A Soldier's Valentine

He waved her in.

“Wow, nice.” She took a couple more pictures and snapped one of him.

“Must you?”

“Yes. Now show me around.”

Zach glanced at Ginger waiting on an elderly customer in her own shop. He could hear her chipper voice chatting about the weather and so-and-so’s son in college while scooping funny-looking tea leaves into plastic baggies. She hadn’t a care in the world. Ginger was that way. She put her customers at ease and made retail look effortless.

She put him at ease and got under his skin at the same time.

“You two getting along okay?” his sister asked.

“Yeah, why?” Zach opened the wrought iron gate that separated his workspace from the retail portion of his studio.

Monica followed him. “You were scowling at her.”

“That’s just how I look.” Like it or not, Ginger was a fireball of sunny energy who’d pushed her way into his thoughts more often than not. He found her too attractive for his own good but couldn’t quite figure her out. “So, what’s her story?”

“Story?” His sister didn’t understand.

“You know her. And her shop. I haven’t seen many customers in there this week. Does she have a good product?”

Monica shrugged. “Yeah. Good enough, I suppose, but the new coffee shop in town started selling loose tea as well as coffee beans. I think she’s taken a hit from the competition.”

“Huh.” Zach thought about how Ginger never left her store. Even at lunchtime, she’d heat up something in the microwave instead of go out.

They kept the glass slider between their shops open during store hours. And Ginger graciously watched over his place whenever he stepped out, but he’d never had the opportunity to return the favor. Maybe she didn’t trust him to take care of her customers. He couldn’t say he blamed her. He’d never been good at all that inane chatter.

“You’ve done a nice job here, Zach. I’ll do a mock-up for you to review and then we can talk about content.” Monica placed her camera in her purse.

“Thanks.” He meant it, too. He appreciated her doing all this for free.

She looked thoughtful. “You’re my big brother, and I’m glad you came home in one piece. I owe you.”

Zach shifted. He didn’t deserve to be home in one piece. If that RPG had hit only a few inches to the right, he’d have been in a body bag. “You don’t.”

His sister grabbed his arm and squeezed. “We all do.”

He looked up as Ginger entered through the open slider. Her burnished hair had been swooped up into a bouncy tail that swayed when she walked.

“Hi, Monica.” Ginger’s makeup was always applied with a light hand, but this morning her lips were the color of ripe berries.

“Morning.” His sister checked her watch. “Sorry, no time to chat. I have to meet Brady and set up the online voting for the window display contest. You two have fun.”

After his sister left, Zach turned his attention to Ginger. Not hard to do. She caught his eye often enough. “Hey.”

She leaned against his checkout counter. “So, have you thought about the window display?”

He raised the now half-empty mug of coffee that she’d made him before they’d opened. “Is that why you brought me this?”

She grinned, clearly guilty as charged and not a bit sorry. “You don’t like tea, so coffee works better than vinegar.”

“What?”

“You know the old saying about catching more bees with honey than vinegar? That coffee is my honey.”

“I see.” He ran a hand through his hair in an attempt to stop dwelling on those plump berry-tinted lips of hers. Honey might pale in sweetness. He’d know with one taste.

And that’d cause all kinds of trouble.

He scanned his front window. Following her example, he’d hung up a few glass ornaments and even placed a bowl of multicolored globes on a stand so people could get a quick look through the window, but that was pretty much it.

Ginger’s window was a riot of hanging teapots over a small café table set with another teapot and cups and even a couple of stuffed teddy bears. He didn’t know what bears had to do with anything, but whatever. She’d also made a small shelving unit out of wooden milk crates that was littered with spice bottles and decorative tins. There was more going on in her window than her shop.

“That sign isn’t going to cut it.” She pointed to the lower corner.

“It’s fine for now,” he growled. Give the woman an inch and she’d take a mile.

He’d made his own sign on the computer and then slipped it into a clear plastic sign holder that he’d picked up at an office supply store. He needed to focus on making new items and custom work, not mess with a window display. Juggling customer interruptions with glassblowing wasn’t easy. Most days, he waited until after hours to make anything new.

At this rate, he’d never accommodate the big orders, or remake his own overhead lighting with blown glass globes as he wanted. But he wasn’t prepared to hire help just yet and he didn’t have time to bring on an apprentice. A real catch-22.

“What about glass hearts?” Ginger said. “I’ve ordered a few heart-shaped teapots that I may hang in my window.”

Did it really matter? Either people would check out his store or not. “Actually, I’ve made a few.”

Her eyes gleamed as if she were a kid in a candy store. “Can I see?”

He chuckled. “Most are still in the annealer, but I have some ready—”

The door jingled and his brother, followed by the woman who he assumed was his fiancée, stepped inside with a swirl of cold air and snowflakes.

“Nice digs.” Matthew glanced around the space with admiration. “Zach, this is Annie. We thought we’d stop in and see the place.”

He extended his hand. “Good to meet you. And this is—”

“Oh, we know each other.” Ginger waved him off. “Where’s the baby?”

“With Marie,” Annie said.

“That’s Grandma,” Ginger clarified. “Your brother used to work with Annie’s late husband.”

Zach nodded. He’d heard as much from his mom after he’d come home. Annie was two years older than Zach, but didn’t look it. Not at all.

“You have a beautiful shop, Zach. Are you glad to be home?” Annie asked.

His gaze strayed to Ginger while he thought about the question. “Yeah, sure.”