Operation Valentine

Once love is lost, can it be found?

When Annabelle Elliot returned his engagement ring six years ago, Rick Wentworth buried his broken heart in his job at Intelligence Associates, Inc. Returning from his overseas assignment, a newly awarded contract forces him into daily contact with her.

Working with Rick is a constant reminder of what Annabelle gave up when she let herself be persuaded to focus on a career instead of love. Now, she admits she made a mistake, but reconciliation seems impossible.

Can Annabelle find the courage to let Rick see her heart? And if she does, will he forgive her?

This sweet contemporary Christian romance novella, inspired by Jane Austen's Persuasion, is a modern reminder that love is worth waiting for.

Annabelle Elliot typed a quick comment in her code and clicked save before reaching for her ringing phone. Her
eyes darted to the clock at the bottom corner of her monitor.
Almost lunchtime anyway. She rolled her head on her neck
and punched accept on her cell. “Annabelle Elliot.”

There was a long pause. Long
enough that Annabelle started to pull the phone away from
her ear to check the number.

Working as a freelance
programmer, she didn’t have the luxury of ignoring numbers
that weren’t familiar. There could always be a job at the other end of the line. Which, of course, meant she had to deal with her share of spam calls. “Hello?”

“Hi. Um, is this Anne? Anne Elliot?”

Annabelle’s eyebrows lifted.

She hadn’t gone by Anne
in forever. “Yes. Who’s calling?”

“Right, sorry. This is Victoria—Tori—Spencer. We knew each other in college? I know it’s been a while.”

Annabelle fought the laugh building at the back of her
throat. That was an understatement. She hadn’t thought about Tori...since graduation? Maybe a little later than that.

“Wow. Hi. How are you?”

“Good. I’m good. Engaged, if you can imagine that.”

“Congratulations.” She checked the time again and
stood. She’d hit the fridge while she waited to see if Tori ever got around to the point of the call.

“Thanks. So, I was talking to my step—to Zane Hendricks—and your name came up and...look, I know it’s
been forever and we weren’t exactly besties in college but I
could really use a friend, and when he mentioned you...I
thought it might be worth a shot.”

“Hendricks Security? That Zane Hendricks?” Annabelle was doing some consulting for him, basic stuff, but Hendricks didn’t have anyone with solid development skills in-house. Or that’s what he’d said. Zane was Tori’s step...brother? Had to be brother.

“That’s the one. It’s a long, weird story, but technically Zane’s my step-dad.”

Annabelle snickered as she opened the freezer and
grabbed a white box at random. Frozen meals all tasted the same, why bother looking at the name and being
disappointed? She peeled up a corner of the container, tossed
it in the microwave, and hit the pre-programmed button.

Resignation echoed in Tori’s laugh. “Yeah, exactly. Anyway, it’s short notice, but if you’re free on Saturday, my fiancé is having a dinner party—work people who I know only marginally—and I’d really love it if you could come. You can bring a guest if you’re dating someone. Or married. You
know what, never mind.”

Something in Tori’s tone cut off the automatic thanks-but-no-thanks that had been forming on Annabelle’s lips. When you got right down to it, she could use a friend in her life as well.

The people she worked for were, at best, solid acquaintances. Even the ones she did repeat business with.

At church, when she went in person instead of just watching online, she was decidedly odd woman out.

“Not married, or dating. Can I bring dessert or something?”

Tori’s sigh whooshed across the line. “You’ll come? Really?”

“Really. Catching up with an old friend and dinner I don’t have to microwave myself sounds like just the thing.”

“Yay! You don’t have to bring anything. Gabe’s a bit of a wonder in the kitchen, surprisingly. He won’t even let me help. I’ll text you the details. Thank you, Anne.”

“Annabelle. I gave up on the nickname idea right after graduation. It never took. Half the time I’d forget that was supposed to be me and the other half I needed my legal
name anyway. It stopped making sense to fight it.”

Tori chuckled. “I had the same thing, but in reverse. Tried, really hard, to switch to Victoria and that hasn’t panned out. Though they use it for my by-line at the paper. And if my boss is mad at me. I can’t wait to see you again.”

“Yeah. Me too.” Annabelle hit end and set the phone
down on the counter. Not a lie, actually. Talking to Tori had
brought back memories of their time on campus. And while, no, they hadn’t been best friends, they’d lived on the same floor of the same dorm all four years and had hung out at more than just the floor activities. There’d been potential then. Maybe it was still there.

The microwave chirped the end of the cooking time
for her lunch. Annabelle slid the box onto a plate, snagged a fork from the drawer, and carried the steaming meal back to her office, which was actually the second bedroom of her condo. If she was going out this weekend, she’d need to make a little more progress on her current contracts before then.

She smiled, even as a little tendril of unease snaked through her. When was the last time she’d had plans that took her out of the house in the evening?