One Night of Passion. Kate Hardy

was ever so slightly mocking. A corner of his mouth lifted slightly. “Let me know when you change your mind.”

      In the morning, he was gone.

      She wasn’t surprised to look out the window and see that his car wasn’t there. He’d obviously decided that if bedding her wasn’t going to be a perk of Mona’s renovation job, he didn’t want to be bothered.

      In some perverse way, Edie thought perhaps she should be flattered.

      At least it meant he had enjoyed their night together in Mont Chamion. But of course it also meant that he saw her presence as nothing more than an opportunity for physical release.

      Maybe not so flattering after all.

      “So I’m glad I said what I did,” she told Roy over her morning oatmeal.

      The dog cocked his head and grinned at her, then looked hopefully at the toast she was buttering.

      “You’ve had enough,” she told him. “And I don’t feed you from the table.”

      But try convincing Roy of that. He made a low whining sound and didn’t budge or blink an eye as long as the oatmeal and toast lasted. Edie rolled her eyes at him.

      He grinned happily, then ambled over to Mona’s house with her when she went over at nine to start work. She knew what he was thinking: it was always possible she would stop for a snack midmorning. He wouldn’t want to miss that.

      There was no sign in the kitchen that Nick had eaten before he’d left. It was just the way she’d left it yesterday—as if he’d never been here, as if it had all been a dream.

      It hadn’t been a dream. Perhaps, though, Edie thought, it was a wake-up call.

      Maybe Mona was right. Now that her hormones had been reawakened, maybe it was time for her to stop sitting at home and waiting for the right man to appear in her life. After the disastrous end to her relationship with Kyle, she hadn’t sat home and moped. She’d gone back to the university where, a few months later, she’d met Ben.

      He’d been the right man, just as clearly as Kyle had been the wrong one.

      Maybe, now it was time to do that again. She had loved Ben, but she didn’t want to spend the rest of her life alone. Ben wouldn’t have wanted her to. So if Nick Savas was the wrong man, it was up to her to find the right one.

      He’d done her a favor.

      She kept telling herself that.

      She even acted on it. When Derek Saito, a local English teacher, called that morning to ask if Mona would come and talk to the drama class when school started, she didn’t just take down the information and promise to check with Mona and call him back. She actually chatted with him.

      Derek was Ronan’s age. They’d been in the same class in school. They’d been surfing buddies and had played tennis together. He’d been Ben’s friend, too. And she remembered well how kind he’d been to her after Ben’s death. Now, after she caught him up on what Ronan was up to, he asked about her.

      “I’m all right,” she said. “Working hard.”

      “Too hard, I’d guess.” Derek knew her well. “As usual.”

      Every other time Edie had disagreed. But today she said, “You could be right. I need to get out more.”

      There was a pause, as if Derek hadn’t been expecting that. But then he said, “So, want to go out with me?” There was a quick pause, then he said, “I’m not hitting on you, Edie. Not yet,” he qualified. “Ben was too good a friend. But there’s a concert on campus Friday night. Old-timers. Couple of eighties rock groups. Pure nostalgia … if you’re interested?”

      It sounded like fun. And Derek was a friend. She doubted he’d ever be more than that, but why not go? What was there to stay home for?

      “I’m interested,” she said. “Yes.”

      “Great!” There was a sudden spike of enthusiasm in his voice. “Dinner first?”

      “I could cook,” Edie offered.

      “No. We’ll grab a burger or something. I’ll pick you up at six.”

      “Shall I meet you at the restaurant? You wouldn’t have to come all the way out here.” Derek lived in town. The university was several miles on the other side.

      “I’ll pick you up. My pleasure,” he said. “See you then.”

      But the moment Edie hung up, she sat there a moment thinking, What have I done?

      “Nothing,” she said out loud with all the firmness she could muster. “You’re going out with a friend. You’re getting a life. Mona will be proud,” she added wryly.

      Speaking of whom, she had a few words to say to her mother. So she picked up the phone again and tried to ring Mona. Again she got no answer.

      She’d already tried twice this morning, right after she’d come into the office. There had been no answer then, either, so apparently Mona was still out of range.

      She supposed Nick had sent her an email to say he had decided not to do the renovations. Serve her right, Edie thought, for all her meddling.

      But a part of her felt a little bereft because the adobe wouldn’t be salvaged. Going back over there with Nick had reminded her that once upon a time it had been a nice house, that she had made lots of good memories there. She had hoped to make more with Ben, though, to be honest she wasn’t sure that ever would have happened. She’d thought that maybe when they’d come back from Fiji they could have fixed it up as a vacation house, even though they’d probably live elsewhere close to wherever Ben worked—somewhere right on the water.

      Now none of it would happen.

      Life was what happened when you were making other plans. She thought it was John Lennon who had said that. But Mona said it, too. Her mother was just a fount of wisdom these days, Edie thought grimly.

      At least she had made a plan. She was going to a concert with Derek on Friday. And this afternoon she was going to finish doing the filing she’d intended to do yesterday when Nick Savas had been the “life” that had interrupted her plans.

      The phone rang. Edie picked it up. “Edie Daley.”

      “Hey,” a gruff masculine voice she hadn’t expect to hear ever again said into her ear, “can you meet me at the adobe with your key? I’ve got tools and a truckload of roofing tiles to unload.”