Page 5 of My Secret Valentine

I pause in the doorway, looking back. The light catches his profile, shadows playing across his face.

“Thank you. For today. For all of it.”

“Of course.” My voice comes out softer than I intend.

In my room, I sit on the edge of my bed, heart beating too fast. This is dangerous territory. Quiet moments and loaded glances. He's my employer. Maddie's father. Off limits in every way that matters.

My phone buzzes with a text from Sarah:Coffee tomorrow? I hear there's interesting gossip about your new job.

Oh no. How could something like this have happened? I know small towns are full of embellished gossip, but I didn’t expect this. I have to admit this wasn’t one of my favorite things about the town I grew up in.

CHAPTER FOUR

Steve

Dark clouds gather over the mountains as I check the local weather radar one more time. The storm they've been predicting all week is finally rolling in, bringing with it the first real snow of the season. I can already hear the wind picking up, whistling through the trees that surround the house.

“Is the power gonna go out?” Maddie asks from her perch by the window. She's been watching the clouds for the past hour, her math homework forgotten on the coffee table.

“We might,” I admit. “But that's why we have the generator.”

“And flashlights and candles,” Lainey adds, appearing from the kitchen with three steaming mugs on a tray. “Hot chocolate anyone?”

Maddie bounces over to claim her mug, barely waiting for Lainey's warning about the temperature before taking a careful sip. There's a smudge of whipped cream on her upper lip when she looks up at me. “Can we have dinner in here tonight? Please?”

I glance at Lainey, who shrugs. “It's your call, but I did make soup. Easy to eat anywhere.”

The first fat snowflakes begin to fall as we settle in with bowls of chicken soup and fresh bread. Maddie insisted on building a “fort” with couch cushions, and I didn't have the heart to refuse. Now she sits cross-legged in her creation, carefully breaking her bread into tiny pieces to float in her soup.

“Just like camping,” she declares, though she's never been camping in her life. Claire was more of a five-star hotel person, and after she died... well, it just never seemed like the right time.

The lights flicker once, twice, then go out completely. Maddie lets out a small squeak.

“It's okay,” I say quickly. “The generator should-”

But nothing happens. The familiar hum of electricity remains absent.

“I'll check it,” I say, already reaching for my phone's flashlight. “Lainey, there are candles in the kitchen, second drawer from the sink.”

“On it.” She moves with surprising confidence in the darkness.

Outside, the wind nearly knocks me off my feet. Snow stings my face as I make my way to the generator, my dress shoes completely inappropriate for the weather. The problem is immediately obvious – the automatic switch has failed. I reset it manually, but nothing happens. Great. Just what I need tonight.

When I make it back inside, the scene stops me in my tracks. Lainey has transformed the living room with candles, their warm light creating a cozy atmosphere despite the storm. Sheand Maddie are adding blankets to the fort, making it into a proper nest.

“Generator's dead,” I announce, stamping snow from my feet. “I'll call the repair service, but with this weather I don’t know when they’ll be able to get here.”

“We'll manage,” Lainey says with a confidence I wish I felt. “Right, Maddie?”

Maddie nods, though she inches closer to me when another gust of wind rattles the windows. “Can you stay in the fort with us?”

I should say no. Should maintain some professional distance. But the candlelight plays across Lainey's face as she pretends to be very busy arranging pillows, and Maddie's looking at me with those eyes that are so like her mother's, and I find myself nodding.

“Let me change first. I'm soaked.”

In my room, I trade my wet clothes for jeans and a sweater, trying not to think about how domestic everything feels downstairs. How right. When I return, Maddie has convinced Lainey to tell ghost stories.

“Not too scary,” I warn, settling into the fort. It's a tight fit with all three of us, but somehow we manage.

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