Curvy Valentine Match

“All right,” Eva nodded. “That’s fair. But you’re not the same lovestruck girl you were back then, right?”

“I hope not.” The thought sent a shiver of doubt through me.

“Then maybe Xander isn’t that same guy he was back then. Maybe he’s better and stronger. Maybe now that he knows what it feels like to lose you, he’ll work harder to keep you.”

“Oh, I like that. I like that a lot,” Joss added with a wide, toothy grin.

I liked that idea too. A lot, but it was just a thought. “He has changed, I know that. He’s proven it to me, but he is also the same guy always up for a good time and willing to flirt with any woman under the age of one hundred.”

Eva let out a throaty laugh and brought the pitcher back to the kitchen table. “He has a flirty personality but you are exactly the kind of woman who can handle it, because it’s meaningless. That’s how I knew something was going on with you two, he gets this intensity in his eyes when it comes to you, that’s missing with everyone else.”

“You think?”

Eva nodded. “I do.”

“And,” Joss added while she refilled our glasses, “if Xander wanted any of those women, he could totally have them. He wants you.”

Me. Xander had made that obvious from the start, and he’d gone above and beyond by taking me to the Brothers & Sisters Program. There were parts of the boy I loved still there, coming to the surface on occasion, but otherwise Xander was a man. A fully grown adult who had learned from his mistakes, and waned to rectify them.

You only have to let him.

It couldn’t be that easy, could it? “Okay, let’s say I agree with you. What do I do about it?”

Eva and Joss looked at one another and smiled. “You make a big move and you do it in a big way.”

I slumped in my chair with a groan. “That’s what I was afraid of.”

Xander

“Dude, just go in. He’s in there.”

“No way, man. I’m not gonna disturb him, he’ll lock me up and I got date with Belinda this weekend.”

“Dude, just go. The old chick said he was in and not busy.”

If I heard another dude, I was pretty sure I would lock them all up and force them to read a thesaurus for the weekend. “I can hear everything you’re saying, so you boys might as well come in.”

“See, Dude, now he’s pissed.”

I groaned and sat up taller in my seat, squaring my shoulders and fixing a scowl on my face, just to make the story better when they tell it later. “Come in. Now.”

Three lanky teenagers appeared in my doorway, still wearing their PHS football jerseys even though it was almost Valentine’s Day. Shit, almost Valentine’s Day and I haven’t done a damn thing to make plans with Mara. “What do you need?”

“Uh, nothing.” The tallest kid looked terrified as he took a step forward. “We, ah, actually have something for you.”

“A special delivery,” the shortest one said, punctuating his words with an elbow to the gut. “A special Valentine’s delivery.”

“Okay. Do I need a password or something?”

“Nope.” The shorter one looked to his redheaded friend and gave him a shove towards my desk. “Dale has it.”

I looked at Dale who’s face was doing a good impression of a tomato. He held out a red box with a hand painted heart on the front. “Because sometimes words fail me.” Then Dale turned and left a trail of smoke in his haste to get out of my office, his two friends hot on his heels.

As soon as I was alone, I opened the box and a wide smile spread across my face. Inside were oversized sugar cookies, decorated as conversation candies.

What if I’m ready?

Mine.

Maybe, baby?

The beginning of Everything.

Us.

My heart raced against my chest, so loudly I could hardly think straight. Mara was reaching out when I thought all hope was lost.

Was she choosing to trust me?

I picked up the phone and tapped a photo of her scowling face, taken on the sly from inside the bakery because if she’d known, I might be dead already. “Mara?”

There was silence on the other end of the line but I could hear static and commotion, then finally, Mara. “Hey. I can’t talk right now. It is a literal mad house in here right now.”

“I understand, but I got your cookies and it would be bad manners not to call and say thank you. I especially liked the Mine cookie, and I want that too. I want to be yours, Mara. Starting with Valentine’s Day and ending with, I don’t know, forever?”

She sucked in a breath and hen laughed. “Give a girl time to catch her breath, will you?”

That wasn’t a no and it didn’t sound like it would turn into one later so I threw my head back and laughed. “Nah, I like you when you’re breathless, Mara. Turns me on.”