Page 75 of Never Your Valentine

“How long have you been working for Felix?” he asks.

“Since today.”

“Really? You looked so professional. I thought, there’s an outdoors woman if I’ve ever seen one.”

“This is a one-off,” she says.

“What do you do? I mean, I know you’re not a stripper. That really was a joke.”

The others are far ahead now and it’s just Annabelle and Brick. She’s walking on the far side of the path, but Brick keeps maneuvering closer to her. One more step and he’s going to push her into a pine tree.

“I have my own business,” she says.

“No kidding? Me too. My company does residential and office window cleaning.”

“Oh.”

“It’s not flashy, but it pays the bills. We’re going to open a second branch next year.”

“Uh huh.”

“How about you? What’s your business?”

“Nunya,” I say from behind him.

Brick stops and glares over his shoulder. “What’s that mean?”

“Nunya business,” I say. “You all right, Annabelle?”

“Yep. We’re almost there.”

We hustle to catch up to the group while Brick mumbles behind us, “Can’t take a joke. Can’t be friendly. What can you do?”

There’s an open field in front of us where we’ve set up four targets painted with glow paint. Felix passes out bows and quivers of arrows with LED filaments in the shaft. He lays a rope of LED lights on top of the snow twenty yards from the target and warns everyone to stand behind the line at all times.

The four of them don’t even pretend to listen to Felix’s instructions. They’re already notching arrows, pulling strings, and bragging on their skill.

Annabelle and I watch for a bit, then stand even farther back as these clowns try to outshine each other. It’s not going well.

“What do you think?” I ask her.

“I’m waiting for my moment,” she says.

“You’ll know when it is.”

We watch a bit longer. “I think Tim can shoot,” she says. “The rest of them are just playing.”

“Can you take him?”

“I can take him.”

“That’s my girl.”

I’m suddenly overheated. Maybe it’s from the fast walk here. Maybe it’s the repressed desire to slug Brick. Or maybe it’s the smile Annabelle gives me when I call her my girl. I have to unzip my jacket and fan the sides until I cool off.

After half an hour, when the guys have tired themselves out and are starting to lose interest, Felix invites Annabelle to join in. As soon as she touches a bow, the four of them fall over themselves trying to teach her how to shoot, even though they just learned a few minutes ago.

“Use this one,” Tim says. “It’s a beginner bow, so you should be able to pull it.”