Secret Valentine (2 page)

“I know,” I added. “I was up half the night doing the same thing. It wasn’t until this morning that I thought to get out our old yearbooks and see if that jogged my memory. Come on, they’re in the kitchen.”

“Want to hear my best and worst guesses?”

Grabbing two sodas out of the fridge, I looked at Kasey, “Sure. Hopefully they aren’t the same as mine. I wasn’t too keen on my list.”

She leaned against the counter and released a short chuckle. “Best guess would be James McDan and worst would be Curtis Adams.”

“You can’t be serious. You think that cowardly Curtis would do something like this? When I left he couldn’t even make eye contact.”

She laughed. “Okay, maybe you’re right. He’s still as backward as ever, but he made the list because he’s single.”

I chuckled and rolled my eyes. “Wouldn’t have guessed he was still single.” I said in a sarcastic tone. We burst out laughing. This was the most fun I’d had since arriving back in town.

Over dinner we narrowed down the list to our top two suspects. James, who was a doctor at Cedar Grove’s Hospital, and Drew Spencer a firefighter with an amazing body.

“Now what? How do we figure out who it is?”

Before we could make a plan the doorbell rang. “You start thinking and I’ll get that.”

I opened the door to find another delivery man holding a large vase of lilies.

“These are for Ms. Ashlyn Brooks,” he said and shoved them into my hands.

As I looked at the flowers trying to find a card, I thought,
How rude! Shoving the flowers like that.
He didn’t seem to like people, so why would he get a job where he had to deal with
people all the time? I was then reminded of my sour mood a few days before.

Before I could give it much thought, Kasey called from the kitchen. “Who is it?”

I carried the vase to the kitchen. “A delivery man with flowers for me.”

She stopped making notes and looked up, her eyebrows arched. “Uh oh. Who are they from?”

I set the flowers on the kitchen counter and spied the card sticking out of the top.

In school we were both outgoing.

Yet I was shy and couldn’t tell you how I felt.

Now, I’m putting it all on the line to show you how I feel.

I handed it to Kasey. “I guess that puts out James. He was always quiet and friendly, but I wouldn’t say outgoing.”

“True, but do you really think it’s Drew?”

I sat down with a huff. “This is crazy. First thing tomorrow morning I am going to call the flower shop and demand they tell me.”

“Come on Ashlyn, if you do that you’ll spoil the surprise.”

“Kasey, I don’t know about this. I just got out of a messy divorce. Maybe this isn’t the best time to have a secret valentine. Romance and I just don’t work out. I came back home to escape, not to find love.”

“Ash, I know. But you can’t hide yourself away and become an old maid. You’re young. Be courageous and live for the moment. Who knows, maybe mystery man is your knight-in-shining armor. Give it a chance and let it play out. That’s all I’m asking.”

* * *

The next day when I arrived home from shopping, Gran was sitting in the living room watching one of her soap operas. “Child, there’s a package for you on your bed.”

Something else?

“Thanks Gran,” I hollered and headed up stairs, my arms full of shopping bags. I figured, since I was making a life change, why not get a whole new wardrobe? My purchases, however, weren’t the first thing on my mind at that moment.

I dropped the bags near my closet and looked toward the bed. There lay a small box with no return address. I went to it, and opened it.

Inside were two letters—the first addressed to me, and a second one that said,
Open Me Second, No Cheating
.

In Mrs. Hoffman’s Senior English class, that we had together,

she made us write a letter to ourselves to open when we turned

thirty. You’ll find mine in the next envelope. Beside each item

there’s a check, meaning I completed it—except for two. This letter

should help you guess who I am.

I paused for a moment. So, we had Mrs. Hoffman’s English class together. There were only eight students in that class if I remember correctly. That should narrow this down.

I opened the next envelope.

By the time I am thirty I will have done the following:

ü
 
Becoming a public servant (either a cop of firefighter)

ü
 
Go to college and play football

ü
 
Travel out of the state, and see some of America

Tell Ashlyn how I feel about her

Get married and start a family of my own

Wow. More pieces to the puzzle.

This narrowed things down quite a bit. Mystery man and I were in the same Senior English class, and he’s either a cop or a firefighter.

I grabbed my notebook to make a list. Senior English class was twelve years ago, and if I remembered correctly, Kasey and I were the only females in the class, which left six possible mystery men…

I made my list.

Possible mystery men:

James
(But it couldn’t be him because he wasn’t outgoing).

Drew (He’s a firefighter and outgoing)

Brian

Curtis
(Again not outgoing, and very shy)

Julian

Kevin (My old high school crush)

The clues were narrowing down but there were still so many unknowns. I hadn’t kept up with my classmates over the years, and wasn’t sure about all of them on the list, but I knew Kasey would have the needed gossip.

I reached for my cell and sent a text:
After work can you stop
over? Think we made a breakthrough.

* * *

While carrying two large trash bags of clothes for Goodwill out to my car the next day, the Cedar Grove Police Chief truck pulled up into the driveway.

Out of the truck stepped, Kevin, my high school crush. I immediately thought of ‘the list’ and swallowed hard. Would Kevin…? No, it couldn’t be…

Back in high school, I regularly daydreamed about him in his football uniform, but that didn’t hold a candle to how awesome he looked now. There he stood, all 6’2” and 190 pounds, looking as if he just stepped out of a GQ photo shoot. His auburn hair, cut short in military fashion, the uniform shirt pulled tight across his obviously toned chest, and his bulging biceps peeking out from the short sleeves. If I thought Kevin was a heart-stopper back in high school, he was a Greek God now.

“Hey Ashlyn, let me help you with those.”

Admiring how yummy he looked in uniform made me glad I changed into one of my new outfits, and had added a little make-up before running the bags down to the car. “Oh, thank you.” After he loaded the bags into the trunk, I risked giving him my brightest smile. “I can’t be in trouble already, I just moved back. What are you doing here?”

The same lighthearted chuckle from high school filled my ears. “No, your Gran offered to bake some cookies for the police officer’s Valentine’s dance. Just stopping by to pick them up.”

“Umm, she isn’t here at the moment, but come on in and let’s see if I can find them. Would you like some of Gran’s famous iced tea?”

“Wouldn’t mind if I do. It’s been a busy day and I haven’t had time to grab a drink or stop for lunch yet.”

He stepped up beside me as we made our way up the walk. I couldn’t take my eyes off him. “If you have time, I can make you a sandwich to go with that tea.” My heart pitter-pattered at the thought.

“Only if you will join me.” Kevin said, as cocky as he was in high school.

Ten minutes later, we were having lunch on the back deck. “Police Chief now, huh? Interesting job. I thought you were getting out of this town and never looking back?”

He took a bite of his sandwich before answering. “That was the plan. Funny how life doesn’t work out the way you want. You can work at it, but something always seems to go wrong. Dad passed away right before I graduated the police academy, and I felt bad leaving my mom all alone. I planned to just be here a little while, until she was okay, but six months later she was killed in a car accident. I don’t know why but I couldn’t leave then. I feel rooted here.”

Looking out over the expansive backyard, I nodded. “I know what you mean. While I was away I missed this place. Now that I’m back, I wonder why I ever left.”

“Now that you’re back, you can make up for lost time. Your Gran really missed you.”

Before I could say anything, his police radio came alive.

“Chief, you’re needed back at the station.”

“Thanks Connie, ETA five minutes.” He took the last bite of his sandwich. “Sorry, gotta run. A police chief’s duties are never done. Tell your Gran I’ll swing by tomorrow for those cookies. It was real nice seeing you again, Ashlyn. I’m glad you’re home.”

Long after Kevin returned to the station, I sat on the deck reminiscing. As a teenager, I had pined away for him, daydreaming that one day he would show up on my doorstep confessing his true feelings about how he couldn’t live without me.

Chuckling to myself and thinking.
Boy I was a hopeless romantic back then,
I headed back to the house.

I’d loved the fantasy that Kevin and I would get married, have a few children, and grow old together, but that fantasy bubble popped when Kevin took off for the police academy, and I fell in love with my
not-so-good-choice
of a husband…

* * *

Later that evening after Gran came home, I opened the door to find an out-of-breath Kasey, arriving five minutes before she was even supposed to be off work.

“I couldn’t wait. I left as soon as I could.” Kasey stood gasping for air.

I shook my head and pulled her toward the stairs. “Gran, we’re going up to my room. I need Kasey’s help with something and want to show off my new clothes.”

As soon as we were behind closed doors, I nodded towards the bed. “Another package.”