V is for Valentine (Holly, Idaho Book 3)

by Jeannie Watt

  The answer is to not tip over. To not fall in love.

  It would be an awkward three days refusing to deny that she hadn’t been the one to rat him out, but her sisters would be in the building during the weekend, providing a buffer, and once the project was done, she could retreat to Seattle where sanity would take over and she would no longer have dreams about her annoying former neighbor.

  Feeling stronger, she moved the gearshift into drive and started for home. The situation sucked, but maybe this was how things needed to be.

  It stood to reason that the February 14th dinner at Pizza Bob’s would not happen.

  That was good, because her willpower with Danny sucked.

  Now they had a nice fat wedge between them, and she was going to keep it there for as long as she was in Holly.

  *

  What was the name of that movie? Danny adjusted the air pressure on the spray gun and gave a practice spritz.

  The Longest Day? The Longest Friday?

  Whatever it was, he was living it.

  He’d made a mistake with Felicity, insinuating that she’d let slip about his business venture, and her total refusal to defend herself convinced him that he’d been wrong. No one else knew about Fork Horn, except for the company reps themselves, but somehow word had leaked. He needed to set matters straight with her, but they had an unexpected full house that day.

  Bud Pratt had rehired one of his former employees, allowing him to volunteer his services painting, and since Pete insisted on using rollers instead of sprayers, they needed every warm body they could get. Deke the city maintenance guy returned for some more quality time with Bertha the furnace, and Mr. Klein from the city council had stopped by in the late afternoon. Thankfully his son, Cade, hadn’t tagged along. Felicity might think they were only former study buddies, but Danny had seen the way Cade looked at her when they’d helped him push his car out of the snowbank.

  Meanwhile, Felicity maintained her role as project foreman, lining out Bud, asking Danny about the timeframe for the remaining texture work, and escorting Mr. Klein through the building for a quick tour. But instead of stopping by his work area to mention that Mr. Klein seemed less than thrilled that the project was on schedule, and that his business rival and fellow councilman Bud Pratt was helping, she went straight upstairs and resumed painting.

  She was angry. Politely, coldly, devastatingly angry.

  Too angry, which made him wonder what was going on. The Felicity he’d grown up with would have set him straight for making a bogus accusation after a cooling-off period. She’d had plenty of time to cool, yet the setting straight had yet to occur.

  “I’d like to talk,” he said in a low voice when they passed on the staircase shortly before quitting time, when they were finally alone in the building. Given the big push that was about to commence as they hurled toward deadline, he might not get another easy opportunity like this to set things straight.

  “I’m not ready to talk.” She continued on her way, the stairs echoing beneath her heavy boots.

  “I’m sorry that I insinuated instead of asking,” Danny called after her. “I made a mistake, Felicity.”

  She looked back when he used her full name. He hadn’t meant to shoot out an apology then and there, but it had launched of its own accord.

  She considered him for a long moment. “Apology accepted. No grudges. I just want to get this project done.”

  He had a sneaking suspicion that she was holding a grudge and was about to point it out when she said, “By the way, you can go home.”

  His eyebrows lifted.

  A remarkably effective shutdown. He’d been dismissed and was running out of time.

  “I know what you’re doing,” he said.

  “Is it working?” she asked.

  He ignored the question and started up the stairs toward her, stopping one step down so that they were face-to-face and neither had the height advantage. “You’re using this as an excuse to keep me at arm’s length.”

  “Why would I do that, Danny? Do you think I’m incapable of dealing with you without an excuse?”

  “I think you’re more than capable, if you weren’t feeling something you don’t want to feel.”

  She frowned deeply and he expected her to tell him that there wasn’t room for her and him and his ego in the school. Instead she relaxed the frown and said, “What would that feeling be, Danny?”

  She had a knack for knocking the ball back into his court, but he was not without skills. He shifted his weight, holding her gaze. “You’re not sure what the feeling is, and you don’t want to think about it too hard because you’re afraid of the answer. I’m guessing that’s because you’ve been burned in the past.”

  Her cheeks flushed.

  “Or, as you put it, you messed up your life.” He tightened one corner of his mouth as he quoted her. “Probably near Valentine’s Day.”

  “That’s enough, Danny.”

  There was a note in her voice that warned him not to push. He was on the brink of ignoring instinct, of continuing to lay out his case, but something akin to desperation flashed in her gaze, so instead he let out a breath. “That,” he concluded, “is why I think you’re keeping me at arm’s length.”

  “Then do me a favor, Danny.” Her smooth throat moved as she swallowed. “Stay there.”

  Chapter Eleven

  She was being watched.

  Stevie and Neville, whom Stevie was babysitting while Tess attended a city council meeting, where both keeping tabs on her—Neville with a full-on stare and Stevie employing more of the casual glance strategy. Neville was watching her because he was always looking for his next terrier adventure and Felicity had proven to be good fun in the past. Stevie because Danny was doing exactly what he’d promised to do before leaving the premises the previous evening—he was keeping his distance, and it was blatantly obvious that things were not good between him and Felicity.

  There was a brusqueness to Danny’s manner today. He was not impolite or petulant, but rather grimly accepting of the reality she’d presented to him yesterday. In other words, he was doing exactly what she’d asked for.

  It was awful.

  But necessary, she reminded herself.

  She could muscle through the discomfort of dealing with this side of Danny for three days, before flying home. Then, at some point in the future, when they’d both had time to gain perspective, they could discuss and maybe she would confess the wherefores and the whys of her behavior and then he would understand.

  Who was she kidding?

  He already understood. He’d totally laid everything out the previous evening, and the way he’d nailed exactly what was going on in her head had been unnerving, but understandable. Who, other than her family, knew her better than Danny? He’d discerned the reason for her discomfort with their growing closeness because he had a logical mind and had properly read the clues.

  Except that she didn’t think he’d sussed out the fact that even as she was warning herself not to fall for him, she was. She needed to keep him in the dark on that one, so the uncomfortable atmosphere between them would continue.

  And she would continue to argue with herself, doing her best to convince herself that her growing feelings for Danny were a figurative trick of the light. They knew each other well and had spent close to two weeks in a bubble, driven by the same goal, out of touch with the full content of their respective realities. The world they shared was small, intense, focused. These were the circumstances of summer romances, vacation romances, office flings.

  The texturing machine finally went silent a couple hours after lunch. Not long after, Danny poked his head into the partially painted break room where Stevie was washing her roller and Felicity was painting an edge along a window before rolling paint.

  “Done,” he said.

  “Great,” Felicity replied without looking at him. He already knew what to tackle next.

  Danny headed back down the hall toward the basement lugging t
he machine and when Felicity glanced up, her sister made a show of brushing off her sleeves.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Just removing the rime ice that formed a few seconds ago.”

  “Don’t,” Felicity warned.

  “Right.” Stevie shut off the water faucet and ran her hand over the fuzzy surface of the roller, extracting the last of the water.

  “Everything is fine,” Felicity assured her.

  “If you say so.” Stevie dried the roller with a wad of cheap paper toweling from the janitor’s closet in the furnace room. “I’m going to drop Neville off with Dad before I head to the school to coordinate the student volunteers for the parent conferences.”

  “Carry on,” Felicity said. “And don’t worry about me.”

  Stevie pulled off the long sleeve shirt she’d worn over her clothes to protect them from paint splatters and draped it over a sawhorse.

  “Dad told me you were worried about being too rigid in life.”

  “He what?”

  “He’s worried, too.” Stevie pulled on her jacket.

  “I have a great life,” Felicity said, spreading her hands in a what-the-heck gesture.

  “He’s worried that you have hemmed yourself in and are too proud and stubborn to get yourself out.”

  Wrong. She’d hemmed herself in out of necessity, to make up for what she’d lost when she’d followed Sean to Seattle.

  “He wants me back here.”

  “He does, but he knows that isn’t going to happen any time soon. He’s more worried about why you questioned your approach to life in the first place.”

  “It was just…a question.” Felicity focused on the trail of paint. Concerning a nerve Danny had struck. “And I can’t consider a job change until I finish my commitment to Lockwood and get vested in their retirement.”

  She couldn’t bring herself to tell her sister that her Lockwood 401(k) was her only retirement fund. That she’d walked away from her previous nest egg along with a job she’d really enjoyed. For a man. Although at the time, she’d convinced herself that it had been for her.

  “I know.” Stevie had more to say—Felicity could tell from her voice—but was not going to dive in now. Thank goodness.

  Stevie leaned down and scooped up Neville, who gave her a doggie kiss. “See you tomorrow,” she said.

  “See you.”

  Deke the city maintenance man was due to arrive any minute, but until he showed, Felicity and Danny were the only people in the building. Nothing unusual there—they’d spend most of their time together alone in this building—but Felicity had never felt this edgy about it.

  What did she expect him to do? Take advantage of the moment and force her to confess her feelings for him? Feelings she’d yet to fully acknowledge to herself?

  “Hey.”

  She let out an odd squeak and jumped at the sound of his voice. Pressing her hand to her chest she turned to where Danny was standing in the doorway.

  “Forget that I’m here?”

  “Hardly.” She once again started running her brush down the edge of the window casing, her hand shaking a touch more than usual.

  “I need to run to my shop for a few minutes. Clara is having an issue with the books. I shouldn’t be more than half an hour.”

  “Fine.” The word came out with more of a snap than she intended, and she let out a sigh, her brush poised in the air. “I don’t mean to be rude.”

  “I get it,” he said.

  She almost asked, “Do you?” because that was what she did with Danny. She challenged him.

  Not anymore.

  He gave her a humorless smile. “Don’t worry about it, Felix. You finally hammered your message into my head.”

  We can still be friends.

  She successfully swallowed the words, only to blurt, “I don’t like things being like this—”

  “But it’s the way they have to be,” he finished for her.

  “Danny…” She pressed her lips together.

  He considered her for a long, silent moment, then pushed off the doorframe and continued down the hall toward the front door, his boots echoing on the hardwood floors.

  It’s the way they need to be.

  For now. She’d fix them later, bring them back to friendship…if she could.

  *

  Stevie was trudging up the snowy sidewalk to her car with Neville in her arms when Danny came down the school steps.

  “I thought you guys already left,” he said as she opened the car door with one hand and popped Neville inside with the other.

  “Neville saw a cat while I was loading him in the car.”

  Danny laughed. He hadn’t known the terrier long, but he knew the little guy had a penchant for adventure.

  “Thankfully,” Stevie continued after the door was closed and Neville was safely contained, “Jason has taught him to come to a whistle so I didn’t have to chase him across town like I would have a couple months ago.” She laughed. “Like I did a couple months ago.” She looked him up and down. “Are you leaving?”

  “Just heading to the shop to help Clara with the books. It’s her first time handling the billing, and I have to show her a couple things. I’ll be back soon.”

  “You and Feliss seem to be having a day. Did she soap up your car windows again?”

  He smiled as he shook his head, making it clear he wasn’t going to talk about it.

  Stevie smiled back, accepting defeat, and reached for the door handle.

  “There’s nothing wrong between your sister and me,” he said before she opened the door. His issues with Felix, and hers with him, didn’t need to involve her sisters. “I’ve been preoccupied with other matters.”

  He was lying through his teeth, of course, something he rarely did, but it wasn’t like he could say, “Your sister is shutting me down because some other guy burned her.”

  For one thing, he didn’t know for certain if that was the reason she was shutting him down, but it was at the top of his list of possibilities. Given the way she kissed him, he assumed that she felt the same spark of attraction that he did, but despite the heat and chemistry, she didn’t want to take it further. He had to accept that.

  But it wasn’t easy.

  “Feliss must be dealing with issues, too,” Stevie said pointedly. “Guess you’re just having a mutually preoccupied day.”

  He could tell that she didn’t believe that for one minute, but he was grateful that she played the game.

  He patted the roof of her car. “Thanks.”

  She started the engine as Danny got into his car. He stuck the keys in the ignition and turned the engine over, but he didn’t put the car in gear.

  He and Felicity had been through a lot during their years of play and counterplay, but this was the first time he’d felt the chill of impending defeat.

  He didn’t like it but there wasn’t a lot he could do that he hadn’t already done.

  *

  “She’s still being finicky,” Deke said to Felicity after tinkering with Bertha. He’d shown up minutes after Danny had returned and headed to the area where the painting supplies were laid out without a word to her. “If you didn’t need the heat to dry the paint, I’d pull the blower motor and take it to the shop to rebuild.”

  “What are you going to do when the place is packed with employees?”

  “Advise them to dress properly,” he said with a laugh. “I think I can keep her going until the new fiscal year in July when they will be able to order a new furnace. One that isn’t from the middle of the last century.”

  Upstairs, she could hear Danny moving around, preparing to paint one of the offices. They only had another hour together and plenty to do, so it wasn’t like they’d be drifting about the building, bumping into one another. But she didn’t particularly want Deke to leave, either. Once he was gone, Danny, not painting, would be front and center in her brain.

  “The place looks really good,” Deke said as he headed for the door.
“Your dad did a great job, and so have you.”

  “Thanks,” Felicity said. She waited where she was until the door closed, then went back to the office where she was edging yet another set of windows.

  Music came on upstairs shortly after she began dragging paint along the edge of the first window, the heavy bass thrumming through the floorboards. Felicity set down her brush and pulled her phone out of her pocket, queuing up an upbeat playlist which was the exact opposite of her current mood, and propped the phone on an unopened paint bucket.

  Better.

  Her music didn’t drown out the beat of Danny’s, but it did make her feel more optimistic about getting through the day. And her financial date with Cade Kincaid in a few hours.

  She was going to that more out of a sense of duty than anything. With Cade’s dad on the city council, and her father still bidding on contracts, she didn’t want to cause any hard feelings, so she’d give Cade free advice, enjoy a glass of wine, then go home and watch the sports highlights with her dad.

  With the music anchoring them to their respective workplaces, Felicity began to relax, enjoying the satisfying feeling of pulling her brush in a long straight line. She’d given up using edging tape as a teen, instead learning how to fan the bristles just so, and she hadn’t lost the knack, which saved a lot of time applying and removing tape.

  She’d just finished the last window in the office when the furnace kicked on and the lights went out.

  “I can’t believe this,” she muttered, stepping into the dim hallway, then heading for the basement steps.

  “Felix?” Danny’s voice echoed through the dim building.

  “I’ve got this,” she yelled back.

  After opening the basement door and peering into the darkness, she almost went back for her phone, which was playing Adele’s latest, to light her way. Almost. She could see light at the bottom of the staircase, so she felt her way down. When she reached the area illuminated by streetlight coming in through narrow windows near the ceiling, she moved more quickly, making her way to the furnace room where the circuit breaker box was located.

  Danny’s footsteps sounded above her, headed toward the basement door. She let out a sigh as she pulled her keys out of her pocket and guessed at the correct one since they all looked blue in the dim light. Apparently “I’ve got this,” meant something else in Dannyland.