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Valerie shook her head, not turning to look at him as she wiped the hand that was now coated in a thin layer of dust off on her pants. “I’ve only ever lived in California. My mom was a single mother, who had to work multiple jobs to make sure that I was provided for. And out there, in L.A., things have always been a little faster, a little more cutthroat.” She paused and laughed again. “If anyone ever saw us struggling, they looked the other way.”
“That’s kind of sad,” Clark blurted without thinking.
He immediately wished that he could take the words back, realizing that they were likely a massive overstep. He didn’t know her, not really. Definitely not enough to comment on the sadness of her past. And as Valerie turned to face him, Clark braced himself for the onslaught that he was suddenly very certain was coming. But when her eyes met his, there was no awkwardness there, or frustration that he’d commented on something so deeply personal. Instead, there was just a quiet contemplation, like she had never really thought of it in that manner.
“It kind of is, isn’t it?” Valerie answered, cocking her head to the side and giving him a grateful look before turning her back on him and striding down the hallway.
Clark followed after her, and when she stopped at the foot of the stairs he stopped as well. Valerie pointed up them, a silent question to which Clark just nodded in answer.
They began their ascent, neither one of them talking, and the only sound in the house were their hushed foot falls against the carpet. The silence wasn’t an awkward one though, and that surprised Clark. It wasn’t often that people felt comfortable not filling the space with idle chitchat.
Once they were at the top of the stairs, he took her from room to room, watching the way her face lit up and changed when he told her what they were going to do with each, and by the end, Valerie was grinning from ear to ear.
“This is a really amazing thing that you all are doing for them,” she said, her voice filled with awe as she looked back at Clark.
Pride swelled in his chest at her words, and he tried to stuff it down, but he couldn’t quite get it to go away.
“They’d do the same for me,” he answered, shrugging one shoulder like it wasn’t that big of a deal. “If you want, we can get going and head to the hardware store now.”
Valerie blushed, suddenly looking a bit embarrassed as she shifted from one foot to the other. Clark’s brow furrowed as he watched her.
“What is it?” he asked.
“I’d almost forgotten why I’d come here,” she admitted, glancing down at her feet. “But it seems ridiculous now.”
“What does?” Clark asked, studying her features as she spoke. It was the first time he’d seen her nervous, and he found it endearing in a way that he hadn’t expected.
Her blush deepened, and she didn’t turn to look at him.
“Stain remover. I spilled something on the bedspread at the Warm and Bright and didn’t want to bug the staff, so I figured I’d clean it myself. And everyone in town seems to use you as the general store. So it was the only place I could think to go. But after all this…” She raised her hands and indicated the house around them. “It seems a little silly to be worried about it in comparison.”
“It isn’t silly.” He chuckled, shaking his head at her good-naturedly. “Stain remover is important. So we’ll go get it taken care of.”
Her eyes flicked up to meet his. “Thank you.”
Her voice sounded so hesitant and so genuine that Clark felt his heart give a small tug, which he promptly ignored. The last thing he wanted to do was entertain it and give Derek more fuel for his teasing.
“No need. Now let’s get going.”
She smiled and followed after him as they made their way back through the house. When they stepped out onto the front porch, only Clark’s truck was in the driveway. It wasn’t a surprise. Derek had said that he’d be leaving. But it wasn’t until the sight of the fresh tire tracks in the snow of the driveway that it really hit him that his friend had left him alone with Valerie Bernard. Clark was almost positive that if he got out his phone right that moment, there would be a slew of teasing, suggestive texts from his best friend.
“Need a ride?” he asked Valerie, pushing all thoughts of Derek and of what he may or may not have texted out of his mind. “You walked here, right?”
She smiled at him and gave a quick nod. “If you don’t mind. I’m not that used to the cold yet.”
Clark didn’t comment on the fact that it would take longer than she was planning to stay to get used to this kind of cold, especially when she had grown up in California, as they made their way to the truck. He pulled open the passenger side door for her, giving her time to climb up into the seat and get settled before closing it gently.
And as he walked around the front of the truck, pulling open his own door and sliding into the seat, he tried as hard as he could not to think about just how much he enjoyed the sight of Valerie Bernard sitting on the bench seat to his right.
CHAPTERSEVEN
Shelley smiled to herself as she pulled her shoulder-length dark blonde hair back into a ponytail at the nape of her neck. She stood at the edge of the rink, looking out at some of the boxes and random items that she’d used to mark where the props for the showcase would be. One of her groups of older kids had a class that night, and they would be finalizing their own choreography and she wanted them to be able to see where the obstacles were going to be.
She turned and glanced at the clock on the wall and noted the time. Taking her phone out of her pocket, Shelley brought the screen to life, hit a few keys, and then brought the device to her ear. Rudolph answered on the third ring.
“Yeah?” the old man asked in lieu of a greeting.
“Hey, Rudolph,” Shelley said. “Are you still all right to pick up the pizza?”
