When I Fall in Love by Kristin Miller

Chapter One
     
     
    Being grandmother’s favorite was only a good thing if she was baking cookies or handing out “nickels” she won from her monthly gambling spree. Any other occasion, including last night at Bingo when she announced over the microphone that April Cassidy, her thirty-year-old granddaughter, was single and looking to mingle, was downright horrifying.
    It wasn’t like April hadn’t tried her hand at dating the men in Blue Lake. She had. It was just that the eligible men were either childhood friends that she had zero romantic interest in, or they were gearing up to leave the quaint town in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
    April had every intention of staying; she loved it here. Sure, her love life was suffering through a three-year drought, mosquitos attacked like a plague in the fall, and the winters were brutal with interminable snow and ice. Beyond that, Blue Lake was filled with fond memories at the lake and river, adventures in the mines, and wine tasting with life-long friends during summer. Growing up in Loving Home’s “One of the Top Ten Most Picturesque Towns in America” definitely had its perks.
    Too bad quality men wasn’t one of them.
    As the espresso machine hissed, April let the cup fill, and then removed it from the machine. “Caramel Frappuccino for Becky,” she said, and took a few seconds to arrange the bagels. Book club would arrive at ten a.m., and they’d want their usual.
    According to her grandmother, everyone sitting in Java Falls could’ve been voted into the position of April’s boyfriend. Chuck, the thirty-something gas station attendant in the corner licking foam from his cup with a thick, cow-like tongue. Dom, the snow-plower slash painter who stared at her over the Blue Lake Realty magazine, wagging his eyebrows whenever she glanced his way. Creepy. Even Lucca, the balding officer with the tight behind, would’ve been hired by April’s grandmother to be the date for her parent’s vow renewal tonight.
    But none of them elicited that spark . Not one of them had that thing that got her palms sweating and her girly parts tingling.
    The front door to her coffee shop opened, jingling as the door swung wide. Her much younger—and newly married—sister strode in, clutching a shiny black Marc Jacobs in one hand and an iPad in the other.
    “Good morning,” Sunny said, flipping her dark hair over her shoulder as she approached the counter. Although her layers were shorter than April’s, their tones were spot on: dark, nearly black. “You ready for today?”
    “As much as I can be.”
    “Have you picked up your dress?”
    “Yesterday.”
    “Good. Mom was worried you forgot when you didn’t show up to the appointment last week.” Her fingers tapped the screen of her iPad. “Did you RSVP to StoneMill Winery?”
    “Last month, when the invites went out.” April sighed. She was thirty-two. The least her family could do was treat her that way.
    Sunny leaned over the counter, her fist planted daintily on her chin. “Who’s your date? You know Grams will keel over if you come alone.”
    “I don’t know why she cares so much,” April said, starting a mocha for her sister. “She didn’t pressure you to find someone.”
    “That’s because I found my true love in high school.”
    Sunny had met Thomas as a freshman, and as their story goes, it was love at first sight for both of them. They dated all four years of high school, were voted Cutest Couple of Blue Lake High, and got married a month after graduation.
    “Lucky you,” April grinned tightly. “Some people take longer to find the one they’re supposed to be with.”
    “Or maybe you don’t know what it feels like when you’ve found the one. Maybe you’ve already dated him and didn’t know it.”
    “Believe me,” April said, sliding the Mocha across the counter, “when I fall in love, I’ll know.”
    Sunny took the drink and sipped. “Grams only wants to see all of her granddaughters happy in love