Excerpt of The Valentine Project by Susan Lute

After the happy couple made their way back down the aisle and to the reception room, the wedding guests followed. Gwen went looking for her grandmother. She found the older woman talking to the same man, a tall guy, who knocked it out of the park in his dark suit. His black hair was neatly combed; hands stuffed in his pants pockets as he chatted with Grandma Adele. A young, teenage boy loitered close, mimicking the man's stance.

Gwen's breath caught as she almost tripped over the sudden excitement sprinting alongside her pulse. The man (that was his son, she was guessing) was like a dream she didn't know she had, come true. She stared at his back. He was . . . taller than average . . . strong . . . comfortable in his skin as he laughed at something the boy said. A man, it seemed by his interaction with the teen, who could be relied on to stay the course.

Grandma Adele waved her over. Mesmerizing dude turned at the same time. And Gwen's heart crashed.

Carson Loman.

Shaking her head, she had to force herself not to run in the opposite direction. Stopping short of making a spectacle of herself, she straightened her shoulders and pasted on a smile. Hopefully, it wasn't too fake.

As if she greeted an MIA ex-best friend every day, she walked over to her grandmother and kissed the older lady on the cheek before facing Carson. She held out her hand. “Hello, Carson.”

“Carson and Flynn are my plus one and two,” Grandma Adele said, just a little too smug.

For a long moment, he stared at her, memories filling bright blue eyes she had tried so hard to forget but couldn't. He took her hand, his grip firm and warm. “Hi, Gwen. You look lovely.”

This was not the boy she used to know. Life had etched lines on his face, broadened his shoulders, and—

“Gwen—” he pulled the teenager forward. “This is my son, Flynn.”

He had a son.

“Dibs!” Flynn said in a stage whisper as he leaned into his dad's shoulder,

Gwen barely managed to keep her face straight. Carson's son had his dad's strange sense of humor. “It's very nice to meet you, Flynn.”

“Ignore this crazy kid.” Carson dragged Flynn close with an arm around the boy's neck, scrubbing knuckles across his head. Flynn squirmed, but his father watched her . . . expecting to find . . . what? The girl he'd left behind? That wasn't likely to happen.

“Hey!” Flynn escaped his dad's hold.

“Gwen is the Deputy Mayor of Angel Point,” Grandma Adele bragged, then slyly winked at Gwen. “If you'll excuse me, I see Helen over there. I want to talk to her about your Valentine project.”

Holy mackerel. After all these years, this wasn't how she'd expected their reunion to go, his expression blank, except for the churning in his eyes. Everything in her wanted to grab a glass of punch and throw it in his face.

Instead, she moved to stand beside Carson, watching her grandmother's saucy exit toward Helen and a tall, gray-haired man she didn't recognize. “I understand you're staying at your parents' old place.”

“Flynn, will you get Miss Olsen—” Turning slightly toward her, he raised a brow. Gwen nodded. “—a glass of punch?”

Not a good idea, since the urge to fling it at him still lingered. Flynn disappeared. Gwen desperately hoped she would maintain her hard-won composure. Becoming the talk of the town—and not in a good way—wasn't high on her bucket list.

“Are you settling in okay?” She slowly edged around the perimeter of the guests and took a chance. “Is your wife here? I'd love to meet her.”

No she wouldn't!

Carson walked beside her, shoulders almost touching. “I don't have a wife.”

“Flynn's mother?” A lot of couples weren't in a hurry to get married these days.

“His mother died when he was born.” He twisted toward Gwen. “I adopted him about six months ago.”

So he was single and turning thirty-five the week after Valentine's Day. “How's your mother doing?”

“She's well. She got married last year to a very nice man. He owns a bed and breakfast on the outskirts of Chicago. They're very happy. How about your parents?”

Now that was a sad tale, wasn't it? Gwen wasn't inclined to share the details, especially when talking to Carson was so awkward. But, she didn't see a way out. “They got divorced the summer after your dad . . .  Anyway, Dad moved to Florida. Mom has a cute little bookstore in Bend.”

Finn came back with her punch. She didn't toss it at Carson—how she checked herself she didn't know—but she did mentally pat herself on the back for showing so much restraint. Meeting up with him; he and Flynn moving to Angel Point; it was just the close of an old chapter. Nothing more.