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“Don’t get me wrong, she’s a beautiful woman,” he answered. “But she didn’t seem all that friendly when she was in the hardware store the other day.”
“I didn’t think she seemed so bad,” Clark said, trying to keep his voice unassuming. But Derek’s mouth ticked up in a knowing smile.
“Of course you didn’t. You’re so smitten with her.”
Clark rolled his eyes. “Not this again.”
Derek didn’t answer immediately as his brown eyes moved from Clark’s face to something behind him. Clark knew that he was standing in front of the living room window, but before he could turn or even ask Derek what he saw, his friend’s smile widened even farther.
“Looks like you’ll have an opportunity to show me just how not smitten you are.”
Derek dipped his head, nodding behind Clark’s shoulder, and Clark whirled to see what he was looking at. Trudging through the snow, her bangs slightly mussed by the wind and her cheeks pink from the cold, was Valerie.
“What is she…” Clark didn’t finish his thought as he turned away from Derek, striding toward the front door.
He pulled it open just as Valerie stepped onto the front porch, and she stopped abruptly. Her eyes widened a bit in shock, like she hadn’t been expecting someone to notice her arrival before she knocked. But the look only lasted for a split second before it melted away into a look of frustration.
“You aren’t at your store,” she stated forcefully, narrowing her eyes on him slightly. “It’s closed.”
“Yes,” Clark answered with a hesitant nod of his head, not entirely sure why she was stating the obvious.
“The sign on the door said you would be open until seven in the evening. But it’s only two!” she argued, her mittened hand flying around wildly as she spoke. Clark knew it wasn’t the point, and Valerie would likely hate it if she could read his mind, but Clark had to admit that she was pretty cute when she was flustered. “How do you expect people to be able to buy things if you don’t remain open when you are actually supposed to be open?”
Clark couldn’t help it. He chuckled at her obstinance and shook his head slightly. “You’re really not used to small towns, are you?”
“What does that have to do with anything?” Valerie asked, and he didn’t know how it was possible, but her eyes narrowed on him even more.
“The store was slow, so I closed it.” He shrugged one shoulder. “If anyone needs anything, they can call me. They know I’ll run right back to the store so they can get whatever they need. It’s kind of what we do around here.”
“Well, how are people from out of town supposed to know how to reach you, hmm?” She took a step toward him, placing her hands on her hips. She looked so comical, her bangs sticking straight up as she glared daggers at him, that Clark had to bite his cheek to keep from laughing. “You live in a town known for tourism at Christmastime. How are people who aren’t from here who need something supposed to find you?”
He gave Valerie a pointed, amused look. “You found me.”
She blinked at him, seeming to realize that she had no argument for that, and had, in fact, just proved his point. A bit of the frustration fell from her face, the crinkles at the side of her glaring eyes easing a bit as her shoulders started to relax.
“I ran into Colette outside of the shop,” she began to explain, her voice less accusing than a moment before. “She told me that you’d be here.”
“And she would have done that for anyone else from out of town. All they’d have to do was ask,” Clark answered with another small laugh that he immediately disguised as a cough as Valerie glared at him again. “I just finished unloading the truck. If you want, we can head back to the shop and you can get whatever you need.”
Her expression softened even more, clearly caught off guard by his offer. “Really?”
“Really.” He nodded in answer.
She seemed to contemplate this for a second, her honey-colored eyes flicking over his shoulder to the house behind him. Curiosity danced in the depths of that gaze, and only a second passed before she cocked her head in question.
“What are you doing here, anyway? It doesn’t look like anyone has lived in this house for a bit. It looks empty through the window.”
Clark glanced over his shoulder. He had half expected Derek to still be standing in the window, hands pressed to the glass and grinning as he watched Clark and Valerie interact. Clark could almost see his friend mouthing the words “smitten” at him and stopped himself from rolling his eyes at the image.
“It’s a project me and a few of the other people that live here are working on,” Clark explained. “Wanna see before we head out?”
Valerie’s eyelids flickered, hesitation and curiosity seeming to war behind her honey-colored gaze. Curiosity, however, seemed to win out.
“Sure,” she said after a brief pause, nodding her head toward the door behind him. “Lead the way.”
Clark gave her an encouraging smile before turning and walking back into the house. He held the door open for Valerie to walk through it, noting the way that her expression continued to grow more and more confused as she stepped into the empty home.
“You know, you’re still technically a stranger,” she mused as she stood in the entryway, turning around and around to take in the derelict space. There were a few holes in the drywall, a bit of wiring hanging from the ceiling where a light fixture had been removed, and she paid particular attention to small droplets of red paint on the tile floor left over from the previous owner. “And there are plenty of horror movies that tell me going into this house with you is a very bad idea.”
