Book 3, Fairy Godmothers and Other Fiascos
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What’s The Problem With Cupid about?
Gabby’s crush on her best friend Lamonte comes rushing back–just in time for a Valentine’s Day weekend road trip across the beautiful Canadian Rockies to the west coast.
It’s a rom-com. It’s Canadian and quirky. It’s a friends to lovers, unrequited love, one-bed, road trip, forced proximity romance with some paranormal creatures to turn this sweet vibing romp into a romantasy! And, it’s a Valentine’s Day romance.
Here is the official book description for The Problem with Cupid:
Gabby believes in true love. But Cupid and her best friend could use a little convincing…
I just stumbled into Cupid at a truck stop. Literally. And he’s hot. He could also use a pair of pants.
But when he checks his magical matchmaking list, neither my name nor my best friend Lamonte’s appears on it.
I think we should be.
We share an apartment and do everything together. Platonically. Painfully so, since my very real feelings for him are 100% unrequited.
We’re the perfect friends-to-lovers match. We’re just not matched.
Yet.
And if anyone can help me change that, it’s Cupid.
I just have to figure out how to convince Cupid to help me out while I’m on a Valentine’s Day weekend road trip with Lamonte. Then maybe my sweet, slow-burn crush can finally become something real.
But magic has rules, love has risks, and I might need more courage than Cupid’s willing to lend.
A cosy road trip romance with a touch of romantasy, Canadian charm, forced proximity, and slow-burn longing.
This is book three in Jean Oram’s series, Fairy Godmothers and Other Fiascos. It can be enjoyed as part of the series, or read as a standalone.
SNEAK PEEK from The Problem with Cupid:
Chapter 1
~ Gabby ~
Tuesday
“Come with me to the coast.” Lamonte’s dark eyes watched me as he hoisted the heavy barbell upward and away from his chest. As his spotter, I kept my hands loose on the bar, struggling to keep my gaze connected with his, and not to allow them to slip toward his chest where his navy blue shirt was hugging his flat pecs. He was the sole reason I’d grown stronger over the past year and a half after a long bout of resistance in joining a gym.
It turned out that growing stronger was actually kind of fun if you went with a friend who knew how to use all of the various torture devices.
Okay, let’s be honest. I liked seeing the definition appear in my arms and legs, not to mention having Lamonte notice it with a compliment or two as well.
If the medical community really wanted women lifting weights to prevent bone loss later in life, they just needed to get them to join the gym with a hot guy friend who complimented them on their form or newly gained definition. They’d soon have the fittest cohort of women on the planet.
“Gabby?” Lamonte asked, bringing my attention back to his tag-along-with-him trip proposal.
Right. Friends. He was not someone to ogle.
“To Vancouver Island?” I confirmed, sliding into my practiced role of just-a-friend.
I’d sorta-kinda been planting the idea all week that I could come along since his usual event-going employee wasn’t available, due to the imminent birth of his fourth child.
And my hinting had worked. Lamonte was inviting me.
“Tomorrow?” I said, realizing how soon we’d be hitting the road. “After work?” Honestly, I thought I’d missed the chance to go since Lamonte was so detail-oriented, and didn’t like to change plans at the last minute.
“Yeah.”
“Really?”
“Why not? A road trip would be fun.”
This weekend was Valentine’s Day. He wanted to spend Valentine’s Day with me.
Only…he meant as a friend. I knew that. He’d never once given me a sign he was interested in breaking our stupid friendship pact.
Lamonte shot me one of his gorgeous, toothy smiles that always made me feel warm inside. The man was hot. It was mid-winter, and while most of our Canadian friends were a bit on the pasty side of the complexion spectrum, we both looked as if we’d been to Mexico, like my friend Char. But whereas she was momentarily tanned due to a holiday trip with her very loving boyfriend, Lamonte and I had naturally darker complexions. In other words, Lamonte always appeared tanned. He also had thick black hair, and deep brown eyes you could get lost in.
He’d grown a beard once, and it had been a total swoon fest. And I was not a facial hair sort of person. At all. But on him, the beard had made his eyes extra warm and gooey and lovable. The English language continuously failed me when describing just how hot Lamonte was.
Therefore, it couldn’t be helped that my heart perked up at the idea of having him to myself on a multi-day road trip over Valentine’s Day weekend.
“You’ll be working,” I confirmed, referring to the reason for his trip. I glanced up at the string of red hearts lacing the wall of mirrors across from us and the workout benches. Chances were high that I’d spend yet another Valentine’s Day as a single woman.
I sighed. I was getting tired of waiting for Lamonte to come around, and he was the reason I was on most of the dating apps. Lamonte knew everything about me, and still hadn’t fallen in love with me. I wanted, and deserved, a man who knew every tiny thing about me and, as a result, loved me even more.
“It’s a fun event.”
“Yeah.” I’d tagged along to the odd Jeep event with him before. As a custom Jeep modification specialist, he would be showing off his latest spiffed up Jeep to aficionados to drum up more business.
That part was a bit boring, as I wasn’t into vehicles. But there was usually fun swag and interesting people to meet.
It would also be an excuse to get out of town and break my February cabin fever routine.
Then again, the event was on the coast, which meant a thousand-kilometre drive through the Canadian Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. That was a lot of driving, but I enjoyed hanging out with Lamonte. Mentally, I was already planning new road-trip playlists.
My mind slipped its leash again and began imagining an accidental hotel mis-booking where we had to share a bed, just like in a romantic comedy. And of course, since this was a fantasy, he finally fell in love with me.
I reminded my brain that Lamonte and I had been sharing an apartment for over six months, and nothing had happened outside the bounds of platonic friendship. If anything ever warranted us needing to share a bed, I was pretty sure Lamonte would sleep on the floor. The man had some impressive walls keeping me from getting any closer than a good friend.
Even though he kept me at bay, we were close. He’d told me things he hadn’t told others, like the way he’d been blindsided by his long-term girlfriend at his high school graduation when she’d dumped him. He’d even talked about his late mom with me, and how he missed her lighthearted laughter over the smallest things.
I wanted a deep emotional connection like my friends Char and Tamara had with their new boyfriends. They’d barely even been looking for love, and they’d found it. Now, they were happily in love, going home each night to someone who loved them with all their heart. Meanwhile, I was on every dating app and striking out.
Then again, they both swore they had a fairy godmother. Maybe the trick to love was less about looking and luck, and more about making the right wish to a magical being who could make it happen.
Realizing Lamonte was talking trip logistics, I tuned back in, romantic ideas still swirling in my mind. Fairy godmothers. Valentine’s Day weekend. Wishes for love…
Maybe I could find true love like my friends had. All it took was one wish.
Why was I waiting? I should be making a wish right this minute.
“Gabs?”
“Sorry?” I’d tuned out Lamonte again, my brain a hazy mess of scenarios that all ended with my best friend finally kissing me.
“We’d be gone six days—well, five and a bit. We’d get back late Monday night,” Lamonte said.
I nodded, taking a moment to consider his proposal from several angles. I needed to figure out whether I had a fairy godmother. I bet there’d be lots of opportunities on a trip like this to make a wish and sway him into loving me.
Six days together with no escaping, unlike in our shared apartment where he could leave at any time. We’d be together. We could grow close in an all-new way.
“Could be fun,” he replied, clearly unaware that I was totally on board for this road trip, and hoping to convince him to return home as my boyfriend.
“You’re sure I wouldn’t be in the way?” I asked.
“Not at all. Do you want to come?” He paused, the barbell extended above him, his forearms flexed.
“Yeah, no,” I said casually. “Maybe.” Yes!
He looked away. “You probably can’t get the time off work.”
Was he backpedalling? Was he aware I was reading something romantic into the invitation? Because that would be silly of him. I’d always steadfastly respected his wishes and never done a thing inappropriate due to his stupid relationship fears, many thanks to that evil high school girlfriend who’d dumped him the moment she’d no longer needed him as her date. She hadn’t even waited a week or until the next day. Nope. As soon as everything involving Lamonte was over at their graduation ceremony and dance, she’d hiked up her gown, grabbed him by his cummerbund, pushed him aside and broken his heart. Moments later, she’d been making out with someone new.
He’d confessed that he’d believed the two of them would marry. After being used and blindsided like that, it was no wonder the poor guy no longer trusted his judgement. It likely didn’t help that it came a few years after losing his mom, when he’d still been trying to find his way. His dad had separated himself from all emotions after his wife’s death, and Lamonte had followed suit, believing that was how men did it.
I wasn’t without my own dumb stuff that had left gouges in my heart, but I still had hope that I could find love. But this time, for real. Not with a guy I barely liked. When I’d been young and naïve, I’d accepted a promise ring from a boyfriend, thinking that was the first step to falling in love with someone. I was still a bit embarrassed, remembering those years, and how starry-eyed I’d been about the idea of falling in love, and how easily manipulated I’d been as a result. Being so desperate for love, I’d stayed with that boyfriend even as he twisted my emotions and used them against me. He’d made me believe that if I just did more for him and tried harder, we’d have an amazing love story like my parents.
A flurry of angry thoughts whirled through my mind, spurring my determination to go on this trip and convince Lamonte Valentine that it was time to live up to his last name and be mine. I was the one for him, and we should quit tiptoeing around each other. It was time for our friendship to blossom into something more.
He could trust me with his heart.
“Margie can take my appointments,” I said, referring to a physiotherapist I worked with who’d returned from mat leave yesterday. “Did I tell you they forgot to put her back on the schedule?”
“Yeah. That’s brutal.”
“I’ll shift my clients to her.” Then I’d be free to travel to the coast.
“It’s fate,” Lamonte said with a grin, dropping the barbell back into its slot.
My heart gave a tiny flutter at the idea of fate having a go at us this weekend.
“Yeah, fate,” I murmured vaguely, adjusting the barbell while he rested between sets.
Maybe this wasn’t actually fate, but the first steps of magic. Maybe I had a fairy godmother like Char and Tamara, and I’d made a wish without thinking about it, and now everything was lining up so it could come true.
Except Char and Tamara had seen their fairy godmother—Estelle—and I’d never seen anything stranger than someone in a Halloween costume.
I sighed. Lamonte was simply being a nice guy and my best friend. This wasn’t a sign.
But just imagine what a fairy godmother could do with my life!
Yes, yes. My life was fine. I was quite privileged, to be honest. But things could be truly fine with some help from a fairy godmother. I could abandon those hopeless dating apps, for one thing.
“Then?” Lamonte prompted, returning my thoughts back to his trip invitation. “You’ll come?”
“Sure, I’ll go,” I said casually.
“Great. You’ll need to pack light.”
“I…what?” His quick shift into luggage logistics had me spinning.
“I’m not bringing the trailer because of the mountain passes.”
When he went to Jeep events to drum up business for his award-winning custom mods shop, he usually hauled a trailer. He filled it with boxes of swag like shirts and hundreds of rubber duckies with his shop’s logo on them, as well as banners, business cards, coupons, rims and other macho vehicle stuff for displaying in the company’s booth.
But Sidney, B.C. on Vancouver Island, where the Jeep event was being held, was on the other side of the Rockies. And it was February. That meant hours and hours of climbing up and down winding mountain passes lined with semis, and dealing with potential avalanche closures, heavy snow and general extreme winter craziness. These were the kinds of roads where winter tires and/or chains were absolutely required—by law. If you could avoid hauling a trailer, it was wise to do so.
On second thought, did I really want to be on those roads in the middle of February? It was the Trans-Canada highway, our nation’s main route that went from sea to sea, but if you were looking for some of the potentially worst driving conditions while still on a major road, that was where you could find them if Mother Nature was feeling moody.
“I’m taking the new Gladiator,” Lamonte said, referring to the Jeep truck that he’d been working on for months, “but room will be tight.” He sat up and towelled his face, his reps done. “One backpack each. The shop will cover our costs, so don’t bring a cooler or any other big items.”
“Wait. You’re covering my costs?”
Not only did I get more time with Lamonte over Valentine’s Day, but I got a free trip to the coast where there would be no snow? Well, probably. You could never trust Mother Nature when she played in Canada. But on the coast, she might not try to kill me whenever I stepped outside without wearing eight-hundred layers. This trip was starting to look really good.
“I’ll get Pam to give you Carson’s room.”
This was where a booking snafu could be my wingman. Or maybe I could just ask Pam to put me and Lamonte in a room with one bed. I’d gotten her the job at Lamonte’s shop, and it was possible she believed she owed me and, therefore, would help nudge her boss into my waiting arms.
“Yeah, no Carson this weekend, huh?” I said, my brain still spitting out one-bed scenarios that all ended with me happily engaged by summer. Or like Carson’s wife, expecting a baby.
“That’s why I need you.”
Why did I love the sound of that so much? And why did my mind flit to a one-bed situation again as well as deep professions of undying love? I was supposed to be over my crush on this man.
But he was hot, and I was only human. He was sweet and enjoyed doing the same things I did. We lived in harmony and had fun together. In fact, he was the perfect man for me.
And, again, I was human.
Lamonte got up, giving the legs of his shorts an impatient brush with his hand. “I need someone who’s good with people, and who’s strong enough to help me haul all this stuff around and set it up.”
Oh. Strong.
“Right,” I said, proud of how normal my voice sounded as I cleaned the barbell and bench with the gym’s bottle of disinfectant. “Of course.” My heart gave a sad little death-throes thump of disappointment.
He was never going to fall in love with me. Not unless I got my fairy godmother involved.
End of sneak peek. Get your copy of The Problem with Cupid to continue reading, and to see what happens on Gabby and Lamonte’s road trip adventure.