My Nerdy Valentine (Nerds, #7)(19)
Author: Vicki Lewis Thompson

"Thanks, but I’m abandoning the cause." And Justin was right about him still being pissed. The endorphins that were supposed to be elevating his mood had achieved squat. He still felt as crappy as he had when he’d left the bus stop. This particular mood might require hydraulics to jack it up to the cheerfulness level.

"I’m sorry it didn’t work out, buddy. She seems like your type."

"Apparently I’m not her type."

"Her loss. Want me to come over? We could have a few beers, diss a few women, play some gin rummy."

"Don’t you have to get up and go to work at eight?" Justin had always been an early-to-bed, early-to-rise kind of guy. Will had hoped that two nights of drinking would have been enough to settle him back into his old pattern.

"I’m not sleeping worth shit, Will. I deliberately laid off the booze tonight, to see if that would help, but I just lie there staring at the ceiling."

When Will compared his situation to Justin’s, he couldn’t feel very sorry for himself. He’d never had a chance with Amanda, but Justin had been engaged to be married. "Then come on over," he said. "We can be pathetic together."

Amanda’s answering machine light was flashing when she walked in the door of her apartment. She was probably the last person of her generation to have a regular phone instead of a cell, but for her it was the cheaper alternative. She never made long-distance calls, so basic service worked line.

Assuming it was a recorded telemarketing call, she punched the button to make sure before she erased it. Instead of a voice, the message was music, an old Duran Duran tune called "Hungry Like the Wolf." She paused in the process of taking off her coat to listen for a message of some kind. None came.

The quality of the sound wasn’t that great. She heard coughs and clunking noises in the background, as if someone had dialed her number and then held a phone up to a stereo. As that possibility took shape in her mind, she began to shiver.

Walking to her door, she threw the dead bolt into place. It wasn’t a habit, and she needed to make it one. Then she prowled through the apartment checking window locks, closing her drapes tight, and peeking into her bedroom closet. She even moved the clothes aside to make sure no one was hiding behind them.

For the first time she wished she hadn’t rented on the first floor. Nothing had been available on the other levels, and she’d liked the apartment’s location near a bus line. The price had been decent. Being on the first floor meant no stairs, and she’d convinced herself that was a good thing. It was the reason Mavis and Chester had taken their apartments.

But living at ground level meant that an intruder would have an easier time of it. A person needed a key to get in the main door of the building, but windows, especially old single-paned ones like this, could be jimmied, broken, even scored with a glass cutter. Amanda had downplayed that by telling herself that she didn’t want to live scared.

Some people focused on all the bad news out there and were convinced that rapists and muggers lurked everywhere. Amanda had rejected that view of the world, which allowed her to move around the city without fear. Nothing had interfered with her belief system. Until now.

Her apartment was its usual temperature of seventy-four degrees, but she couldn’t make herself take off her coat. A quilted jacket was no protection against anything, but she felt better with it on. Walking over to her dinette set, she sat down at the table and took a deep breath.

So the valentine guy knew her phone number. That didn’t mean he knew where she lived. She’d opted out of having her address in the phone book to cut down on junk mail. Yet she knew that these days a determined person could get almost any information they wanted online. She was surprised Gloria hadn’t asked her to snoop around the Internet to find Will’s address and phone number.

But there was a reason for that. If a person voluntarily gave the information, then using it didn’t seem like harassment. Gloria might be obsessed with sex, but she understood that much about social interactions. The valentine guy did not, which meant he had at least a borderline personality disorder.

Carefully she reviewed her options. As Mavis had pointed out, dogs weren’t allowed in this apartment complex, and even if they were, a dog didn’t usually become protective of a person or place overnight. It was also a little late for her to take up one of the martial arts.

She could install an alarm system, but that would be permanent and cost money she didn’t have. An alarm seemed like overkill, anyway. The guy could lose interest and she’d have a system that would be a pain in the butt to operate and cause Mavis and Chester all kinds of problems. Mavis had a key as backup, and she’d learned to jiggle the lock just fine. But she’d never figure out how to deactivate an alarm.

There was a solution, of course. It would cost her nothing financially, but she wasn’t sure if she could keep the psychological cost down, as well. There would have to be a ton of ground rules. Then there was the issue of Gloria. Amanda didn’t have a plan for how to deal with Gloria, but Will had sounded as if he did.

Before she even considered going to bed, she scoured the apartment for a weapon, should she need one. She was ludicrously low on weapon material. A pointy umbrella would be worth something, but she owned the compact kind that folded in on itself. She didn’t cook, so she didn’t own a rolling pin.

She had one large carving knife, but she couldn’t imagine stabbing someone with it. If she had to fight, she’d rather have a club than a knife. Finally she settled on the wand attachment to her vacuum cleaner, plus the collected works of Sigmund Freud. She laid them both on the floor by her bed.

Leaving all the lights on, she lay down fully clothed and pulled the quilt over her. She couldn’t begin to sleep as she strained to hear every little noise outside the window. Her muscles ached from keeping them contracted.

She couldn’t last through another night like this. Only one thing made sense under the circumstances. If Will could figure out a way to get around the problem of Gloria, she’d ask him to be her pretend boyfriend. It was risky, but she had no choice.

Justin laid down his hand. "Gin."

"That does it. You win." Will gathered up the cards and began to shuffle. He should be exhausted, but instead he felt wired. "Another round?"

"Why not? But first I have to ask you something."

"Shoot." Will kept shuffling as he glanced up at Justin.

"Now that Amanda’s out of the picture, are you going to consider Gloria?"

"No." Will couldn’t imagine substituting Gloria for Amanda. It would be like choosing moonshine over fine blended whiskey.

"You’re sure?"

"Absolutely sure." He had an inkling what this was about and hoped he was wrong.

"So if I try to get something going with her, you wouldn’t care?"

Will groaned. "Look, I know you’re upset about Cindi, but Gloria Tredway is not the answer." Amanda might not think it was a bad idea, but she didn’t love Justin like a brother. Will did.

"I’m not looking to marry her, buddy. I just want to buy a little of what she’s selling. Once I get my groove back, I’ll call it off. From what you’ve said about her, she’s interested in a temporary good time. So am I."

"You only think that. I know you, Justin. You’ve never had a temporary good time in your life. It might start out as sex, but before long you’d be daydreaming about getting her to mend her ways and settle down."

Justin polished off his beer. "Would not."

"Would, too."

"I’m telling you, I’m a changed man. That phone call from Cindi created a whole new me."

Will remembered the feeling of belligerent rebellion. If someone like Gloria had been around six months ago, he might have been tempted, too. He was lucky there had been no Gloria type, because he was past that stage. "Your feelings are still raw from the shock, but that will pass if you give yourself some time. You don’t have to climb that mountain tomorrow."

"I was thinking about climbing Mount Gloria."

"Listen, she’d be the one doing the climbing. I don’t think you have any idea what—"

"You’re right, I don’t, but I sure as hell want to find out."

"Don’t do something rash. This is a knee-jerk reaction. Eventually someone else will come along, someone you could have a future with."

"You mean like a nice girl?"

"Yeah, I do."

"I’m finished with nice girls, Will. I’ve hung out with them my whole life, and what do I have to show for it?" He pointed the empty beer bottle at Will. "What do you have to show for it, speaking of success stories with nice girls?"

Will gazed at him. "I can’t argue that one."

"So I’m saying, if you want a fling with Gloria, tell me now. Otherwise, I’m going to find out if that look she gave me the other day could lead to something."

"I don’t want a fling with Gloria." He didn’t want a fling at all. He wanted something solid and lasting. Helen had not been right about him. He was sure of that now. Amanda wasn’t in the market, so he’d have to keep looking.

Amanda was in no danger of oversleeping. She’d been awake all night. She didn’t have class that morning, and she was almost sorry about that. Someone in her class might be the valentine guy, and she wanted a chance to scrutinize everyone and look for a guilty face. She’d have to do that tomorrow.

In the meantime, she’d study every man she came across in her daily life. Gloria only counseled couples, but that meant at least one man per visit. They were all suspects, except for Franklin, who was still recuperating at home after his unfortunate penis accident.

Amanda hated to think one of her customers at Geekland was responsible when the atmosphere of the bar had always been fun and friendly. But one of the regulars might not be so fun, after all. She intended to watch them all more carefully from now on.

Her first order of business once she got to the office was talking to Will. Even so, she put it off all morning, always finding an excuse for not calling him. Finally she faced the reason for the delay. She wasn’t used to asking anyone for help.

Late in the morning FedEx delivered Titillating Trivia, the book she’d ordered for Gloria to give Will. She signed for it, but now that it was here, she had to let Gloria know. Picking up the FedEx package, she walked into Gloria’s office. "The sex trivia book arrived."

"Perfect!" Gloria had given up her nerd disguise and was back to vintage Gloria. Her red hair billowed around her shoulders and her V-necked black sweater and black leather skirt revealed plenty of skin accented with gold jewelry at her neck and wrists. "I want you to take it to him."

"Me?" She wanted to talk to him, but handing him a copy of Titillating Trivia might set the wrong tone for their discussion.

"Yes. My new technique is to withdraw and be mysteriously absent. He’ll have long-range contact with me through you, and that will intrigue him and ultimately make him curious enough to come around."

"O-kay." Amanda wondered how Gloria managed to live her life. She was so divorced from reality it was frightening.

"I can see you’re skeptical, but it’ll work. Besides, the Silversmiths are due any minute, and they’re in desperate need of guidance in or*l s*x. Edna keeps leaving teeth marks. So while I’m dealing with the Silversmiths, you can run that book down to William’s office and let him know I sent it."

"I’ll definitely let him know you sent it."

"As if he’d think it was you! But you might as well state the obvious and avoid any confusion. Oh, and before you go, I have to ask because you seem even more uptight today than usual. Did you use that red vibrator?"

"Not yet."

"Use it, Amanda! You look like a zombie. There’s nothing like a few orgasms to put the spring back in your step and erase those dark smudges from under your eyes. You probably stayed up all night studying."

"Sort of." She’d stayed up all night paralyzed with fear.

"That’s pathetic. Use that vibrator and you’ll sleep like a baby afterward." At the sound of the outer office door opening, she glanced over Amanda’s shoulder. "The Silversmiths are here," she said in a low voice. "Be sure to tell me how William reacts to the book. Now, take off."

Amanda smiled at the Silversmiths as Gloria ushered them into her office. Was Jacob Silversmith a suspect? He didn’t look suspicious, but maybe there was a reason Edna was leaving tooth marks. Maybe Jacob wasn’t a nice man. He looked sweet, with his ruddy complexion, thinning hair, and the beginnings of a paunch, but maybe he was her stalker.

She hated the idea of looking at every male client as if he might be the one harassing her. It threatened to suck any remaining joy out of her life. But unless the boyfriend ruse worked or she figured out who was doing this, she’d have to stay alert.

On her way down the hall to the offices of Cooper and Scott, she made a detour into the women’s bathroom. Gloria’s comments about the dark smudges under her eyes had made her wonder if she was in any shape to ask Will to be her pretend boyfriend. A couple of days ago she wouldn’t have worried about it, and it was a sign of her new interest in him that she cared now.

The bathroom mirror didn’t give her a lot of comfort. There were dark smudges under her eyes, and she hadn’t brought any concealer to work. She never brought makeup, other than lipstick. That was pretty much gone, too.

Detouring back to the office, she opened her desk drawer to take out her purse. As she reached for it, she paused. Was there another valentine underneath? Her heart rate picked up. Slowly she removed her purse from the drawer. It was empty.

With a sigh, she took her lipstick and a small mirror out of an inside compartment. Lipstick helped, but she still looked as if she hadn’t slept. Not much to do about it, now. Fluffing her hair with her fingers, she put her lipstick and mirror away and replaced her purse in the drawer.

In the hall she glanced both ways. Whoever was planting the valentines used the time she was out of the office to do it. If there was somewhere she could hide and watch the outer office door… but there was no place, and besides, she couldn’t stake out Gloria’s office. Her job was to be in there working, not hanging around outside trying to catch the valentine guy.