Midnight Valentine(33)

Shaking myself out of the dark spiral my thoughts are about to dive into, I pull open the heavy wooden door of Booger’s and step inside. In my haste and distraction, I don’t look up, and bump hard into the back of someone standing at the hostess stand, waiting to be seated.

“Oh! God, I’m so sorry! I wasn’t looking where I was…”

The person turns to stare down at me. Black hair. Black eyes. A razor-blade jaw covered in scruff.

Theo Valentine.

“Right this way,” says the hostess to Theo, gesturing for him to follow her. But he isn’t paying attention to her. He’s gazing at me with a look of intense concentration, those dark eyes unblinking.

A flash of anguish surfaces in them, there then instantly gone.

We stare at each other. I experience a sensation of weightlessness, like cresting the peak of a high hill on a roller coaster, that split-second lack of gravity before you plummet over the edge.

“Sir?”

When Theo turns his attention back to the hostess, it’s a snap of disconnection, as if a little flame inside my chest has been snuffed out.

He holds up two fingers.

“Oh, sure.” The hostess smiles at me, pulling another menu from the basket on the side of the wooden stand, then turns and walks away.

Theo follows her without looking back. I stand frozen for a moment, unsure, then blow out a breath and decide to see where this interesting little detour takes me.

I follow behind Theo as we make our way to a table in the back. This time it’s me getting all the curious stares. I wonder if King Crabby Poo has been seen in public with a woman since his accident, because judging by all the shocked looks I’m getting, this is a momentous event.

Either that or a pigeon crowned my head with a big, hairy turd.

The hostess stops beside a table in the farthest corner of the restaurant. “Here you go!” she says brightly, in a tone that makes me think this is Theo’s regular spot. He pulls out a chair, then looks at me.

I sink into the chair he’s holding and send the hostess a nervous smile. Instead of sitting in the chair across from me as I expected, Theo lowers himself to the chair beside me. Now I’m in a corner against the wall, with no way to exit unless he lets me out.

I try not to be freaked out that this is always the way Cass and I sat at restaurants. Next to each other at a table against a wall, me on his right, looking out at everyone so we could watch all the people and speculate on their conversations and their lives.

The hostess hands me a menu. “I’ll be back in a few minutes to take your order.” Then she leaves, abandoning me to my fate.

Being the well-mannered extrovert that he is, Theo ignores me. He pulls out his cell phone from the inside pocket of his leather coat and begins to compose a text.

“Hey.”

He glances at me, a lock of hair falling into his eyes.

I look pointedly at his phone. “That’s rude.”

He hits Send, sets his phone down on the table, folds his hands on the tabletop, and stares at me. Then my cell phone chimes with an incoming text.

I fish my phone out of the back pocket of my jeans and look at the screen, already knowing who it is.

You have to stop stalking me like this.





I flash him an exasperated look, only to find him doing something with his mouth that looks like it could turn into a smile if it only knew how.

“I’ve seen you smile before, Theo. Go ahead. It won’t kill you.”

He covers his mouth with his hand to hide the fact that he’s smiling so big, he’s actually showing teeth. That feels like a victory, like I’ve just scored the winning touchdown in the Super Bowl.

I type him a response.

Excuse me, King Crabby Poo,

but YOU are stalking ME.





His phone chimes, he reads the text from me, then composes his response, his thumbs moving so fast, they’re a blur.

You’re not excused. Why is your nose so red?

Snort coke much?





“Okay, Sunshine, it’s on,” I mutter, then type.

Charming. That’s called walking-in-cold-wind nose. However, if I knew I’d be bumping into you,

I’d definitely have turned to drugs

to help me through the trauma.





He snorts.

Please. Being in my presence is like soaking up

golden rays of sunshine. Just look how jealous

everyone is of you right now.





I hazard a glance around, and sure enough, almost everyone is looking at us. Some more obviously than others, but the general level of interest could be compared to that of an audience awaiting the opening act at a circus to begin.

So of course I have to smile widely and wave.

Eyeballs scatter like marbles. Beside me, Theo makes a low noise deep in his throat that sounds like something close to a chuckle.