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“What are you two getting into this evening?” she asked, shooting a glance over her shoulder to where Rudolph had stood just moments before. Sometime between when Valerie and Clark had entered the building, the old man had scurried away, and Shelley made a mental note to track him down later.
“I’m giving her a tour of the town,” Clark explained, giving her a recap of all the places that he wanted to take Valerie.
Normally, Shelley would be over the moon about what her friend was telling her, thinking about how long she had been in Snowy Pine Ridge and that, somehow, in all that time she had never seen him quite as happy as he was in that moment. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t pull her mind away from her worries about Rudolph, and thinking of the way he had blanched when his gaze had landed on Valerie Bernard.
Before long, the woman in question had finished up with her adoring fans, turning back to both Shelley and Clark with a smile on her face. She apologized for the interruption, and then the three of them continued their conversation about all the things that they’d been doing so far in town.
Shelley was a bit surprised as Valerie stood talking to her, taken aback by how down-to-earth the actress seemed. With her immersion into the sports world, Shelley was no stranger to celebrities. And unfortunately, a lot of them tended to lose sight of the fact that they were humans before they were stars. And yet, Valerie Bernard seemed to be much humbler than Shelley ever would have anticipated.
As they wrapped up their conversation, Clark and his date saying they wanted to get around to playing some of the games and possibly even skating, they all said goodbye. The moment the duo turned away from Shelley, she darted down the hallway that led to Rudolph’s office. She stood for a moment outside the door, listening to make sure that he was inside before she heard the tell-tale sign of his fingers tapping against the keyboard keys.
She knocked once but didn’t wait for his response before barging through the door. The old man’s head shot up from where he sat behind the desk, his eyes narrowing on Shelley instantly.
“What’s going on?” she demanded before he had time to try to kick her out. She placed her hands on her hips, staring him down. “Why have you been in such a mood lately?”
“I don’t know what you mean,” Rudolph grumbled, his gaze dropping to his desk as he fidgeted absentmindedly with the papers on it.
“Yes, you do,” Shelley said forcefully, not letting him dodge her inquiry. “You ran away the moment you laid eyes on that woman. So tell me, what is going on?”
“Movie stars are just silly,” he answered, voice still low and grumbly while he refused to meet her eyes. “It’s all so frivolous and people like that tend to be shallow. So I didn’t want to interact with her. Which is my business.”
He turned his gaze back to Shelley, his eyes still narrowed as he inclined his head toward the door behind her.
“And I don’t appreciate you barging in here and demanding answers that you have no right to. So, if you don’t mind, I have work to do. Make sure the door is closed on your way out.”
He looked back at his computer, beginning to type slowly as he picked up on his work. Shelley paused for only a moment, wondering if she should push the issue before deciding against it. With a shake of her head, she turned and strode out of the office, closing the door like he had asked.
She had no idea what was going on with Rudolph, and he could claim it was related to whatever perceived frivolity he had surrounding movie stars if he wanted to, but she knew better. The one thing she now knew for certain was that whatever was causing the older man’s foul mood, it had something to do with Valerie’s arrival in town.
And Shelley was going to do whatever she could to figure out exactly what it was that he had against the actress.
* * *
“I never expected you to be that terrible at pinball.” Valerie laughed as she and Clark walked hand in hand through town.
They had stayed in the arcade for a couple hours, bouncing from game to game as they challenged each other and laughed with glee as one or the other won. But now, they were walking toward Valerie’s hotel while the cold air nipped at both of their noses.
“I’m not bad at pinball,” Clark argued, squeezing her hand. “You’re just ridiculously good at it.”
He brought her hand up to his mouth, kissing the back of it before his brow furrowed with worry.
“Your hand is freezing,” he observed, opening his mouth to blow hot air across the back of her palm. “Did you not bring any gloves?”
Valerie shook her head. “I forgot.”
“Well, my house isn’t very far, it’s on the way to the hotel. Do you want to stop there for some tea and to get warm? Then I can take you home in my truck whenever you’re ready?”
Valerie smiled at him. “That sounds lovely.”
The two of them continued along their path as delicate snowflakes began to fall around them, turning the town into a sleepy little snow globe, and it wasn’t long before Clark, still holding onto Valerie’s hand, turned off the sidewalk and began walking up toward a small, white house.
It was cute, and quaint in a way that Valerie hadn’t anticipated. She waited patiently as he took his keys out of his pocket and unlocked the door before letting her inside. Immediately the warmth wrapped around her, making the bits of her skin that had been exposed to the cold of the outdoors sting a bit with relief.
“I’ll put some tea on,” he said, kicking his snowy boots off at the door. “The living room is right through there, feel free to make yourself at home.”
She smiled at him before turning and walking in the direction that he had indicated. Valerie tried as hard as she could not to be nosy as she walked toward the living room, but her curiosity ended up getting the better of her. And the moment she stepped into the living room, she began looking at the pictures on the wall, all of them depicting people that looked so much like Clark that they had to be the rest of his family.
She could hear him clinking around in the kitchen as she moved away from the walls toward the plush sofa in the center of the room and plopped down onto it. And just as she was about to settle back into the overstuffed cushions, something on the coffee table caught her eye.
