Page 9 of Valentine's in Bayberry

“It’s been a while,” Kate said. “You could meet someone new.”

Abby rolled her eyes. “I don’t think so.”

Kate turned to Sadie. “And what about you? Do you have a Valentine?”

Sadie shook her head and waved her off. “No. And I don’t have any interest in getting one. I have enough other problems.”

Kate leaned back in her chair and looked around the table at them all. “Are you really telling me that you all are giving up on love?”

Carrie nodded. “I don’t have time.”

Abby nodded. “I’m not ready to start over.”

Sadie nodded. “I’m not interested.”

“You just haven’t met the right guy yet.” Kate paused, as though she were thinking up some sort of plan to introduce them to the right guys.

Carrie got an uneasy feeling in her stomach. When Kate made her mind up about something, she could be very determined. And now that Kate was head over heels in love with a truly great guy, she wanted everyone else around her to be just as happy.

Carrie didn’t want to be the bearer of bad news, but that wasn’t going to happen—at least not for her. She was keeping her eye onthe prize—her chocolate shop. She didn’t need to be distracted by some guy—even if it was the most romantic time of the year.

Kate’s eyes widened as she stared toward the front door. “Oh, look. There’s Codi. Carrie, doesn’t he want to get back with you?”

Carrie inwardly groaned. Kate knew it was true because she’d told her about him messaging her. Codi had his chance and blew it when he’d dumped her to date someone else. She wasn’t going to take him back after the other woman blew him off.

Carrie narrowed her gaze and said firmly. “That’s never going to happen.”

Kate nodded. “I understand.”

As Carrie made her way back to her apartment, she couldn’t believe Kate had attempted to play matchmaker. Although, this wasn’t the first time she’d done it. Back in high school, she’d done it when none of them had been asked to the prom. Of course, they had all been disappointed.

In the end, Kate asked their guy friends to be their escorts. At first, Carrie liked the idea of attending the prom with her best friend. Although Jackson had been hesitant about the date.

He’d told Kate he wasn’t planning to go. Her friend finally convinced him to go. The evening started nice enough but ended when he’d attempted to kiss her. She’d turned her head and the kiss landed on her cheek.

It had caught her totally off guard. It felt as though the ground beneath her feet had shifted and left her struggling to regain her bearings. Scared that she was about to lose her best friend, she’d tried to explain away his spontaneous action as just getting caught up in moment—after all they were on a date.

But that just made the awkward moment worse. He was upset with her and she felt awful for hurting him. She just never looked at him that way. After all, he had always been the boy next door—the one she never had to put on appearances for—the oneperson she could be one hundred percent herself around. She’d never thought of him being anything other than her friend.

She could still remember the way he’d stared at her with that dejected look on his face. The memory tugged at her heart strings. She remembered him turning his back on her.

She hadn’t let herself remember that evening in a very long time. Things had never been right between them after the almost-kiss. That summer Jackson had been busy getting ready to go to college in New York, where he’d earned a full ride scholarship. Eventually they talked but it was different. There was a distance between them that she couldn’t traverse, no matter how hard she tried.

Had enough time passed for them to fix what they’d broken all of those years ago? She liked to think so, but only time would tell.

Chapter Four

“Hey, Jackson, what areyou doing here?”

“When’s your mother coming back?”

“Jackson, what are you doing with the old restaurant?”

The next day, Jackson smiled and greeted the residents of Bayberry. He had forgotten how inquisitive the citizens of Bayberry could be. Almost every person he passed on his way to get a cup of coffee from the Steaming Brew asked about him and his mother. Some were more forward than others. He did his best to give friendly but vague answers.

The biggest problem was that responding to one question only led to another question. With each inquiry, the questions grew more personal and more uncomfortable for him. He couldn’t blame them for being curious. After all, it had been years since he’d spent more than a week in Bayberry. Until this emergency happened, he’d been so focused on his rising career that he had lost sight of his roots. Guilt heaped on to his already burdened shoulders.

But he couldn’t tell anyone where his mother truly was. He’d promised her that if she got treatment, he would keep it a secret. She was keeping up her end of the agreement, so now he had to keep up his end of it. The only way for him to do that was to keep to himself—and to straighten out her finances to the best of his ability.

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