Page 18 of Wounded Fox
"Yes!" Valerie sounded excited. "Nancy had a great idea for me to donate all the clothes I was going to get rid of, but I was thinking of doing even more."
"That's amazing. Care to share your ideas?" Valerie used to share all her ideas with me when we were younger and while I was deployed. I was the first person she confided in that she wanted to open her own store right here in town. I wanted to be that person for her again.
"Well, nothing is official yet since I need to talk to Trista about it first, but Nancy mentioned these women are starting over. They’re going back to school and even looking for jobs. I don't want to just help them dress the part but maybe offer them jobs as well. I've been wanting to open a second store and this could be the perfect opportunity."
I turned the burner off before I burned dinner and turned my focus back to Valerie. "Wait, you’re thinking about opening another store? What kind?"
No one mentioned she was thinking about doing that. I knew about her online store and how well that was going, but nothing about a new shop.
"The same thing just in a bigger city. The online store took off better than I ever expected, so I’m thinking about expanding."
Wow. I never would've thought her dream got so big. "Are you looking at any city in particular?"
"I go back and forth between Dallas or Austin. I would need to find the right location to keep the small-town feel of Sophisticated Sheen. I haven't found it yet."
I hadn't even realized she'd been looking. "Does that mean you plan on leaving Willow Creek?" My chest ached at the thought of her not being here every day, of walking by her shop and never seeing her face behind the glass.
"God, no," Valerie scoffed. "I wouldn't be able to survive in a big city. I'm a small-town girl at heart." She went back to working on her laptop.
I relaxed at the thought that she wasn't going anywhere and went back to making our dinner.
Once it was finished, I brought all the components over to the table. Valerie joined me soon after and we ate in comfortable silence.
But Maverick’s and Lex's words from earlier today kept eating at me until I couldn't take it any longer. "I had a security system installed at the shop while Lex was there today," I blurted out before I could find another excuse to keep it from her.
Valerie wiped some sauce off her face, then looked at me. "You did what?"
"I had a security system installed. I'm not sorry I did it. I'm not even sorry I didn't tell you at the time, but I am sorry that it took me all day to say something."
Valerie's face was blank. I had no idea if she was mad or upset by the news.
Fortunately she didn't make me wait long to find out. "You could've just asked. I would've agreed that one was needed.”
"I couldn't take the chance that you would say no. You fought me about staying here. You fought me about going to the hospital. Honestly, I think you just fight me for the fun of it most days."
Valerie snickered. "You’re probably right to think that."
I laughed with her. It was nice to feel this lighthearted with her again. It gave me hope that we could one day move past whatever broke us and get us back to who we used to be.
We made it through dinner without any arguments; a sure sign that things were looking up. We even cleaned up from dinner together like we had done so many times before that I almost forgot about all the years we didn't speak.
Things were going so well that I figured it was a good time to see if I could continue the trend. Clearing my throat, I asked, "Would you like to watch a movie tonight?" I didn't know the first thing about what people normally did on their downtime. I was either working or trying to catch glimpses of Valerie. All my time was spent with my team, so I was a little rusty in the social department.
"Sure. Let me just go grab a shower and get into my pajamas for the night." Valerie headed upstairs before I could respond.
I was quickly learning that the girl I once spent all my time with was exactly like the woman I wanted to get to know again. It made it easy for me to anticipate what she would say or do.
I listened for the shower to start before heading over to the pantry to grab popcorn kernels to put in the popcorn machine. I’d just gotten the machine turned on when I heard it.
A bloodcurdling scream.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Valerie
A bat!
I continued to scream like my life depended on it because, in my mind, it did.
