"Oh wow," Livvie gasped as she walked into Alison's bakery, "this place has really come together!"

Alison stood behind the counter making last minute preparations. She smiled when she saw Livvie's expression. "You like it?"

"Like it? Ali, I love it! Oh my god, when I came here yesterday this place was practically empty! And now…"

"And now it's starting to look like an actual bakery."

"It looks great, Alison!"

"Thanks. Well, Rafe helped me a lot."

"So when are you going to open the place up?"

"Well, I had planned on next week, but things came together so fast that I think I'll be ready by tomorrow!"

"Wow, that soon!"

"Yeah! Can you believe it? And it's so perfect too. Just in time for Valentine's Day."

"Yeah, I can see that. Those heart shaped cookies look delicious." Livvie pointed to the cookies with red sprinkles in the glass.

"Oh, have one!" Alison took out the tray and set it down on the glass. "In fact, have two, or three! Have as many as you want. I can make more."

Livvie took a bite out of one. "Mmm, they're delicious. You always make the best cookies."

"Thank you."

"I'm going to miss you at the bike shop. I remember how you were always baking something and I would help."

"Livvie! You could help me out here! If, you know, if you wanted to."

"Really?"

"Yeah! I'd love having my best friend around! You could help me run the shop and with customers and stuff. What do you think?"

"I think I'd love to!" Livvie said and then hugged Alison.

"This is great! We'll have so much fun!"

"You know what, I was actually on my way to meet Jack for dinner. I should go."

"Yeah, I should go check on Rafe. He's in the back. I told him to watch the latest batch of cookies I have in the oven to make sure they don't burn, but I don't know, something tells me that he may forget about them."

Livvie laughed. "When do you want me to come by? Do you want to call me in the morning or what?"

"You can come by whenever you want."

"Okay, well I'll see you tomorrow! Don't let Rafe burn those cookies!"

Alison laughed. "I won't. Bye, Livvie."

~*~*~*~

Alison had really not planned for things to come together so quickly, but suddenly, she was in business! So far, she had a steady stream of customers but was well prepared, so she wasn't rushed at all. Plus, Rafe and Livvie had been there to help.

"Well, for my first day, I say it went rather well," Alison said to Rafe when things had finally died down.

"Oh, you're not closed yet, are you?" Lucy said as she walked into the shop, holding Christina's hand.

Alison smiled at Lucy. "Well actually, Lucy, we are, but we're always open for you."

"And we're always open for cute little girls with heart-shaped balloons," Rafe said, smiling at Christina.

"Mommy bought this balloon for me!"

Lucy laughed. "You should have seen the grocery store. There were like ten million of them! Alison, I have to say…this place looks really nice! You've done a wonderful job with it."

"Thank you. I couldn't have done it without this guy here!"

Rafe blushed.

"Well would you like some cookies or something? Everything is fresh-baked. And I won't charge you anything."

"Oh no! Don't you do that! You're too nice for your own good, Alison. If you don't start charging your customers, you aren't going to make any money."

Alison just laughed.

"Okay, I think we will take a dozen of those Valentine's sugar cookies. Those look delicious!"

"Alright."

"MOMMY! MY BALLOON!" Christina cried.

Alison, Lucy, and Rafe all looked up to the ceiling.

"Oh, sweet pea, I told you that you have to hold on tight to the string or it will fly away."

Christina started to cry. Lucy tried to comfort her.

"Don't worry, Christina. We'll get your balloon back," Rafe said.

"Rafe," Alison whispered, "that ceiling is really high. I don't have a ladder."

"We'll get it down, sweet pea," Lucy said.

Rafe looked up to survey how high it was. "I got an idea." Rafe smiled. "Come here, Christina. Let me pick you up."

Christina walked over to Rafe.

"Now what I'm going to do is hold you up real high and I want you to grab your balloon. Can you do that?"

The girl shook her head.

"Okay." Rafe picked up Christina and held her high over his head. She laughed. "Can you reach it? Grab hold of it!"

"I GOT IT!" she announced.

Rafe brought her down gently and everyone cheered that the balloon had been retrieved.

"How about we tie that string around your arm so your balloon doesn't get away from you again, huh?" Lucy said with a smile to her. "What do you say to Rafe for helping you get it?"

Christina smiled at Rafe. "Thank you!"

Rafe laughed. "You're welcome."

"Here are your cookies. I hope you enjoy them."

"Oh I'm sure we will. How much do I owe you?"

"Nothing, Lucy! Please, it's my treat! It's the least I can do for you after all you've done for me."

Lucy smiled at Alison and Rafe. "Alright. Have a good night. Say bye, Christina."

Christina waved bye.

"Bye!" Alison said.

"Bye, Christina!" Rafe said.

"Ta!" Lucy said!

"Bye! Thanks for coming, Lucy!"

Alison smiled at Rafe. "You never cease to amaze me."

"What?"

"That was so cute what you did for Christina."

"Well, I'm an angel, so it's my job."

Alison laughed.

"These cookies are really great you know." Rafe picked up one. "These are my favorite." Rafe was holding a heart-shaped cookie at her. "You have my heart, Alison."

Alison laughed. Then she took a bite out of the cookie and Rafe met her lips with his in a sugary kiss.

~*~*~*~

"Rafe? What are you up to?" a blindfolded Alison asked as he walked her into the house.

"You'll see," he said as he slowly undid the blindfold. As he did, Alison saw a shower of pink rose petals fall in front of her. Then, Rafe held bouquet of pink roses before her. "Happy Valentine's Day."

"Aww, Rafe!" Alison gladly took the flowers, inhaled them, and then threw her arms around Rafe and kissed his cheek. "I love you."

"And I love you."

"Oh, Rafe," Alison gasped as she saw what was before her. Rafe had a romantic candlelight dinner for the two of them set up. Rose petals were scattered on the floor. It was very romantic. "This looks, this looks incredible."

"Would you like to dance?"

"I would love to dance!"

Alison put the roses on the table and took Rafe's hand. Rafe used the remote control to turn on some music.

They danced to the music for a while, and Rafe eventually picked her up and spun her around. Alison laughed and held on tightly to the man she loved. And suddenly, pink rose petals were falling all around them. Alison and Rafe looked up to see them fall from a white light. They laughed and went back to dancing.

Ed watched them from heaven and smiled.