There were daisies growing in a patch beside him, and he wove a crown as he watched Valerie lying in the grass. He was fairly certain she wasn’t wearing anything under that chemise. Like 99.9 to infinity percent sure. When he was showing her how to use the bow, her chest rose and fell with her breath and he wanted to pull her in tighter to seeif that neckline would dip just the little bit lower he needed. Then she pressed her hips back and he nearly fell over. At first he wasn’t sure if it was an accident, but then he’d caught sight of her wicked smile. He wasn’t totally sure what to do with that. Valerie liked to flirt, but surely that kind of deliberate action meant something real?
“Well, the investigator’s lead was a bust, so we’re back to where we were before.” Valerie’s drowsy voice rose from the grass to interrupt his thoughts. She reached her hand up to count on her fingers. “We have David who has money problems.”
“We have Penny possibly lying about knowing Yvette, based on a bracelet and a photo,” he countered.
“We still might be able to get some information from Tracey Jefferies, if we can find her. I heard Penny mention she’d gone back to the city for a few days.”
“I asked Roger about his friends at the time, and he said his best friend hadn’t come up that summer because he went to Banff, so he mostly hung around alone or with Penny before Yvette.” He handed her the finished flower crown.
“What’s this?” she asked, taking it with curious hands.
“You said you’d have daisies on your family crest because they were your favorite flower,” he said. “I thought a crown of them would match your outfit.”
“Nico, I love it. Put it on me.” She handed it back and bent her head. Goddammit, that neckline drooped as low as he’d previously wished but he couldn’t make out anything but shadows. Unfair. Life was so cruel.
He placed it on her smooth head, and she peeked up. In the faint light from the stage, her face appeared as a line drawing, her features sketched in to show their subtle outline. She was the most dazzling, sparkling woman he’d ever met.
He wanted to kiss her. He had to kiss her. He was dying to feel thoselips, and after he kissed her, he wanted to trace them with his finger.
He could have sworn that she wanted the same thing. But if he was wrong, then they had a very awkward night in a tent together, and a long car ride tomorrow, and then the rest of the summer. He couldn’t risk it. He had to be certain that she wanted this, and it wasn’t simply Valerie playing for the sake of it.
It had to be real.
“It’s getting late,” he said.
Was it his imagination or did she droop a bit? “Right,” she said. “Let me see my flowers first.” She pulled out her phone and checked her appearance. “It’s gorgeous,” she said softly. “Thank you. How did you learn to do crowns?”
“Stefanie showed me the summer I was ten. I made them for everyone and she wore hers until the petals fell off.”
They started back down the hill. “It sounds like the distance wasn’t always there between you,” she said. She slipped slightly and he reached out to steady her. Her skin was so smooth that he worried about catching it on his fingertips, like a silky fabric.
“No.” He frowned as the lute turned into something more rhythmic and disparate cheers rose raggedly from the crowd. This was apparently a fan favorite. The faire was dying down now, with mead-drunk people dancing or wandering through the tents. “I don’t think so, anyway. It kept piling on as we got older.”
They left the faire and the road back to the campground was quiet. He knew Valerie would ask more questions, and didn’t have to wait long. “Do you want to make up with her?”
Nico didn’t say anything at first, then he sighed. “I don’t like the problems it’s causing in the family, but I’m also tired of how she treats me.” He didn’t normally talk to people about his feelings like this, but Valerie made it less difficult.
“Have you told her how you feel?”
“Kind of.”
She waited, and said nothing, and finally he filled in the empty space. “We had a fight, so it might not have come out the best way.”
“Because you let it build until it was too much?”
He wanted to laugh. “Yeah, and now we’re not talking.”
“You could,” she pointed out. “It sounds like you’re thinking about this a lot and would be happier if you fixed it. Or tried to. You could just see what happened if you reached out.”
Nico looked at the big dark sky. What was it like to live in Valerie’s head and have her unwavering faith that things would work out? That this was something he could fix? And there it was again.Just see. See what happens. Don’t worry about certainty.
“What are you thinking about?” she asked when he didn’t answer.
“Whether you’re naive or I’m cynical.” He winced. “God, that sounded terrible. Sorry.”
“It’s interesting that you seem to think believing the best of people is inferior to believing the worst of them.”
He opened his mouth and shut it. She was right. Why did he equate negativity with rationality, and rationality as superior? It took bravery and courage to be optimistic.
