"I think that's the last one," he said, closing and locking the lid. "Should I drop you at your place, or back at the store?"
"At the store, if you don't mind," she replied. "I left my car in the parking lot there. Don't want to be stranded this late at night, you know."
"Sure, but I'll drive home behind you and make sure you get there fine," he agreed.
She scrunched up her nose and chuckled. "Now you're trying to find out where I live?"
"Okay then, compromise. Put your number in my phone and call yourself. Text me when you're home safe. Otherwise, I'm following you." He handed her his cell phone as he pulled back into the parking lot at Yule Heights Shopping Mall.
Surprisingly, she didn't give him any pushback on that and took his phone without comment. A minute later, she handed it back to him. "I put it under Mara Hart. Not Amara."
"Perfect," he replied, parking in his usual reserved spot. "Come on. I have something for you back at the store, then I swear I'll stop bothering you."
Amara laughed as she climbed out of the car and joined him in the short walk up to the building. "You don't have to pay me. Free labor, remember?"
"Consider it a thank you gift instead then," he replied. When they arrived at Kisses and Karats, he went into the back room and pulled out a small silver and blue tennis bracelet from his safe. Returning to the main showroom, he slipped it into a small red decorative box and then presented it to Amara. "This is for you. Happy Valentine's Day."
She took it from his hands slowly, seemingly at a loss for words, which was something he didn't see often with her. She opened the box and peered inside, gently fingering the silver chain between two fingers and gazing at the small blue rock attached to it. "Oh…wow. Thank you. It's very beautiful."
"It's a Larimar gemstone—or mineral pectolite, actually," he explained, excited to share about one of his favorite stones. Okay, so sometimes he got a little nerdy about rocks and gems. "Not costly or anything like that, but rich in meaning. Some people call it the dolphin stone, or the Atlantis stone, because supposedly one could only find it where Atlantis once was. It represents empathy and understanding, and so I wanted you to have it." He took it out of the box and fastened it around her wrist. "Seeing everything you do around here for those kids—hell, even helping me out recently—it's pretty clear you have a big heart for other people, Mara. You're definitely a dolphin stone."
She was quiet again, just staring at the bracelet on her wrist. She placed her opposite hand over it and held it against her chest. "Thank you, Val."
"Good night, Mara." He wanted to pull her against him right then and there and kiss her until the morning. The way she looked so vulnerable and gentle right then felt like a gift, a special side of her that she was only letting him see. He wanted to tell her thank you, and that he hoped he'd see it again. Instead, he smiled and let out a low exhale. "Text me when you get home safe, okay?"
She nodded, thanked him again, and then headed out of the store.
"Happy Valentine's Day, Mara," he whispered to her retreating figure, even though she couldn't hear him.
Oh, how he wished she could really hear him.
Chapter Seven
Amara
Tears stung at the edges of her eyes as Amara walked quickly back to the arcade and made a beeline for the back room. It was still open and full of customers, so she wasn't about to have an emotional breakdown on the arcade floor. Jean waved at her from a distance where she was helping a customer on the Skee-Ball machines, but Amara ignored her and pressed on.
When she got to the safety of the private back office in back, she closed the door behind her and let out a long, fast exhale that was promptly followed by a stream of small tears down both cheeks. What the heck was wrong with her right now? She looked down at the bracelet on her wrist, this beautiful new gift Val had just given her. Never in her life had she given two flying beeps about getting a gift from a guy, let alone jewelry. On Valentine's Day. It was beyond cliché. Gross, even.
But when he'd explained why he'd picked it, and what it meant to him…what he saw in her. Maybe there actually was something to gifts as an expression of love.
The word stuck in her throat—did she say (or think, technically) love? Absolutely not. That's not at all where they were, or even remotely on the table. And yet, the word stayed lodged in her head and maybe a little further south in her heart.
Amara stood up straight and shook out her shoulders. She was being ridiculous. None of this was like her. None. She wasn't someone who went gooey-eyed over a handsome neighbor or tongue-tied over a beautiful trinket. But her mind went back to what she'd seen earlier with Harold, or how Val had helped her with the raccoon and finding estimates for security systems, or just the way that she felt lighter and happier when she was around him. She didn't feel nervous or like she had to put on a front, which was normally how she felt when she was dating someone.
But they weren't dating.
Why weren't they dating? He'd given her the sweetest gift she'd ever gotten in her life. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and glanced at her notifications—one missed call. It was his phone number that she'd called herself from. She clicked on it and saved it under his name, already planning what she'd text him when she got home.
Made it safely, thanks for the fun day! No, that was too lame.
I love the bracelet. You're incredible. Way too desperate.
Happy Valentine's Day, Valentino! I'm home. Oh, God, she should just not text him at all at this point.
I'm home. Want to come join me? Zero chance she'd have the courage to send that.
Amara sighed and pushed her phone back in her pocket before grabbing her keys and heading back out onto the arcade floor. She had at least a ten-minute drive to practice something better, but in reality, she was probably just going to text home and be done with it. Maybe throw in an emoji for some flare.
"Hey, Ms. Mara!" Marco waved to her from where he was standing in front of a race car game that his friend was playing. "Happy Valentine's Day!"
"Thanks, Marco," she replied, walking over to him since it was only a few steps out of the way. "You kids having fun tonight?"
"Eh, you know. Just trying to meet the ladies, pick up chicks, stuff like that." Marco shrugged his shoulders and ran his thumb across the bottom of his nose with a sly smirk on his lips.
Amara laughed and shook her head. "Christ, Marco. You're too young to even be thinking about stuff like that."
He grinned and his hands went to adjust the chain around his neck. Amara glanced down and noticed the clasp on the end, and suddenly her whole body felt like it had gone stiff.
"Hey, uh, Marco…" Amara wasn't sure how to even get started, but she recognized the clasp on Marco's chain as clear as day. It was the same clasp on the bracelet she was wearing now—the Kisses and Karats signature clasp on all of Val's necklaces, chains, and bracelets. It was a tiny silver triangle with the letter K etched in the middle, and she'd only ever seen it in one place. "That's a really nice chain you have there. Is it new?"