Valentine's Day in Mistletoe Valley - Part of Chapter 1

I *know* this should have been posted back in January when I released it on my birthday, but life has a way of throwing curve balls. Better late than never. You order this Hallmark-inspired short story, clean romance from my pen name - Jolee Mayes.

By the time this post goes live, the website and Jolee Mayes page should be updated.

One

  Every season, the small town of Mistletoe Valley holds some sort of fest to draw in tourists.  If the town isn’t decorated in snowflakes or hearts, pumpkins or shamrocks, something is wrong. 

That was how Riley Bishop found herself struggling to string up a paper heart garland across the checkout counter in her bookstore.  She would rather be doing anything other than decorating for a holiday she didn’t like.  Inventory came to mind.  Getting an early start on spring cleaning also appealed.  Right now, manhandling bookshelves and chasing spiders and dust bunnies sounded downright awesome. 

Her best friend – and one of the town’s council people – had promised she would be back with some twinkle lights and more decorations to help get the store ready for Valentine’s Day.  It had sounded more like a threat than a promise; Krista Johnson knew how Riley felt about Valentine’s Day.

The small selection of lights she had stored in the back room hadn’t worked at Christmas and they definitely weren’t going to start working again just because it was a different holiday.  Riley had gotten away with battery and remote-activated candles and festive book displays for Christmas, but it was highly unlikely Krista would let her get away with that plan again.

The tape she was attempting to secure her paper hearts and twine garland with refused to cooperate.  “Come on,” she whined.  “Stick.  You’ll stick to everything else that I don’t want you to stick to, but you won’t stick to this desk?”

For a moment Riley wondered how much damage a small roll of tape would cause if she threw it across the room.  The heart chain she was trying to secure was still cute and she didn’t consider taking out her frustration on the paper. 

“That’s the last time I buy tape from the dollar store,” she grumbled, shifting once again to attach the end of the twine to the counter.  “Maybe if I tape the tape to the wood?” she mumbled, not caring if she made sense or not.  There were no customers present to watch her struggle or hear her complaints.

A blast of chilly air entered the bookstore as Krista bustled inside, managing to balance three boxes of decorating supplies in her arms while Colton, a friend and the owner of the bar on the other end of the street, helped her and was lugging in a few boxes of his own.

Shaking her head, Riley said nothing to her best friend as she went back to securing the heart chain to the counter.  “How did Krista rope you into this disaster?”

“I was at the right place at the wrong time,” Colton stated from where he was behind her.  “That might stick better if you stapled it,” he added.

Riley gasped.  “I would never staple anything to this counter.  It’s solid oak.”

“It was an island counter her great-grandfather had made for her great-grandmother,” Krista explained from the other side of her boxes.  “Help.”

“If you hadn’t been stubborn and agreed we could make multiple trips, you wouldn’t be struggling right now.”  Colton hurriedly placed his boxes down on the counter, standing right next to where Riley was crouching, but turning around and hurrying over to take a few boxes from Krista.  “My brother had some leftover lights he wanted to get rid of,” he explained to Riley.  “There might be more than a few themed sets in these boxes.”

“I didn’t want to make multiple trips,” Krista said in response to Colton’s comment to her.

Riley opted to ignore Krista; she still wasn’t too happy about being forced to decorate.  “I just needed regular twinkle lights,” she protested to Colton.

Standing up, even though one side of her heart chain wasn’t secured and instantly fell to the ground the moment she stopped touching it, she turned to face him.  Riley really didn’t want to carry on a conversation with Colton with her head level with his waist. 

“Connor insists,” Colton stated, moving beside her again as he put the boxes Krista had been carrying down.  “I think he’s using it as an excuse to buy new decorations.  He has his eye on this projector that has designs that can be swapped out with each holiday.”

Turning to face Krista, Riley asked them, “How did Connor know I needed decorations?”

Krista shrugged as she approached with the last box.  “I may have sent out an email to the other business owners.”

“You were going to go buy me some more lights!”

“Well, about that,” Krista drawled.  “I did go.  Your company credit card is still in my wallet.”

“Then why is Colton bringing me,” Riley turned to count, “six boxes of decorations?”

“They aren’t all Valentine’s related,” he piped in.

Krista shrugged.  “Because the big box store was sold out.”

“And the hardware store?”  Riley raised an eyebrow as she challenged her best friend. 

Krista gulped.  “Ummm.”  This time she looked down at the floor instead of meeting her friend’s eyes.

Crossing her arms, Riley asked, “Did you even go inside Hicks’ Hardware?”

“Yes,” Krista squeaked.  They all knew it was a low blow, but Riley didn’t really care. 

Colton’s eyes went wide.  Even he remembered Krista and Marshall Hicks dating in high school and breaking up badly after graduation. 

“John was working,” Krista added.  “Marsh’s truck wasn’t in the lot before I went in.” 

Nodding her head, Riley stared at Krista for a few more minutes before stating, “I’m still mad at you for making me decorate.”

“What can I do to make you not mad at me?”  Krista widened her eyes, trying to make herself look more innocent than they all knew her to be.

Riley’s answer was short and to the point.  “You can stay and help me.”

When Krista gulped, Colton started to back away to the door.  He had seen the two of them at the bar on a Saturday night and knew the last thing he wanted was to get in the middle of anything related to the two of them.  He was well aware they were joking, but he still didn’t want to get involved.

“About that…” Krista trailed off.

Riley froze.  “About what?”

“I can’t stay and help you,” Krista whispered. 

Looking at the boxes on her counter, Riley stared blankly at the faded writing on the cardboard.  “I don’t even want to decorate for Valentine’s Day,” she softly reminded Krista.  Her voice wavered as the double-sided tape she had been using failed and the other half of her heart chain fell to the ground.  “I don’t even like this holiday and I’m supposed to comply with decorating because the town council insists?  Isn’t it enough that the outside is done?  Why do I need to decorate the inside?”

Krista started to move toward Riley before hesitating.  She wanted to hug her friend, but didn’t know if her gesture would be welcomed.  “I’m sorry,” she whispered instead.  “It’s because the book club meeting this month is a town-advertised event.”

“I’ll help,” Colton found himself blurting out.

Krista looked up. “What?”

“You will?” Riley turned to look at him.

“There are still a few hours until the bar opens and I have to be there.  I know what’s in the boxes, anyway,” he pointed out.  Gesturing to one on an end, he stated, “There’s not much need for Halloween decorations.”

Turning to stare at Krista, Riley quipped, “A little blood and gore sound good right about now.”

“Riley,” Krista pleaded softly.  “I have a meeting I have to get to or else you know I would help you.  That’s what friends do.”

“Friends don’t make friends decorate for the worst holiday ever,” Riley tossed back.

“I thought you loved Valentine’s Day,” Colton stated.  “You decorated last year.”

Turning to face the bar owner, Riley asked, “Did you ever meet Mark Young?”

Colton shook his head. “I can’t say that I did.”

Riley closed her eyes before telling him something that had only been hinted at by the regular bar patrons whenever Riley and Krista visited.  She expected to feel something, anything, but she only felt numb at the mention of her ex.  It was surprising considering her reaction toward the holiday. 

Opening her eyes, she looked at Colton before saying, “That’s because he moved away shortly after you moved back here to help Connor with the bar.  Mark and his new wife, Crystal.  Mark was my fiancé first, but he decided that Crystal was prettier and sparkled more than I did and she would look better on his arm at his fancy lawyer events.”

“Riley caught him cheating on her the day before Valentine’s Day,” Krista added.  “It was a disaster.”

“Right in the middle of book club.”  Riley closed her eyes as she recalled the scene.  “I love them, but they sure do gossip.”  She felt tense again, wondering how many times some member of the book club was going to ask her if she was dating again or going to start dating as Valentine’s Day approached.

They didn’t have to tell him that Crystal had ‘accidentally’ called Riley while she was with Mark.  Colton had heard enough from the gossips at the bar to know what had happened and the girls counted on him already being aware of that part of the story. 

Krista nodded her head.  “Word spread quicker than anybody expected and the next thing we knew, Mark’s mom was in the store, apologizing.”

“She moved three months later.  Good riddance.”  Riley looked down at the heart garland at her feet and was tempted to kick at the nearest heart.  She did have six more unopened packs of the garland she could still use.

Colton was shocked to hear Riley being so angry.  “Why?”

Stepping on the heart, Riley twisted her foot before answering him.  “All she did was parade around showing pictures of Mark’s elopement and ultrasound pictures.  I think Crystal is due next month.”

“Oh.”  That was information the bar gossips had failed to share.

“Riley has been anti-Valentine’s Day and romance ever since,” Krista explained.  When her phone beeped, she looked down to check it.  “I’m running late.  I’ll be back in about an hour to help.”

“Make that two.  We all know how long these committee meetings can run.”   Riley sighed before nodding her head.  “Bring me back some hot chocolate.”

“Will do,” was barely heard as Krista rushed out the door, letting in another blast of chilly air. 

“Smells like snow,” Riley whispered as the door closed. 

“What?”  The abrupt about-face in the conversation had Colton freezing in place. 

“Snow has a certain smell,” she explained.  “Not everybody can sense it.  I can.  It’s the only thing that makes February worth it.”

“Not the sales from people coming in to buy romance novels?”

“That’s less people than you would expect.”  Shaking her head, Riley kicked at the paper hearts on the ground.  “I never should have bought decorations from the dollar store.  Sometimes you can get a bargain, but I should have known better.”

Colton didn’t know what to say.  He rarely did around the bookseller even though he’d known her since they were in elementary school.  Instead, he opted to change topics.  “If you show me where you store your decorations, I can take these extra boxes there so it doesn’t seem as overwhelming.”

“That would be great.  Thanks.”  Then, as he grabbed a box, Riley led him to the back.  “I already have a ton of decorations, but my twinkle lights stopped working before Christmas and I usually reuse them for Valentine’s Day and a few other holidays.”

“Well, Connor has sent over a ton of those.”  He hesitated before adding, “But you did a wonderful job with those floating lights you had hanging from the ceiling and the windows.”

“Thank you,” Riley smiled.  A thought then occurred to her and she quickly asked, “Why does he want one of those light projector things?”

“He thinks they will be easier to work with than hanging up light strings.”

“He isn’t wrong there.  If I could keep mine up year-round, I would.”  Opening the room to her storage area, Riley pointed to a wall on the left.  “As you can see, I already have everything sorted by holiday.  Please don’t mess that up.”

“I won’t,” Colton promised.  After putting the box down where she pointed, he turned around and asked, “What if I strung up the lights in a way you could keep them up year-round?  Then all you have to decorate is your windows, book displays, and front counter.”

Tilting her head slightly, Riley replied, “I’m listening.”