Read A Valentine's Wish for Free Online

if he hadn’t stopped to second-guess himself the entire way here. But she didn’t need that information.
    Lori frowned. “You should have just called me. I could have brought it and saved you the trip.”
    Andy leaned casually against the counter. “Well, I was just going to, you know, say hi. Or whatever.” He couldn’t tell her about Bella’s request. Hopefully Lori wouldn’t require further explanation. He cleared his throat again to stall, his eyes scanning the area behind the display even though he wasn’t exactly sure what he expected to see. The flowers were already out front and center. What better reaction could he hope for?
    “You’ll see me in a few hours.” Lori pulled a plastic glove over her hand and slid open the display case. “Just because I’m a shop manager now doesn’t mean I’m going to skip out on my responsibility to the youth group.”
    “Of course not.” Andy rubbed at his throat. What was that lump doing there? Other than blocking everything he was trying so hard to say. “I never thought that.”
    “Good.” Lori snapped the edge of her glove against her hand with a flourish. “What’ll it be, sir?” She grinned.
    He opened his mouth to order three dozen chocolate-filled crème cookies. But the words lingered on his lips, unspoken. The silly cartoon card was propped against the register, where Lori could easily see it all day.
    His neck warmed, and he tugged at his polo collar. “Uh…”
    Lori quirked an eyebrow, her hand hovering over the display,waiting to know which item to grab. “Sorry, we’re fresh out of uh . I must have burned them with the sponge cake yesterday.”
    Andy shook his head to clear it, forcing his eyes not to dart back to the telltale card. Or was he reading more into it than he should? He suddenly remembered all the reasons why he hadn’t dated in so long. This was complicated stuff. “What’s a sponge cake?”
    “It’s supposed to be a very light, airy cake. But because of me, it was a very dark, hard cake.”
    “Bad day?”
    “An eventful afternoon, to say the least.” Lori snorted. “I think I still have fudge in my hair.”
    Andy’s stomach clenched again. Fudge in her hair—did that mean a food fight? He imagined Lori and that smooth-talking Italian flinging batter and dough and laughing together in the kitchen, the camaraderie and teasing maybe leading to a kiss. He swallowed. “I thought that guy did all the cooking?”
    “Monny does do all the baking. But I was helping out, and well—it was disastrous.” Lori rolled her eyes. “I don’t know how much inventory I wasted. I probably won’t be doing much baking anymore.”
    Good. Andy cleared his throat. “Sorry you had a tough time.”
    “Oh, it’s gotten better. Monny and Summer are showing me how things work. It’s been fun.”
    Great. Private tutoring. He straightened his shoulders and tried to ignore the way his heart began a slow descent toward his toes. “I guess I’ll take a few dozen of those cookies there.” He tapped the display window with his finger and tried to cheer up. At least Lori seemed to like his gift. Otherwise she would have thrown the card in the trash, right?
    “Here you go.” Lori bagged his order, then tossed the used glove in a wastebasket and punched buttons on the register. “At least I haven’t messed this part up yet. If Summer and I can keep this drawer balanced every night, then I won’t feel I’ve failed Bella’s business.”
    Andy handed her his business credit card and watched as she swiped it through the machine. “You’ll be fine. You can do anything you put your mind to.” Too bad she hadn’t put her mind to dating him. Or had she? Did she suspect the gift was from him at all? He really should have talked to Haley and gotten the details of the drop-off before coming in here. If Lori had seen Haley with the flowers, the odds of Lori’s figuring out who her secret admirer was were much higher.
    He was getting another