The Valentine Grinch (6 page)

Totally ignoring her, Dane pulled on his jacket and
boots.

Okay, somehow she had to make this right, couldn’t
let him go away mad. What if he never came back?

In a breath stealing rush, it hit her. She loved
Dane Weatherby. Maybe she’d always loved him. Or maybe it had grown
on her while she’d been pretending to be a love-grinch.

Could she make Dane love her back?

Was it worth the risk to their friendship to
discover the truth?

When he yanked open the front door, she jumped to
her feet. “Please, don’t be mad at me.”

He ignored her and walked out of the house.

As the front door clicked shut behind him, her knees
gave out and she slumped down onto the floor. Clutching the pillow
to her chest, she smoothed out the note and silently read the words
Dane had written.

Dear Mandy. Be my Valentine Grinch
Forever
.

Chapter Five

The next morning, Amanda rolled out of bed, showered
and dressed, then in an attempt to make herself irresistible, spent
the next half hour fiddling with her hair and makeup.

Valentine Grinch?

Forever?

Was there more behind the message than one friend
teasing another? She intended to find out whether Dane’s cryptic
note had been written in jest or in seriousness. If she didn’t,
she’d always wonder.

As she skipped down the stairs, she encountered
Grandma Elvira who was still lugging the urn around as though it
had become a permanent attachment. “Morning, Grandma.”

“It’s about time you got up, girl.” The elderly
woman paused to look her up and down. “You’re kind of spiffed up
for cleaning the car. You do remember it needs to be decorated
today, don’t you?”

Amanda patted her grandma on the arm. “I’m heading
over to Dane’s right now to get him and then we’ll get the car
decorated.”

With a stiff nod, Grandma continued on her way down
the hallway. “Make sure you talk to your mother. She has everything
laid out in the garage for you.”

By the time she entered the kitchen, her mom was
putting the last of the decorative icing on the cake.

“Honey, I was just about to send your father up to
wake you.”

“I’m off to grab Dane and then we’ll get the car
cleaned and decorated.”

Her mom set aside the utensils, turned on the tap
and rinsed her hands. “Well, what do you think?”

Rich creamy icing coated the four layers. Her mom
had added blush pink roses and wisps of green leaves. “It’s
gorgeous. You have a real talent for cake decorating.”

“I do, don’t I?” With a satisfied smile, she turned
off the tap, grabbed a hand towel and faced Amanda. Her eyes
widened. “Wow, don’t you look nice today.”

“It’s nothing, just old jeans and a shirt.”

“But the makeup and hair. I mean, you always look
nice, honey, but today you look...” Her mom’s eyes narrowed, and
she leaned forward and sniffed. “Are you wearing perfume?”

Amanda felt her face get warm. “Just a squirt.”

“Mmmm.” Giving Amanda the once over again, she
turned back to the sink and started washing up the dishes. “The
decorations are all laid out for you.”

“I know. I already ran into
Grandma. Is she ever going to put down that urn?”

“I don’t know, but that’s not the issue right now.
The big Valentine heart with Elvira and Morty goes on the front of
the car, of course. And the tiny pink flowers can be placed in neat
rows from the front to the back.” She pointed to the cake and over
her shoulder, flashed a grin. “It took me two weeks of
experimenting to get it right, but now the color matches the roses
on the cake just perfectly.”

“Mom, you have too much time on my hands.”

“Well, if I had grandchildren. Just saying,
honey.”

With a laugh, Amanda leaned forward, gave her mom a
peck on the cheek and headed out of the kitchen. “I’m heading over
to Dane’s right now so we can get the car done before lunch.”

“If you’re looking for your dad or me, we’re taking
Elvira and Morty downtown to pick up their wedding attire. See you
later, honey.”

At the front door, Amanda hesitated.

What if Dane was still pissed?

What if his Valentine’s note meant nothing?

What if she chickened out and never found out? She’d
always wonder, always regret what might have been.

The beginning of a headache pinched between her
brows. Ignoring it, she pulled on her jacket and boots, and while
she marched across the street and pounded on Dane’s front door, she
shored up her determination.

No matter how sweet or how mad he was, she wasn’t
leaving without some kind of answer.

Amanda leaned one shoulder against the door and
pounded on the wood again. “Damn it, Dane, open up.”

The door opened and she caught her breath.

He was wearing nothing more than water droplets on
his chest and a towel around his hips. Judging by the grim light in
his eyes and the tightness around his mouth, he was still
pissed.

“Go away, Grinch.”

They’d been friends for far too long to ruin it over
her grandpa’s threat to haunt her for the rest of her life. Just in
case Dane decided to slam the door in her face, she shoved her
booted foot into the opening. Words escaped her before she could
censor them. “I’m sorry for ruining supper last night. For not
reading your note the moment you gave it to me. Please forgive me?
You know I’m an idiot when it comes to Valentine’s Day.”

“Maybe you should’ve thought of that before you
tried to ruin our grandparents’ wedding.”

Okay, so he wasn’t pushing her out the door. Yet.
She shouldered her way inside and as the door clicked shut behind
her, she turned to face him. “I’m not trying to ruin their wedding.
Or at least, I don’t want to.”

His frustration was evident in the tone of his
voice. “Then what’s going on?”

Would he believe her if she told him about Grandpa
George? She studied him, fresh from the shower, his hair still wet,
his nipples pebbled from the chill of the outside temperature. A
bead of water ran down his chest, over his washboard abs, and
headed south toward the towel. A pleasant flush started deep in her
mid-section and spread.

He chucked her under the chin. “Up here,
princess.”

“Huh?” She raised her gaze past all that delicious
male anatomy until she finally looked into his eyes and blinked.
He’d been her best friend forever and right now, she felt small and
mean and sad. “Please, Dane, forgive me. I can’t stand it when
you’re mad at me.”

He sighed, and turned his back on her and walked
away, leaving her alone and uncertain of whether she should leave
or stay. But a few moments later, he returned and shoved a cup of
steaming coffee into her hands. “You look like you need this.”

She let her gaze drop from his familiar face to the
cup in her hands. And as the warmth seeped through her gloves and
infused her body, she thought of what her mom had said.

Your dad just knows me. He gets me. He understands
what I want or need, sometimes even before I’ve figured it out
myself.

Amanda speared Dane with a narrow eyed look. “How
did you know?”

With one finger, he gently touched the spot between
her eyes. “Because you look grinchy and grumpy, and it’s not even
noon yet. Which means you missed your morning caffeine fix.”

“Oh.” As she mulled over his words, he grabbed her
by the shoulders and tried to turn her toward the door. But there
was too much at stake to let him out of her sight, so she held her
ground.

Obviously coming to the conclusion that she wasn’t
about to budge, he released her and headed down the hallway toward
the bathroom, whipping the towel off before he was even halfway
there. “If you go away now, I promise to be there in fifteen
minutes.”

Amanda sucked in her breath at the sight of his bare
backside. Maybe she should get Dane naked in the backseat of a
car.

She set the coffee cup on the divider near the front
door, slipped off her boots and followed him down the hallway to
the bathroom door. Leaning one shoulder against the door jamb, she
watched as he pulled on jeans over his boxer shorts.

When he turned and noticed her in the doorway, he
frowned, his jeans unzipped, his chest still bare, looking like a
yummy half-dressed centerfold shot. “Are you still here?”

Amanda let her gaze sweep over his hunky physique.
“It’s okay. I’ve seen you naked before.”

“Not since we were six.”

She grinned at the pained tone in his voice, and
dragged her attention from his abs and chest, back up to his face.
Best she leave before her hormones got out of hand. Besides, as
long as he remained shirtless, she wouldn’t be able to think
coherently and they had things to discuss. Like the note.

She smoothed the paper out and held it up so he
could see. “You better show up, Dane, because if you don’t, I’ll
hunt you down so we can talk about this.”

Pushing away from the door jamb, she retraced her
steps to the front porch, slipped on her boots and grabbed the
coffee cup just in case she needed an excuse to return.

“There’s nothing to talk about,” he called out after
her, his voice tight, controlled. “I just thought your grinchness
would get a kick out of it.”

Amanda headed back across the street to the garage,
where she waited for Dane, sipped at the coffee and let her
thoughts fill with images of him naked. And feelings. Feelings that
went back to their childhood. She’d always felt right when she was
with him, content, fulfilled.

Special.

Un-grinch-like.

Did she dare take advantage of him? If it didn’t
work out, could they return to the way things were now?

“What’s wrong, bumpkin?”

She jumped. Coffee sloshed out of the cup and it ran
down the front of her jacket. She set down the cup and tried to
brush the liquid away. “Why do you do that?”

Grandpa floated around the car and stopped in front
of the workbench to examine the wedding decorations. “Do what?”

She huffed out a sigh. “Sneak up on me.”

“I don’t sneak.”

“You’re a ghost. It’s not like you come through the
door like a normal person.” Amanda noticed the glum slope to his
shoulders and she softened her voice. “What’s up, Gramps?”

“Ah, bumpkin, love hurts.” He sighed, heavy and sad,
his expression shadowed with grief as he poked through the
decorations. “I miss my life. I miss my wife.”

Amanda closed the distance between them and
carefully moved the decorations out of his reach. “Grandma misses
you, too.”

“No, she doesn’t. She’s marrying that bastard Morty
and she’s forgotten all about me.”

“Not true. Look how she carries your urn around all
the time.”

“Only because she wants to put me six feet
under.”

Amanda felt her heart break for the man who had once
carried her on his shoulders, swung her through the air and sang
lullabies to put her to sleep. “It’s time for Grandma to move
on.”

He plopped down on the stool. “She’s my one true
love.”

“And you are hers. She loved you first, before she
loved Morty. Isn’t that enough?”

“If she marries Morty, I’ll lose her forever.” He
clenched his hands at his sides and surged to his feet, until he
towered over her and she stepped back. “You promised, bumpkin. You
promised to stop the wedding.”

“But you had her for fifty-one years.”

A noise at the side door caught her attention and
she turned to see Dane in the doorway, his face in shadows.

“Who’re you talking to?”

Amanda forced a smile. “Just myself. I wasn’t sure
if you’d show up.”

“I promised you, didn’t I?” The furnace in the
garage clicked on, and Dane stepped out of the cold and closed the
door.

“Tell him the truth about love, bumpkin.” Grandpa
flicked on the radio and an old time melody drifted through the
tiny speakers. “You die and get discarded with the trash.”

Dane tugged off his jacket, tossed it on the clean
surface of the workbench, and picked up the radio to examine it.
“Must have a short.”

Amanda glanced at her grandpa, who had started to
dance around the room to the melody, his arms lifted to encircle an
imaginary woman. His steps were smooth and for the first time ever,
she noticed how handsome he must have been in his younger days. How
could Grandma love Morty more than she loved the man she
married?

Her attention turned back to Dane, who was focused
on the radio as he searched for a loose wire. She studied his face,
the crows feet around his eyes, the smile lines around his mouth,
the strong masculine angles belonging to a face she’d known
forever.

Could they be both friends and lovers? Like her mom
and dad? Like Gramps and Grandma? Or would that destroy the special
bond they shared?

He set down the radio and turned back to her. “I
can’t see anything wrong with this thing. Better tell your dad to
get a new one.”

He flicked off the sound.

Grandpa reached through him and turned it back
on.

Dane stared at it for a moment, then reached out and
unplugged the portable unit from the wall.

Grandpa plunked down on the stool. “I need some
entertainment to take my mind off Elvira’s wedding.”

Across the room, Dane stood with his hands in his
pockets, tall and broad and somber, different from the boy she once
knew and yet so much the same. She decided she had to go for it —
go for him — and wiggled her eyebrows. “Wanna know a secret?”

One masculine brow hooked up and a reluctant smile
crooked up the edges of his mouth. “You’re holding my Mandy hostage
in the city and you’re just a cheap copy?”

“Ha ha.” She wiggled her finger at him and beckoned
him toward the car. When he stood shoulder to shoulder with her,
she leaned into him, felt the solid strength of his form and
whispered, “Yesterday I caught my parents making out in the
backseat of this car.”