Half Way to Love

Chapter One

“You didn’t,” Shannon’s sister Kim said, disbelief in her tone as she arranged chocolates on a tray. “Girl, tell me you did not take a job like that.”

“What choice did I have? Okay, I feel guilty about it, but you know how it’s been lately. Coming off of this past winter when everybody—including me—wanted to hibernate instead of taking singing lessons. I barely made the mortgage at my condo.”

Kim shook her head. “You could have asked me.”

Shannon cringed like her sister had suggested she go into stripping to make her living. “Uh, that would be a no. I’m not depending on anyone. You know that. I take care of me, even if it means I scrape and scrounge until things get better.”

“Stubborn,” Kim commented. “But what about this job? I mean it’s Valentine’s Day, all about love and commitment.”

Shannon rolled her eyes and nabbed one of the chocolates to pop into her mouth. She really shouldn’t, given she’d put on an extra twenty pounds in the last few months. A diet would soon have her name on it, but not yet. “Please, as far as I’m concerned you have snatched up the last good man out there. I admit I still find this day sacred in the arena of love, but seriously I need the cash bad. And my client made this guy out to be some loser who doesn’t care anything about her and treats her wrong even though they have been together for three years. I say he deserves it.”

Kim glared at her.

“Don’t start. This is not about me and my lack-of-a-man issues. I do not begrudge any other woman from having one. I’m just going to do the job quickly and get out of there. No muss, no fuss.”

“Uh huh.” Kim put her hands on her ample hips. She was at least two sizes bigger than Shannon, petite to Shannon’s five-foot-nine height. Growing up, every guy ran after Kim for the extra booty. Shannon had always had a little too much mouth. Kim was mild and sweet in comparison, so she’d caught her husband eight years ago and held onto him. “You could work here in the shop as my assistant…”

“Not,” Shannon vetoed. “This place is just taking off, but from what you’ve told me, it’s not there yet. You can’t afford to pay me a full time salary. Besides, I—”

“—take care of you. I got it,” Kim grumbled.

Wanting to change the subject, Shannon pointed to the small basket of goodies Kim was putting together with golden-wrapped candies as the centerpiece. “Is that new?”

Kim’s eyes lit up. “Yes. It’s my new creation. These are my babies. They are called Halfway to Love.”

Shannon wrinkled her nose. “What?”

Kim explained as she handed one of the pieces to Shannon to sample. “They’re called Halfway to Love because whoever gives these as a present will be halfway there after the recipient tastes them. The other half is up to them, but these will get you started.”

Doubtful, Shannon unraveled the foil and took a tentative bite. She’d been subject to Kim’s experiments before, and they were not all great. The creamy chocolate melted in her mouth with a sweet goodness that made her eyelids flutter closed and a moan escape her lips. “Mm, they should be called Halfway to Lust. I would jump a man who gave me these for Valentine’s Day. If only they’d been put out earlier. They’re amazing. People would have been fighting to get their hands on a box.”

Kim whooped. “I knew you’d love it. Well, I didn’t get the recipe right until too late, but that’s okay. Love is all year around. Here, you take this basket to that man. Maybe it will cheer him up after losing his girlfriend.”

“Doubtful.” Shannon glanced down at her cupid costume. She was going to freeze her butt off in the frigid February weather. The white dress stopped too far above mid-thigh, and the velvet heart-shaped bodice left so much of her cleavage out, her boobs might get frostbitten. At least the wings were bendable, and she could stuff them under her coat. Why oh why hadn’t she worn tights? This was the last gig she’d do where the costume had to be so threadbare in the winter months. “I guess I’ve put off this thing long enough. She said he’d be at the restaurant waiting for her.”

“And instead of the girlfriend, he’ll get you…in front of all those people.”

Shannon sighed. “Well that’s what a singing telegram is all about—the embarrassment of getting it with an audience. At least it’s public, and he can’t attack me because I gave him a break-up notice on Valentine’s Day.”

“That’s what you think.”

Shannon stuffed down her ethics and her worry and picked up her mock bow-and-arrow set off the counter, along with the goodie basket Kim had made. The sooner she got this madness over the better, and she could go home and curl up with a cup of hot cocoa and a good book—alone.