Midnight Valentine

45

15

For the rest of the day, Theo avoids me, and he makes it obvious. If I step into a room, he steps out. If I glance in his direction, he looks away. Whatever was about to happen between us in the garage, it’s rattled him even more than it has me. He’s gone back to scowls and thunderclouds, and once again, I’m at a loss.

Before the guys finish at five o’clock, Coop gives me an update on their progress. Then they leave, Theo first. I watch from the front window as he throws himself into his Mustang and roars off down the road at top speed as if he’s competing in the Indy 500.

I’ve never had patience with mysteries. I loved math at school because of the concreteness of it, the absolute confidence you had that every single time, two plus two would equal four. There’s beauty in that kind of unchanging, provable perfection.

So the pure inconsistency of this man and situation is driving me crazy.

Which is why I decide I’ve had enough of it. Things between us from now on will be strictly business. His problems aren’t my concern, and my problems aren’t his concern. It’s not healthy for me to get caught up in whatever this is.

No matter how tempting this “whatever” is.

The next day, I ignore Theo completely. I go about my chores without glancing in his direction even once. By the time five o’clock rolls around, my shoulders are so tense from how hard I’m trying not to notice him that I’ve given myself a headache. When my cell phone rings, I answer distractedly, rubbing my forehead with my free hand.

“Hello?”

“Hey, there, Megan. It’s Craig.”

Shit. It’s Wednesday. He’s calling about the date. I haven’t spent a moment considering what my answer would be since we talked on the phone on Monday.

“Hi, Craig. How are you?”

“I’ll be better when you tell me what time I’m picking you up on Friday night.”

I have to smile at that. “You sure do cut right to the chase, don’t you?”

“I haven’t thought about anything else since we talked. Say yes.”

Now I laugh out loud, because he couldn’t be more different from Theo if he tried. It’s a relief not to have to break my brain wondering what a man is thinking. “Well, I don’t know. I haven’t made up my mind yet.”

It’s his turn to laugh. “Yes, you have, you’re just being a woman.”

“Oh, really? And here I thought I knew myself better than that. I guess my silly female brain has fooled me.”

I was trying to be flirtatious, but because I’m utter crap at anything requiring feminine wiles, it comes out like an accusation. He backtracks so fast, I can almost hear tires squealing on pavement.

“Sorry, I wasn’t saying you’re silly. I was trying to be cute. It obviously didn’t go over well.”

Now I have to sigh, because at this rate, this phone call is doomed to leave both our egos in ruins. “No, don’t apologize, I was trying to be cute and it didn’t go over well. I need to stop pretending I’m good at witty repartee. Inevitably, it ends with me crawling under a table to hide because I’ve made a fool of myself.”

The relief in Craig’s voice is obvious. “So I haven’t botched it.”

“Not yet,” I say warmly, which makes him laugh again.

“Oh, good. That makes me feel so much better.”

Smiling, I walk from the kitchen to the front parlor, where I look out into the yard. The sound of hammering, footsteps, and the murmur of male voices drifts down from upstairs, where Coop and the guys are working on installing a new circuit box in a utility closet. I have no idea where Theo is, but I’m not paying attention to him anyway, so it doesn’t matter.

“I visited your building the other day.” The instant it leaves my mouth, I know how it sounds. Judging by the pleasure in Craig’s response, he’s thinking the same thing.

“You drove all the way to Portland to see my burned-out building?”

I close my eyes and shake my head, mentally kicking myself. “I, um, had some shopping to do, and…I found myself in that neighborhood.”

Now Craig’s laugh is delighted. He says teasingly, “You ‘found’ yourself in an industrial park? Hmm. You must need a new battery in your GPS.”

I groan. “God, I sound like some kind of stalker. I promise it wasn’t as creepy as it sounds.”

“It doesn’t sound creepy at all to me. I think it’s sweet. In fact, I think you should just admit that you think I’m devastatingly handsome and charming so we can go on our first date.”

I was wrong. There’s no way his ego is going to be affected no matter how lame my repartee might be. You could drive a tank over this guy’s ego and it would pop right back up without a scratch.

“Our first date?” I shoot back. “You’re assuming we’ll have more than one?”

“Oh yeah,” he says, all confidence. “You’re gonna fall in love with me over dinner and insist I take you out again. By this time next year, we’ll be picking out our wedding invitations.”

My mouth falls open. Then, struck by the sheer size of his nerve, I break into laughter.

Craig pounces on my amusement like a lion on his dinner. “Or maybe you’re in love with me already!”

“You’re nuts,” I say between gasps. “Seriously nuts!”

“And you’re completely infatuated with me. It’s the hair, isn’t it? It’s my thick, glorious head of hair. Go on, admit it. I’ll wait.”

I’m laughing so hard, my sides hurt. I can’t remember the last time I laughed this hard, but Craig and his supersized ego are reminding me how.