Month: February 2021

Amara

Shivering in the biting cold wind, Amara shook the snow from her skirts as she continued to trudge back toward town. When she’d gone out that morning to gather the last of the berries before winter, the sun had been shining and it had been reasonably warm.

Now the sun had fast disappeared behind storm clouds that had come out of nowhere. The snow had dumped until she was up to her cold ankles in icy snow. Already she could hear her mother’s disappointed sigh, for she knew that she must look like a bedraggled mess by now.

Making it to the road had been a huge accomplishment but she had too far to go to slow down now. So instead she trudged on. Several minutes later she heard a horse’s hooves fast approaching. Hurriedly moving to the small ditch on the side of the road, she looked back to watch for the approaching rider. Instead of flying past her kicking up snow, the horse and its rider pulled up to a stop next to her.

“Can I assist you in some way?” A deep voice muffled by a warm dark blue scarf mumbled. “A ride perhaps?”

With a glare Amara turned to the rider. “Keep moving sir. I am uninterested in being accosted today.  If you get off your horse I will make sure you sincerely regret it before you can do anything.” She kept a wary eye on him as she took several steps away.

“Mari?” Despite her warning the rider dropped to the ground, unwrapping the scarf from where it was obscuring his face.

“Milo!” Amara flew over to him, leaping into his arms. He easily caught her, laughing. Her momentum was enough that they both fell to the side of the road as his horse patiently waited.

“When did you get home?” Amara asked, breathlessly lying in the snow, giggling next to him. Milo sat up, pulling her with him and brushed some of the snow from her hair. 

He shrugged. “Yesterday. Sorry I didn’t come to see you sooner.”

“After 5 years? What’s one little day? Was boarding school awful?” Amara began to shiver again.

Immediately Milo tightened his arms around her. “What are you doing out here? It’s freezing.”

“Berries.” She confessed, blushing. 

“Are you still going to kill me if I haul you onto my horse and get you someplace warm? Because as of now, I still don’t regret getting down from my horse.” Even as he asked Milo stood up and tossed her easily over his shoulder. 

She hit his back as she laughed. “Put me down.”

Striding to his horse, he helped her up. Then, after tossing her a cheery smile he climbed up behind her. They began a slow canter as Amara cuddled back into Milo’s chest, remembering all the times he had let her go riding with him when they were younger.

“Where does your father think you are?” In the past she had hoped his father would look past her lack of wealth and acknowledge that her family name was still a respectable one but by now, with all the time she had spent in his company and faced his scorn she doubted that would ever happen.

Milo hugged her as he laid his chin on her shoulder and whispered, “With you.”

“But he hates me.” Amara turned her head to look into his hazel eyes. “He would never let you come see me. Last I heard, he was adamant about being sure I didn’t get any foolish ideas of a future with you. He even went out of his way to inform me that he had found you the perfect wife.”

He pulled his horse to a stop and gently turned her in his lap. “Last night I told him, in no uncertain terms, that he was going to learn to treat you respectfully as a member of the family.” His steady gaze never left her face.

“What?” A shiver that had nothing to do with the cold coursed through her.

Milo quickly dissembled. “I know that I have been gone for a long time and you may have found someone else…” He paused as fear touched his eyes.

With a nervous laugh she shook her head. “Much to my mother’s dismay, I have not been deemed marriageable by any of the young men or their families. Something about a wild streak? Or impertinence? I think one of the good mothers I met informed me that I would never be a bride because I was appalling at being a good biddable girl. So no, there is no one else.” Amara leaned in. “And aside from all that, there is no one else I would want Milo. Just you.”

“Oh good. Then, I was saying that I know it has been a long time. I want you to know that you were never far from my thoughts. And now I am back and not going anywhere anytime soon. I figured now would be the best time to state my intentions. Amara, I want to court you so that when the appropriate time comes, I can marry you. Please tell me that is something you want as well.”

Stunned and overcome by the swell of emotion crashing through her, it took her more than a moment to respond. The worry once again creeping onto his hopeful face jolted her from her shock. She flung her arms around his neck. “Yes!” Immediately she pulled back and blushed. “I mean, yes good sir, you may court me so long as you are able to obtain my father’s approval…and my mother’s.”

He laughed. “That was a very good attempt. I almost believed that you were a good biddable girl. Too bad I know you better than that.” He tickled her.

With a screech she smacked his shoulder. “I know how to behave well when the situation calls for it, you lout.”

“Indeed?” He swept her into a huge warm hug. “You will have a chance to prove it tonight at our dinner party.”

She pushed on his chest. “Tonight? With your family? That is sudden. What if you hadn’t happened upon me on the road?”

“I was on my way to your house you goose.”

“Oh.” Amara took a deep breath. “Then I suppose you better take me the rest of the way so you can formalize it all with my parents while I throw on a decent dress.”

They rode the rest of the way in cheerful silence, smiling at each other every few seconds as if to reassure each other that they were together.

Joelle

Joelle quietly peered through the hole in the fence, lost in her staring. Every Saturday morning Trevor was out in his backyard and Joelle was hiding safely behind her fence. It wasn’t like she never talked to the guy, they were friends. She just didn’t want to be caught ogling him. After all, they were friends. Friends.

“Hey Jojo bean!” Trevor called out, not even looking in her direction.

Falling backward, she landed sprawled in the dirt. She blinked in shock. How’d he know? Seconds later his head popped over the fence, looking down at her with a huge grin plastered to his face. “Whatcha doin’ down there in the dirt Jojo bean?”

“I…I…” Joelle scrambled but failed monumentally to come up with any sort of explanation.

Thankfully he didn’t push further. “Well, when you are done hanging out in the dirt come over. You are still coming over to help with my homework?”

Jumping to her feet Joelle felt her comfort zone slide into place. “I am not playing in the dirt. I fell.” His eyebrow raised at that but she hurried on. “And I will come over to help you as long as it remains me helping and not me doing it for you. I’m not one of your groupies Trev, who will hang all over you and do whatever you want.” At least, you’ll never get me to admit it.

“Says the girl I found suspiciously close to that peephole.” He scoffed.

With a fierce blush she blurted, “How on earth would you know if there is a peephole?”

Jumping over the fence in a move he made look remarkably easy, Trevor was suddenly startlingly close. “It works both ways Jojo bean.” He grinned brighter as he looked pointedly over at her favorite lounge chair by her pool where she would sit reading for hours on end whenever the sun was out.

Joelle’s face flushed even more red. Once again at a loss over what to say she shoved him. She needed time to process what he had just admitted. “Liar.” 

He shrugged, moving in even closer. There were mere centimeters of space between them. Staring up at him, all she could do was blink.

“Trevor?!” A girl’s voice who sounded an awful lot like Emilia, groupie #1, echoed from over on Trevor’s side of the fence. Joelle wasn’t the only one that cringed. “Where are you baby?”

Trevor blanched every time the girl spoke, yet she still hung around. 

Joelle whispered, “You have got to cut her loose, she is getting on my nerves.”

“Trust me. I have tried.” Trevor whispered back. “Emilia is persistent.”

“Then go get yourself a girlfriend so we can stop whispering. You are hiding in my backyard, from a little sophomore.” Joelle goaded.

Trevor backed away from the fence with a mischievous glint in his eye, pretending to hide behind her. “No. I don’t want to.”

Joelle almost didn’t hear what he had said. When he’d moved behind her his hands had gone to her waist in order to keep her from moving. “You do realize that you are bigger than me, right? If she looked over the fence right now she would still see you. I…are you really hiding behind me?”

She tried to turn but he kept her facing the fence. His voice came from right behind her shoulder blades and tingles raced out in all directions. “No, I’m not hiding at all. I’m holding you.” His hands went from holding her waist to completely wrapped around her.

Her breath hitched. “Trevor?”

Slowly he turned her in his arms, not letting her move any further away as he stood to his full height. She wasn’t sure if he was still hiding or flirting.

“Hi.” He whispered with a chuckle.

Flirting. Definitely flirting. With her.

Too fast to comprehend what was happening before it happened, Trevor was gently but firmly holding the back of her neck, pulling her in. The kiss seared through her body, leaving a delicious glowing warmth. As he eased away he smiled. “I don’t want to go anywhere further than right here for a girlfriend.”

“There’s no one else here.” I growled. “How does that help you find a girlfriend?”

“You’re here.” He smirked.

Joelle started shaking her head. “I am not going to pretend to be your girlfriend just so you can shake Emilia. Besides, we are friends.”

“Trevor!” Emilia shrieked from just on the other side of the fence. Way too close. Both Trevor and Joelle jumped at the sound, fully pulling apart.

Trevor nodded. “I’m not going anywhere until you say yes, Jojo bean.”

“To what?” You didn’t ask me a question.” Joelle smiled, tilting her head. “Do you have a question for me?”

“Trevor!” Once again Emilia called out, taking on a sickly sweet tone. “Are we playing a game? I love games.”

Groaning, Trevor put both hands on Joelle’s shoulders. “Stay here, little miss peeping tom…er…peeping tami.”

“No promises.” Joelle teased.

Rolling his eyes, Trevor snatched her hand and dragged her out of her backyard and into his. When Emilia spotted him she came dashing over, completely ignoring Joelle. Trevor kept a firm hold on her hand, even as Emilia wrapped herself around him. It took forever for Trevor to pull her off. Joelle couldn’t tell how hard he was trying and she did not appreciate how much of Emilia’s incredibly long black hair was getting in her face.

“Emilia.” Trevor gruffed, turning back to pull Joelle closer to him. “You’ve met Joelle right? My girlfriend.”

Joelle’s mouth dropped as Emilia’s face turned red. With a wordless shriek Emilia stormed off, once again leaving Trevor and Joelle alone.

Hands on her hips, Joelle glared him down. “Did you just use me to get rid of her?” She demanded.

“No!” He put up his hands in defense. “Yes, but no.”

“Since when have I been your girlfriend then?” Joelle stumbled slightly at the word girlfriend.

“Since I kissed you and asked you to be my girlfriend. And before you bring up the whole pretending thing, I never said anything about you pretending to be my girlfriend. I was really asking. I know you haven’t had a chance to say yes yet but will you? You haven’t said no yet either.” He drew her in. “Do I need to kiss you again?”

Christi

Today is the day. Today IS the day.

After weeks of smiling at the same guy as we passed on the sidewalk every day on my way to work, I’m going to do it. I, Christi Domari, am going to say hi to my friendly stranger.

After changing from a flirty knee-length dress to a cute yellow blouse and jeans to a pale pink sweater and vivid green skirt I pull back on the dress and shake out my newly straightened hair. If I am going to speak to the man I need to have as much confidence going into the encounter to ensure I don’t stall out, chicken out, stutter, or blush myself into oblivion with embarrassment.

He is always dressed so well, I figure I can dress to match for our first official meeting. After all, it isn’t every day that I introduce myself to my future husband. Ok maybe that’s a little much. I am just beyond jazzed about making our casual nods and hellos become more.

I leave at the exact same time I always do to ensure that I won’t miss him. Usually I see him as I cross over to the park next to the chocolate store I manage for my former roommate and her husband.

My shoulders slump as I pass the spot where I would normally smile at him and he would smile back and I would float away on clouds of romantic fantasy as I entered the store and got to work.

Today is different. I don’t see him. That’s it. Today is going to be miserable.

The bubbly anticipation I had been feeling all morning dissipates as I shove open the door to Candi’s Chocolates. I know, it’s an odd name for a specialty chocolate shop but Candice loves the twistedness of it. I can’t even bring myself to fake a cheery hello. My whole day is ruined. I had worked myself up to say hi and now I feel like I had fallen flat on my face…into a snow drift.

Candice blocks me at the counter, not letting me in. Looking up, her extra wide grin has me smiling back automatically. When she doesn’t say anything I try again to get past her. It doesn’t work.

She hands me a plate with one of our specialty premium hot chocolate mugs perched in the center of it. “Could you deliver this to our customer?”

“Since when do we deliver drinks to the tables?” I whisper.

I didn’t think it possible but her smile grows even bigger. “Today.”

“Why me? I don’t even have my nametag on yet.”

“Go.” She scolds.

Taking the mug I carefully turn to look for the needy customer who must have insisted it be delivered. Lucky for me, I am being so careful or I totally would have totally dropped it.

There he is, sitting at one of the small white wrought iron tables near our chocolate fountain display. My stranger is the one I am supposed to be delivering it to.

Blushing atrociously I walk over. “You must have done something to impress the owner.”

“What?” The man looks up from the book he had been reading.

My thoughts stumble over each other as his eyes meet mine. Don’t ask me what color they are because my mind has gone blank.

“I know you.” He peers closer at me.

I watch as he studies my face.  A few seconds before we hit awkward I laugh. “You’ve seen me.” I clarify. “In the park, on my way to work usually.”

His eyes light in recognition and I smile back. “Yes.” He says. “Now I remember. What a pleasure it is to finally meet you. There have been several times when I wish I would have stopped to do more than say hi. You have become a part of my morning routine.”

In the midst of my battle to hold back what I feel might be a psychotic looking grin I manage to laugh. “Except for this morning.”

Setting his book down he reaches for the hot chocolate I am still holding. “True. This morning I had a wickedly early meeting so my whole day is kind of going out of order.”

 “And you somehow ended up in here?”

He looks back up with me. “Lucky me. Could you sit for a few minutes or will that get you in trouble?”

I look over to the counter where Candice is trying very hard to not look like she is eavesdropping.

“I’m sure Candice won’t mind since we aren’t busy. You missed the morning rush.”

“So did you.”

“I help her restock after the morning commuters clear her out.”

He leans back in his chair. “Are there that many people coming in here to get chocolate in the morning?”

“You’d be surprised. Also our morning options include chocolate muffins, chocolate scones, hot chocolate, chocolate crepes, and chocolate power bars. It took a while to get the word out but now I come in to help her make more of everything to refill all her empty shelves.”

“Oh you are a baker?” He sits up.

I nod. “Candice is a certified and trained chocolatier. I do the baking.”

He stands and walks quickly over to the display cases. “I guess I will need to start coming in here in the mornings and see what you have. There isn’t much left.”

“I’ll miss saying hi to you in the mornings. Because once you come in for our chocolate muffins, you’ll be in here fighting over whatever is left in the display case with the rest of them.” 

“Or come in late enough that you have done your magic and restocked the shelves.” His wink has my heart pounding. “I don’t think I’m ready to not see you every morning. Though I now know where to find you if I don’t see you. I hope from now on I’ll know your name when we say hi.” He pauses. “And maybe stop to say more than hi. Jay Hawthorne.”

“Oh. I’m Christi. And you are welcome to come chat and eat here anytime.”

His smile is warm as he stands. “As odd as it sounds, I am glad we missed seeing each other today in our normal spot. Especially if it means I get to know you better now.” 

 “It has been a pleasure to finally meet you Jay.” I hold my shriek of delight in and settle for a smile. “I look forward to our next chat.”

“Next time it should be over your chocolate muffins.” His eyebrow raises in question.

I laugh. “Deal.” 

Ashlee

Ashlee rushed through the office balancing two hot drinks, her purse, and the large folder she had been handed downstairs by one of the receptionists. She quickly deposited her tall hot chocolate on her desk and set her purse on her chair before continuing on and rushing into the bigger office adjoining hers. Dodging around the dark mahogany executive desk that Marcus loved, she softly set the other cup down to rifle through the cabinet behind the tucked in chair for a mug and the small cup warmer she had bought the month before.

Glancing at the chair settled directly across the desk, where she had been sitting the night before chatting and laughing about their coworker Cecily’s matchmaking antics. She even tried to set Ashlee up with one of the new interns. That had been its own mini comedy series that she had kept Marcus updated on, just to hear him laugh.

She poured the hot chocolate into the mug, turned on the computer, set out the files he would need to look at first when he came in for his upcoming meeting, and turned on the lights as she made her way out. After working with him for so long it was a mere matter of routine. Just because she was late, did not mean she would be careless.  All in all, it only took her a matter of minutes to have everything situated and be back out of his office.

She was barely seated at her desk when he burst through the glass doors and stormed into the office. Ashlee looked up with a smile and was determined to keep it from sliding when she saw the scowl on his face. His dark look melted as he crossed the room. By the time he reached her desk he was smiling slightly.

“Ashlee.” He acknowledged her with a nod.

“Mr Stone.” 

Marcus Stone, CEO of Stoneworks Inc., continued into his office in a less forceful storm than when he had entered hers. Before closing his door he leaned back out. “Give me ten minutes then we can go over the day.”

At the appointed time she grabbed her tablet and headed into his office. 

He didn’t look up when she entered but raised his mug to her as he spoke. “Dylan Reyse called me at four this morning to set up a meeting for today. I said 2 would work because it was way too early to be thinking clearly or calling you, do I have anything then? I didn’t think I had anything today that couldn’t be shuffled around.”

“2 is good.” Ashlee wrote it into the calendar. “HR is still bothering me about hiring new staff for the IT and finance departments.”

“I’ll take care of it. You work too hard. How early were you today?”

“Just a few minutes.” She fought to hide her smile. 

“Enough time to have grabbed me my favorite hot chocolate, get the files I needed to go over this morning and be seated at your desk working when I came in.” His eyes darkened as they sharpened. “How can I convince you that you work too hard?”

“You can’t.” She shot back with a playfully snarky grin. “Anything else?”

“Have you thought about what we talked about yesterday?” His gaze didn’t stray from her face. Her breath caught.

“I thought we agreed to forget that conversation.”

His jaw-dropping smile was back as he leaned forward to straighten the papers on his desk and her pulse skittered. “I believe you expressed a desire that it would be forgotten, however I didn’t agree. I want to take you on a date. You are an incredible woman and I want to spend time outside of work getting to know you.”

“I figured it wasn’t worth pursuing since I said I would not date my boss. There are far too many cliches and warning stories about that being a bad idea.”

“So I’d have to fire you to get a date. But if I fire you, you’d hate me and never agree to a date anyways. Why don’t you just say ‘no, I’m not interested’?”

“I’m not going to lie.” She cleared her throat and looked away. “I’ll get back to work now.”

She left without looking back but she was sure that he watched her leave.

The rest of the morning passed uneventfully. Files, emails, notices, reminders. She only communicated with Marcus when she had to for her job. When it was almost time for his meeting she headed across the hall to open up the conference room. Once the upper management was in she sent off a quick text that they were ready for him. 

She went back to scheduling meetings and appointments with the various clients that needed Mr Stone’s attention. Caught up in trying to convince the lady she was on the phone with that she was dialing the wrong number, for the 5th time that day, she almost didn’t notice him emerge from his office. She looked up just in time to catch him nod her way. 

“No, Mrs Peterson. Again, this is not your pharmacy. You will need to find the correct number to find out when your prescription is ready.”

He must have overheard as he passed because she didn’t miss his low chuckle as he pushed the door leading to the hall.

“Don’t work too hard.” He winked back at her. 

Luckily he was already out the door and moving decisively to the conference room. Ashlee could safely fall apart into giggly mushiness in private. Since he never looked back whenever he left the office, Ashlee took the chance to study the man. She had a feeling that one date would more than likely turn into more and it would either end in a wonderful love story to last her lifetime or she would be finding a new job. Would it be worth the risk? She loved her job and she didn’t want to give up seeing him every day, laughing at his desk over whatever ridiculous things had happened to them that day while organizing his schedules, meetings, and clients.

Was it silly to say that she liked him too much to date him?