Page 67 of Getting Wrapped Up

Getting In the Mood

A Sapphire Falls Valentine’s Day novella

Valentine’s Day

Kate and Levithought Christmas in Sapphire Falls was crazy. They haven’t seen anything yet.

After just eight weeks, Levi Spencer is feeling right at home in small-town Nebraska. He loves breakfasts with the old farmers at the diner. Loves learning how to haul wood and birth calves and snow-blow his drive. But he loves something more…or rather someone. And she lives in California. Levi wants Kate to ask him to move to the West Coast with her but if she knows how he feels about Sapphire Falls, she’ll never ask him to leave. So, he’ll have to downplay his feelings for his new hometown…somehow.

Kate’sback in Sapphire Falls to surprise Levi on the most romantic day of the year…and with her plan tostayin Sapphire Falls this time. But she soon discovers Levi hasn’t shared everything about his new life. In fact, he almost seems to be trying to scare her off with all the talk of snakes and bugs and bad coffee and worse oatmeal. He even lied about the county’s best muffins being right here in Sapphire Falls. Why would he deny hermuffins?! The sex is still off the charts, but if that’s all Levi wants, Kate will have to learn to deal with it…somehow.

Chapter One

Cupid’s storagecloset had exploded.

That was exactly what the town square in Sapphire Falls looked like on February thirteenth.

Kate Leggot stood in the middle of the gazebo in the center of the square and just took it all in.

She hadn’t been back for about eight weeks. Since Christmas. The four thirty-foot-tall evergreen trees were still there on each corner of the square, but the multicolored lights and ornaments were gone from their branches. Gone, also, was the gigantic gingerbread house, the enormous throne where Santa had heard the Christmas wishes of all the kids in town and the five-foot-tall candy canes lining the walk.

Now the squares in the sidewalks leading to the gazebo were painted alternating pink and red, with a quote about love in black script in every fifth one.

Love is friendship that has caught fire. – Ann Landers

Love doesn’t make the world go ’round. Love is what makes the ride worthwhile. –Franklin P. Jones

Love isn’t something you find. Love is something that finds you. –Loretta Young

And so on. Quotes from Shakespeare and Thoreau, song lyrics and Bible verses.

The gazebo was lit with white and pink twinkle lights and there were pieces of poster board attached to the inside walls where Sapphire Falls residents had written their own messages of everlasting love. Things like “You’re the light of my life Debbie. Love, Roger” and “You make every day brighter Tina, love Lucas.” And even the basic “Greg, Be my Valentine! Love Lucy.”

The hot chocolate stand was still there, though now the small white wooden structure—that also served as a kissing booth during the town’s summer festival—had a new sign out front.

Love Potions $1.

Apparently there was a non-alcoholic version or one that included rum. She loved rum. She also loved things that were cherry flavored and fizzy as these potions evidently were.

And they were using the proceeds to send care packages to troops overseas.

It was almost too sweet, really, but Kate felt herself grinning affectionately. Things were always a little over-the-top in Sapphire Falls. Throwing yourself into the craziness was the only way to really go.

She’d missed this place. Kate hadn’t gotten back to Sapphire Falls until now. She wasn’t even supposed to be here tonight. She’d been scheduled to be in DC for a business meeting. The science and politics of conservation and climate change—her specialty as an environmental engineer—didn’t care that it was Valentine’s Day tomorrow. But the meeting had gotten pushed back until next week due to a matter of the heart. Not a construction-paper heart, but an actual heart. The senator in charge of the committee she was presenting to had been admitted to the hospital with a possible heart attack early that morning.

So here she was, in Sapphire Falls, to spend the most romantic day of the year with her boyfriend—even if he didn’t know it.

Kate felt a flutter of butterflies in her stomach. She wasn’t nervous about seeing Levi, exactly. Things were great. They were happy. She was positive she was in love with him and believed he felt the same way. They had seen each other every weekend since Christmas thanks to Levi’s private plane that made it possible for him to come to San Francisco and to meet her in DC over the past eight weeks. But there was something about showing up unannounced that made her equally nervous and excited. It presumed the other person would be thrilled. She had been thrilled each of the times he’d shown up unexpectedly. She had no reason to think hewouldn’tbe happy to see her. He’d sounded disappointed when she’d said she had to be in DC for the holiday.

But he hadn’t offered to meet her there or asked her to stop in Sapphire Falls on her way back to San Francisco or offered her the use of his plane to make that possible.

Kate chewed her bottom lip and studied the gigantic red, white and pink hearts hanging from the trees.

This was the perfect place to be in love and the perfect time to tell Levi she was moving to Sapphire Falls.

Probably.

Kate headed for her car. She’d been unable to resist stopping in the square when she’d driven into town but she was eager to find Levi. They’d only known each other for eight weeks and had spent more than fifty percent of that time apart. How he reacted to the surprise would tell her a lot about his feelings. That would be a good thing to know before she hired a moving company.

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