He glared at the calendar sitting above his computer.
February 14 glared back at him.
Two days until Valentine's Day. He hadn't even remembered—which was a blessing, until Angel had mentioned it today.
Well until Angel had mentioned that maybe he'd like to go out with her on that day.
And completely without his permission a vision of Lindsay decked out in a red dress with little heart earrings came to his mind and would not leave. Despite the fact that he'd spent the last two weeks trying to think of anything but her before he went completely crazy.
Leaning back in the chair he rubbed the heels of his hands over his eyes.
This was just pathetic…and he wasn't going to do this anymore. This wait and see thing where he read her card once a day trying to find the hidden message in it.
And damn it she'd signed it Montana and that had to fucking mean something.
Before he could change his mind he grabbed his cell phone and dialed the phone number.
"Hello, Delia's Flowers."
"Hello, I need to know if you can get two dozen roses to Bozeman, Montana by Valentine's Day."
&&&&&&
She knew who the flowers were from before she opened the card.
It read simply, "Montana, I'm thinking of you. Danny."
She wanted to cry as she buried her face in the bouquet and breathed their sweet scent in.
He'd sent her flowers on Valentine's Day.
She's treated him horribly. She hadn't even had the courage to say goodbye face to face and he'd sent her flowers. It was the first thing that had made her smile since she'd left New York.
She picked up the phone. She half way dialed and hung up three times before she made it all the way through.
"Messer," he answered.
She opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out.
"Hello," he said with a touch of annoyance.
"Hi Danny."
"Montana…" he was silent for a moment, "Hi."
"Hi," she said again.
Silence stretched awkwardly between them.
"Uh,"
"I got the flowers," she said.
"Oh yeah, I just…."
"They're beautiful Danny. Thank you."
"You're welcome."
More silence until she suddenly she was crying.
"Lindsay, Lindsay, are you okay? Lindsay talk to me."
"I'm sorry," she sobbed, "I'm so sorry Danny."
"It's…its okay."
"No, no its not. I was awful to you and…I didn't even say good bye and you still sent me these beautiful flowers."
"I wanted to, Montana. I know, Mac told me why you left."
"I wanted to tell you, I just couldn't."
"Why not? I would have listened. I would have been there for you."
"I know. I think that's what scared me. Danny, what happened to me….I shut it away for so long. I almost convinced myself that it didn't happen. The night we were supposed to go out—I went home and a letter was waiting for me telling me that they caught the man and that I would need to testify. I just, I couldn't deal with it Danny. I was…I am barely keeping it together."
"I understand Montana. I mean, I didn't them cause I didn't know why you were acting the way you were, but I get it now."
"Afterwards all I wanted was to apologize, but I was sure I ruined everything."
"You didn't ruin anything. Listen, I sent you those roses cause…well because I missed you and I wanted you to know it. But, there's no pressure Lindsay. You just, you deal with stuff out there and we'll deal with everything else when you get home."
She smiled when he said home; she wanted nothing more than to go home to him, "Thank you Danny."
His cell phone rang, "Uh, Montana, that's probably work, I better go."
"Okay—can—can I call you again?"
He smiled and wished he could reach through the phone and hug her, "Anytime you want, Montana."
"Bye, Danny."
"See you soon," he answered before hanging up.