Page 34 of V is for Valentine
“Forever. It was irritating, yet, I don’t know, kind of part of my existence.”
She smiled over her straw. “I get it. I had a rivalry with another girl in my class. Athletics and academics. It kept us on our toes.”
“Did she ever lock you in a tool shed?”
“Uh…no.” Sandra laughed. “Not that kind of rivalry.”
“Excuse me.”
Danny looked up to see the server who’d delivered their pizza with a cordless phone in one hand.
“You, uh, have a phone call,” the teen said, as if perplexed as to why someone wouldn’t simply call his cell. Danny was a little perplexed himself.
“This could be interesting,” he said to Sandra. “Do you mind?”
“Not at all.” She made a low slurping sound with her straw as Danny raised the phone to his ear.
“I need help.” Felicity’s voice was clear and clipped.
“Where are you?”
“I’m on the site.”
“All right.” She didn’t sound as if she were in pain—not the physical kind anyway. “What’s up?”
“Am I interrupting your date?”
“No.”
He heard her exhale. “I’m in the basement. The furnace room to be precise.”
“Okay…”
“The key isn’t working. I’m locked in with Bertha.”
Danny pressed his lips together so that the “what did I tell you” did not escape.
“I know,” she snapped. “You warned me. Please come rescue me.”
With that the phone went dead. She may have lost her signal being deep in the recesses of the old building, but he suspected that instead she’d had an overload of humble pie.
He handed the phone back to the server and thanked him, then reached for the ticket, giving Sandra an apologetic look. “I need to go. I’ll drop you at your place on the way.”
“Anything serious?” Sandra asked before pulling the straw out of her drink and finishing it with a quick swallow.
“Just a rival who has gotten herself in over her head on the worksite.”
“It’s a good sign that she’s calling you for help.” Sandra began pushing her arms into the sleeves of her jacket.
“Or it might be that I’m the only one with keys to the building.”
Sandra laughed and scooted out of the booth. “Do you want me to come along?”
Danny could see that she wanted to, but he shook his head.
“I don’t think this is easy for Felix—for Felicity. Maybe I’d better handle it alone.” He pulled cash from his wallet and set it on the table leaving an extra generous tip, then slid out of the booth to join her.
“Good point,” Sandra said as he opened the door and they stepped out into the chilly February air. “Although I have to say you’re not being very rival-like tonight.”
