Escape into Romance

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Before the unfortunate miscalculation of the latest generation of AI weather-control satellites, Mike Sullivan quite enjoyed the pink snow the regional tourist association ordered up for Valentine’s Day.

Huge, fluffy flakes, spinning and floating down, right on schedule at mid-afternoon on February 14th. Gathering in the dormant grass and along the holly bushes growing in a neat row in front of the dark red brick walls of the Railsong Hotel.

Clear plastic forms modeled on cake pans waited atop outdoor lights that usually illuminated the three story building. The forms would collect the tinted snow, letting the lights shine through hearts, roses, and Cupid-like angels complete with bows and arrows.

The formerly busy railroad stop turned mountain tourist town of Estonoa, Virginia, had joined in the holiday spirit just as soon as the special weather order was confirmed.

All the business owners in town worked with the high school art department to set up several variations on the Virginia Is For Lovers state logo in the lawn beside the hotel and other locations across the hilly downtown. Each project started out looking like nothing more than wooden ovals and rectangles holding patterns of bumps and grooves set at various angles, with the final designs only taking shape once the snow gathered nicely.

Mike reminded himself to take a walk before he got too busy, to see how the other shops, restaurants, and hotels had gotten ready to welcome folks to their temporary winter wonderland.

Thankfully the pink itself matched the specifications perfectly, not shading too far one way or the other like he feared when the tourist association first suggested the idea. He’d had immediate visions of either too close to an actual blood red, or a pale, faded pink that looked like snow falling over the blood.

Inadvertently calling the 1929 Chicago St. Valentine’s Day m******e to mind rather than a sweet romantic holiday over a hundred years later probably wouldn’t be the best marketing strategy for Estonoa or anywhere else in the region.

Instead this was a vibrant, deep pink he would have expected to see in a candy or lingerie shop’s display. In fact, very much like he saw right now in cakes, cookies, and heart-shaped balloons in the big display window of the fabulous bakery right across the street that supplied all the irresistible desserts for the hotel’s restaurant.

Garrett Martinez, the even more fabulous (and handsome) baker, wasn’t visible inside at the moment.

Which was a real shame as far as Mike was concerned.

He caught several of the gorgeous, fat flakes on his palm. They even melted into clear water as promised, but he wasn’t quite willing to taste it.

Mike wasn’t sure about the chemistry of special-order snow, not nearly as sure as he was of the chemistry of a perfectly chilled and properly mixed gin martini from his place behind the bar inside. But he’d never heard of ill effects to human, animal, or plant from the kaleidoscope of shades available to bring in cold weather tourists by droves in the seven years the service had been running.

He stepped a bit further out under the brown awning over the plate glass windows along the front of the restaurant, sniffing at the fairy tale snowfall as it whispered down all around him. This wasn’t the normal mineral smell of a fresh snowfall. There were surely more than enough samples caught in his curly brown hair and reddish beard to make sure.

But he didn’t want to guess at something this…unusual.

He caught another vivid flake and held it close to his nose. Sure enough, a clear and completely natural-smelling scent of roses.

These custom weather folks sure took their work seriously when it came to giving clients their money’s worth.

As much as he enjoyed the bright color starting to liven up the dark rooftops of the rows of brick buildings and the winter-gray mountains circling and sheltering the little town, Mike didn’t much want to smell like rosewater himself for their busiest night of the year.

He stepped back under the awning and brushed flakes out of his hair and beard, and off the shoulders of his green flannel shirt.

Right now he had to tend to his far less high-tech preparations for the special day. He’d already added pink, blue, and purple to the ice for some of his specialty drinks—to be served as cubes, crushed, or shaved depending on the recipe.

Using actual rosewater and blueberry and other complimentary flavors rather than technology worked just fine for his needs, thank you very much.

Handsome Garrett the baker walked by the front door of the bakery just then, stopping for a quick second to wave. Even with the gloom of an increasingly cloudy sky overhead, his bright green eyes stood out under the bakery’s lights.

Mike waved back, hoping he didn’t look overly dorky or like a demented stalker standing outside. Garrett would be over soon to deliver his sinfully good treats and prepare a special dessert he refused to reveal.

Plenty of time for Mike to embarrass himself.

Sure, he could put on a confident, even flirtatious persona with the best of them when he was behind the bar. He knew one of the best ways for people to leave happy and keep coming back was to make them feel welcome, even special. Thank goodness Public Mike could be counted on to show up for those occasions, and he’d be there 110% tonight.

But when it came to talking to someone Honest Mike actually liked and wanted to get to know better? Especially someone he’d been secretly crushing on for over a year now?

He’d be lucky to manage enough sensible English to be polite.

He hadn’t seen a trace of Garrett’s boyfriend lately, but after all, this was Valentine’s Day. Perfect chance to get back together, right? Or at least spend the night together.

Wow, perfect way to get Public Mike into the spirit.

With one last glance at the bakery and the thickening snow, which was collecting on the wet street and sidewalks more than he’d expected from the tourist association’s plans, Mike ducked back inside to get ready for the Railsong’s special singles-only Valentine’s Day celebration.

Fully expecting to remain single himself at the end of it all.