“He was sitting in his office one evening. The day had been busy and one of his men had phoned in sick, so he’d been out on the road all afternoon. He was ready to go home and take a hot shower, but just about then the phone rang. One of the night crew answered it and it was the auto club. Apparently some lady had locked her keys in her car at the community center and needed someone to come rescue her.”
“So you, I mean this man, volunteered?”
“That he did, never dreaming she’d practically throw herself in his arms. And not because he’d unlocked her car, either, but because she was desperate for someone to take her to the Valentine’s dinner.”
“That part about her falling in your arms is a slight exaggeration,” Dianne felt obliged to tell him.
“Maybe so, but it was the first time a woman had ever offered to pay him to take her out. Which was the most ironic part of this entire tale. For weeks he’d been trying to gain this woman’s attention, practically killing himself to impress her with the amount of weight he was lifting. It seemed every woman in town was impressed except the one who mattered.”
“Did you ever stop to think that was the very reason he found her so attractive? If she ignored him, then he must have considered her a challenge.”
“Yes, he thought about that a lot. But after he met her and kissed her, he realized that his instincts had been right from the first. He was going to fall in love with this woman.”
“He was?” Dianne’s voice was little more than a hoarse whisper.
“That’s the second part of the story.”
“The second part?” Dianne was growing confused.
“The happily-ever-after part.”
Dianne used her napkin to wipe away the tears, which had suddenly welled up in her eyes again. “He can’t possibly know that.”
Steve smiled then, that wonderful carefree, vagabond smile of his, the smile that never failed to lift her heart. “Wrong. He’s known it for a long time. All he needs to do now is convince her.”
Sniffing, Dianne said, “I have the strangest sensation that this woman has trouble recognizing a prince when she sees one. For a good part of her life, she was satisfied with keeping a frog happy.”
“And now?”
“And now she’s…now I’m ready to discover what happily-ever-after is all about.”
BALLANTINE BOOKS BY DEBBIE MACOMBER
Window on the Bay
Cottage by the Sea
Any Dream Will Do
If Not for You
A Girl’s Guide to Moving On
Last One Home
Rose Harbor Inn
Sweet Tomorrows
Silver Linings
Love Letters
The Inn at Rose Harbor
Blossom Street
Blossom Street Brides
Starting Now
Christmas Novels
A Mrs. Miracle Christmas
Alaskan Holiday
Merry and Bright
Twelve Days of Christmas
Dashing Through the Snow
Mr. Miracle
Starry Night
Angels at the Table
For a complete list of books by Debbie Macomber, visit her website at debbiemacomber.com.
About the Author
DEBBIE MACOMBER, the author of Window on the Bay, Cottage by the Sea, Any Dream Will Do, If Not for You, and the Rose Harbor Inn series, is a leading voice in women’s fiction. Thirteen of her novels have reached #1 on the New York Times bestseller lists, and five of her beloved Christmas novels have been hit movies on the Hallmark Channel, including Mrs. Miracle and Mr. Miracle. Hallmark Channel also produced the original series Debbie Macomber’s Cedar Cove, based on Macomber’s Cedar Cove books. She is also the author of the cookbook Debbie Macomber’s Table. There are more than 200 million copies of her books in print worldwide.
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