Walker and Valerie

by Annette Stephenson

  “Sure.” I turned to him.

  “I want to apologize again. We jumped the gun today; it is not how we normally work. How did today go with Binary?”

  “It’s fine, I know that. It was good. She taught me a lot. I feel quite comfortable with computer systems now, knowing my way around.”

  “Good, tomorrow we will have a real install for you to go out on. Then you can see how it all works together,” he said.

  “Great, I will be ready to go at 8:00 a.m.,” I said.

  “You are catching on quick. I like that. Have a good night, Walker.”

  I shut down the station I was using and headed to the gym downstairs. I wanted to go through one of the routines Ammo set up for me. It would help let go some of the stress of Jessica being in the same city as me. I talked to Ammo about joining the Saturday afternoon yoga group with Charity. Then a movie afterward at Greer would round out my night. I was hoping that Val might be there.

  Chapter 8

  Valerie

  It was Saturday. The busiest day. It was 3:30 in the afternoon and I had to dump all my popcorn. I had to call my exterminator to come for an emergency call. Someone had put cockroaches in my popcorn! Luckily, they were contained to that area and did not get anywhere else. Lucky, I got ahold of my exterminator and he got it. I had a theater full of people and did not need anyone freaking out about roaches.

  “Valerie, this is not how they behave. They like paper, not grain in airtight containers. Someone planted them,” he explained. Who would do this to me?

  Between him and my two part-time high school kids, the mess was contained and cleaned up. But I had no popcorn. A movie theater with no popcorn on a Saturday. Ugh, so not good.

  “Hey, Val, how are you today?” Walker’s deep voice had me turning to him. He was the only one who called me Val. I knew it was a common nickname for Valerie, but no one used it for me.

  “Not good, Walker, not good,” I said.

  “What can I do to help?” He looked like he was ready to do anything I asked of him.

  “I am out of popcorn.” I didn’t even know where you could get some at this time of day on a Saturday. My wholesaler was closed.

  He looked on his phone for a few moments. “Okay, I will be back, within forty-five minutes,” he said, and left before I could say anything.

  My two high schoolers, Blake and Vikki, looked at me. “I don’t know. Let’s give nachos at the price for a medium popcorn, and pretzels and hot dogs at half price in the meantime.” I didn’t know what else to do. I was still stuck on who would do this to me.

  I had six employees altogether. I was the only one who was full-time. Gabby and Tony were my part-time assistant managers. Blake and Vikki were the only high schoolers. The other two were retires that wanted to do more than sit around the house. Lillie and Millie were twins who liked the night shift and cleaned like nobody’s business. None of these people would do this. They had proven their loyalty time and time again.

  For the next forty minutes we offered the discounted nachos, pretzels, and hot dogs. Vikki came up with a story to tell the patrons, the popcorn had accidentally gotten wet and could not be popped. Blake added to the story of how klutzy he could be. They played their story so well the patrons never thought something else might have happened. I don’t know how I got so lucky hiring these two kids, but they were some of the best I ever had.

  Blake looked up and ran for the door. I followed him with my eyes. There was Walker with a fifty-pound box of popcorn. I didn’t know where he got it, but right now I was so thankful. The nachos would not last much longer. Blake showed Walker where the popcorn went and started to make a fresh batch for the incoming patrons.

  “Walker, thank you. Thank you is not even enough.” I looked at him. He was in a black sweater and jeans today. Those jeans molded to his legs, showing how powerful they were.

  “No big deal. How can you see a movie without popcorn?” He gave me one of his killer smiles.

  “Let me get some money so I can pay you for it. Did you get a receipt by chance?” I did need that for my records.

  He pulled out a Costco receipt from his pocket and handed it over. I looked at it and saw he had bought two boxes. It was plenty to get me through till my order came in on Monday. “Blake, could you go out with Walker and get the other one from his car, please?”

  “Sure.” He went around the counter to follow Walker out.

  “Wow, Valerie, is he real?” Vikki asked me as I counted out the money from the till for him.

  “Yeah, he is.” All I could think about was what the reason behind why he had done this. They came back in with the other box. Blake went to go store it.

  “Here, Walker, seriously, thank you.” I handed him the money. I could tell it made him completely uncomfortable. He wouldn’t take it. “Okay, five free movies, with a number one for each. Deal?”

  He shook his head.

  Ugh. “Fine, one date.”

  “Make it two and you have a deal,” he countered.

  I put the money back in the drawer. “Fine.” I was not thrilled with this, but I kept trying to tell myself like Gabby said, I could do worse. We had been talking every night while I was enjoying getting to know him, but I was still on the fence. Now I had two dates with him, ugh. I could do worse. He had told me he would be in today to see a movie. “What movie did you come to see today?” I asked him.

  “Don’t have one picked out, so you choose. And I’ll have a Seltzer Water with it.” I looked at him and made the decision for him. Vikki brought over his drink and Blake got the popcorn.

  “$12.50, with your veteran’s discount. Theater four.” I smiled at him. He handed over his card. I hoped he would like the movie. At this time, I only had the big popular blockbusters playing, or the kids’ movie. I went with the action film for him, since I’d already tortured him with the kids’ movie.

  Blake went to clean theater one while Vikki went to clean the washrooms. I handled the next group of patrons coming in. Armed with the popcorn for them, I knew it would be much smoother sailing for the rest of the night. Tony was my weekend manager. He used to be part of an acting troupe in the area, but he didn’t get along with the stage manager. He approached me about audience participation movies. I said as long as any mess was cleaned up by the time I came in on Tuesday morning, I was fine with it. So, Saturday at midnight he ran the movies and then even got the audience to help clean up their mess. Lillie and Millie never said it got too messy for them to clean, so all was good in my book.

  It was just about 5:00 when Tony came in. “Hey, Valerie, how’s today been?”

  “We need to talk, but not here. Blake should be back from his break in just a minute and we can go to my office,” I said. I looked up and realized I’d said that wrong.

  “Oh, Tony, nothing about you. Not like that. Oh good, Blake, we will be back shortly. We have to talk about the wet popcorn.” Blake nodded at me and took care of the next patron.

  Tony and I went to my office. He took a seat. I went to my side of the desk and pulled out Walker’s receipt so I could log it. “This afternoon Blake went to make fresh popcorn, and we couldn’t. There were roaches in it! We called Joe the exterminator. He came over immediately and took care of everything. He and Blake cleaned everything. Vikki came up with a story about the popcorn got wet and could not be popped. Blake said he was a klutz, so it looks like an accident to anyone who asked why we didn’t have popcorn.” I watched Tony’s mouth drop, then close, and then he was shaking his head.

  “Those kids should do improv. I see everything was resolved since you have popcorn now. Do we know how this happened? We have never had a bug problem here.”

  “Joe said they were planted. Roaches cannot get into airtight containers and not be anywhere else. Especially with all the other food we have. I looked at the footage, but I see nothing. I was going to call Domino on Monday to see if they could review the footage as well. One of Domino’s guys, Walker, came in just after Joe l
eft. He went to Costco and got us two fifty-pound boxes of popcorn, so we are set for the weekend. I am going to put in an order for Monday to restock the popcorn, and other food. Then I am going to go home. I will leave a note for you and Gabby of what I order so you can check it in. Sorry to do that to you guys.” I normally had the delivery come Tuesday so I was here to accept it, but I didn’t want to run out of anything, so a Monday delivery was needed to restock the food we discounted today.

  “That is fine. We have told you before, you hired us to assist; you let us do that. You spend way too much time here as it is. Two days off a week is barely enough for you with how much you put into this place. I know you’re going to say it’s a labor of love, but really, Valerie, you know we can handle it,” Tony said, daring me to challenge him.

  “You’re right Tony. Thank you for everything. Call me if you have problems?” I said to him.

  “You know I will. I am going to go help Blake and Vikki. Let me know when you leave.” He got up and walked out, closing my door behind him.

  I got to work logging the receipt and I placed my order and set it up to deliver Monday. Thankful the wholesaler I used was online even though they were closed. Lastly, I reviewed the security footage again. I saw nothing. I sent off an email to Domino asking him to call me Monday so we could talk. It was almost 6:00 now. I was tired and just wanted to be home. I called the taxi service that I normally used that had handicapped accessible vans; they were busy till after 8:00. I called two more. It looked like I was either going to be waiting till after 8:00 tonight or I could just do it myself. Ugh, I just wanted to be home.

  Chapter 9

  Walker

  The movie was great, filled with explosions. All it was missing were some zombies to make it perfect for me. But not all movies were perfect. I walked out to the lobby hoping to see Val. I only saw Blake and another guy behind the counter. I walked up to Blake. “Hey, Blake, is Val still here?”

  “Yeah, she is in her office. Do you know where it is?” he asked. The other guy slapped him on the arm, glaring at Blake. “Oh, Tony, this is Walker. Walker, this is Tony, the weekend manager. Tony, he’s the one that saved the day today.”

  I stuck out my hand to shake Tony’s. “Hi, I am Walker. I am one of Domino’s guys. I am not here to cause any problems.”

  Tony seemed to be assessing me before he shook my hand. “Nice to meet you. Sorry, just being careful you know.”

  “No apology needed. It is nice to see that her staff is dedicated to her and this place,” I said. “So where was her office?”

  “It’s under theater three. Look for the gold knob on the door; you may not see the door right away,” Blake said, and started helping a patron.

  “Thanks, good to meet you both. See you soon.” I moved out of the way to let others get their tickets and popcorn. I headed over to theater three. I looked at the wall. It looked like the rest, but then I saw the doorknob. Her grandfather really was a very skilled carpenter to hide the door the way he did. I knocked.

  “Enter,” I heard her say.

  I opened the door and stepped in. She had her head in hands, looking completely defeated. “Val, what’s wrong?” I shut the door and went to her side. My training took over and I started assessing her pale skin and dry lips. I found her pulse and started counting.

  She tried to push me away. “Walker, what are you doing?”

  I finished counting. “Sorry, once a medic always a medic. It’s part of what I did in the army. Some habits die hard. You are dehydrated. Did you eat at all today? You are a bit shaky.” I spotted a bottle of water on her desk. I picked it up; it was unopened. I cracked it open and gave it to her.

  She drank deeply. “Um …” She was thinking. If she was thinking this hard about if she ate or not, she didn’t eat.

  “Val, you didn’t eat today, did you?” I looked in her eyes to see if she would lie to me.

  “No, I don’t think I did. Right now, I just want to get home. I am going to go.” She tried to roll around me, but I was not moving.

  “How are you getting home?” I asked her.

  She waved her hands at me. “How else would I get home? All the taxi services are busy until after 8:00 tonight. So please move so I can go home.”

  I stayed right where I was. “Val, may I offer you a ride home?”

  “Do you just happen to have a wheelchair accessible vehicle in your back pocket, Walker?” She was getting very snippy. I liked it.

  “Well, there normally is one parked next to my Jeep in the garage, but I happen to know Domino and Charlotte took it tonight to see a school event for the girls. So right now, no. But I do own a vehicle I can get you in and take you safely home.”

  She sat there looking at her hands. They were shaking slightly still. “Val, please let me get you some food and take you home before you collapse on me.”

  “Fine,” she quietly said. I got her jacket from the hook on the wall and helped her put it on. She wheeled herself out of her office. I followed her out. She stopped to talk to Tony and Blake.

  “I am going to pull up out front,” I said quietly to her, so as to not interrupt their conversation. I headed out to the parking lot and got in my Jeep. I pulled it up to the front doors to where Val sat waiting for me. I opened the passenger door and she had pulled up closer to the vehicle.

  “Walker, I can’t get up that high,” she said.

  “I know, Val. You are going to have to let me pick you up. May please pick you up to get you in the Jeep?” I asked her. I knew she was going to hate having her control and independence taken like this, but it was the only way I had at this moment.

  She nodded.

  “Okay, Val, arms around my neck and here we go.” I leaned in, scooping her up, then placed her gently on the seat. I helped move her legs, so she was seated comfortably. I handed her the buckle. I shut her door and took her chair to the back and lifted it into the cargo hold. I walked to my side and got in. “Comfy?”

  “Yes, thank you.”

  “What do you have to eat at home?”

  “Soup … probably.” She was thinking. I wondered when she last went to the store.

  “What kind of food do you like or not like, Val?”

  “I am really picky. I cannot have dairy, and I don’t like spicy. I am sure I’ve got some soup at home.”

  “Do you like chicken and vegetables?” I was not letting her just have soup; it was not enough.

  “No peppers of any kind. I’d rather have tofu than chicken,” she said.

  I pulled out my phone and sent a text to April. She would know what to do. She texted it would be ready in fifteen minutes. I started to head over to the restaurant.

  “Walker, my house is the other way,” she stated.

  “We are getting food first, then home. You need more than just maybe soup,” I explained.

  “I don’t remember agreeing to dinner. You are very bossy.”

  “You said fine when I asked you if I could get you food and take you home. And I am not exactly sorry about being bossy. You didn’t take care of yourself today. So, I will help you do that. It’s what would do for anyone who is my friend.”

  Her shaking was getting worse. I should have made her grab something from the theater. I called April. “April, do you have any juice?”

  “Orange or pineapple?”

  “Val, orange or pineapple?”

  “Pineapple, but I don’t need juice.” Val was annoyed.

  “Pineapple, please. Thanks, April.” I hung up.

  “Why are you doing this?” She was so feisty.

  “Because you are my friend, and you need a little help,” I said as patiently as possible.

  “We are friends? I thought you were still just trying to get a date with me.”

  Ugh, this woman. “Val, we agreed to try to be friends the first time we talked on the phone. That was Tuesday. And you just agreed to two dates tonight, though this does not count as one since this is a ride home.”

&nbs
p; “Oh yeah, we did.” She hung her head. “Walker, I am sorry I have not been a very good friend so far.”

  “It’s okay, Val. One day we will be more than friends, but until you are ready for that we can at least build a friendship.” I gave her my winning smile.

  She smiled back at me. “You are persistent.”

  “Yes, Val, but it’s for a good reason.” I pulled up to the restaurant. Val looked out the window at it.

  “Thai? Isn’t that spicy?” She looked back at me.

  “It can be, but the Chimpongs are different, you will see. I will be right back.” I hopped out; April had the bag ready for me at the counter. I paid and thanked her.