Dumped for Valentine's (Fun For the Holiday's Book 2) Read online

  “Well, most people want more than that. They want to explore and have adventures. You consider riding the subway to the Bronx an adventure.”

  “Hey!” I all but shouted before lowering my voice. “Have you seen the people and all the different walks of life on that train? It is an adventure. Every borough in this state is an adventure. I’m sorry you can’t see it.”

  “I see it. Just not the way you do.”

  “I’m happy where I am. And I thought you were too.”

  “I know you did. Look, Val, the truth is, I want to live in other countries for months on end before going to another one and starting all over.”

  “You do?” My voice caught on the air around me, which had grown thick since our conversation had started. How come we’d never talked about this before? Why was it only coming to light now? Since when had I started dating a gypsy?

  “I do.”

  “Since when?”

  “Since my firm offered me a position in London for a year.”

  “London?” I squeaked out. “A year?”

  “Yeah. Doesn’t it sound great? I’ve always wanted to go. And a year! Can you imagine?” He was so excited that it was like I wasn’t even in the room, much less the equation. And I guessed, to be honest, I really wasn’t.

  “It sounds like a great opportunity for you.” I tried not to sound as bitter as I currently felt, but it was a struggle. I’d thought I’d end the night as Moore’s fiancée, not his ex-girlfriend. How could I have been so wrong?

  “I didn’t ask you to come with me to London because I knew you’d say no.”

  All the air left my lungs with his words. He wasn’t wrong, but why did him being right make me feel so small? Even if I had said no, he still should have asked, at least given me the opportunity to choose. Instead, he’d made the choice for me.

  “You didn’t even ask though.”

  “I didn’t want to put you in the position of choosing between me or the shop.”

  My jaw tensed as my anger started to elevate. “Don’t do that.”

  “Do what?”

  “Pretend like you were sparing my feelings.”

  His lips pursed together before he asked, “Would you have said yes?”

  I shook my head, confirming his gut instincts. “I love it here. This is my home. I opened my shop in this city for a reason. I can’t up and move and leave it all behind.”

  “You could,” he countered.

  “But I don’t want to,” I stated firmly.

  “I know.” His tone sounded almost sympathetic, and I had to stop the tears from falling.

  I was frustrated, angry, and hurt.

  “I haven’t changed,” I said, wondering if I’d misled him the past three years somehow. Had I said something that could have made him think I wanted to leave New York eventually and live somewhere else? I was certain I hadn’t. The thought had never crossed my mind, so there was no way it’d ever crossed my lips.

  “I know that too. But I have. I want more. I want to do so many things. And you don’t have an adventurous bone in your body.”

  “Can you stop offending me, please?” I managed to get out before the first tear fell.

  “I’m sorry. You’re right. I didn’t mean for it to go this way exactly.”

  “What did you expect?” I asked as more tears fell. There was no stopping them now.

  He blew out a harsh breath before pulling his jacket over his arms. “I … I don’t know. I’ll send your things over to the store. You can just get rid of whatever I have at your place. I won’t have room for it anyway.”

  His words washed over me before I finally pieced it all together. “You’re already leaving, aren’t you? That’s why you’ve been so weird, so distant lately? You already accepted the position, right?”

  He stared at me, his jacket now firmly fastened across his body.

  He still hadn’t answered my question, so I asked it again in a different way. “When do you leave, Moore?”

  “The day after tomorrow,” he answered, confirming my suspicions before pushing away from the table and taking two steps toward me. I didn’t move or look up as he planted a kiss on the top of my head. “I sort of feel like a real asshole right now, but this is for the best. You’ll see that eventually.”

  I said nothing as he walked away and left me sitting there, alone, with my aching heart and beat-up pride.

  Three years wasted. Three years spent with someone I’d thought I knew inside and out, whom I apparently hadn’t known at all.

  Gathering up my coat, I stood tall as I walked out of the swanky restaurant I swore I’d never step foot in again. No more eating in places where the dessert cost more than a dozen of my finest roses.

  Instead of hailing a cab, I decided to walk home. I craved the cold air to clear my head. Before I knew it, I’d be home, calling Karina to fill her in, and I needed the solitude and quiet that the walk provided. Not that New York was ever quiet by any means, but sometimes, it seemed softer than Karina could be.

  I walked alone, just me and my thoughts. And Moore’s words echoing in my head like a broken record.

  Not adventurous. I guffawed to myself.

  Why would I leave New York? I continued my conversation with the night sky. Who wants to? Only an idiot wants to leave this city.

  “And that’s fine because I don’t date idiots, and I definitely don’t marry them,” I shouted to whoever might be listening, no doubt sounding like a crazy person to anyone watching.

  Yet all the while, in the back of my mind, I wondered if Moore was right. I’d barely scratched the surface in terms of traveling. I hadn’t even seen much of my own country, let alone any others.

  “Not adventurous,” I repeated out loud again as I rounded the corner of my condo building.

  I could be adventurous.

  I could be anything I damn well wanted.

  I’d show him.

  LAST-MINUTE VACATION

  I struggled to unlock the door to the shop, balancing the two coffees I held in my hands and praying they wouldn’t spill. Heaven forbid I actually placed one of them on the ground to make this easier on myself. Turning the key enough to hear it unlatch, I bumped the door with my hip, and it swung wide open, the little bell jingling in its wake. Placing the still-full coffees on the counter, I smiled to myself at the small victory. Not a single drop wasted.

  Reaching for my apron, I tied it around my waist and surveyed the room. The windows were painted with red and white hearts and Cupid shooting his arrow. Words like Be Mine and I’m Yours greeted potential customers in a swirly script-like font. Even my newly single status couldn’t dampen my love for this holiday. It still made me smile.

  All night, I’d tossed and turned—after I finally stopped crying. At some point through my tears, I’d realized that I wasn’t as brokenhearted as I should have been about losing Moore. I was sad and hurt, for sure, grieving more the loss of what felt like wasted time, but I wasn’t necessarily destroyed by the split. After three years, shouldn’t I have been more devastated?

  Maybe Moore had known what he was talking about when it came to us. He had clearly seen something that I hadn’t. Or maybe with my attention focused so singularly on my business and its growth, I couldn’t see what was right in front of me. I’d convinced myself that us seeing each other only a couple nights a week was normal for two hardworking people. It was easy to make excuses for other things in your life when you ran your own business and felt solely responsible for its success.

  The bell jangled, and I turned in time to see Karina walk in, a giant smile on her face. I hadn’t called her last night. I hadn’t called anyone.

  “Ooh, is this for me?” She reached for one of the coffee cups before taking a swig.

  “Well, it is now,” I said playfully, moving my own coffee out of her reach.

  “So,” she started before she all but burst at the proverbial seams, “let me see it!”

  “See what?”

  “The ring, dummy.” She reached for my left hand and came up empty. She searched my right hand—the wrong one—before dropping it to my side. “No proposal? Again? Ugh!”

  My eyes instantly filled with tears at the thought of saying what had happened out loud. “Not exactly,” I said before wiping at my face and willing the tears to disappear. In this moment, I felt more embarrassed than anything else.

  “Oh my gosh. Val, what happened?”

  “He broke up with me.”

  She leaned back against the refrigerated glass case. “He what?” she asked, her tone incredulous.

  “He took a job in London. Said he wants to travel the world and I don’t ever want to leave New York, so …” I trailed off as my email dinged out a notification.

  “He took a job in London without talking to you first?” She reached for her coffee and took a tentative sip. “Asshole.”

  I shrugged. “He said I had no sense of adventure. That I didn’t want to go anywhere or do anything outside of the five boroughs.”

  “What’s wrong with the five boroughs?” she asked gruffly.

  “That’s exactly what I said.” I shifted my weight and clicked on the most recent email on my laptop.

  The subject line screamed, Last-Minute Deal to Vail! 5-star resort, just in time for Valentine’s! In my emotion-filled night, I’d completely forgotten that I’d signed up for at least half a dozen travel sites, hoping that one of them might give me the ammunition I needed to prove Moore wrong.

  Karina peered over my shoulder. “What is that? Vail? Like, in Colorado? I’ve always wanted to see Colorado,” she said wistfully.

  “Really?” I asked, realizing that I’d never truly longed to go anywhere other than where I was. Maybe I wasn’t so normal after all.

 
“Yeah. It looks so pretty with all the trees and those big ole mountains. Don’t you think?”

  I shrugged. “I guess.” I clicked the link, and gorgeous pictures filled my screen. “Wow,” I said without thinking.

  “That’s what Vail looks like?” Karina asked, knowing full well I had no idea. “It’s adorable!”

  “It’s stunning.” I continued to scroll through the pictures of the resort, feeling like I was looking at some sort of winter wonderland I’d never experienced before. The decor and style weren’t like anything we had in New York, and I found myself almost shocked by it.

  “You have to go.” She clapped her hands together like the most brilliant idea on the planet had entered her brain.

  “I can’t just”—I paused—“go.”

  “Why not?”

  I clicked on the button to get more information. As I scanned the fine print, I sighed. “Because the deal is only for this coming weekend.”

  “So?”

  “So, it’s almost our busiest day of the year, for one,” I started before she stopped me cold.

  “First of all, we both know that our busiest day of the year is Mother’s Day. And your precious favorite holiday isn’t until next Thursday.” She peered over my shoulder again. “According to this, you’ll be back by Monday.”

  “But I’d be gone for three full days. Right before—”

  She cut me off again, not wanting to hear my excuses, “I can handle things here. I’ve been working by your side for years. I know more than you think. And the kids will be here, too, so I won’t be alone.”

  The “kids” were the three part-time employees I’d hired over a year ago. They were young, but they were dependable, and they loved working at the shop, so I knew we could count on them to pull their weight.

  Looking back at my screen, I felt a slight tug in my guts. That little pull that people talked about when they saw a place that called to them, I was feeling it.

  “It looks so magical,” I all but whispered, and Karina agreed.

  “You should go. Really, Val. I wish you could see your face right now,” she said, and the smile I hadn’t known I was wearing instantly grew in size. “Do something nice for yourself since that dickhead dumped you right before your favorite holiday.”

  I bristled, my eyes squeezing shut for only a moment before reopening. “He wasn’t a dickhead.”

  Why was I defending him?

  He was totally a dickhead.

  “He had a last name for a first name.”

  “What does that have to do with anything?”

  “Just another reason for me to hate him and think he’s dumb. Let me trash him however I see fit.”

  Genuinely smiling for what felt like the first time since last night, I agreed. “It was a stupid name. Who names their kid Moore anyway?”

  “That’s the spirit. Now, book that damn trip before I book it for you.” She hopped up on top of the floral counter and crossed her legs, still sipping on her coffee when I hadn’t even touched mine.

  Could I really leave?

  “Don’t second-guess yourself, Val. I know you. You haven’t taken more than one day off since we opened the store. You deserve this. And maybe some hot Colorado guy to go with it.”

  I laughed at the notion before sucking in a breath. I was immediately hit with a realization that shouldn’t have surprised me at all but still managed to. I actually wanted to go. I wanted to get away from New York even if it was only for a few days. It wasn’t something I’d ever considered before last night, but now, snow-covered mountains and old-world charm seemed to call to me. How could something so foreign imprint itself inside me so quickly?

  “I don’t hear the click of the keyboard.” Karina waved a hand in front of my face.

  I snapped out of my Vail-induced daze. “I’m going to do it,” I announced.

  A grin a mile wide spread out over her cheeks. “Good. I was worried for a second.”

  Confusion filled me as I asked, “That I wouldn’t go?”

  “No. That you might let Moore ruin this day for you. Or worse, that you might start hating love.”

  A hearty laugh roared from my chest. “Never going to happen. I’m not the cynical one. And I love love too much to ever give up on it.”

  “Thank goodness because you do own a damn flower shop, you know.” She finished off her coffee and slammed the empty cup on the counter with a loud slap. “Book that trip before you come to your senses!” She hopped down and made her way toward the back stockroom. “I’m going to spend time with the murderers. Wish my fingers luck.”

  “You could wear gloves, you know,” I shouted back.

  “I don’t hear any clicking!”

  COLORADO

  I walked off the plane, thankful to be on solid ground after the turbulence that had greeted me midair and made me pray for my life on more than one occasion. Thin mountain air was no joke, and the three women who had thrown up in their paper bags behind me were proof of that.

  After retrieving my luggage in the smallest airport I’d ever laid eyes on, I headed outside, where a car was waiting to drive me to the resort. It was included in the last-minute deal I’d booked after Karina threatened to book it for herself if I didn’t. Jealousy had torn through me at the challenge.

  I fired off a quick text, letting her know I’d made it to Colorado alive, no thanks to the giant metal object that had cut through the air like a roller coaster with no track. Settling into the backseat of an SUV, I made small talk with the driver. Karina’s response came almost instantly, where she informed me that the shop was in good hands and to please enjoy myself.

  Another text immediately followed.

  I hope you do something adventurous this weekend … and I don’t mean snowboard, if you catch my drift.

  I shook my head as another text appeared.

  And if you don’t catch my drift … I mean, have an adventure with a man. A hot one. One you’ll never have to see again. I hope you adventure all over vail with him, starting in a hot tub. Then, maybe outside in the snow. We’ll call it a manventure. I hope you manventure your stupid ex right out of your system. Manventure all over the place. And send me updates!

  I clicked the button on my phone that made her ridiculous text disappear before realizing that I was actually a little excited. I’d convinced myself on the flights over that I would have fun, let loose, and genuinely give in to whatever Vail decided to bring me. When I’d originally packed, I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to detach enough from the store to actually have a good time, and the last thing I wanted was to be in this beautiful place and not have the gumption to enjoy it.

  “We’re almost there, Miss Hamilton,” the driver announced from the front seat, and I thought how quick that had been.

  I redirected my attention from the phone screen to my surroundings and felt my heart pang inside my chest. The tree-lined roads were snow-covered and looked like something straight out of a holiday movie.

  The SUV pulled to a stop in front of the resort that looked exactly the way it had online, and I breathed out in relief. I hadn’t truly questioned the deal before I booked it, but now that I had arrived, I realized that things weren’t always as nice as they advertised. This resort was the exception to the rule.

  “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” the driver asked as he pulled my suitcase from the back.

  “It really is. I feel like I’ve stepped into another world,” I said, my voice sounding breathier than I’d intended.

  “Everything here is inspired by Europe,” he added with a smile. “I hope you have a great time.”

  “Thank you,” I said before handing him a cash tip.

  Turning around to face the main building, I took in the view before I even thought about moving even though it was freezing out here. It felt much colder here than it had back in New York. Retail shops filled the lower levels of each building for as far as I could see, and hordes of people milled about what basically looked like a quaint town square.

  Valentine’s Day themes painted on clear glass reminded me of my own storefront back home, and my heart panged for only a second before settling. I smiled to myself at the idea that no matter where you traveled, businesses seemed to celebrate in similar ways. Each one wanted to entice the potential buyer. They made whatever they sold relevant to not only the holiday, but also to your life in an attempt to convince you that you couldn’t live without what they had to offer.