All's Fair in Love and Chocolate (Marietta Chocolate Wars #1) - Amy Andrews Page 0,63

the moon slowly rose over Copper Mountain.

Viv’s breath fogged into the air as she breathed in the aroma of wood smoke, pleased Reuben had agreed to her suggestion they walk back to the cottage so he could have a third glass of the most excellent Merlot they’d been drinking. It was only a ten-minute walk and besides, Viv loved ambling down Main Street and seeing the Christmas lights in all their festive glory.

And there was something about the hush of Marietta at night that reinforced the sense of being part of something bigger. Viv realized that probably didn’t make much sense given she’d lived in huge cities surrounded by people but she’d never felt connected to any of them. Here, walking the deserted streets of small-town Montana, she felt ties everywhere. Maybe it was because she’d had to fight to be accepted, fight for her place. All she knew was her perennially itchy feet weren’t as itchy here in Marietta, which should alarm her but didn’t.

She liked how it made her feel. How walking through the streets with Reuben at her side made her feel.

They turned into Main Street, the smoky aroma intensifying as they headed closer to suburbia and Viv smiled to herself, thinking about all those stockings hanging from the hearths tonight and the excited kids going to bed with butterflies in their stomachs. She crossed to the middle of the empty street, glancing up and down at the lights strung across the road and hanging from the lampposts, and she sighed happily.

“It’s so pretty,” she said.

Reuben smiled, sliding his arm around her shoulder and pulling her to him as they stared at the courthouse facade looking particularly magnificent festooned in lights. The ghostly shape of Copper Mountain rose up behind, moonbeams turning the snowy slopes silvery. “It is,” he murmured into her hair.

That’s when the alarm sounded and they both looked behind them for the source. “It’s coming from that direction,” Reuben said as they crossed to the other side of the street and headed down the boardwalk, the noise getting louder.

Viv frowned. She didn’t think anybody had burglar alarms in Marietta because they just didn’t get that kind of petty crime here but then, it didn’t sound like a burglar alarm either.

About the same time Viv realized the smoky smell was getting even stronger and it didn’t smell all woodsy and piney, Reuben uttered a curse under his breath and started running.

It wasn’t wood smoke. It was…fire.

She quickened her pace to catch Reuben up only to have him halt in front of one of the shops in the next block. Her block. The block that housed Delish. Viv’s heart started to thunder in her chest.

“Fuck,” he said loud enough for her to hear as he turned to face a store front and his whole profile glowed orange. “Don’t come any closer,” he yelled to Viv.

But it was too late. She started to run, her legs pumping as hard as her heart as Reuben pulled out his phone and stabbed at some numbers. Viv’s pulse was racing so hard when she skidded to a halt next to him she thought it was going to explode. But when she turned and looked through the window of her beloved store and saw the orange flames licking everywhere, she knew it was going to implode.

“No,” she whispered, shaking her head, temporarily paralyzed by what confronted her.

Her store. Her beautiful, beautiful store.

She’d never thought of a Delish store as hers before—what would be the point in that when she never stuck around?—but, as she watched this one burn she realized it had felt like hers because she’d had to work so damn hard to entwine it into the hearts and minds of this town. The people of Marietta hadn’t wanted her or the store here but she’d won them over.

Heat from the window bathed her front and black smoke slipped under the door like escaping demons and she coughed. The shrill scream of the alarm, almost deafening this close, was a perfect match for the scream inside her head.

“No.” Tears pricked at her eyes and she took a step toward the door, the businesswoman leaping to the fore suddenly frantic with the need to try and salvage what she could—to do something. Because at least she could control that and it would help her keep a lid on all the emotions bubbling up her throat.

“Vivian, no!”

Reuben grabbed her and yanked her back, clamping his arms around hers, trapping them against her