Page 73 of Peach Blossom Hollow

And now he feared he’d given her too much space, because a week had passed. He’d had a string of away games, and when he’d finally seen her in the rink’s tunnels yesterday, she’d waved and then quickly ducked into her locker room.

There was no way she was still feeling vulnerable after a week, which meant she didn’t want to talk about moving from friends to lovers. She was done. Running away from him and not giving him an answer was her answer. It was a polite no thank you.

An answer he really didn’t want to accept.

His frustration and inability to fix things made him want to punch something.

The man she was looking for was right here.

Here.

But he had a plan. Tonight they’d talk, or at least he’d apologize. He was on her turf, one of the bachelors to be auctioned off at the Sweetheart Creek library fundraiser, where he’d help someone with a day of chores.

When he’d signed up, he’d been thinking of Violet. When he’d chosen the shirt for tonight—one she’d told him never to wear when meeting Christine—he’d been thinking of Violet. Now, standing in front of a barn full of women under twinkling lights and Valentine’s Day decorations, he thought of Violet.

But he didn’t see her anywhere, and he’d beenhere for thirty minutes. Both Daisy-Mae and the local librarian, Karen, had made it sound as though she was a volunteer. But they hadn’t seen her, either. Nobody had.

Which meant the chances were very slim that he was going to be auctioned off to Violet tonight and enjoy a happily ever after.

He supposed, if nothing else, he should be glad he wasn’t alone in this misery. Louis Bellmore was standing beside him. Although instead of looking uncomfortable, he was gazing at a woman in the second row, one with wavy brown hair. She caught his eye and smiled, giving a little wave that said all sorts of things in a message meant for Louis, but understood by plenty.

“Are you gaming the system?” Leo asked, turning to the coach. “Is she your girlfriend? Is she bidding on you tonight?” The woman looked familiar, and he was fairly certain she was one of Violet’s friends. The one with her arch enemy living next door or something like that.

Louis narrowed his eyes. “Excuse me? Are you accusing me of cheating?”

“Rigging the game, actually.”

Louis turned back to the crowd, shoulders straight, fighting a smile. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Yeah, sure. How long have you been dating?”

“It took a while to convince her.”

“So, like, your whole life?”

Louis stared at him for a long moment as though contemplating how much he might be worth in an immediate trade. Leo considered apologizing, but instead squared his own shoulders.

“Mind your own business,” Louis muttered.

So Louis had a love life. How had that happened? That joke he and Violet had made a while back about him being in love hadn’t actually been jokes…

“It’s possible to have a life outside of hockey,” Louis added.

“Huh,” Leo repeated. “Hey, have you seen Violet?”

“Nope.” Louis grinned at the woman in the second row again. The way they were making eyes at each other was almost too much.

“I hope they have barf bags around here,” Leo muttered.

He scanned the crowd again, catching the gaze of Mrs. Fisher, the Longhorn Diner’s waitress. She was old enough to be his mother and was eagerly waiting for things to begin from her seat in the front row. She gave him a little wave and blew a kiss.

Wasn’t she married?

And where was Violet?

From where Violet was sitting, in the tiny hayloft that served as an office in the town’s community events barn, she could see Leo waiting for the bidding to start. The fundraiser had changed since last year. There were no more blind match-ups, so you knew who you were bidding on to take care of chores for you. Smart move, because having Louis and Leo standing around, ready to be bid upon, was setting mouths watering.

Violet had cringed when she’d noticed Leo’s name on the list of bachelors for tonight. He wasn’t going to let her hide from him any longer. Andseeing that he was wearing that awful Hawaiian shirt she’d told him was way too bright to be in fashion anywhere on the planet, he was definitely looking for her attention.

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