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Could it have something to do with Rudolph’s sudden melancholy? Did it have something to do with the woman in it?
Shelley blew out a breath as she finished washing her hands and then ran them under the air dryer, no closer to an answer by the time she pushed the door open once more. She may have no idea what was going on with the old man. But she did know one thing—she was going to do whatever it took to find out.
* * *
Clark laughed, shaking his head at Valerie. It was Monday night, and this was their third day in a row working on the Hilton house. If he had thought that things had been easy with her when they’d first started working together on Saturday, then they were even more smooth sailing come Monday.
Yesterday there had been other people on site, so he hadn’t gotten to talk to her as much as he’d liked. But that hadn’t stopped him from stealing all the conversation that he could. Tonight, however, they had the place to themselves, and as much as he liked the other people that were helping out, he was glad that it was just the two of them.
“You can’t be serious?” he asked, as Valerie continued to snort laugh. “You really fell off the stage?”
“I did. Headfirst, straight into the crowd.” Valerie nodded, honey eyes dancing with humor.
He shook his head at her, easily imagining the tale that she was weaving. Clark could see it in his mind’s eye, the vision of her at an awards show walking up the stairs, and just as her foot came down on the stage the heel snapped off, sending her tumbling over. He may not have kept up with much in pop culture, but even he was surprised that he hadn’t heard of it, that was something that usually people would have loved to gossip about.
“Now you,” she urged. “You tell me your most embarrassing moment.”
Clark scrunched up his face, thinking for a moment before shrugging. “I don’t think I have one. I don’t get embarrassed easily.”
Valerie rolled her eyes good-naturedly. “Oh, please,” she scoffed. “Have you seen how easy you blush?”
As if on cue, Clark felt heat rise in his cheeks, and a satisfied smirk darted across Valerie’s face. She raised her eyebrows at him, clearly thinking,See? Told you so.
He didn’t answer her though, not when the reason why he blushed around her so easily was sitting on the tip of his tongue. He didn’t get flustered around her because he was embarrassed. He got flustered around her because he found her so beautiful and charming that he couldn’t think straight. But it wasn’t like he could tell her that.
So instead, Clark just shrugged again, and opted for changing the subject.
“What did your family say about it?” he asked, referencing the story that she had just told.
Valerie grew quiet for a moment, long enough that he started to panic that he had misstepped. When she finally began speaking, her voice was pensive.
“It was actually right after my mom died,” she said, her voice thick. “I think that was part of the reason it happened, actually. I hadn’t had time to go out and buy the shoes my stylist had recommended, and so I grabbed an old pair that were similar from my closet. I was so tired that I was walking really hard on them, and I think that’s why the heel broke.”
Clark’s heart gave a pang of sadness at her words. “I didn’t know she was gone. I’m so sorry.”
Valerie had talked about her mother with him before, but she had never told him that the woman had passed away. If he’d known, he never would have asked.
“It’s all right,” she answered softly. “I’ve dealt with it. I still miss her a lot. But that’s life.”
“And your dad?” he asked, worried that he was overstepping by asking, but Valerie just shrugged.
“We aren’t close. He and my mom separated when I was really, really young. I’ve seen him a few times here and there throughout my life. But not enough for him to be a fixture.”
“He never reached out after you got famous?”
She shook her head. “I don’t think he cared very much, if I’m being honest.”
Clark couldn’t help but hurt for the woman before him as she told him her story. He thought of his own family—his mother and father who, at that very moment, were likely having dinner just a few miles away. He had never known what it was like not to have family hovering over him, to not have the support that they provided, and it was something he didn’t like to think about.
And yet, there Valerie was, sitting in front of him talking about being a type of alone that he couldn’t even fathom, all like it was nothing.
“Did I tell you my agent called me about a new movie?” Valerie asked, clearly eager to change the subject.
Clark, more than happy to give her whatever she wanted in that moment, shook his head. “Nope. Tell me all about it.”
And she did. The words began rolling off of her tongue quickly as she recited everything she knew about the role and the offer that came with it. At some point, Clark stopped working and walked over and sat beside her, both of them sitting shoulder to shoulder as she continued her story. And as Valerie opened up to him about how torn she was about it, how much it hurt her sometimes to think that she was “aging out” of Hollywood and leading lady roles and how this might be her last chance to prove to them that she wasn’t done yet, his heart ached for her in an entirely new way.
“There’s one part of me that wants to take it,” Valerie said as she finished telling him all about the new role. “Just to prove to everyone that I have it in me. But there’s another part of me that doesn’t want to be in this world anymore. I’m learning so much here, and I think there might be more to my life than everything I’ve done so far.”
