I set my suitcase on the stand in the closet as my phone rang. Snow fell off of my jacket when I fished in my pocket for it.
It tumbled to the ground and I snagged the phone off the floor with a grumble. “Hello?”
“Hey,” Dessa said. “You make it there with that snowstorm that was supposed to come in?”
“Barely.”
My sister chuckled. “Sounds like you’re in a good mood. What’s it like there?”
“Wet.”
“Like I said, a good mood. No, a great one. I thought you liked snow.”
I sighed and sat on the bed to pull off my boots. I loved snow, I just hadn’t been prepared. I expected flurries, maybe, not drifts that made walking impossible. But everyone I’d seen when I’d been driving into Cupid had a smile on their faces. I wasn’t buying it. Everyone couldn’t be that happy.
And there was no way this place was magically going to make all its visitors fall in love. Although, I had to admit, if any place was going to do it, this place would.
“The snow’s fine,” I told her.
“And the place? Are there hearts hanging everywhere? Did you get shot by Cupid’s arrow when you went in?” she teased.
I frowned. “Funny. It’s like I’m in a movie.”
“Sounds perfect, then,” Dessa told me. I wasn’t sure whether she meant perfect for the magazine or perfect for me, and I wasn’t going to question it.
Since my boyfriend and I had broken it off three months ago, the idea of love didn’t hold any appeal to me. No, not the idea of it—the plausibility of it. Love, like people, was fickle. It seemed to strike when it was convenient and then vanish at the worst moment possible.
Like Court had. He’d said he loved me one day and the next…not so much. Good thing I hadn’t ended up proposing like I’d planned.
“How long are you going to be there?” Dessa asked.
“I’m supposed to stay for the weekend. And then…” I shrugged to myself. “I have a little break. I might sightsee or travel. I don’t really know.”
“Take your time,” she said. “And take it easy. No reason to rush to get back. If you’re coming back.”
That was the other thing. Houston had lost its appeal to me. Sure, it was partly the break-up. But I was antsy. I wanted something new. I wanted to be somewhere I was inspired to work. To write. I’d been slogging through a novel for the last year, but things with Court had made me lose motivation.
I needed a place that was quiet, away from the city. Picturesque. Kind of like Cupid. Minus the love factor.
“We’ll see,” I told her. “First, I have to get this article done. It’s going to be torture.”
“It doesn’t have to be,” Dessa said. “I read about that place online. Supposedly it’s good luck. A place to find your soulmate.”
I laughed out loud at that. “Right. If only it were that easy.”
“Maybe if you gave it a try. You know, don’t automatically assume things will go badly.”
That was Dessa. Ever the optimist. Also engaged, so she was living in a little bubble of love. Like the world really was made out of hearts and roses and nothing bad could happen.
She had a point, though. I didn’t have an open mind at all. That wasn’t going to help the article, or the B&B I was at.
Or the man downstairs who’d had hope in his eyes when I’d first come through the door. Those eyes. God. They were the color of sapphires. It was easy to read the hope there. But I’d been drawn to them for other reasons entirely. Like the fact that he was the first person who’d made me feel alive since Court. And his fitted jeans and shirt didn’t hurt either. Innocent and sexy at the same time.
Okay, so maybe I could give Cupid a chance.
“I should get back to it,” I told Dessa, trying not to dim her optimism. It wasn’t her fault I was in a funk.
“I also read something about a Fountain of Love—”
“All right. I’ll check it all out, okay? But I can’t do any of that if you keep talking.”
“Dick,” Dessa said with humor in her voice. “Call me if you accidentally fall in love—”
I hung up the phone, rolling my eyes. Dessa teased me, and I teased her, but I respected her. She was in a good place in her life, and it was hard not to want what she had. A home, a fiancée who thought the world of her, and a job she loved.
I only had one out of the three and it was becoming painfully obvious I needed a change.
To give myself more time to warm up, I unpacked my suitcase and set my laptop on the table by the window. There was a welcome pad with hearts on it.
I gave myself credit for not rolling my eyes again. The B&B was nice, and it deserved for me to give it my full attention.
With that thought in mind, I grabbed my digital recorder and another notepad. I wasn’t going to find out anything about the place or the town staying in here.
Besides, I could do with another look at the owner of the B&B. Lewis Morgan. And I’d even get into character. Cupid, Colorado was looking for people who were looking for love.
So, fine. I’d play the part for now. I’d pretend like I was open to love and I’d see what happened.
But it was just for the article, I reminded myself. I could fake it for work, because that was the only way I was going to believe that a town like Cupid could ever change my luck in that department.