to make it yourself. I prefer my own.”
No way was she going to offer him access to her pot. Having him run in and out of her office for coffee wasn’t a pleasing prospect, no matter how much she believed in hospitality. She didn’t dislike Daniel, exactly, but no woman enjoyed being around a guy who seemed to radiate a subtle air of disapproval at the same time he was revving up her pulse.
“That’s probably what I’ll do, as well. I’ll return the mug later.”
“No need. It’s from the Senior Center and we’ve got plenty.”
Mandy breathed a sigh of relief when Daniel nodded and walked out...until he shut her door again. But before she could rise from her seat, it opened.
“Sorry,” he said. “I forgot.”
For the rest of the day, reminders of Daniel Whittier dogged her footsteps. A new person moving to Willow’s Eve was an event, and since nobody knew much about Daniel, speculation was rife. Even when she stopped in at the Handy Spandy to get romaine lettuce for dinner, the customers were discussing him.
“Hey, Mandy, what’s the new guy like?” asked Janine Grey when they met in the produce area. She was Dorothy Tanner’s nineteen-year-old granddaughter and was home for a weekend visit from college.
Mandy hesitated. It seemed best to say nothing much. “Mr. Whittier is very professional and appears determined to make a strong start in his job,” she replied. “I don’t know much more than that.”
“Mom was wondering if he’s married with a family. She still has her casserole to bring over, but she doesn’t know how big to make it.”
“Didn’t think to ask him. There wasn’t any family with him when he arrived. That’s all I know.” Mandy couldn’t think of anything more to say that wouldn’t get her into trouble. She put her lettuce back in the cooler, deciding to do without a salad with dinner.
“Well, I’d better get going,” she said brightly, already heading for the door.
A short while later, she settled into one of the Adirondack chairs on her patio, but Mandy couldn’t stop thinking about Daniel. The guy probably sent female hearts fluttering wherever he went, and she tried to recall what the mayor had said about him.
Mid-thirties.
Experienced in city management, with both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree from UCLA.
The details had basically stopped at that point, since asking questions about a prospective employee’s personal life wasn’t allowed in interviews. But the mayor had said he thought Daniel wasn’t married. Being single could mean anything, but judging from the way Daniel had subtly checked out her bustline, he was heterosexual. A straight guy in his middle thirties could be single for any number of reasons, from having Peter Pan syndrome to being too cussed and obnoxious for any woman to want, no matter how attractive.
Daniel could be divorced.
Or he could have commitment phobias.
Mandy’s ex had been just the opposite. Vince was so commitment eager, he couldn’t wait to get married. Though she didn’t question that his affection for her had been genuine, he’d probably also figured it would look good to the university if he were a solid, married man, and therefore perfect material to become a tenured professor.
But why had she gone through with it?
Never mind. That was long past. She had the here and now to deal with, and being attracted to Daniel might be a problem...the kind that sometimes meant it was time for her to move on again.
On the other hand, it wasn’t as if she was a hormone-crazed kid. Vince had been nearly as good-looking, and she’d walked away from him with nothing more than relief. Her ex hadn’t cheated on or abused her. He was just stodgy as hell and couldn’t manage a conversation without quoting her father. But if good looks were the only thing that counted, she would have stayed.
Which surely meant she could handle Daniel.
With that reassurance, she put her feet on the footrest and listened to the crickets. It was a warm late-summer evening, the kind that seemed to have an especially golden feel before colder weather arrived. Of course, autumn wouldn’t be nearly as spectacular in California as it was in Connecticut, which was probably the thing she missed most about her home territory—the glorious, spectacular brilliance of fall trees and bushes. Sometimes she’d almost felt drunk on the color. But there was always something she missed about every place she’d lived since leaving her childhood home behind.
Mandy leaned her head back and closed her eyes, listening to the sound of the evening. A few minutes later, she heard footsteps on the other side of the bushes separating her house from the city manager’s home. She breathed quietly and hoped Daniel wouldn’t realize she was sitting nearby.
“Mandy?” his voice called.
She sighed and sat up. “Yes.”
“Is it all right if I come over?”
“Of course.”
He came through a gap in the bushes. In his arms was a large, long-haired black-and-white tuxedo cat.
“Mr. Spock,” she exclaimed.
“Then he is yours.”
“I adopted him not long ago.”
“I found him in the kitchen. I’m not sure how he got into the house.”
Mandy winced. “Sorry. He’s turned out to be a terrible scrounge. I don’t mind people feeding him, but I don’t want him to be a bother.”
“He’s charming at it, but persistent.”
She laughed. “He could give lessons to a bulldozer. A couple of weeks ago, he dashed into my house, skinny, dirty and hungry, and basically told me he was home and wasn’t leaving.”
Daniel chuckled in return, a low, gravelly sound that somehow matched the motorboat purr Mr. Spock was emitting. The sound sent a flutter through Mandy’s midriff.
“I sure hope Mr. Spock enjoys traveling in a car,” she said, trying to ignore the sensation. “I move around quite a bit.”
His eyebrows shot upward. “New employment opportunities?”
“Nah, I just take off and trust things will work out. And they do. I was going to look for something in Vicksville when I got the job here in Willow’s Eve.”
“Where do you plan to end up permanently?”
“Nowhere. I like wandering. You see terrific things that way. I never saw the Pacific Ocean until a few months ago.”
“You don’t have any goals?” Daniel stared and Mandy could tell he didn’t understand. Most people didn’t. Even the ones who loved to travel still seemed to want a permanent home base, but this way she wasn’t tied down.
Sure, it would be wonderful to find someplace that fit her well, but she wasn’t sure she’d ever find it. A place might fit for a while, but it never seemed to last.
“ISN’T EXPLORING THE United States a goal?” Mandy asked. “One of these days I hope to spend a summer in Alaska. It would be dope to have a garden where a single cabbage can get to hundreds of pounds.”
“Hundreds of pounds?” Daniel repeated, unsure what anyone would do with a cabbage that size.
She shrugged. “Maybe not that big, but with the growing day being nearly twenty-four hours long, they get huge. So that’s my goal,” she said, sticking her chin out. “Along with having lots of new experiences.”
“Oh. Okay.” He didn’t know what to think, except that spending a summer in Alaska growing