Page 17 of Valentine's in Bayberry

She felt as though the world had tilted under her feet. She’d just gotten settled in her shop and now the building was being sold. The thought made her nauseous.

The timer on her smartwatch went off. She turned it off. “Work calls. I need to get going. I’ll, uh, see you later.”

When she reached the back door, he called out to her. “Carrie?” When she turned around, he asked, “Would you like to grab some lunch today?”

Her first instinct was to turn down the man who was about to sell the building. But Jackson wasn’t just any man, he was her oldest and dearest friend. “Would one o’clock work?”

“Sounds good to me. I’ll meet you at your place.”

“See you then.”

She’d hoped that at last the awkwardness between them would fade, but that wasn’t happening any time soon. How could he just sell the building without even talking to her?

Of course, it was his family’s building. They could do anything they wanted with it. But she was their tenant… No, she was more than their tenant. She was almost like family, at least that was what his mother always said when she’d find them in the Wrights’ living room, watching movies. Didn’t they think selling the building would matter to her?

When she stepped inside the chocolate shop, she found Alice cleaning up broken glass from a fallen picture.Oh no.

“I’m sorry,” Alice said. “I found this on the floor.”

Carrie rushed to her side to help with the cleanup. “Don’t worry about it. I...” She didn’t want to blame it on Jackson or the men working on the shop. “I must not have hung it securely.”

“You’ll never believe what I just heard.” Alice beamed with happiness.

Alice held the dustpan while Carrie worked the broom. “Have you been listening to gossip again?”

“Yes, but this is different.”

Carrie had told her numerous times to not believe the gossip that went around the town. Half the time it was utterly wrong, and the other half of the time it was exaggerated.

It only took a couple of minutes for them to clean up the area. Carrie moved to the trash and dumped the broken bits of glass. “Whatever it is, I don’t want to hear it.”

Alice looked like she was going to burst if she wasn’t allowed to share the news. “This is different. You’ll want to hear it. I promise, it’s good.”

“Alice...”

“It’s about you.”

“Me?” Why were people in town talking about her?

“They are saying that Totally Chocolate has been added to the Happy Hearts schedule.”

Surely, she hadn’t heard her correctly. This was too good to be true. “But Brittany said no.”

Alice shrugged. “I don’t know why she changed her mind, but it’s true.”

Carrie shook her head. “It’s just gossip. It doesn’t mean it’s true.”

“But it is true. I swear it.” Alice grinned at her. “What are we going to make for it?”

Carrie fought the excitement welling up inside her. This is what she’d wanted since she’d first heard about the Happy Hearts week. But she wasn’t going to set herself up to be disappointed.

Ring-ring.

They both turned and stared at the ringing wall phone. Could Alice be right? Was this news about Happy Hearts?No.

“Well,” Alice said, “are you going to answer it? Or should I?”

When Carrie didn’t respond and the phone kept ringing, Alice moved toward it.

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