Snowbound With The Best Man. Allie Pleiter

down the counter in sets of botanical “couples,” while Kelly finished up estimates and made preparations for upcoming deliveries. A busy week was just what Love in Bloom needed.

      What it didn’t need, however, was the ominous buzzing sound and flickering lights that came from the refrigerated cooler behind her. You can’t die on me right before Valentine’s Day, Kelly silently warned the essential appliance. You’ve got to hang on until April, you hear?

      “Mom, George winked at you again,” Lulu said.

      “Why shouldn’t George like Valentine’s Day, too?” Kelly had adopted Lulu’s theory that the failing cooler Lulu had somehow named George was “winking” whenever the lights flickered rather than gathering speed toward a certain death. Denial can be its own form of optimism, she told herself.

      Lulu continued her ivy leaf processionals. “Valentine’s Day is one of my favorite holidays. Daddy asked you to marry him on Valentine’s Day, didn’t he?”

      These questions were always such a combination of sharp and sweet. If there was one thing Kelly was most proud of, it was how she’d kept Mark’s memory alive for Lulu. Her little girl never hesitated to bring her late father into any conversation. It kept Mark with them. And while the sting in her heart at the mention of him no longer stole her breath or made her duck into another room to hide a surge of tears, questions like this still made her heart ache for the love of her life now gone. “He did. And to anyone else, it might have been an ordinary holiday.” She gave Lulu a gentle poke on the nose. “But, of course, we never had an ordinary day after that.”

      Mark had been one of those rare men who could make any day extraordinary. The man could make pancakes a celebration, or a walk through the park an adventure. He’d loved his young daughter—and his wife—with a devotion and an enthusiasm few men possessed.

      Mark would have loved the idea of George the winking cooler. He’d always encouraged Kelly when her flowers were just a pilot’s wife’s little side business. It gave Kelly comfort to think of him up in heaven, smiling down in the knowledge that his life insurance payout had funded the launch of Love in Bloom as a full-fledged career.

      A career she would have loved more with Mark beside her. He’d given her a lifetime of memories, with just too much lifetime left without him to have to survive on memories alone.

      “Gone far too soon,” everyone who knew him said. They were so very right.

      “So now, with Samantha Douglas coming to watch, we’d better make this next wedding extraordinary, hadn’t we?”

      “It’s the reindeer one, right?”

      Kelly laughed. “Elk, honey. But that’s the one. We’re going to host the best elk wedding ever. Maybe the first elk wedding ever, huh?” This particular wedding was not only a welcome end to the January lull, but a creative challenge. The groom was one of the rangers from the local park known for its herd of elk. So much of the decor and wedding elements focused on the elk that everyone in Matrimony Valley had come to refer to the upcoming event as “the elk wedding.”

      “It’s going to be special,” Lulu said as she pointed to the corkboard on the shop’s back wall. Photos and drawings from Kelly’s conversation with the bride showed a bright collection of reds, flannels, burlap and pine. “I like all the red.”

      “Me, too,” Kelly replied. In fact, she’d been delighted at the event’s unique backwoods flair. The bride and each of the bridesmaids would be wearing red plaid flannel boleros over their dresses, as well as hunting boots with red lace shoelaces underneath their skirts. The bouquets and centerpieces boasted lots of pine. The whole event was going to be beautiful, inventive, casual and fun.

      “It’s the perfect wedding for us to show off, that’s for sure.” Maybe it would even land them a picture on the cover. A Southeastern Nuptials Magazine cover story could highlight the valley’s commitment to making each wedding special to the couple—to a degree most larger venues couldn’t match. “All those phone calls and emails to Samantha Douglas finally paid off.” Now the shop—and the whole valley—could take some serious leaps forward. No more George the winking cooler and no more worrying if the roof and furnace would withstand the next cold snap. Kelly was bone tired of adding up bills, squeaking by on materials and saying too many prayers for God to plant them on more solid financial ground.

      Lulu slid off the stool as George winked again. “Can I put the heart in the window?”

      Celebrate what you have instead of fretting about what you don’t. “Absolutely, kiddo.” Kelly reached into the drawer below the cash register to pull out a big red knitted heart. Earlier this year, Matrimony Valley’s mayor and chief wedding planner—not to mention Kelly’s best friend—Jean Matrim Tyler had instituted a little ritual Lulu loved. Jean had knitted a big red heart for each business on Main Street, a large ornament of sorts that could be hung in a shop window.

      Whenever any of the businesses in Matrimony Valley—from the Hailey’s Inn Love inn to the Bridal Bliss bakery to Marvin’s Sweet Hearts Ice Cream Shop or even Williams Catch Your Match fishing outfitters—had good news of any sort, they hung the heart in their window. Sure, it was a tad silly, but Jean was right. In the valley’s long, slow struggle to reinvent itself as a wedding destination after the mill closed, celebrating every victory—and sharing those victories with your friends and neighbors—was important. And scoring coverage for this special wedding was a victory indeed.

      “Hang it on the special hook so everyone can see.” Kelly handed the heart to her daughter. She reminds me to be thankful, Kelly thought, as Lulu climbed into the front window and hung the heart right in front. “See any others?”

      For Lulu and many of the valley’s children, hunting for the hearts was a regular pastime. Just the kind of charm Southeastern Nuptials would love to cover. Maybe she should ask Jean to knit up a souvenir heart for the magazine writer to take home.

      “Ooh—there’s one in Mr. Marvin’s window!” cried Lulu. “Maybe he invented a new flavor like reindeer rainbow sherbet.”

      It would be just like Marvin Jennings to whip up a reindeer-or elk-themed flavor. Of all the shops in Matrimony Valley, his Sweet Hearts Ice Cream Shop had been one of the most enthusiastic adopters of Mayor Jean’s Matrimony Valley idea. Patronizing Sweet Hearts was a Saturday tradition for her and Lulu.

      “We should go investigate,” Kelly said. “Right after I send this estimate to a potential August bride.”

      “Tell her we’re wonderful.”

      “I will,” Kelly promised as she hit the Send button on the email.

      “When does the reindeer—elk wedding bride get here?” Lulu loved meeting the brides. What little girl doesn’t love all the fuss and ruffles of a wedding—even if those ruffles are red plaid flannel?

      “Miss Tina, the bride, and Mr. Darren, the groom, both come in on Thursday, the day after Valentine’s Day. That’s the same day Ms. Douglas is scheduled to arrive, too. We’ve got a big week ahead of us. But guess what?”

      “What?”

      “The best man is coming in early—today, in fact—to spend the week vacationing here in the valley. And Miss Hailey at the inn told me he is the father of the flower girl. So you’ll have a new flower girl to get to know for a whole week this time.”

      “That’s worth two hearts. Too bad we only have one,” Lulu exclaimed.

      “I’ll talk to Mayor Jean and see what I can do,” Kelly replied, delighted to see her daughter’s enthusiasm. Meeting any flower girls who came for weddings was Lulu’s greatest joy, for while Lulu had friends in the valley, she hadn’t really connected with any of the girls in that “best friend” way every mother wants for her child. Lulu’s unofficial “flower girl ambassador” role helped to fill that void, and Kelly hoped this wedding’s flower girl would be no exception. She didn’t want Lulu to feel left behind in all the wedding and Valentine