14 Valentine Place by Pamela Bauer

on his offer.
    She cocked her head to one side. “You think by eating lunch together we’ll become good friends?”
    “I’m not sure friendship is an option with us. What do you think?”
    She could see that they were getting dangerously close to flirting. It was a side of Dylan she would be foolish to encourage. “There’s a difference between being friendly and being friends,” she said carefully.
    “Then come sit down and I’ll do my best to be friendly,” he urged her.
    Again he smiled and Maddie found herself wanting to give in to the temptation to be with him. Ignoring the voice in her head that told her she would be wise to go back to her room, she set her tray on the table.
    “That looks good,” he said, eyeing her salad.
    She was tempted to tell him there was plenty more in the fridge. But if they were going to be friendly, she needed to make an effort to avoid that kind of comment.
    “Would you like me to fix you a salad?” she offered.
    “I can get it myself.” He started to rise, but she stretched out a hand and stopped him.
    “It’ll take me a fraction of the time it would take you,” she told him. “I’ll get it.”
    He sat back down. “Thank you. I’d appreciate that.”

    As she chopped cucumber and carrots, he spoke to her. “You’re pretty good with that knife.”
    “I’ve taken a few cooking classes,” she admitted.
    “From the way Mom talks about your cooking, it sounds as if you could do it for a living.”
    She shrugged. “I’ve thought about it, but decided it’s not what I want to do to pay my bills.”
    “You’d rather work at the co-op?”
    “There’s nothing wrong with working at the co-op. Lots of good people work there.” Normally she didn’t allow anyone to put her on the defensive when it came to her personal life, but with Dylan it was different. She felt as if she constantly needed to justify herself to him.
    “I’m sure they do. I just expected you to be doing something different.”
    “Such as?”
    “Maybe coaching the U.S. chess team.”
    She couldn’t hide the smile his compliment produced. “Garret told you I can still beat him at chess, didn’t he?”
    “Yes, but even if he hadn’t, that’s one of the things I remember from the summer you stayed with us. Not many fourteen-year-old girls play chess the way you did.” Admiration tinged his words and pride had her smiling inwardly.
    “My uncle coached the chess team at our elementary school. We won the state championship the year I was in sixth grade.” She set his salad on the table in front of him, then went over to the stove and ladled the soup into a bowl. “As long as I’m up,” she said, when she placed it on the table.

    “Thank you.” He gave her another smile and she knew that one thing hadn’t changed since that summer—he could be very charming when he wanted to be.
    And he was definitely making that choice now.
    “You’ll have to forgive me if I spill on myself. I haven’t quite got the hang of using my left hand yet,” he said as he raised his spoon, a hint of a smile creasing his cheeks.
    Maddie would have thought she was the one who had spilled something, the way his eyes were on her while they ate. She tried making small talk but felt extremely self-conscious. Finally she asked him, “Do I have something caught in my teeth?”
    “No, why?”
    “Because you’ve been looking at me as if I do.”
    He apologized. “I’m sorry. It’s just that you look so different from that fourteen-year-old girl who used to twirl her way through the house.”
    She chuckled. “I should hope so. I was all arms and legs back then.”
    “And you wore glasses and had braces on your teeth.”
    “I don’t know what was worse…being called four eyes or tinsel teeth.” She shuddered at the memory.
    He looked surprised. “That’s what kids said to you?”
    “A few. The price you pay for having bad eyes and bad teeth.”
    “They both appear to be fine, now, or are you wearing