Find Me
Thank you for purchasing this publication of The Wild Rose Press, Inc.
“Come on,” Coop growled.
“You’re not gonna trust what he’s dishing out, are you? How can manufacturers produce two candies, send them out worldwide, and expect the two people who receive them to find each other?”
Odd, he didn’t get uptight about any of Rill’s other stories. Today, his forehead pulled down, and his lips flattened.
“It’s a myth,” she said.
“Yeah, which you believe.” He spoke with a combination of concern and disgust.
“I think it’s lovely. I bet that’s how I’ll find my soul mate.”
Her comment got another, “Phft,” from Coop.
“I bet it will, little lady.” Rill put the tray back under the counter.
“Let’s go.” Coop grabbed her hand. “Thanks, Rill.”
“Anytime,” he chuckled. “One more thing.”
She pulled on Coop’s hand. He wouldn’t stop, so she yanked it. “Yeah?”
“The two people can only meet in Heather Ridge.”
“You’re kidding me.” Coop fumed, snatched her hand, and tugged her out of the store.
“What’s your problem?” Again, she jerked her hand away from his and stopped. “I think the story is great. It’s romantic. A dream.”
“You haven’t checked out its veracity.”
Leave it to brain boy to think science rules everything
. “Sometimes there is no explanation.”
“I hear pigs fly. Do you think I should trust hearsay?”
Praise for Cait Jarrod
“Cait consistently brings just the right mix of suspense, romance and happy endings!”
~Books n Bloggin
Find Me
by
Cait Jarrod
A Candy Hearts Romance
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.
Find Me
COPYRIGHT © 2016 by Cait Jarrod
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author or The Wild Rose Press, Inc. except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
Contact Information: [email protected]
Cover Art by
RJ Morris
The Wild Rose Press, Inc.
PO Box 708
Adams Basin, NY 14410-0708
Visit us at www.thewildrosepress.com
Publishing History
First Champagne Rose Edition, 2016
Digital ISBN 978-1-5092-0524-0
A Candy Hearts Romance
Published in the United States of America
Dedications
To soul mate seekers—past, present, and future—
Here’s to you!
~*~
To Cait’s Classy Chicks—my wonderful Street Team—
I love your continued support! Thank you!
~*~
To my soul mate husband and daughters,
my rocks.
~*~
To Norma Redfern, Brittney O’Bryan,
and Patricia Smart
for always being willing to read,
hash out the plot, and cheering me on.
~*~
And finally to my editor, Lara Parker,
thanks for making the editing process painless.
Prologue
Legends are stories from the past many people believe in, yet they haven’t necessarily been proven or disproven.
Ten years ago…
“Bet I beat you.” Lyse Haynes flashed her teeth at her best friend Cooper Schmidt and darted toward Rill’s Country Store, their favorite after-school hangout.
Racing him, different from running against other seventeen year olds, was easy. He didn’t care who won. Getting to the other side turned him on. Made him tick. If a book sat waiting, all the better. Darnedest thing she’d ever seen, but she loved him for it. Loved him like a buddy.
“I’m gaining, Lyse, better watch it.”
She took a chance and glanced over her shoulder. Not an action an athlete should do for fear of losing valuable seconds, but with Coop, not a concern.
“Boo!”
She flinched, stumbled on the uneven sidewalk, and sailed forward.
“Whoa!” He grabbed her waist and pulled her to him. “No nosedives.”
She held onto his hands pressing against her stomach and sucked in a breath. “Shit, you scared me!”
“I noticed,” he said with no laughter in his voice. Every other guy her age would have teased her and tried to cop a feel, not him. He let her rest her head on his chest, and his steady heartbeat helped slow hers. “Better?”
She took in Main Street lined with small town businesses. A few people hurried to their next destination. Her breathing returned to normal as she relaxed in his arms. She patted his hand and moved out of his embrace. “I’m good.”
“You slowed your game today and let me catch ya.”
No, she hadn’t. She tilted her head and tried to see behind his thick glasses. Seeing someone’s eyes gave her telltale clues to their thoughts, like in his case—I’m faster than you thought, huh?
Luckily, he confided in her, otherwise, she’d never know what milled around in his mind. His Coke-bottle specs didn’t let anyone see what emotion lurked in his eyes.
“Hey, Lyse.”
She faced the quarterback of the high school football team and caught Coop fidgeting. “Don’t let him irritate you,” she whispered to him and then smiled at Wally Vandevender. The most attractive boy in school. He had it all—money, looks, and skills. “Hi!”
“Wallace,” Coop said, his tone rough.
Wally narrowed his eyes, but didn’t reply. Instead, he smiled at her. “Want to go to the Valentine’s dance Friday night, Lyse?”
She and Coop decided if no one asked them, they’d go with each other. With the dance a few days away, she said, “We’re going.” She waved her finger between her and her best friend.
“He doesn’t mind if you go with me.” Wally popped Coop in the stomach with the back of his hand. “Do you?”
Coop’s mouth pulled taut. The sun started its descent and gleamed on the few whiskers on his chin. His straight hair hung around his face as if he hadn’t brushed it for days. She hated how he clammed up when one of the guys from the football team, baseball team, heck any team came near. Yet, she understood why he seemed uneasy near Wally.
He stood out. From his toned, muscular, tanned body to the way he flashed a grin. Poor Coop didn’t have a chance for anyone to notice him with Wally around, but she did. He was the nicest guy in Heather Ridge, Virginia.
“Well, do ya?” Wally’s voice deepened and he stepped closer to Coop, as if intimidation would make him move.
Coop never gave up. Never, not one single time, did he yield from a challenge. Unfortunately, peers tested him on almost a daily basis because of his haircut, thick glasses and high-water jeans. He grew so fast his mom and dad couldn’t afford to keep up with his clothing.
“Not my decision,” Coop said, his voice neither angry nor scared. “It’s Lyse’s.”
“What’s it gonna be? Me or him,” Wally demanded. “I’ll take you out to dinner first.”
Oh, he drove a hard bargain. Eating out was a luxury. After her mother passed and Dad not being able to cope with the loss, she moved in with Aunt Claire and Uncle Lyndon at two years old. They worked twenty-four-seven and didn’t have much time for walking around town like a lot of other families. Or taking in the sights, watching movies at the theater, or eating out.
Coop’s shoulders went rigid. Whatever she decided, he usually accepted without a word, yet he clasped his hands behind his back and shuffled his feet. For the last year, the same troubled body language gave her a conflicting read on his thoughts. She wondered if his easy attitude to accept her decisions in fact was what he felt. Despite usually telling her everything, on this subject he never discussed his feelings. And those darn Coke-bottle glasses kept his secret.
“Go on,” he said, surprising her. “I can’t take you out to eat. So, go with Wallace.”
Wally’s hand fisted. He made it well known how he hated someone calling him by his given name. No doubt, the exact reason Coop did it.
“I’m heading to Rill’s.” Coop spun on his heels and left.
“I’ll pick you up at five.” Wally winked and strutted across the road.
Boy was he a glorious sight. His jeans hugged his thighs, butt, and other parts.
Sigh.
“See you then,” she called after him and finger waved before strolling toward Rill’s Country Store to check on Coop.
The Valentine’s Day dance excited those who went with the boy they loved. While Wally had the gorgeousness of the top ten handsome boys at Heather Ridge High put together, when she stood near him, she didn’t feel anything.
On the other hand, standing near Coop electrified her. He offered more. Identifying exactly what
more
meant took a deep, soul-searching thought process she didn’t want to explore. She knew she didn’t come close to him in the brains department. He had it going on and then some.
She opened the door and, immediately, sensed his penetrating eyes. “Hey, are you okay with me going to the dance with Wally?”
“I can’t take you out to a nice dinner. He can,” he said in a monotone voice. “One day, I will.”
Guilt ratcheted off her.
“Go,” he said. “It’s okay.”
“Hello, little lady.” Rill’s husky voice laced by years of smoking drew her attention from Coop and filled the small country store.
More of a drugstore than a market. He sold everything from over-the-counter medications to books and magazines to quick items anyone could use, like milk, eggs, and butter. One attraction drew her every time—the candy—homemade and internationally purchased. He carried so many unusual varieties. From old-fashioned stick candy to chocolate marshmallows, she loved it all.
“Hi, Rill! What’s new?” She enjoyed his tales. He could talk for hours, and she’d listen.
He arched a brown brow speckled with gray toward a wrinkled forehead. A smattering of white covered his balding head. His salt and pepper mustache twitched, and his brown eyes gleamed with amusement. “Candy, my dear. New candy.”
She grabbed a lock of her brown hair, hanging past her shoulders, and twisted it around her finger. “Oh, yeah.”
“I’ve been waiting for another shipment of this candy for some time. Years ago, I carried it.” He moved to the domed glass covering the delicious morsels the citizens of Heather Ridge coveted.
Coop stepped up and nudged her shoulder. “Watch him. He’ll have you buying the whole store.”
“Fat chance that will happen. I don’t have any money.” To say her family was poor wouldn’t be accurate. Loaded didn’t work either. They fell somewhere in the middle of the area’s populous in the always-needing-more category.
Coop rested a hand on top of the glass and bent next to her ear. “One day, things will be different,” he said as if he’d read her thoughts. “Count on it.”
His whisper in her ear startled her. She shifted. Not an inch away and she still couldn’t see his eyes. “I hope so,” she said. That was so Coop. Always encouraging, always ready to help. She wished she could find a boyfriend like him who thought the world of her and would do anything to make her happy.
“Here it is,” Rill said and slid a tray across the glass.
The heart-shaped candies flourished in assorted colors, pinks, greens, yellows, whites, and purples. Each inked in pink with different sayings: MY GIRL, IT’S TRUE, VERY FINE, and so on, nothing remarkable about them.
“I don’t get it. They’re like any other candy bought this time of year.”
“Look closer,” he said and leaned his face near the tray and pointed.
In the center of the pile lay a lone white heart inked with FIND ME. Still nothing noteworthy, except this one had green writing. Thinking about it, she didn’t recall reading FIND ME on any other candy, and definitely not in vivid lettering. “What’s so special about this one?”
“Well…” Rill’s voice faded, and he inspected one side of the store then the other, as if he would give them top-secret information. If he tried to get her attention, it worked. She leaned closer. “Legend has it, there are two FIND ME candies produced each year. When two people lucky enough to receive them see each other, they know they found their soul mates.”
“Phfts.” Coop chuckled. “Good one.”
Rill ignored him. What he said was intriguing. She always considered legends, myths, and superstitions as truths. “Shush,” she said out of the corner of her mouth and focused on the storeowner. “Go on.”