Page 46 of Valentine's in Bayberry

“I want to say it’s Jackson, but I know it’s not.” And that acknowledgment saddened her.

“How can you be so certain?”

Carrie looked around and found they were alone. She opened up to Kate about Jackson kissing her and their talk afterward.

Kate’s gaze searched hers. “So, you don’t have a thing for him?”

Heat rushed to Carrie’s face. There was no point in trying to convince Kate that she thought of Jackson as just a friend, because she was never going to believe her. She was starting to have some difficulty believing it herself.

Instead of denying that the kiss had gotten to her, she said, “It doesn’t matter. As soon as he sells his mother’s house and the building in town, he’s headed back to London.” She swallowed hard, trying to keep her emotions under wraps.

“Oh.” Kate looked as though she were trying to come up with a solution.

She wasn’t the only one. In the wee hours of the night, Carrie had been searching her mind for a reason to keep Jackson in town permanently. She’d come up with exactly zero plausible scenarios where that might happen.

And then she would move on to a reason he would still come back to Bayberry occasionally. She actually did come up with a reasonable excuse for him to visit Bayberry regularly. And she planned to broach the subject with him this evening.

“I’m sorry,” Kate said.

Carrie was confused. “Why are you sorry?”

“Because you two make such a perfect pair. I always thought you would end up together.”

“I guess somewhere deep inside, I did too.” She couldn’t believe that she’d actually uttered those words out loud. But now that she had, she realized it was the truth.

“Maybe you still will,” Kate said softly.

Carrie shook her head. The logistics would never work. She didn’t want to give up her chocolate shop, not after all she’d gone through to get it—the planning, the saving, and then the massive renovations. But her reservations went deeper than that. At the core, she was scared that when their relationship ended, she’d lose the best friend she ever had. The fear of that happening kept her from exploring any feelings she might have for him.

“So, if it isn’t Jackson, who else is a possibility?”

“Well, there’s Archie Crosby. Every morning when he drops off our packages at the chocolate shop, he hangs around to talk. In fact, this morning he mentioned something about going to grab a burger.”

Kate’s eyes widened. “He asked you out?”

Carrie shrugged. “In a way. He didn’t actually ask me. It was more casual than that.”

Ding.

Kate reached for her phone and read the message. “It’s Wes. I’m supposed to be in a meeting.”

“Oh. Sorry. I didn’t mean to keep you.” Carrie lifted the box from the counter. “Thanks for this.”

“Let me know when you find out who your secret valentine is.”

Carrie nodded. “I will.”

The visit to the candle shop had revealed a lot more than the beautiful heart candles. Did Kate really think she would end up with Jackson?

Carrie supposed she would have to be blind not to notice how handsome he was or how easy he was to speak to. He was thoughtful and kind. He was the complete package. But was the risk worth the reward?

Chapter Fifteen

His plan was working.

Jackson had split his time between packing up the house and visiting his mother. He was still trying to sway her to give London a try. She was still saying it wasn’t her home, and she was too old to make that big of a change in her life.

During all of this, his phone continued to ring. It was his office wanting to know if he could look over this? Or could he approve that? The work questions came at a rapid pace.

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