They'd assured him that insurance would cover his loss and they'd be happy to write this all in their report to the company. Typical.
"I really thought they'd have something," Amara mused from where she was seated in one of the chairs at the conference room table. "Why couldn't they just tell you all that over the phone? Why did I need to be here?"
Val shrugged and stood up from his seat. He grabbed his coat and pulled it on. "Beats me, but I've got at least a dozen deliveries I need to get going on this afternoon."
"You do deliveries?" Amara frowned as she stood and followed suit, buttoning up her own jacket.
"For some higher end clients on special occasions, yeah," he replied. "You're welcome to come with me. I could always use an extra hand in free labor."
"Free labor?" She lifted her brows, as if daring him to stick by his statement.
He absolutely was. "Didn't you just hear the nice police officer? I'm down and out on my luck, Mara. Help a poor, robbed man out on the day of love, why don't you? Unless you have other plans for tonight?"
He wasn't sure why he'd even asked that because if she did have a date on Valentine's Day, he didn't want to know.
She laughed at his dramatic explanation and insinuation, but she didn't argue or say otherwise. "Jean's working the arcade today for me, so I guess I could help for a little. Not all day, though. And I need to go back and check in with her first."
That didn't answer at all if she had a date tonight, but he wasn't about to fish for an answer again and look desperate, even though they had bet on it when they’d played Space Invaders. He still didn’t want to know.
"Perfect, because I have to grab everything at the store and prep the deliveries. See you there in, say, thirty minutes?" That would work just fine for him, and he'd be lying if he said he wasn't excited for the company. Not just any company, but hers specifically. He wasn't sure what had happened this week, but they'd become…friends.
Friends?
He didn't know what label to put on it, but he did know that he liked being around her. He'd enjoyed their night together as mall rent-a-cops, and every interaction they'd had since. She felt like a partner-in-crime, or a teammate, or maybe that was just what friends were supposed to feel like? It wasn't that he didn't have any friends, but he certainly didn't make much time for them. He lived his life so independently that it didn't leave a lot of room for regular human connection outside of customers and one-night stands, or the occasional fling. He used to say that was because he didn't need anyone. He could handle life just fine on his own. But the last few days were beginning to make him wonder…maybe need was different than want. Maybe he wanted someone.
Maybe he wanted Mara Hart.
But about an hour and fifteen minutes later, he was rethinking that mental statement as they pulled up to the first house he was making a delivery to.
"This is where they live?" Amara was pointing at the gated entrance that prevented strangers from pulling into the large home's driveway of his first delivery.
It was set off from the street quite a bit, but he could see the peaks of the roof towering ahead of them. He hit the buzzer by the gate and waited to be let in.
"This place is massive."
"Yup, and we've got three deliveries at this stop, so he's a good customer." Val handed her a clipboard that had a list of deliveries on it. The speaker emitted a low baritone voice that asked for his name and reason for entrance. Once he provided that, he was buzzed in, and the gate opened in front of them. Val pulled up the long, windy driveway to the front door where a man in a carefully tailored black coat came out to meet him at the bottom of the front steps. "Mara, hand me the three boxes on top. Here's the key."
She checked the list, then looked in the back seat of his car at the locked trunk that was full of deliveries. Taking the key from him, she opened the trunk and pulled out the top three small red boxes delicately wrapped in white ribbon. "These are really cute. I love the wrapping job. Gifts for Marilyn, Cassie, and…Reggie?"
"Jewelers don't ask questions, Mara." He took the boxes from her. "I do know his wife's name is Marilyn, and they have a daughter—probably Cassie."
Amara's eyes were wide like she'd just found out an exciting piece of gossip and wanted to get to the bottom of it. "So, who is Reggie? What is in the box? Cufflinks? A toe ring? Oh my God, is it his secret lover? Is he closeted and the wife doesn't know it? Rich people are wild."
Val laughed and shook his head. "You watch too much Netflix. It's a dog collar. For their dog."
"For their ‘dog,’ mm-hmm. Sure." Amara put the words in fake air quotes with her fingers, clearly not buying it. "That's a convenient story."
He tried to muster a straight face as he got out of the car with the packages all lined up in a nice red bag with Kisses and Karats written on the front.
"Package for Mr. Davenport?" the gentleman in the suit at the bottom of the steps asked, extending his hand toward Val.
Val nodded, giving him the bag and instructing him to sign for the delivery before returning to the car and programming the next address into his GPS system.
"Where are we off to now?" Amara scanned her finger down his delivery list then stopped on a name. "Wait…Buxley. As in Senator Buxley? Like of our state?"
He grinned, casting her a wary side eye. "Are you going to be able to handle yourself?"
"I just don't understand why people need to jump through all these hoops one day a year to prove that they love each other. Real love doesn't need a trophy or some sort of physical evidence. Why can't people just be loving and kind to each other all year round?" She let out a sigh. "It's just all so commercialized now."
Val had heard her soapbox spiel more than once from plenty of people, but the old romantic soul in him never bought it. Everyone wanted to be acknowledged, and that's what he was in the business of—validating people and relationships. "You're quite the pessimist when it comes to love, aren't you?"
She shrugged, but he didn't look sideways to see what expression was on her face. "It's more of being a realist."
"I like to think of Valentine's Day as a moment of reflection on how much a person means to you—or who means what to you. We all go about our lives every day being so busy, trying to get that next promotion, meet our goals, whatever…it doesn't leave a lot of time for just sitting in the here and now. Just saying, hey, I love this person, I love having them in my life, and I want to celebrate that here and now, all on its own." Val turned down a side street toward their next destination. "Plus, not everyone has the verbal skills to communicate their feelings. Sometimes a gift is the most intimate way someone can express themselves, and that's still valid. That has worth and merit, just like words and actions."
She was quiet for a moment, seeming to be staring out the window. When they pulled up to the Senator's mansion, she handed him the large box full of multiple gifts and he ran it up just like he had at the last stop. They continued on like that for several more stops until his trunk was finally depleted.