“That’s good, but he didn’t make you dinner, either,” Alicia teased. She sat back on her heels. “So, what do you think?”
Oz shrugged. “I really don’t know. One day isn’t long enough to help me decide. Then again, it doesn’t feel like this is really my decision to make—the fairies chose me for whatever reason. Who am I to fight against their decrees?”
“I’m sure they get fought quite a bit.” Alicia pushed up to a standing position and looked around. “This is a great place. Classy, but understated.”
“Yeah, I wanted something that didn’t demand a whole lot of upkeep. So I went for wood floors instead of carpet—that kind of thing. And now there’s a rabbit, so I bet I’m going to be sweeping up fur every five minutes.”
Alicia wandered over to the window. “Great view of the mountains.”
“My favorite thing about this place.” Oz came up and stood behind her. She could feel his presence, even though they weren’t touching. It was like a shift in the air that surrounded her or something. “As soon as I saw this view, I knew this was my apartment.”
“I imagine it’s very peaceful.” She turned, but she wasn’t expecting him to be so close. They nearly collided in a comedic repeat of the scene at the general store, but he caught her arms, and they stood there, staring into each other’s eyes. He slid his hands down her arms and intertwined his fingers with hers.
“You remember last night, when you told me you’d had a crush on me?” he asked, his voice a little husky.
Why did he have to bring that up? She’d been kicking herself for it ever since. “Yes?”
“I had a crush on you too. I just didn’t know how to tell you.”
“What?” Her eyes flew to his, but she couldn’t see any evidence that he was teasing her. Goose bumps rose on her arms—perfect timing for making a good impression during a potentially romantic moment. “But . . . you were one of the coolest guys in school. Why would you have a crush on me?”
“Oh, let’s see. Because you were beautiful, smart, funny, fun to talk to . . . pretty much all the same things you are now.”
Alicia gently tugged her hands away and walked over to the couch. She wasn’t sure she was ready for this. “So, we were both too chicken to say anything,” she said lightly as she sat down, pulling a throw pillow onto her lap. Everything in his apartment was brand new, although nothing was overtly expensive. It was pretty much what she had expected. This conversation, however, wasn’t at all what she’d expected.
“I guess so.” Oz sat down on the other end of the couch, obviously understanding her need for separation. She liked a guy who could pick up on the subtle use of throw pillows. “That’s what happens when you’re a teenager. You either say too much or too little.”
“Sounds about right.” She traced the pattern on the pillow with the tip of her finger. “Oh, I almost forgot. I have a new roommate. She works on the wardrobe crew for the TV show.”
“Cool. Is she nice?”
“She’s really nice. I think we’re going to get along well.”
“That’s good. I’ve had some roommates who were terrible to live with.”
She nodded. “I’ve definitely been there.” This wasn’t good—all the tension and awkwardness they’d felt during dinner the night before was back, only it was worse. She’d thought they were making progress, but no. They each sat on their ends of the couch, fidgeting, and Alicia figured that if Oz was even half as uncomfortable as she was, they were both pretty miserable. Finally, she did the only thing she could think of, the only thing that made sense at all.
She tossed her pillow aside, bounced across the couch, grabbed the collar of Oz’s shirt, and planted a kiss right on his mouth.
She knew she’d surprised him, but it didn’t seem like an unwelcome surprise because his arms wrapped around her immediately, pulling her closer and making the kiss last longer than she’d originally intended.
“There now,” he said when they finally pulled apart. “Isn’t it better to put all our cards on the table?”
She chuckled. “Oh, definitely. I do think, though, that if you’d kissed me like that when I was eighteen, my father would have had your head on a pike.”
“And now?” He grinned.
“Now . . . he still might have your head on a pike, but he’ll just have to drive farther to find you.” She sat back on the couch and studied Oz’s face. “So, what does this mean?”
He pulled in a deep breath and then exhaled. “It means that we’re friends who happen to kiss each other very well.”
She nodded. “That seems possible.”
“Possible, but not probable.” He met her eyes. “I think it means that we’ve got some feelings still on a low simmer, and we should investigate.”
“Investigate? Like, with magnifying glasses and gathering clues and stuff?” Tingles ran down her arms. What was he saying?
“Or we could keep dating and see if anything comes of it.”
“Like . . . more feelings?”
“Exactly.” His eyes flicked back and forth between hers. “What do you think?”
She closed her eyes for a second. Wow. She wasn’t sure what she thought. She’d dreamed of kissing Oz so many times, it was hard to believe it had actually happened. “I think . . . I think we need to take this slowly, whatever it is. I don’t want to get hurt again, Oz.” She opened her eyes and looked at him. “I know you didn’t mean to hurt me, and that the whole thing was Cam being a jerk—again—but it feels like an awfully big risk to take.”
He stretched his arm across the back of the couch and played with a loose strand of hair that had fallen over her shoulder. “I understand. There’s one thing, though, that I don’t think we should wait on.”
“Oh? What’s that?”
“Eating our dinner. I’m starving.”
She grinned. “I’m completely on board with that.”
Chapter Six
“But . . . but it’s almost Valentine’s Day,” Heidi was sputtering into the phone when Alicia walked into the general store the next morning. “You can’t cancel my order.”
Alicia hung up her coat, then took a seat on the camping chair near the register. Heidi looked like she was about to blow a fuse. “Yes, I understand that’s how business can be. You understand that I’m a business too, right?” She listened for another minute. “Well, let me tell you how it’s going to be. Don’t just cancel this order—cancel all my future orders, and remove me from your mailing list. I’m finding a new supplier, one who will take me seriously and keep their promises.” She hung up, then turned to Alicia. “This is just great.”
“That didn’t sound good. What happened?”
“Oh, they decided that since we don’t move as much merchandise as some of their other accounts, we don’t take priority. They’re running low on Valentine’s product, so they’ve canceled our order so they can fill orders for larger clients.”
Alicia’s jaw dropped. “But we don’t even have our teddy bears in.”
“This is what I’m saying.” Heidi flopped over and buried her face in her arms on the counter. “We can’t help it if we’re small. Idaho isn’t Los Angeles!”
“And people come here when they’re tired of Los Angeles.” Alicia looked around the store. They had a sugar cookie display, some red and white balloons—that would all be deflated in another day—and some cards. That was it. They’d been counting on their shipment, and now it wasn’t coming. “So, what are we going to do?”
Heidi rested her chin on her hands. “We’re going to make this work. I’m not sure how yet, but we will.”
“We can’t just go to Riston and grab some stuff off the shelves,” Alicia said. “People expect to find different things here.”
“We can’t go to Riston, but we could go to Spokane,” Heidi replied. “How would you feel about heading up a little road trip?”
“Me?” Alicia perked up. “That would be fun.”
“Let’s do it. I’ll stay here
and run the store, and you head out as soon as you can. I’ll make up a list of stores that will have likely supplies, and you can use your best judgment.”
“I was at the grocery store the other night and caught a glimpse of their holiday aisle,” Alicia said, standing up. “I won’t buy anything I saw there.”
“Perfect. And would you also run over to the floral shop and see what Whitney’s got so we’re not copycatting her? We’ve never had to worry about that before, but we do now.”
“Of course.” Alicia grabbed her coat while Heidi fished the store’s credit card out of the bottom of the cash register.
“I’ll text you a list of stores,” Heidi said, and Alicia nodded. This was rather exciting. She felt like she was on a mission to save Valentine’s Day. Someone should make a Hallmark movie based on her life. “Over an hour’s drive each way—think you can be back by closing?”
Alicia glanced at the clock. “Probably. I’ll let you know. See ya.”
She was still shoving her arms into her coat sleeves as she walked across the street. As soon as she opened the door to the floral shop, she could tell that something was up. “As if! As if!”
“Hey, Whitney,” she said, interrupting the florist mid-rant. “What’s the matter?”
“Probably the same thing that’s the matter at your store. The supplier just called and told me he cancelled our order, and then he said something snide about Heidi and some tantrum she threw. Well, I told him Heidi was a kitten compared to me.”
“Yeah, she used some choice language,” Oz said from where he sat in the corner, an amused look on his face. “She might look cute and docile, but she has fangs.”
“And don’t you forget it.” Whitney sighed. “At least my floral delivery hasn’t been canceled and this was just my little gift items, but honestly, it’s Valentine’s Day, people. You can’t just cancel orders on Valentine’s Day.”
“Heidi’s sending me to Spokane to go shopping,” Alicia replied. “Can I grab anything for you while I’m there?”
Whitney’s face lit up. “Yes, you can, and I’ll send Oz with you to pick it out. Don’t start pulling faces at me already, young man—you know you have good taste.”
“I don’t know any such thing,” Oz protested. “You’re much better off trusting Alicia on this.”
“Then I’ll trust Alicia, but I’m still sending you along to carry the heavy stuff.” Whitney handed Oz some money, then waved them off. “Go. Hurry. The clock is ticking, people. Time waits for no one.”
Alicia grinned as Oz followed her outside. “You aren’t mad, are you? Having to spend all day shopping with me?”
He reached out and caught her hand. “I’m not crazy about shopping, but I’d do it all week if I got to spend that time with you.”
“Well, if that isn’t the sweetest!”
They turned at the sound of the new voice and saw Kelsi Weston Clapper walking toward them, her twins in a stroller, bundled up like little marshmallows. “Oz, I had no idea you were such a romantic.”
“I can be when I have the right incentive,” he replied.
Kelsi dramatically clutched her heart. “See? See? That’s what I mean. Alicia, I hope you’re basking in every moment. This is the stuff dreams are made of.” She gave a sigh, then continued down the sidewalk.
“Dreams, huh?” Oz asked, humor in his voice. “Do girls dream about stuff like this?”
“Some girls do,” she answered vaguely as they continued to walk toward her car. “Other girls aren’t into fancy words and all that.”
“What about you? Which kind are you?”
She glanced over at him. He looked like he genuinely wanted to know. “Um, it sounded pretty good to me.”
He reached out and took her hand. “I’m glad. Because I liked saying it.”
As they climbed into the car, Alicia asked if he needed to stop by his apartment for anything, or if they should head straight out of town.
“I left a lot of food and water for Hershel, so I think we’re fine,” he replied. “You?”
She shook her head. “I remembered to turn off the stove, so we’re good.”
He chuckled, and she turned the car north to head to Spokane.
As they drove, he played with her radio until he found a station featuring the kind of music they’d listened to in high school. He cranked the volume, and they sang along. She was tempted to be quiet so she could just listen to him, but he needled her until she belted it out too. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had so much fun—well, yes, she could. She’d been with Oz then, too.
When they reached Spokane, Alicia pulled over and checked her texts. There was the list from Heidi of shops that would be likely to carry what they needed. She punched the first store into her GPS and steered them toward a giant toy store.
“You get a cart and I’ll get a cart,” she said to Oz. “We confer on everything so we don’t get matches. I’ll help if you need it, but your mission today, should you choose to accept it, is to flex those shopping muscles and do this with as little assistance as possible.”
“Okay,” Oz said, grabbing a cart and gripping the handle like he was revving a motorcycle.
“Are we ready?” she asked.
“We’re ready.”
“All right—to the stuffed animal aisle!”
They found it with a minimum of wandering around. “I’m getting five pink teddy bears and five white teddy bears,” Alicia said, holding up one of each so Oz could see them. “I’m not getting any red because those look kind of freaky. Like they’ve been in a bloodbath or something.”
“Good choice,” Oz replied, wrinkling his nose. “I’m getting ten vintage bears in beige.” He held up a little fella with jointed arms and legs. Alicia could easily see one working as part of a floral arrangement.
“I think that’s a great call,” she said, giving him a nod. “To the candy aisle!”
Once there, Oz grabbed a few heart-shaped boxes of chocolates, but then he stood back and watched Alicia. “I don’t think I’ll need nearly as many as you do,” he said, folding his arms and leaning on his cart. “I’ll just take a little nap while you finish up.”
“You turkey,” she said, picking up one of her bears and whacking him on the shoulder with it. Then she turned back to the task at hand. Yes, boxes of chocolates, but not the same kind Oz had chosen. She grabbed some chocolate roses, but she hesitated at the conversation hearts.
“I hate these things with a passion,” she told Oz, holding up a box. “A couple of years ago, I broke a tooth on one and had to have it replaced, and the candy wasn’t even good.”
“But they’re a classic,” he pointed out. “I don’t think you can have Valentine’s without them.”
“But why? Why are they a classic? Do people actually sit around and talk to each other by handing hearts back and forth? I don’t think so.”
“We should try it,” Oz said. He grabbed two boxes and put them in the corner of his cart. “One for you, one for me, and I’ll buy them so they’re not on a store receipt. We will carry on an entire conversation with hearts only. It’s for science.”
“I’m not eating them,” Alicia warned him. “It’s not worth more dental work.”
“You don’t have to eat them. We’re only using them to converse. As one does.”
“But I don’t believe one actually does.”
“That’s why it’s for science—we’re going to prove or disprove the theory.”
“Fine. But I don’t have to be happy about it.” She grabbed some cinnamon lips and some Valentine’s M&Ms and some Dove chocolates, then threw in some other random things that looked fun. “I think that’ll do it for this store.”
“Where to next?”
She checked her phone. “A party supply store for balloons.”
“I think I need some of those too.”
“Then let’s be off.”
Alicia had never had so much fun shopping before. Oz kept finding random costum
e pieces or strange T-shirts or weird props and making jokes with them, and she was getting another stomachache from laughing so hard. She wondered if laughter worked the core muscles and if she was going to get killer abs. By the time they were ready to check out, she had to wipe tears from her eyes.
“You know, I think only one thing could have made this trip better,” Oz said as they loaded up her car at the second store.
“Oh? What’s that?”
“If we’d brought Hershel with us,” he replied. She couldn’t help it—she imagined the little rabbit bounding down one of the aisles wearing Cupid wings, and she started to giggle again.
They climbed into their seats and buckled up, but then they just sat there, trying to catch their breath. “We need to be serious,” she said after a long minute. “We need to make sure we got everything we needed.”
“I will be very serious,” Oz replied. “I will not put on the fake mustache I just bought.”
“Good. I’m concentrating here.” Alicia scrolled through Heidi’s texts. “Okay, we have everything except for the Valentine’s cards. Looks like I need to turn left and go about a mile.”
Before she could turn the key in the ignition, though, Oz reached out and caught her hand. “Thanks for bringing me along,” he said softly, playing with her fingers. “This has been a lot of fun.”
“It has been.” She turned a little bit in her seat to look at him. He wasn’t laughing anymore, but his eyes still held traces of merriment. “What are you thinking about?”
“I’m thinking about that day when we played pool in your dad’s game room.”
“What? Where did that come from?”
“That was the first time I knew I wanted to kiss you.”
When he said that, the memory came flooding back. She and Angie and Cam and Oz had been playing pool together for over an hour, and Cam and Angie were getting bored and put in a movie instead. Oz and Alicia wanted to keep playing, though, so they racked them up again. Alicia was standing in the corner, waiting for her turn, and Oz made an illegal shot. She called him on it, and when he turned to face her, he took a few steps closer. She’d had nowhere to go, and so she was trapped against the wall. She remembered that he’d smelled like root beer and his eyes were intense, and she remembered wondering what it would be like if he took just one more step . . .
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