through a fit full of giggles, taking a deep breath to try and continue. “Explain to me again what your costume is.” She was still wiping the tears from her eyes every single time she looked at her brother’s and their friend.
“I told you,” Garrett said with a roll of his eyes but a smirk on his lips. He couldn’t even deny he was loving the attention he was getting. “We are spicy peppers. You know, like your books. Isn’t that what you do when it’s…what do you call that porn you read…smut?”
Olivia, Mel, and I burst out laughing.
All three boys were in matching costumes, a huge red suit that at first glance looked like a giant red banana, but was definitely a pepper, with a green top that sat like hoods over their heads.
There was a little circle in the fabric where their face peeked out and their arms and legs were bare.
I couldn’t imagine how cold they must have been walking over here.
The best part, though, was how the end of the pepper perfectly protruded from their groin areas.
Which might be provocative, if only I could stop laughing when I looked at them.
“Except, we are obviously better, because we’re the real thing,” Garrett said, trying to save face while the other guys accepted their defeat and shook their heads.
“I’m going to get a drink, would you like anything?” Calvin turned to me.
“Sure, I’ll come with you,” I said.
He took my hand as we walked to the bar, and I still couldn’t stop giggling as this giant pepper led me away from our friends.
“You look gorgeous tonight,” he told me.
All the laughing we had been doing brought out such a different energy in him. It was child-like, light and free, and I wanted this version of him to come out more often. He was always so worried about taking care of everything, I wondered when the last time was that he let loose like this.
“Thank you, this is actually all Trixie’s stuff.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, I was with her when Mel came over and asked me to come out tonight. I was worried I wouldn’t have anything to wear, but Trixie said she had just the thing.
She let me raid her closet and she fixed me right up.
” I did a little spin for Calvin, showing the way my skirt lifted as I did and the beautiful bow in the back.
His eyes darkened with intense lust as his gaze lifted from my legs and connected with my eyes, and I wanted it to excite me, I really did. But I just couldn’t take him seriously in this costume.
“Come on, my little spicy pepper. Let’s go dance.”
I had to hand it to the guys, they sure played it up when it came to those costumes.
They danced their asses off on the dance floor, shaking around their peppers like nothing else in the world mattered.
And it paid off. They won the best costume contest. The only prize was bragging rights, but that seemed to be more than enough for them, especially Garrett who was incessantly cocky about it.
“I told you guys this was the best idea ever!” he yelled while standing on a table with his cup in the air, cheersing anyone who would take it.
“Yes, you sure did. Now come on down from there, you firecracker.” Olivia smiled at Garrett as she reached for his hand to pull him down.
He jumped off the table, far more gracefully than he should have for how drunk he was, and bowed before he kissed Olivia’s hand. “Anything for Her Royal Majesty.”
Olivia had dressed up as the Queen of Hearts, and Melody was her very own version of a cupid. I loved that their costumes were a play on Love. Everyone in this little town absolutely adored it, and it showed in everything they did.
Olivia blushed in a way I hadn’t seen from her before, but it was gone the next second as Garrett rushed off for another drink and Olivia turned back into her conversation with Mel.
“Ready?” Calvin came back to our table after changing his outfit in the bathroom.
He decided to remove his spicy pepper costume and turn back into my handsome lumberjack.
He said it was because he was getting cold, I think it was because he was tired of all the funny looks.
Either way, I wasn’t complaining one bit when he reached for my hand as I stood up out of my seat.
“Ready,” I said to him.
Turning to our friends, we said our goodbyes. The night was far from over, but I was starting to feel a little under the weather. Even though I hadn’t had much to drink—only water for the past hour—the loud music and constant chatter had become too much.
Calvin seemed more in tune to my feelings than I was, and when he suggested we go somewhere a little quieter I gratefully accepted.
He led me outside and opened the door to his cab, giving me his hand as I climbed up the step and hopped in.
He leaned over and adjusted the skirt of my dress before he closed the door and I breathed in his warm pine scent.
Watching him round the front of the truck while all his muscles were on full display was like watching the world’s best art show.
From his shoulders to the stretch of his red flannel shirt around his biceps to the way his forearms would flex or his fingers would pluck at his guitar strings, he was a masterpiece in every way, and I was lucky to just be able to observe, let alone have those hands touch me.
“Do you want me to take you home?”
I shook my head. I loved that the bed and breakfast was being referred to as my home. It felt like that, truly. But I wasn’t ready to end my time with him just yet. I already felt better having left the loud bar atmosphere. “I just want to be somewhere quiet for a bit.”
An idea lit up his face as he smiled. “Let’s grab some hot chocolate, and then I have just the place.”
We made our way to the twenty-four-hour Tim Hortons by the main highway and then backtracked toward Whispers of Love. All the while, he sang along to each song that came on the radio, his fingers tapping in tune on the steering wheel.
“I thought you weren’t taking me home?” I asked, trying to keep the disappointment out of my voice. Maybe he changed his mind and was done with me for the evening.
“I’m not,” he said as he reached over the console and grabbed my hand. “I want to show you my home.”
My stomach rolled and I couldn’t tell if it was butterflies or nerves.
“If you want to,” he clarified, concern crossing his handsome features.
This was a man who always made sure I was okay, I had nothing to worry about by being brought to his home.
I knew that in my mind and in my heart. Sometimes my body still had these crazy reactions I didn’t know what to do with, but I was determined to not let them ruin the evening.
“I would love that,” I replied honestly. I knew his house was on the same land as the bed and breakfast, but I had never been there. Never had a reason to before tonight. And I could just imagine with how talented this man and his family had been with wood, that his house would be just as gorgeous.
A smile of accomplishment lit his face as we pulled up to a house that was indeed gorgeous, but it was so similar to the look of the bed and breakfast I almost had to do a double take that we hadn’t gone around in one big circle.
“It’s stunning,” I whispered.
His house was white, whereas Trixie’s was a soft blue.
And Calvin’s was obviously much, much newer.
But that was where the differences ended.
There was a huge wrap-around deck, three chimneys sticking out of the roof and the yard surrounding it was beautifully landscaped.
We passed my cut flower garden on the way up here, and I was surprised it was closer to Calvin’s property than it was the bed and breakfast.
“Thank you,” he said humbly. “I’ve always wanted a space to make my own, but nothing ever felt more like home than Grandma’s.”
I stood there admiring his house for a few more minutes as something picked at my brain. I couldn’t figure out if it was a memory or a dream of possibility, but it was a feeling I wanted to hold on to.
“I can show you inside after, if you’d like. But this is what I really want you to see.”
I felt silly as I walked with him hand in hand. Of course, Calvin wasn’t going to force me into his house. He’d only take me inside if I was ready and wanted to. This man lived and breathed safety, and I knew any worries were unnecessary when it came to him.
“Wow,” I gasped as he brought me to a cozy little bench at the crest of a hill.
The view beneath us expanded for miles. It felt like we were on top of a mountain, but it was just a small hill on his property on the Saskatchewan Prairies.
The sky opened up like an expansive easel with life’s most precious gems displayed upon it.
The stars sparkled and shimmered and there were millions more of them than I had ever seen before.
The full moon casted an incredible glow along the rolling fields. “It’s beautiful.”
“Sure is,” he said, but when I turned to look at him, he wasn’t looking at the sky, his beautiful green eyes were staring directly at me.
We settled on the bench and talked about everything and nothing.
He told me stories from his childhood, running around and playing on the farm with Melody and Garrett.
He pointed out the pond where they’d catch frogs, the trees they would climb where they felt like they could touch the sky, the mazes of canola fields where they would adventure and pretend to be searching for treasure.
I told him stories from my childhood and about life growing up in a big city, but the playgrounds I grew up on seemed like the concrete jungle it was compared to the expansive freedom there was here.
I used to be obsessed with finding the perfect neighbourhood, the perfect school, for when I was ready to have children.
But now I realized I needed to throw it all away.
If there could ever be the perfect spot to raise a family, right here in Love would be it.