Page 26 of A Cozy Christmas Escape

“I’m not saying Landon can’t get there,” the other woman amended. “Because Lord knows that I made a total fool out of myself in front of William when we first met. Not everyone can be perfect like Colette.”

Mindy laughed, shaking her head as she thought of her friend. “Even Colette stumbled a bit with Zach in the beginning,” she pointed out.

Sarah perked up at that. “Exactly. Not everyone gets it right at first. And maybe Landon just needs a push in the right direction. But you do deserve more than constant canceling and just feeling kind of okay about it.”

Mindy nodded. “I know. It’s just hard sometimes.”

“Hard how?” Sarah scrunched up her face, clearly wondering what she meant by that, and Mindy blew out a breath before elaborating.

“Everyone I’m around, you included, is just so in love. I can’t help but want a little bit of it for myself, even if it doesn’t look exactly the same.”

“It’ll happen,” Sarah insisted as she took a few steps forward and placed a reassuring hand on Mindy’s forearm. “But you can’t force it. Talk to Landon. If he’s the right man, he’ll rise to the occasion.”

Mindy just nodded again, giving Sarah a thankful smile before the two women turned back to their decorating. They changed the subject, moving away from Mindy’s love life and instead talking about Valerie and how surprised they both were over just hownormalthe actress seemed. They chatted about Lacy and Derek, about how funny little Piper was, and about other friends of theirs in the town.

The longer Mindy spent with her friend, hanging up decorations and transforming the business that she loved so much into the Winter Wonderland of her dreams, the more her spirits began to lift. Mindy was beginning to see just how right Sarah was. Shediddeserve better than what was happening, and the right man would be more than happy to do what it took to make her feel special.

Now Mindy just needed to figure out if Landon was the right man, or not.

* * *

Clark stood, stretching his arms over his head and groaning at the ache in his lower back. A shipment had come in earlier that day, and he’d spent most of the morning bent over boxes and shelves as he unloaded everything.

“Last box,” he grumbled to himself, taking out the box cutter and slicing it open.

As he moved the cardboard flaps aside, revealing its contents, a grin tugged up the corner of his lips. Valerie’s candles were in.

He hadn’t seen the movie star since the day that she’d come to the Hilton house, but that hadn’t stopped him from hoping he’d run into her. Which, of course, he hadn’t. So his next best hope had been to just wait until the candles came in, and now they had.

He picked up the box, a small grunt of effort leaving him as he walked it toward the front of the store and stowed it behind the counter, telling himself that he’d call the Warm and Bright in a bit to get the message to Valerie.

As he thought about her, and about seeing her again, he couldn’t help but be curious. Of course, word had more than gotten around Snowy Pine Ridge that she was staying there, and people were abuzz with love for her movies. And while romance wasn’t typically a genre that Clark was drawn to, he wondered if maybe he would enjoy it just because she was in it.

Without giving himself too much time to rethink it, Clark slipped his phone out of his pocket and pulled up the app for the web browser. The moment that it loaded, he typed in her name in the search bar and then let the internet do its thing.

As he expected, the very first result was her Wikipedia page, and when he scrolled down just a little, he found what he was looking for—her IMDB profile. Clark clicked on it, and when it came up, he scrolled through the carousel of all her best-known films.

He’d heard of more than he’d expected to, remembering their movie posters or the trailers that had aired when the movies were first released. He stopped on one that seemed promising, clicking on the icon, and pulling up a synopsis.

It was still, technically, a romantic movie. But it was shaped around the premise that she was a private investigator and fell in love with the man that she’d been hired to tail. The reviews called it a blend ofRear WindowandThe Notebook, and Clark was most definitely intrigued by it.

Just as he started to search the title, wondering if he’d be able to stream it anywhere, the door to the shop was pulled open. The bells on the handle chimed merrily, announcing the arrival of a customer just as surely as the blast of cold air that slipped through did.

Clark glanced up from his phone, and immediately his stomach bottomed out. Standing in the doorway, silhouetted by the sun, was Valerie.

“Hey,” she said, immediately breaking into a smile when her honey-colored eyes landed on Clark and she walked toward the counter.

“Hi,” he blurted, hurriedly clicking out of the browser on his phone so she wouldn’t see that he’d searched her and stuffing it in his pocket. “Your candles came in.”

Valerie’s face lit up, and the sight of it made his stomach bottom out. He tried to play it cool as she reached the counter, leaning forward so that her elbows rested on it. But he was sure that if she paid close enough attention to him, she’d be able to hear his heart beating.

“Are they back there?” she asked, nodding her head to indicate behind the counter.

In answer, Clark turned his back to her and bent over to pick up the box. He hoisted it onto the counter in front of her, pulling open the cardboard flaps with a flourish.

“As promised,” he said, and her grin widened in reward as her hand darted forward to grab the very first candle she saw.

Valerie took off the lid and inhaled deeply, sighing as the scent washed over her. Clark could even smell it from where he stood, and he had to admit that it smelled pretty dang great. It reminded him of the blueberry cobbler that his nana used to make, and he suddenly understood completely what Valerie had said when she was reviewing the catalog. There really was something special about a candle that made you think of your grandma’s baking.

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