Page 48 of V is for Valentine
“Ah.” Felicity hugged a pillow to her middle. “You’re right. It would have been impossible to do this without him.”
“I hope this isn’t hurting his computer repair business.”
“He put his part-time employee on full-time. You’re paying him, but he’s paying her for additional hours…I guess he’s working for free.”
Her dad nodded. “See? Good guy.”
He was a good guy. And she wanted to kiss him again, but she didn’t want to mess up either of their lives. Or give rise to expectations.
Then just tell him what you want. Be up-front, like you are in every other aspect of your life.
Every aspect except for the Sean thing, and what a disaster that had been. Every decision she’d made, from keeping the relationship on the down low to her reasons for moving to Seattle, had been counter to her character. She was never approaching a situation like that again.
So man up and tackle things head-on.
Felicity let out a soft sigh. Her dad glanced her way, but she kept her eyes on the television screen.
Her troublesome little voice was right. She needed to tackle this head-on.
*
After the kisson the steps, Danny expected another day of Felicity dodging him. Instead she parked beside his car within minutes of his arrival at the old high school, yawning as she came up the steps carrying a Cakery Bakery box and her giant coffee mug. Danny pushed open the door and she ducked under his arm. He released the door, and it swung shut as she placed the box on the makeshift plywood table.
He pointed out the obvious. “You’re early.”
“Yes.” She untied the string and opened the box, then held it out to him. Inside was the usual lemon bismark, raspberry jelly donut, and several maple bars with a single heart-shaped cookie resting on top. He reached for it.
“Mine, I assume,” he said, holding up the cookie, “what with you being a conscientious objector and all.”
“Yours.”
There was no message, only red piping on white glaze.
“What was your bad Valentine’s Day experience?” he asked, taking the proverbial stab in the dark.
“That’s not up for discussion.”
Target struck.
“But there was one.”
“Oh, yes.” She took the raspberry donut and their gazes connected as they simultaneously bit.
“Was your heart broken?”
“Worse than that, I messed up my life.” He lowered his cookie, but she merely shook her head. “I’m not discussing it.”
He nodded his acceptance of her boundary as Felicity wiped the powdered sugar off her lips with the backs of her fingers. “You caused me a sleepless night,” she said matter-of-factly.
“How’s that?” he asked.
“You knowhow’s that.” She drilled him with a look. “I believe your words were ‘there’s something to think about.’ I did.”
“And your conclusion?” His heart was beating faster, so he made a show of casually popping the last of the cookie into his mouth.
Felicity gave a maddeningly noncommittal shrug and reached for her coffee mug, drinking while Danny watched her. Waited. He knew better than to push Felicity when he wanted to know what she was thinking. Knew more about her than probably any woman on earth, having collected information for most of his life. It had been important to know how she thought as they plotted against one another.
And then things had changed for him.
