Page 21 of V is for Valentine
The only thing missing would be the woman who kept him on his toes as he waited for the next interesting thing to go down.
*
Danny was gonefor just over an hour, and when he returned, he immediately shrugged out of his jacket, swapping it out for his tool belt. He hung his jacket on the same nail from which the apron holding the drywall screws had hung, then retrieved his drill from the charging station.
“Everything okay?” he asked as Felicity finished cutting a door opening in the wallboard, having used the piece that had cracked when she’d slipped and fell two days ago.
“Nothing blew up while you were gone, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“That is exactly what I’m asking. Would you tell me if something had?”
“No.”
He laughed and Felicity realized with a start that she liked the sound. And she liked having him back in the building, which had felt oddly still and lifeless without him.
“We’re going to be done hanging drywall today,” he said.
“Yes, but Stevie told me not to brag about being on schedule because something will happen.”
“She’s probably right,” Danny said as he headed to his work area, which was only yards away. They’d spent the past two days working from opposite ends, walling in offices and meeting rooms, and now they were about to meet in the middle, in the hallway that led to the boardroom just off the large entryway.
“Did your meeting go all right?” Felicity asked with exaggerated casualness. “You know. The one in the secret locale?”
He gave her a wry look. “There are some issues with scheduling, but yes, I’m satisfied.”
“Ah.” She punched in a couple of screws in rapid succession.
“How are things with your job?” he asked.
“I have no idea because I’m on vacation.” She dropped the drill in the holster.
“You can just put it out of your head?”
“It’s not easy,” she admitted. “But it’s healthy. Besides, my job is not like Tess’s at the shelter, where she’s the life’s blood of the operation.” She maneuvered a wallboard into place. “There are people who can handle my work while I’m gone.”
“Even on short notice.”
“Even then.”
“What if they mess up?”
“They suffer consequences, like anyone else.” She gave him a look. “You’re surprised I’m not trying to control things from a distance, aren’t you?”
“I think you’re a strong personality, Felix.”
She sucked in a breath. “Maybe a little.”
“And a bit rigid.”
Her drill slipped, scarring the drywall. She wrinkled her forehead as she turned to him. “Rigid?”
“It’s the opposite of flexible.”
“Where are you getting rigidity?”
She’d be the first to admit that when she got an idea, she stuck with it, but that was different than being rigid, which impliednogive, regardless of circumstances. Besides, she didn’t need judgment from Danny.
“I don’t know. Maybe the part where you refused to even consider working together and saving yourself a lot of sore muscles.” He smiled a little and focused on mounting the next sheet of wallboard.
