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Noah hadn’t thought about his words before he said them, feeling so caught up in the rush of the moment that he hadn’t given a moment’s consideration to how they might be perceived. But as a lovely blush rose on Mindy’s cheeks, he found that he didn’t entirely care if he’d given away too many of his inner thoughts. Just as long as she kept smiling and looking at him exactly like that.
“I think I could impress you even more,” she said, her voice coming out a bit breathy. “What if I told you that you could be involved in something really special?”
“Right now?” He looked around them pointedly. “More special than this?”
“Does the name Valerie Bernard mean anything to you?”
“The actress?” Noah asked, not able to hide his confusion.
Mindy nodded. “She lives here now. And tomorrow, her boyfriend is proposing to her. He asked a bunch of us to help him surprise her when she gets back to town from working on a movie. Want to be a part of it?”
Noah’s mind was whirling. Valerie Bernard? She lived here? In Snowy Pine Ridge?
He realized that he was just standing there with a dumbfounded look on his face, not giving Mindy any sort of answer as she gazed at him expectantly. He forced himself to push the thought of an A-List movie star residing in this town out of his mind, chalking it up as something that he could think about later as he brought his attention back to Mindy.
“Yeah,” he answered, figuring it might be the only chance he’d ever get to be involved in the engagement of a celebrity. “Count me in.”
Mindy’s smile widened.
“Excellent,” she said, and Noah couldn’t help but wonder what on earth he’d gotten himself into.
CHAPTEREIGHT
Valerie Bernard grabbed her phone from her purse, shooting off a quick text to her boyfriend, Clark Mitchell, to let him know that she was getting into her car and would be on her way home soon. She’d been on site shooting a movie for the last eight weeks, and she’d missed him and their home terribly.
His response was immediate, letting her know that he loved her, to drive safe, and that he’d see her when she got home. Plugging her phone into her car, she quickly turned on her favorite playlist and began navigating her way out of the airport’s long-term parking garage.
She sang along to the holiday music as she drove, images of Snowy Pine Ridge dancing in her mind as she executed the turns that she’d done many times before. The closer that Valerie got to home, the more her heart began to sing with joy.
Forty minutes later, she turned onto Main Street, catching sight of the massive Christmas tree in the town square that she knew had been lit up just the night before. She’d tried her hardest to make it back for the tree lighting festival, but their wrap party for the shoot hadn’t ended until nearly midnight, and there had been no flights out that she could get onto any sooner than the one that she’d just come in on.
Orange flashed in the distance up ahead, and as Valerie got closer, she realized it was a ROAD CLOSED sign, with a detour arrow pointed to the left. No one was around, and as far as she could tell, the street beyond the sign looked completely fine. But what was she going to do? Drive past it and not heed the warning? Absolutely not.
She turned to the left, telling herself that she would just turn right on the next street and loop her way around. But as she got closer, she noticed that this new route was blocked with a ROAD CLOSED sign too.
Her brow furrowed in confusion, and she wondered if something serious was going on. Could it be a break or leak in some gas line? But as she glanced down the road a little farther, she noticed that the lights in the houses were all on, and more than a few people seemed to still be inside. So it couldn’t be anything like that.
“Okay,” she murmured to herself, continuing along the path indicated by detour sign after detour sign. “That’s really odd.”
As she had to take an unexpected turn due to yet another ROAD CLOSED sign, she wondered if she should pull over and call Clark. Surely if something this big was going on in town, he would know about it? But the fact that he hadn’t called her yet to tell her everything, or which route she should take to get home indicated that he had no clue about what was happening.
She considered turning around, retracing her path, and hopping back on the highway. It would take considerably longer to loop all the way around the small town and enter it from the other direction, but she’d be able to loop around to the south side of Snowy Pine Ridge and come in that way. She had nearly made up her mind to do just that, pressing her foot gently on the brake pedal, when someone on the sidewalk caught her attention, waving their arms.
“Valerie!” the woman called, and it took her a second to realize that it was Mindy.
“Mindy, what’s up?” Valerie asked, confusion in her voice as she rolled down her window.
“My car broke down,” Mindy said. “Could I possibly get a lift to the ice rink? I’m supposed to meet up with Shelley there.”
Valerie nodded, pointing toward her passenger seat. “Sure. Hop in.”
The ice rink was a bit out of her way, but she was happy to help a friend out, and she figured that maybe Mindy would be able to help her navigate the unexpected road closures.
“I have someone with me,” Mindy said, gesturing over her shoulder.
When Valerie glanced behind the other woman, sure enough, there was a tall, handsome man standing on the sidewalk behind Mindy.
“You can both ride with me if you want,” she said. She didn’t recognize the man, and she wanted to grill her friend to find out who he was and what they were doing together, but she knew that now wasn’t the right time.
