WG2E All-For-Indies Anthologies: Viva La Valentine Edition

by Scott, D. D.

  Not a figment of her imagination.

  As the blurred outline of his body appeared, and he stepped into the slice of sunlight coming through the tiny basement window, she pinched herself.

  Not a dream.

  Even though her legs shook with the urge to run, she stood her ground and fear morphed into anger. “Gramps, why are you here?”

  “I told you last night, bumpkin.” He laid his right hand against his chest as though he’d been mortally wounded. “You must talk to your grandma. Convince her she’s making a mistake. Morty can’t be trusted.”

  Amanda glared at the white glow shimmering around his familiar form. “You’re not my grandfather. You’re a ghost. Crap, just leave me alone.”

  “Don’t swear, bumpkin.”

  “That’s not swearing.” She gave a determined tug on the bottom of her sweatshirt, stepped around him, pulled open the door, and headed upstairs.

  In the porch, she noticed the yellow can of whipping cream by the back door, and as she headed up to the kitchen, saw her mom standing at the cupboard, stirring a bowl of batter. “Morning, Mom.”

  “Good morning, honey. Look who stopped in to say hello.”

  As Amanda stepped into the kitchen, she tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear, and stared at the man sitting at the table with her dad. With nowhere to run, she took a single step back. “Dad, you didn’t tell me we had company.”

  Her dad twisted on his chair to face her. As soon as he saw her ratty sweatshirt, with the gravy stain down the front, and the baggy sweats she’d worn on the trip from the city, his warm smile evaporated. He turned back to his guest. “She, uh, usually looks better than this.”

  “Looks just like the Mandy I remember.” Dane Weatherby, Morty’s grandson, unfolded his big body from the kitchen chair and over six feet of hunky man stood before her. His familiar green eyes were filled with laughter and something else. Something that looked an awfully lot like affection. “All you need is a box of Valentine chocolates to complete the image of the adorable girl I remember.”

  She made a face. “Ha ha and hello.”

  He moved toward her, his broad shoulders shifting the bulky material of his winter coat. A slow, easy, sexy smile turned up the edges of his mouth as he grinned down at her and held out both arms. “Give me a hug, your Grinchness.”

  Mesmerized by the memory of their friendship, Amanda stepped against his chest and he closed his arms around her. She inhaled the scent of man and aftershave, and desire sizzled through her body.

  Oh no.

  Amanda pushed out of his arms.

  He rocked back on his heels, seemingly unaware of her sudden retreat, his gaze flicking over her. “It’s obvious I came at a bad time. Should I go?”

  In unison, her mom and dad turned to him. “No. Stay for lunch.”

  Dane stared at Amanda and Amanda stared back, and all of a sudden it occurred to her that he was waiting for her permission.

  Her gaze swept down his lanky length, taking in the breadth of shoulders beneath his winter jacket, the easy stance that suggested a confidence he hadn’t had back in high school. They’d both been shy, leaning on each other to get through the awkward years of adolescence. Best friend forever.

  The beeper on the oven sounded, breaking the tension between them, and her mom opened the oven door and adjusted the cooking racks. “Dane is Morty’s best man.”

  “Nice. My date.” Amanda smirked up at him. “Just don’t expect any side benefits.”

  Tom cleared his throat. “Side benefits?”

  “Just kidding, Dad.”

  Dane leaned forward slightly and she caught another hint of warm, delicious male. “So are you still on the anti-Valentine kick?”

  “Definitely, so don’t be bringing me any heart shaped chocolates or diamond rings.”

  The rich sound of his laughter filled the room and sent another sizzle through her body. As she flushed, she caught a glimpse of herself in the shiny surface of the toaster, and swallowed back a groan.

  What with the way she was dressed and the fact that she hadn’t showered, she was pretty sure the attraction was all one sided. She forced herself to frown up at him. “Well, it was great to see you again, Dane. I was — uh, yeah, that’s it — headed to the shower but I ran out of soap. I’ll just continue on with that and see you at the wedding.”

  Her mom closed the oven door and stood up, her face flushed from the heat. “Actually, you’ll be seeing a lot of each other. Your grandma has a list of things to do before the wedding and Dane has been kind enough to offer his help.”

  Before she could open her mouth to object, the shadowy form of her grandpa took shape before her. He took a swing at Dane, but it passed through his body. “Morty, you stay away from my woman.”

  Without thinking, Amanda said to her grandpa, “This isn’t Morty.”

  The room turned silent and Amanda looked back at Dane. He was staring down at her with a perplexed expression on his face. When he spoke, he enunciated each word like she was a stupid child. “I’m. Dane. Remember?”

  Beside Dane, her grandpa George appeared confused until he tugged off his glasses, held them up to the light, and squinted through them. “Damn things. I told the eye doctor I needed a new prescription.”

  “Good grief, this is embarrassing,” she muttered to herself.

  Her grandpa nudged her in the shoulder. “Tell him you object to the wedding and you won’t allow it.”

  Dane grunted. “You okay, Mandy? You seem sort of off.”

  “It’s my Valentine grinchness peeking out.” She folded her hands together behind her back, rocked on the balls of her feet, and gave him her most disarming smile. “And how have you been?”

  With a laugh and a shake of his head, he brushed past her, heading for the porch behind her. “Mr. and Mrs. G. Thanks for the coffee. I’ll take a rain check on lunch and come back later, after Mandy has a chance to shower and put on makeup and, you know, get presentable.”

  And then he was gone. Through the kitchen window, Amanda watched him walk along the sidewalk until he was out of sight.

  Wow, he’d matured into a real hunk. Still the same smartass but the hunkiness kind of made up for it.

  Behind her, Amanda heard a noise and she turned to see her grandma shuffle into the room, a black marble box tucked beneath her arm.

  Grandpa George glided across the room, his feet two inches off the floor, and crooned, “Elvira, my sweet wife. I miss you, my love.”

  Grandma set the box on the countertop. Dora stopped beating the batter and gave the urn the evil eye. “Elvira, I’ve told you a hundred times not to put that thing on my countertop.”

  Grandpa winked at Amanda. “That’s my ashes in there. See how much my dear wife still loves me. Can’t bear to be apart from me.”

  Grandma sniffed the air. “Tom, did you switch your aftershave? It smells like your dad in here.”

  Tom pushed himself away from the table and went to rummage in the fridge. “You’re imagining things, Ma.”

  “Am not.” Grandma spied Amanda. “Finally, you’re up. You can drive me to the cemetery today.” She waved one hand toward the black marble box. “I want to pick out a plot and bury your grandpa’s ashes before the wedding.”

  Grandpa howled out in anger and glided towards Amanda, stopping only when he stood nose to nose with her. “If you don’t help me stop this wedding, I’m going to haunt you for the rest of forever.”

  And with that, her grandpa was gone, vanished in a brilliant poof of light that made Amanda blink and stumble back.

  Three

  The rest of forever could last an eternity, Amanda thought as she went downstairs to shower and change. By the time she headed back upstairs to collect Grandma, she’d decided to have a heart to heart discussion with the older woman to find out exactly why she was in such a rush to get married.

  In the kitchen, the heart shaped cake pans had been filled with batter and placed in the oven to bake.

/>   “I’m ready to leave now, Grandma,” she called out as she wandered through the kitchen and into the empty living room. “Hello? Is anybody in the house?”

  Odd. It wasn’t like her parents to leave the oven on while they were away.

  Grandma came out of her room, the black urn clutched in her arms. She shoved it at Amanda. “Here, hold this thing while I put on my coat and boots.”

  Amanda caught the urn in her arms. Surprised at how heavy it was, she juggled it into one arm, dug into her jacket pocket for the car keys, and thumbed the car starter button. After Grandma had her coat and boots on, Amanda handed back the urn. “I’ll meet you in the car. I just want to poke my head into the garage to see if Mom or Dad is there and let them know we’re gone.”

  As her grandma headed out the front door, Amanda carried her boots to the back door, slipped them on, and headed outside. The chill in the air seeped through her jacket, and as she huddled deeper into the folds, she followed footsteps through the unshovelled snow to the garage. Opening the side door, she stepped inside. “Dad? Mom?”

  While her eyes adjusted to the dimness inside, she noted that both cars were parked in the garage. She was about to leave when her attention focused on the yellow can of whipping cream on the dash of her mom’s car and the action in the backseat.

  In the dimly lit garage, she saw her dad’s naked butt a split second before she met his startled gaze. She turned and in the mad dash to escape, tripped over the door sill. Before she hit the snow on all fours, she found her balance and didn’t stop until she reached her car, climbed inside, and slumped against the seat.

  “Did you find your parents?”

  In an effort to block out the images, Amanda sat forward, fished the keys out of her pocket, and stuck one into the ignition. “Do up your seatbelt, Grandma.”

  Grandma snapped on the belt and settled into the seat, the urn on her lap.

  Slipping on her own seatbelt, Amanda stuck the car into gear, checked the rearview mirror, and did a U-turn on the street.

  “I have something for you.” Beside her, the elderly woman dug through her purse until she produced a heart shaped air freshener, which she hung over the car mirror. “There, a little wedding cheer for your car.”

  Tacky, but cute. The tart cinnamon scent of the air freshener filled Amanda’s nostrils and she inhaled deeply. If she was lucky, the chemicals in the scent would fry out the part of her brain that retained short term memories. “Thanks, Grandma.”

  With one gloved hand, Grandma stroked the smooth top of the urn. “Look how flushed you are. You should get more exercise, like your mom and dad. Every afternoon, they leave the house. Your mom says they go for a nice long walk around town.”

  “Right. That’s probably where they are now.” Amanda ground her teeth together, pretty sure she was never getting the image of her dad’s naked butt out of her head.

  “We’re using your mom’s car for the wedding,” Grandma continued, and Amanda decided right then and there that she was walking down the street to the community hall. “I’ve made arrangements with Morty and Dane to decorate the car tomorrow morning. You can help them.”

  “Sure.” As long as she didn’t have to get inside the car.

  At the end of the street, Amanda steered left and drove the short distance to the outskirts of town, where the cemetery resided next to the Lutheran church.

  “Morty wants to be buried beside me.”

  “He does?” Amanda shot a glance at her grandma to see if she was serious. “But what about his first wife?”

  And his second and third, she wanted to add. Hadn’t Gramps said the other man had been married three times?

  “She’s buried back east, but the family is all here now. Besides, Morty claims I was his first love.” Grandma smiled, a faraway look in her eyes. “He’s so sweet. Always sending me flowers and writing me love notes.”

  “Fricking Morty,” Grandpa George moaned from the back seat, startling Amanda once again. She glanced in the rear view mirror and saw his glower. “I knew it. The moment I laid eyes on the bastard, I knew he was going to cause me nothing but grief.”

  Amanda gulped back a moan of her own and gripped the steering wheel tighter. Feeling desperate, she asked, “But you loved Grandpa, didn’t you?”

  Grandma smiled sadly and stroked a hand across the top of the urn. “Of course, but he’s gone now and I’m lonely.”

  “Fricking bastard, fricking bastard, fricking bastard.” Grandpa kicked at the backseat and his foot came through the console beside Amanda. She jumped, but fortunately Grandma was humming a tune and staring out the side window.

  By the time they reached the cemetery, Grandpa had worked himself into an angry knot of frustration, and Amanda felt heartsick. Without her sunglasses, she squinted against the brightness of the sun as it reflected off the snow and looked for Dane’s truck.

  Grandma pulled an envelope out of her purse. “While we’re waiting for them, will you please read this to me?”

  Amanda pulled a tissue thin piece of paper out of the envelope and carefully opened it up. It was covered with hand drawn images of smooching lips and Valentine hearts. The penmanship was exquisite. “Be My Valentine.”

  Grandma released a blissful sigh. “How romantic. Morty sure knows how to treat a woman.”

  “Flowers and love notes?” Grandpa roared from the back seat. “She said those things weren’t important. How could she have lied to me all these years?”

  Across the parking lot, a midnight blue half ton pulled into an empty parking space. Dane climbed out of the driver’s side and walked around to the passenger side to assist Morty out of the cab. He looked tall and strong, and Amanda recalled the way he smelled as he’d wrapped his arms around her. The memory set off a spark of desire deep within her body.

  In direct contrast, Morty appeared frail, his shoulders hunched, a cane in his hand to steady his balance.

  “Isn’t he handsome?” her grandma swooned like a sixteen year old groupie.

  In the backseat, Grandpa George snorted. “Morty’s a wimp. A wussy. A girlie-man.”

  Grandma pulled on the door handle. “Come along, dear. We don’t want to keep our men waiting.”

  Our men? She shook her head. Dane didn’t belong to her. They’d never had that kind of relationship. “I’ll be right there, Grandma.”

  While Grandma climbed out of the vehicle to scurry across the parking lot to meet her fiancée and Dane, Amanda turned toward the back seat and leaned against the car door. “Are you okay, Grandpa?”

  “She said she loved me. She promised never to love another.” He kicked at the backseat, his foot once again coming through the console, but this time Amanda was ready for it and barely jumped at all.

  She reached out to pat his arm, but her hand went through him, so she dropped her hand on her lap. “The love-you-forever vows ended when you died.”

  “Elvira, my honey, my dear darling wife,” Grandpa George moaned, the shadows of his face elongated by the depths of his sorrow. “You have to stop her, bumpkin. She’s insane with grief. She’d have to be insane to marry that bastard Morty.”

  Amanda thought of the silly love note that had made her grandma smile like a young woman in love. And along with that thought, she recalled the fact that Morty had three wives, two of which Grandma didn’t seem to know about. “Fine. I’m in. What do you want me to do?”

  “Tell her I’m still here. Tell her I still love her.”

  “She’ll think I’m insane.”

  “God damn it, Amanda. Tell her I forbid her to marry that old fool Morty.” He dropped his head into the curve of his open hands and mumbled, “Sorry. I didn’t mean to shout at you like that. I’d like to be alone for a while, if you don’t mind.”

  “It’ll be okay, Gramps.” She hooked a thumb over her shoulder. “I’ll just be over there, if you come up with a better plan.”

  The door behind her swung open and she would’ve fallen backward into the snow if Da
ne hadn’t been there to catch her under the arms. Startled, she stared up at him and he stared back at her, and for just a moment, she thought she saw something more in his gaze, something that warmed her body and made her think of the wow factor.

  Oh, and hot sweaty sex. With him.Preferably not in the backseat of her mom’s car.

  She blinked away the sensation of his touch. “Hey there.”

  He blinked back. “Your grandma sent me to see if you were getting out of the car.”

  “I’m half there.” She smiled up at him. “You look weird upside down.”

  “So do you. It makes your nose look big and your chin crooked. Kind of grinchly.”

  “Thanks. I appreciate your honesty.”

  “No problem. What are best friends for?” He pulled her the rest of the way out of the car and stood her on her feet.

  Amanda glanced back in the car, saw her grandpa still brooding, and softly closed the door behind her. She looked past Dane, where Grandma and Morty were stomping through the snow toward a distant area. “Well, I guess we should join them.”

  Dane stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jacket and fell into step beside her. “So what do you really think about your grandma marrying my grandpa?”

  She shot a glance his way, noting that he’d matched his long stride to her shorter one. “It seems like it happened awfully quick.”

  He shrugged, his broad shoulders shifting beneath the jacket, sending something wickedly smooth to Amanda’s stomach. “At their age, I guess they don’t have a lot of time to waste with all the usual dating rituals.”

  “You mean flowers and love notes? Like Be My Valentine?”

  He quirked one brow at her. “Your mom is hoping Elvira’s wedding will give you some ideas.”

  Amanda almost choked. Beneath her jacket, she started to sweat. “She told you that?”

  “Another wedding, bumpkin?”

  Amanda jerked back, surprised by Grandpa’s appearance, horrified by Dane’s revelation. “No.”

  Dane stopped and faced her, a disappointed expression on his face. “Right. You’re not the type of woman who’s going to appreciate the significance of a man getting down on one knee to propose. You’re so unromantic, Mandy.”