Page 13 of Letters from the Heart

“Get a pen pal you said,” I said breathlessly.

Trinity laughed. “I said that, yes. Now what else?”

“You’ll never meet him, you also said.”

“What, is Ethan coming here, to Willow Valley? How wonderful. The four of us will have to get together and go to dinner.”

I dropped my head to the counter, still not believing that only a half hour ago he’d stood before me in my flower shop, looking good enough to eat. I didn’t know what was worse, the fact that he was really here, or the fact that when I laid eyes on him, I noticed something happening in my body.

“Are you going to keep me in suspense forever?” Trinity questioned, taking a sip of coffee.

“He’s here. In Willow Valley. In fact, only half an hour ago he came into the store and ordered flowers.”

“Oh. That’s interesting,” Trinity said, grinning at me, her chin resting on her hand. “And…”

“And…and he is Melinda’s father.”

“Ah, so he came to visit his daughter. That is sweet.”

I shook my head. “He also came here to see me. He told me he looks forward to getting to know me over the course of the next few weeks.”

“Peggy, that is fantastic, and very exciting. What are you guys going to do? Oh, you could take him to the summer festival. Oh, and you could join Thomas and I for dinner too during the festival.”

I let out a sigh. “Despite what you might think, this is not fantastic!” I cried.

“What do you mean?” Trinity looked at me, shock lining her face.

“Trinity, it’s horrifying. He came into my shop and caught me at my worst. I mean, look at me, I’m a mess. I’ve been working all day. My hands are a disaster, all the dirt under my nails…my hair is a mess, and well, my clothes, they aren’t exactly flattering.” I grabbed the legs of my oversized jeans and pulled on them as I looked down and noticed a stain on my T-shirt that I must have gotten from lunch.

Trinity giggled. “Oh, look at this.”

“Look at what?” I asked, panicked.

“I’m shocked that you actually care?”

I looked over at my friend, who sat there with a cheeky smile on her face. She was enjoying my torture, I knew it.

“Of course, I care. If you had of seen him, you’d of cared too.”

“Good looking?” she asked, sitting down on the stool behind the counter.

“You’ve got no idea,” I said, thinking back to those muscular and fully tatted arms, and those eyes, those shoulders.

“Earth to Peggy,” Trinity said, waving her hand in front of my face.

I frowned. “He totally snuck up on me like some sort of stalker.”

Trinity let out a loud laugh. “I hardly think he is acting like a stalker. In your letters, you told him what you did. I know because I read it. So, you volunteered that information in the very first letter. So, it’s not stalking. It reminds me of that Christmas book we read at the book club a couple of years ago. Oh goodness, what was the title?” Trinity questioned, drumming her fingers on the counter.

“You mean Coffee Shop Love at Christmas?” I questioned.

“Yes! Did you know they made that into a movie? It was on last Christmas, actually.”

“I did. I watched it.”

“Now I think you need to go home and either watch it or reread it. You are going to need guidance from your characters on this,” Trinity said with a straight face, even though I knew she was laughing on the inside. “Actually, I have a copy I can give you.” She looked around at the stacks of books behind the counter.

I rolled my eyes. “Goodness, this isn’t like that movie.”

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