Brock owned this place, so he was the boss man. He’d pulled a couple of bottles of champagne from behind the bar and the boys had rearranged all the worn leather couches in front of a roaring fire in the hearth. Ava had heated up mountains of leftovers that Brock’s Gran had cooked for a grand dinner earlier tonight. Moira had missed it to be with Cam, but this was even better than a stiff dinner where she sat alone with a bunch of strangers inhabiting the other cabins for UnValentine’s Day week.
This was warm.
Avery was sitting on the other side of her, throwing down Uno cards and talking trash. Moira kept giggling. She was a monster with no filter.
Cam was having fun chatting with Brock and Lance about mutual friends they hadn’t even known they had. They’dprobably orbited each other at bars and hangouts for years, but Cam hadn’t officially met Brock until he started booking his company for ATV tours.
The sound of the men’s laughter was something to behold. It was unbridled joy just being around each other. Cam turned and gave the bite he’d forked for himself to Moira. It was a huge bite of pot roast and potatoes. He didn’t even skip a beat. Just fed her and kept talking, then made a bite for himself.
She loved this.
Moira couldn’t recall ever feeling so comfortable with anyone on the planet, much less someone she’d just met.
Another 90’s rock song sounded over the speakers, and Birdie lit up. “I know this one!”
They’d discovered she was terrible at memorizing lyrics and had sung every single song she recognized so far with the wrong words.
Birdie started rapping and it was truly atrocious.
Moira was trying not to laugh, but good Lord, Birdie wasn’t giving up. She wasn’t even speaking words that made sense in English by the chorus. Lance was looking at her like she’d hung the moon, but the rest of them were cracking up. Birdie threw down a yellow seven without missing a single wrong word.
The whole night was like that. It was full of moments that Moira took mental pictures of so that she would be sure to remember them later, when she went back to her lonely life.
She’d meant to come here and enjoy being bitter about Valentine’s Day with a bunch of other bitter people, but she’s found something completely different.
She found quirky, fun-loving, hilarious people who each had a story with working their way through Valentine’s Day.
Brock had told the story about how he and Ava had met at last year’s first annual UnValentine’s Day celebration here at the Woodpecker Inn. Now, Lance and Birdie had met this week andalready had plans to fly back and forth between their homes and visit each other. And Moira had met Cam.
When she looked over at him, he was leaned forward, elbows on his knees, looking at her with those glowing gold eyes over his shoulder.
She thought Brock really had something here with this UnValentine’s Day theme. He was bringing people together who had been hurt by the holiday, and who could understand each other and perhaps find a match. It hadn’t been Moira’s plan. Not even close. She hadn’t even thought about meeting anyone here during this week. Cam had just happened, and she thought even in the moments she was back home and missing this feeling of belonging, she wouldn’t regret him.
She wouldn’t regret any of this.
The game ended. Cam won.
Birdie stood and sighed and looked sad. “I have an early flight tomorrow morning.”
“Boooo,” Avery said, throwing a card at her.
Birdie caught it and tossed it back. “I know, I know. I’m a party pooper. I wish we had twelve more nights in a row just like this.”
Moira looked down at her lap so Birdie wouldn’t see the longing on her face for the same.
“I’ve got to get Avery back home,” Cam rumbled from beside Moira.
“She can stay in Lodge Four if you aren’t wanting to drive all the way out tonight,” Brock said. “The cabin is empty. The guest there checked out this evening.”
“Why yes I would love a free night in a fancy cabin,” Avery volunteered. “I bet you guys have the fancy brand miniature shampoo bottles in each cabin, don’t you?”
“You can take as many as you want,” Brock teased.
Avery let off this hilarious cackle of a laugh and followed Brock to the front room to get her key.
“Want to stay at my cabin tonight?” Moira asked Cam.
“Yep,” he answered immediately.
