The Four Sisters

Chapter 19

    It was Valentines day, and Spencer made four dozen heart cookies to sell at Java Bean. She decorated them with red hots and other candy, and they were a big hit. She was exhausted but satisfied with her day's work when her shift ended. 

  She hurried home to get ready as Dave was taking her out to dinner. They'd been dating for almost three weeks now, and she felt slightly nervous that they were spending such a major holiday together. She didn't want him to feel pressured to do anything too romantic, but things were pretty serious with them as they spent half of the week together at his townhouse, and she even stayed there by herself at times. She didn't bring him home yet as she didn't want her sisters to feel uncomfortable even though they all assured her they wouldn't, but it still felt weird to her. She'd never brought a guy home before.

  Victoria wasn't home as she was out of town and with a guy named Paul who she'd been dating off and on for several years. They'd been off for months, but recently they started talking again. None of the sisters were thrilled about this as they'd never liked Paul who lived in New York, and he worked at some big publishing house. Spencer always thought he was a snob, and he kept Victoria hanging on as his side piece whenever he was bored. He'd fly her into the city on a private plane, and she always fell for it. Then he would start dating someone else, and it would be in all the society pages as his Mom was from some old, rich family. 

  "God, she'll go out with anyone who has a little money," Parker had said once, and she wasn't completely wrong as Victoria did seem to only date wealthier men from New York. She always refused to let her friends set her up with someone from their town. "They better have a co-op in Manhattan or she isn't talking to them."

  "Happy Valentines day!" 

  Spencer was stunned as she opened up her front door, and Henry was standing in the living room in a pink t-shirt and red jeans. She stared. He was also holding a gloriously full red rose. 

  "A rose for you, my friend," he said and handed her the rose.

  "Uh, thank you," Spencer said feeling slightly confused.

  "I'm meeting Parker here," Henry said quickly. "Since Rose is out of town in DC I'm going to take her out with some friends. She was kind of bummed about Rose leaving, you know?"

  Rose was attending a protest in DC on behalf of an online magazine that hired her to cover it. Parker was bummed, but Rose was being well-paid so Parker was putting up with it. She knew how upset Rose had been lately about the William investigation so she needed a win.

  "Oh, that's nice," Spencer said as she headed towards the kitchen with some leftover cookies. "I made some Valentines cookies for the Java Bean if you want some. They have candy all over them so they're pretty delicious."

  "They sound good to me," Henry said as he eagerly took the plate from her. "And don't worry about the rose. I gave all of your sisters one so your boyfriend doesn't have to get jealous about some guy giving his girl a rose. It doesn't mean anything."

  She smirked. "I think he can handle you giving me a rose, I promise."

  "What are you guys doing tonight?" Henry asked as she handed him a napkin after he spilled a bunch of crumbs down his front as he took a bite of the cookie. "A romantic, fire side dinner?"

  "We're just going to this Italian place," Spencer said as she tried to keep her voice casual. It felt weird talking about Dave with Henry though. He seemed okay with it though. "We went there on our first date."

  "You're already going to your first date spots?" Henry mocked. "How long have you been dating? Surely you can't have run out of places yet."

  "Shut up," Spencer said and made to take away the plate of cookies. "Don't be mean."