"Why do you do it then?" Her voice was soft, not judgmental, and she looked at him with a hint of concern that made him feel seen in a way he hadn't before.
"I'm not sure," he admitted. "It's what my parents did. I wanted to make their legacy successful—something they didn't manage to do in their time here. But they're gone, and that's kind of like losing all value just like these diamonds, isn't it?"
He fell quiet, and she reached out a hand to his. She squeezed his fingers gently and leaned into his side just enough to let him pretend she was holding him, or hugging him, or that the warmth of her skin was soothing the ache he was trying to push away.
"I don't know if I agree with that," she replied, her voice still more gentle than he'd ever heard it before. "People aren't things or objects to attach any sort of value or price point to. We're all just the combined essence of everyone who's ever touched us, or everyone we've ever touched, throughout our lives. That impact doesn't fade with time, or with death. It grows stronger."
He liked that sentiment. He looked over at her, angling his body toward her just enough that their hands continued to touch. He let his fingers run the length of her hand, then wrist, and up her arm until he reached her elbow. Her breath hitched, and she seemed to still beneath him. "You're not the person I thought you were, Mara Hart."
Her eyes searched his for a moment too long, making his insides squeeze with excitement and the urge to pull her against him and kiss her right then and there. But then it was gone in a flash, the expression masked by a teasing smile and lighthearted shove of her hand against his chest.
"The jury is still out on you, Casanova," she kidded. "Come on. Let's do another round before I beat you in Space Invaders again."
Valentino laughed as he followed her inside the arcade, but he felt like they'd missed a pivotal moment just then, though he couldn't identify what he might have been hoping to come from it. What was he hoping for from her?
Nothing. They were neighbors, colleagues, and…security patrol co-workers. And that was it.
Chapter Five
Amara
"Were you sleeping?" Nell's voice came through the other line of the phone as Amara held it up to her ear and tried to register enough words for a proper greeting.
"Trying," she replied, rolling back over into the comfort of her blankets and pillows that she wrapped around herself like a cocoon every night. "I worked all night."
"At the arcade?" Nell sounded confused. "I thought it closed at ten o'clock."
"It did." Amara yawned and blinked her eyes open, trying to force herself to be alert. "But I had to do that neighborhood watch thing with Val, remember?"
"Val? You mean Valentino Rossi—the hottie next door?" Her friend was laying it on thick for first thing in the morning. Or afternoon. Or whatever the heck time it was right now. "Ooh, when are you going to see him again? Did anything happen? Is Valentino going to be your Valentine?"
Amara groaned and briefly considered hanging up the phone and just going back to sleep.
Nell laughed at her own pun. "See what I did there?"
"Yes, smart ass." She gave up on sleeping in any longer and sat up in bed, glancing at her phone to check the time. It was almost four o'clock in the afternoon. "Yikes, I slept all day."
"I was about to say. But, hey, want to grab dinner? Or, I guess, breakfast? We should go to the diner. Best of both worlds at that place."
A cheesy breakfast burrito from Whiner Diner actually sounded really good right about now. "I'm in," Amara agreed. "Let me just get dressed, and I'll meet you there in like…an hour?"
"Make it thirty minutes," Nell replied. "I'm famished!"
Amara's front doorbell rang, and she frowned, not expecting any visitors. "Are you here now?" she asked Nell.
"What? No?"
"Someone rang the doorbell," Amara explained, climbing out of bed to go investigate. She peered through the peephole in her front door and saw a huge bouquet of flowers. "Uh, I’ve got to go. See you in an hour, Nell."
"Thirty—"
Amara hung up before her friend could finish that sentence, then opened the front door. "Hello?"
A delivery man in a red collared shirt held out a vase to her with a bouquet of wildflowers in dozens of colors. "You've got a delivery, ma'am. I just need you to sign here."
"Who's it from?" Not that she wasn't grateful, but she'd literally never received a flower delivery before except from her parents on her birthday and her graduation.
The delivery man grinned and gave her an awkward wink. "Read the card. I bet you'll know."
She pulled out the small white card from the middle of the flowers and opened it.
* * *
Thanks for an amazing night together. Here's to many more nights on the floor of the back hallway.
Happy early Valentine's Day, Valentino Rossy
* * *
"Uh, this is not what is sounds like," she immediately tried to backtrack to the delivery man, though she could already feel her face on fire.
"I'm paid to mind my own business, ma'am. Just sign here." He smiled again, holding out a clipboard and pen to her.
She signed as fast as humanly possible, took the flowers and note, and went back inside and shut the door behind her with a firm twist of the lock. What the actual hell? Just when she thought maybe Val wasn't the Casanova douchebag she'd pegged him as, he sent her a card like this? One that clearly the delivery man had read and gotten all sorts of thoughts in his head about. She placed the flowers on the counter and stormed into her room to change into something that wasn't pajamas. Still fuming at his audacity, she shoved the note he'd sent in the pocket of her jeans and grabbed her car keys.
Ten minutes later, she was pulling up to the mall and finding a parking spot before stomping through the entrance and down the main corridor until she got to Kisses and Karats. Sure enough, Val was behind the counter holding up a piece of jewelry to an older gentleman with a cane standing across from him.
"Ruth is going to love this one, Harold," Val told the man, and as Amara got closer, she could see that he was holding a diamond ring on a display mannequin hand. "What do you think?"
"Val, can I have a moment?" Amara requested through gritted teeth.
Both Val and Harold looked up at her, seemingly startled at her sudden entrance.
Val nodded. "Let me just finish up with Harold, then I'm all yours."
"Actually, miss, can I ask you a favor?" Harold was turning toward her now, maneuvering with his cane to position himself in front of her. "You're about the same size as my Ruth. Can you try this on and tell me if it fits?"
"Uh…" She didn't have a prepared answer for that. "I guess so. Sure."
Harold took the ring from Val and went to hand it to her, but then stopped. "Wait, I got to do this right."
With a loud groan, Harold began to lower himself down onto one knee.