A Valentine's Wish by Betsy St. Amant Read Free Book Online Page A

now, the one man who seemed toshow genuine interest in her remained a mystery and couldn’t possibly be the man she wanted.
    Lori nibbled on the edge of a cookie and relaxed as the chocolate melted in her mouth. She missed Gracie. Her best friend would know exactly what to say at a time like this, what to advise, how to cheer her up. They’d talked on the phone a few times since Gracie and Carter’s wedding, but Lori didn’t want to bug her friend on her honeymoon. Thanks to Carter’s wealth from his old life of music-industry fame, they were able to take an extended vacation together and start their marriage off with month-long tans and all the seafood they could eat.
    What would Gracie say if she were here? After sharing some chocolate, she’d probably tell Lori to step it up a notch. Dust off her flirting abilities that were stored on a high shelf after her nasty breakup with Jason and get back in the game. If someone was pursuing her, she should pursue right back, even if it wasn’t Andy, aka Mr. Right.
    Maybe Mr. Good Enough—whoever he was—would be better than nothing.

Chapter Six
    L ori looked up as the bell above the shop door jingled. A boy, maybe ten years old, came inside carrying a gift-wrapped box. He set it on the counter in front of her, scratched his nose and turned to leave.
    “Wait!” Lori dropped the supplies catalog she’d been paging through and grabbed for the present. No card or tag. “Who is this from?”
    The boy kept going, pausing once to hitch up his baggy jeans. “Don’t know.”
    “What do you mean you don’t know? How can you not know?”
    He turned around at the door and shrugged. “I’m not supposed to say.” He pushed at the handle, and the bell jingled again.
    Lori reached over the counter as if she could stop him from across the room. “Wait, I…” Her eyes narrowed, and she smiled. “Want some chocolate?”
    The door clicked shut as he made a beeline for the counter.
    Lori triumphantly reached under the display and pulled out a caramel-crème chocolate. “Here. Now tell me what you know.”
    “Shmm laymie.” Chocolate oozed around the sides of the boy’s mouth as he chomped on the dessert.
    “Excuse me?” Lori shoved a napkin toward him.
    He swallowed twice. “Some lady. She said not to tell you who.”
    A woman? Lori frowned. Obviously it had to be another delivery person working on behalf of her secret admirer—someone she might recognize due to their request for anonymity. But why would Monny send someone to do the work when he could just wait for her to leave the room? She shoved her hair behind her ears and leaned forward. There had to be more to it. “You don’t know her name?”
    “Nope. She had blond hair.”
    “How old was she?”
    The boy shrugged and crumpled the unused napkin in his hand. “Twenty? Maybe younger. Probably older, though. People think I look eight, but I turned eleven last month.”
    Lori rocked back on her heels. Great. A wasted chocolate out of her paycheck, and still no information other than the gift was delivered by someone who could fit the description of almost half the women in the city. “All right. Thanks anyway.”
    “Thanks for the chocolate, lady.” He grinned, showing caramel stains on his teeth.
    “Consider it a late birthday gift.” Lori waited until the kid left before fingering the red ribbon around the box. Why didn’t her admirer just mail the box? Maybe it contained something expensive, something they wanted to be sure arrived safely.
    So they entrusted it to an eleven-year-old boy?
    Lori shook her head. Only way to find out was to open it. She could do that now, then confront Monny about the gift when he returned from his break. He had to be her secret admirer—there were no other options. After sleeping on her emotional thoughts from last night’s service, Lori decided that Mr. Good Enough wasn’t good enough after all, and she’d rather be alone than lead someone on. Heartbreak, she knew from