“Ahhh.” A sorrowful look crossed Teddy’s face, and I almost regretted my question if not for my burning curiosity.
The most beautiful things were often made up of exceptional moments andthe truest hardships. You couldn’t have onewithout the other. Love was beautiful, and Ineededto know more about it.
“We suffered a fire that destroyed our chapel here in 2009. A big storm rolled through with vicious plow winds damaging everyone’s property and crops.”
I remember reading about that in the Love history book. Winds over 160 kilometres per hour tore through the town, with gusts that reached up to 205 kilometres per hour. There was an estimated ten million dollars’ worth of damage to the small community. It wasn’t surprising they were still suffering the aftermath of the events but hearing it from someone who experienced it first-hand was so much more harrowing than reading about it.
Teddy came around the counter to stand beside me and looked at the photos lining the wall. An expression of fondness crossed his face, like he was remembering the good times amidst the painful memories. “Lightning struck a nearby tree and then winds tore it down. Not even the torrential downpour was any match against the old, dry building. Afterward, the town tried to come together, to pull something together to fix what had been the staple in our area. Sadly, everyone had enough of their own damage to deal with, and the money ran out before the focus was given to the chapel. And then, once it was gone people started to forget,” he said wistfully as he ran a thumb over one of the teddy bear stamps.
“Do you still have the stamps?”
“Oh yes, absolutely, we do.” Teddy rounded the corner of the front desk and opened up a drawer. He held something small as he made his way back over to me. “Not many people send their wedding invitations here anymore, unfortunately. You can have a couple. Maybe you know who to share them with to help spread the word.”
I gratefully took the stamps, eyeing the cute teddy bears on them. It truly was such a unique aspect of this little town.
The story he told me was devastating, but it also inspired my next question to Teddy. “Who owns that old rail house heading out of town near Whispers of Love?”
Teddy hummed as he pondered thoughtfully. “You know, I’m not actually too sure. That building has stood there unused since I was a boy, and as far as I was concerned, it was just a part of the town. You could ask Trixie, it’s so close to her property line, she might know who owns it now.”
Just as I was starting to consider his answer, Olivia came from the rows of PO boxes, obviously coming out of The Warm Hug. “Stella?” She stopped with a start, but a big smile formed on her beautiful face. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to see you, actually. Well, you, and The Warm Hug. It’s a pretty cozy spot,” I admitted to her, grateful for her little haven of solace.
She beamed with pride as she grabbed my hand. “Come on, Mel’s in there, too, and we were just discussing some plans for supper. You can join us!”
Instead of just going out for supper at Heartstrings Bar and Grill like I expected, I found myself in Olivia’s bright yellow Jeep with her and Melody, bags all packed and ready for a girls’ weekend in the big city a couple hours away.
I promised them I would keep them in the loop if anything else happened, and I wasn’t about to go back on that promise with my new friends. They knew about my car being spray-painted, but I was a little worried about what their reaction might be to find out someone they knew had done it. I took a deep breath and braced myself. “It was Valerie.”
Olivia eyed me in the rearview mirror, while Melody turned around to face me. “What was?”
“She spray-painted my car.”
“Thatfucking bitch,” Olivia spat out with an anger that was so vile, such a stark difference from her sunshine personality, that I couldn’t help the giggle that escaped me.
“I don’t like to talk down about other women,” Melody admitted, “but she has honestly been horrible to us since high school.”
Olivia nodded along thoughtfully. “Ugh, I know, right? Like when sheaccidentallyspilled that entire bowl of punch on you during our Valentine’s school dance?”
“I wish I could forget it,” Melody replied. “Guess some things never change.”
I shook my head at her sentiment. I didn’t understand it. Life was hard enough as it was being a woman. We needed to band together, not pit ourselves against each other.
“Remember how pissed I was when Calvin agreed to go out with her?” Mel asked, nudging Olivia with her elbow.
Olivia giggled, then responded. “Yeah, but remember the party we threw when he broke it off three days later?”
“Three days?” I couldn’t help but interrupt their laughter with my question. Calvin had said it was hardly a relationship, but with the reaction she had, I figured he was underplaying it a bit.
“Yeah, it was a lot more serious for her than it was for him,” Melody explained. “Where is your car now?”
“Calvin had it towed to the shop.”
“Oh good, Sean is great at what he does. He’ll get it fixed up in no time.”
“He also found trackers on my vehicle—that’s how Nick found me and sent the flowers.” Even though it had been nearly two weeks since I’d received those roses—and nothing else had come in since—it still made me feel sick to say the words thatNick knew where I was.
“Fuck him.” The angry tone was much more fitting on Melody than it was on Olivia, but both seemed to be absolutely seething at the information I just gave them. “He doesn’t deserve a single moment of our time this weekend. You deserve so much better, Stella.”
