Hey Hearties! I hope you enjoy this little story that I plan to write. As some of you already know, this story was born during my weekly Live Q and A, and the ideas and characters were created through a team effort. This first chapter is just to kick start the story with a fun little opening scene, which will lead into some fun storylines in the next few chapters. This story is mainly focused on providing you with some feel-good, humorous storylines focused on Nathan, Allie, and their future moving forward. I hope you enjoy! Please leave a review to let me know what you think or to drop any story ideas!

As Nathan stacked the papers on his desk, he felt tired. He had felt tired for days now, and not because he wasn't getting enough sleep. It was a different kind of tired, as if he had been emotionally instead of physically drained.

Ever since Elizabeth had permanently ended things between them, the real heaviness of his struggle over the last three years had suddenly and overwhelmingly begun to hit him. While there had been immense pain in Elizabeth's declaration, a pain that was still sharp whenever he saw her, there was also relief; a relief that had weakened his senses under the weight of everything he had felt before. The rejection had broken his heart, like the loss of a loved one might. But now that Elizabeth had broken off any possibility of romantic ties between them, Nathan did feel as if a restraint had been removed from him. A restraint whose absence now set him adrift into a blank and uncharted unknown. Nathan didn't quite know whether to feel thrilled or disheartened by the prospect of being free. At the moment, he felt too weary to feel either. The constant push and pull, the endless angst and worry, the emotional torture and relief... It had left him completely exhausted.

He sighed heavily as he got to his feet and wasn't at all startled by the appearance of Ned Yost at the door, a leather satchel slung over his shoulder.

"Good morning Nathan!" he chirped eagerly, shoving his hand into the bag, and pulling out a stack of letters.

Nathan smiled wanly and took a few steps closer. "Morning Ned" he murmured hollowly, reaching up to ease the ache in his shoulder after leaning in his chair all morning.

Ned was silent for a moment as he leafed through the stack of envelopes in his hand. Finally, he grabbed three of them and held them out with a grin. "Here you are!" He offered, chuckling slightly as a frown creased Nathan's brow at the sight of them.

Three letters, colored different shades of pink and red and all scented with some fragrance or other... Nathan reached out and took the letters warily, before staring at Ned in utter consternation.

"Ned... What in the world..?"

Ned laughed merrily and made for the door. "Happy Valentine's Day" he chimed, eyeing Nathan in amusement as he grabbed the door. "You did know it was Valentine's day, right?"

Nathan didn't know whether to laugh or not. His face was blank, marked only by a confused frown.

"No..." He admitted with a weak shrug. "I guess I wasn't really keeping track..."

Ned nodded understandingly and smiled again. "Well, enjoy your letters" he teased. "There's more where that came from." Nathan's head shot up in alarm, but before he could inquiry further, Ned was out the door.

Feeling both confused and intrigued by the letters in his hand, Nathan rushed back to his desk and ripped the first one open. It smelled of lilacs and was sealed in a light pink envelope, embellished with gold scrolls. There was no name except his own on the front of it.

Greatly puzzled, Nathan pulled out the contents of the letter, and immediately his desk was showered by a small cascade of dried flowers. His eyebrow raised, half in surprise, half in amusement, since he didn't really understand the purpose of the dried flowers, or any of this for that matter. Opening the letter, he caught his breath.

It was even more ornate than the envelope, and the words had been finely inscribed with calligraphic pen. The writing was much finer than his own, somewhat messy scrawling. With a gulp, he ran his eyes down the page, taking in its contents carefully. It was not a long letter. In fact, it was quite short, like a Valentine's day letter ought to be. It went:

My Dearest Constable, (Nathan fidgeted uncomfortably after that heading.)

Happy Valentine's Day! I wanted to thank you for your assistance when I first arrived in Hope Valley. You were kind enough to direct me to the library and the Mercantile, something I will never forget. I hope that I can make it up to you at some point in the future. I hope you have a lovely day.

Your Local Librarian,

Violet Moore

Nathan gulped again after reading it in somewhat horrified fascination. He vaguely remembered the day this Violet Moore had cited, but not nearly as vividly as she seemed to. Her hair had been blonde and curled if he recalled correctly. She had been wearing a frilly pink dress when she had gotten off the stage. Nathan blushed, feeling a little ashamed that he didn't remember more about her. And she wanted to "make it up" to him in the future?

"What does that even mean?" He muttered to himself as he drew a deep breath and reached for the next letter in the stack.

The next letter was even worse. Not only did it consist of a heavily romantic poem. It had also been left anonymous, signed simply as "your Valentine." Nathan squirmed in his chair and wondered if he even dared to open the third.

Swallowing hard, he slowly tore open the scarlet envelope and drew in a deep breath as a little note slipped out. It was framed in a faint, floral pattern, and words were written in a more rustic hand. Nathan's eyes scanned it nervously, before he finally drew a sigh of relief. It was from Cat Montgomery, Emily's mother and it said:

Dear Nathan,

Emily and a few of the other girls will be having a Valentine's Day party at my place tonight, and I was wondering if Allie would like to join them. It would just be a simple get together followed by a sleepover, but I thought she might enjoy the company. Plus, I noticed you've been very busy lately, and I thought it might be nice for you to have an evening to yourself.

Your friend,

Cat

Nathan smiled over the note as he read it again to himself before tucking it into his front pocket. Being the only single father among all of the parents at school often made him feel awkward and out of place beside all of the other mothers whenever he picked Allie up from school. Thus, it was comforting to have friends like Cat who didn't treat him any differently. In fact, she probably understood how he felt, being a single parent herself.

He sat back thoughtfully and rubbed his chin. It would be good for Allie to be with her friends. And like Cat had mentioned, it might be nice to have a night to himself. Maybe he would grab dinner at the café, just to get out of the house…

He smiled to himself again at the thought, remembering a conversation he had overheard some of the mothers from school having in the school yard as they eagerly planned something they referred to as a "Ladies Night."

"Parenting is all well and good, but every once and awhile, it is nice to do something for yourself."

Nathan wasn't sure exactly what you did at a "Ladies Night" but doing something for yourself…? That did sound nice…

"Maybe I'll give it a try" he murmured to himself. Maybe a night to himself was just what he needed. And maybe it would be nice to run into some friendly faces. He always did when he ate at the café…

"That's exactly what I'll do" he thought with a little smile.