CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
“Hey, Mandy! Are you up there again?” The wrought-iron steps clanged as Candace climbed into the loft.
Mandy looked up from Wuthering Heights. Reading the novel was the only way the novel would ever get off the shelf. She had once chosen it as her “do not disturb” book but had vowed never to kiss a guy again, or at least not for the rest of the year.
“Not that book again.” Candace flopped down and took the book from Mandy. “Your Friday flower arrived—a perfect red rose.”
Mandy didn’t touch the flower Candice held. Was it the sixth or seventh. She had lost track. “Did I tell you he texts me every night? Duck jokes.”
Candace didn’t answer. “Let’s go to a movie or something. You have hidden up here for weeks. Didn’t you finish Tristan & Isolde yesterday? Enough with the tragic love stories. We need to celebrate. School’s Out for Summer!” The last few words were off key, if it was possible to be off key when singing an Alice Cooper lyric.
“It’s Friday night. Don’t you have a date?”
“Not very observant, are you? Larry the Lawyer tossed me like a hot potato after the protest. I didn’t have a single date in May.”
Mandy sat up. “How did I miss that?”
“That I didn’t have a date or that the calendar turned to June? There wasn’t much to miss. If he hadn’t ended it, I would have. He always talked about himself. Can you believe he never once asked me about my hair?”
“No. Isn’t he like the third person to not ask?”
“Other than employers, pretty much. What are those papers?”
Mandy handed her the stack of printed emails and a couple of snails that came to the university. “Mostly job offers.”
“The CIA? Seriously?” Candace held up a letter on cotton paper to check the watermark.
“Apparently they have graphic-design jobs too.”
Candace finished flipping through the papers. “California, New York, and London? Are you considering any of these?”
“Who wouldn’t consider London? I got my new school-district contract, and even with the increase in pay, any of these offers is double or more. Well, maybe not the CIA. I am sure they can’t tell me my pay unless I accept, not that I am seriously considering them. I can only imagine the type of work I would be doing for them. Part of the reason I did the master’s was to get a pay raise.”
“Do you still like teaching?”
“I don’t know. So many of my students don’t want to be there. And since the coach has been fired, there are several kids who resent me. Did I tell you they caught the vandals? The head cheerleader was the ring leader. Her parents are blaming me. I haven’t figured that one out yet. The sad thing is, she has some real art skills.”
“Am I losing a roommate?”
Mandy shrugged. “There are a couple jobs I can work from here.”
“Oh, then we can be the old art ladies. I have a new commission piece. If I get enough of them, I can stay in my studio all day. We’d get a couple of cats.” Candace tossed a throw pillow at Mandy, who snatched it out of the air.
“You are allergic, aren’t you? Besides they would probably take over the lover’s loft, and then we would have no place to hide.” Mandy set the pillow down and slid off the beanbag.
“Lover’s Loft? Considering no guy has been up here for ages, I think the room needs a new name. Come on. Let’s go to dinner at the Chinese place and catch a movie. There is a new one tonight with that hot actor.”
“Which hot actor?”
“Does it matter?” Candace laughed as she led the way to the garage.
Colin opened the door to Daniel’s office. “Still working? You should take a break.”
“This coming from the man who regularly puts in eighty hours behind his computer? There must be an ulterior motive.”
“You know me too well, my friend. You need to go down to the mansion and see what the crews have been doing.”
“I’ve been getting reports.”
“To which you have been giving one- and two-word answers. I’ll drive.”
“Do you even know how?”
“I have a license. I just never use it. I think I have a red car I have only driven once or twice.”
Daniel shook his head. “That is a Lamborghini, and if you want to keep a low profile, which I do, it’s the wrong car. We can take my car.”
“Good. I left my duffel on Bonnie’s desk. I don’t like driving that far.”
The caretaker’s house was empty, as Hastings’s security team had left, choosing to hire a local firm to watch over the property since they were more bodyguards than guard dogs. Daniel made the necessary call to let the local firm know they were on the property.
Colin pulled open the refrigerator door. “Tabasco and an expired yogurt.” The freezer held a bag of peas that testified they had been used more than once as an ice pack. “Even the cupboards are bare. Let’s go get something. I am starving.”
Daniel tossed Colin his keys. “You go.”
Colin raised his eyebrow. “You sure you want me to drive?”
“No one can know I am here.”
Colin disappeared through the door. An engine came to life, followed by a sickening thunk-thud. Daniel winced. By the time he reached the car, Colin had already inspected the damage. “I only damaged the trunk—car and tree.”
Daniel rolled his eyes at the bad pun. “Promise me never to ever back up in your Lamborghini.”
“But it is in my garage. I’d have to back up to get it out.” Colin held up his hands in surrender.
“Precisely. Hop in. Let’s go get some food.”
“Just admit it. That was a terrible ending. I swear the actress cringed every time she kissed him.”
“I agree. Zero chemistry. How can you not have chemistry with him?” Mandy smiled.
“You know by now that chemistry takes more than good looks. Remember when we both thought Coach Robb was hot?” Candace opened her car door.
“Then he opened his mouth.” Both girls laughed.
“Ice cream?”
Mandy groaned. “I feel like that is all I have eaten this month.”
“Okay, then we can get some sorbet, too.” Candace headed her car in the direction of the little local market.
Only one checkout was open, and the cashier sat pondering her nails. Candace made a beeline for the frozen foods with Mandy in her wake.
“Raspberry-lemonade sherbet. That looks good.” Candace licked her lips.
Mandy grabbed a couple of frozen dinners before joining Candace. “It would be a change from ‘Chocolaty, Choc, Choc, Chocolate.’”
“Hey, Candace,” a voice called from the end of the aisle, “nice hair.”
Mandy froze. Colin? Here? And Daniel?
Candace tossed her pale-mint ombre locks. “This old thing? How kind of you.”
For a moment Mandy considered diving under the cart or crawling behind the half gallons of vanilla. Too late.
“Candace. Mandy.” Daniel nodded at them.
“Isn’t this a coincidence? We were getting ice cream. Any chance you two want to help us eat it?” Candace grabbed a half gallon of fudge ripple and added it to the cart.
“Sure, I’m game.” Colin added a container of vanilla.
To Mandy’s mind, Colin seemed too eager and Candace too bouncy. Coincidence? More like elaborate setup. Mandy took a step back.
Daniel stepped forward. “You got your boot off. How does your foot feel?”
Mandy looked at her matching flats peeking out from under her maxi skirt. “My foot feels fine, but it’s funny to walk normally again.” Mandy backed into the cooler shelf.
“Careful. You don’t need an accident tonight.” Daniel lifted his hand and brushed her cheekbone with his finger. “It looks like that has healed nicely too.”
Mandy told herself it was an odd scar thing sending tingles dancing across her face. “You know about—? Never mind. Of course you do.”
“I tried to call you that night. You didn’t answer.”
“Hey, you two, the ice cream is melting. We will check out, and I’ll take Colin back to our place. Daniel, can you drive Mandy?”
“May I?” Daniel dropped his hand and stepped back.
Mandy didn’t trust her voice, so she nodded. Daniel raised his hand and waved. “It looks like I still need milk.” He moved back up the aisle to where Colin had abandoned their cart. By the time they reached the checkout counter, Candace and Colin were gone.
Mandy followed Daniel to his car.
He pointed out the huge curve in the back end. “I’m not sure the trunk will open, let’s put these in the backseat.”
“What happened?” Mandy traced the dent with her finger.
“Colin. He has never been an attentive driver, but now I am wondering if it was deliberate.”
“Why would he crash your car?” Mandy slid the last bag into the backseat.
Daniel deposited the empty cart in the cart return. “I wasn’t coming to the store with him.”
“You think they set us up?”
Daniel opened her door. “Of course I do, and if you finally talk to me, his ploy will be worth the repair bill.”
Mandy watched him round the car and get in. “I’ll talk. You have been rather persistent in the weeks since my MFA show. But when we are done and I say good-bye, will you let it mean adieu?”
“If that is what you want, I will. Do you mind if we drop off my milk before going to your place for the ice cream?”
Mandy turned in her seat to face him. “Sure. And I need to say I’m sorry.”
“For what?” He turned north towards the estate, a road Mandy had avoided since the protest.
“I did a final manipulation of your mansion I shouldn’t have. I was angry, and I thought you—never mind. It doesn’t matter what I thought. It was beneath me, and unkind.”
“The bordello? That one is hilarious. You probably designed the pink monstrosity when I was in New York, and with all of the dates I had, you probably thought I deserved it.”
Mandy stared out her window, not sure how to respond.
“I need to explain about the New York dates. They were all setups. Mutually beneficial appearances complete with contracts and nondisclosures. My goal at the trial was to get Summerset into rehab, but I needed to get her father to hear me this time. As long as she maneuvered the press to tell her version of reality, her father would believe her. I spent the past three months in an ever-escalating frenzy of dating that peaked during the trials keeping me in the public eye, building evidence that Summerset and I were not exclusive. The photos made it difficult for her to claim a private liaison. All my contracted dates knew we were acting, and, no, they weren’t paid. They only got the publicity. But then I went on one very real date. And they wouldn’t let me tell you about the others. My guess is you did a less-tame version earlier. After the lick kiss and Summerset’s last stunt, I think half of the web gossips would have turned my house into worse if they had your skills.
Mandy’s head whipped up. “Did Candace tell you about the first one? How much have you been spying on me?”
Daniel reached for her hand. “Other than the reports from Hastings, which did not include photos other than the one of your cut cheek, which you knew Abbie took, I only spied on you once for about two hours.”
“When?” Mandy narrowed her eyes.
“The opening night of your show. Colin was wearing a button cam. I wanted to be there and to see everything, but I was stuck in London working on the opening of the new restaurants. I wanted to ask your permission and have you wear the camera, but—”
“I wasn’t returning your calls”.
Daniel turned onto a narrow paved lane.
The road was unfamiliar to her. “Where are we?”
“Back gate.” He touched a button on his dash, and the gate swung open. He drove through and parked behind the guesthouse. “I’ll take these in and be right back.”
He had wanted to be at her MFA. And he’d basically contracted all the dates, including the kisses. She processed the information. Hired dates did make them even closer to the brothel scenario. No wonder he’d laughed. Mandy studied the two-story house. It made sense he would have been staying here. The building couldn’t be seen from the road. Even when she had lived with Grandma Mae, this part of the property hadn’t been visible. But the old caretaker had let them play on the rope swing and with his cats. And his wife made snickerdoodle cookies better than Grandma Mae’s. This house would have been a happier place. The kitchen light darkened, and Daniel returned and slid into the driver’s seat.
Mandy placed a hand on his arm. “You don’t need to apologize for the button cam. I doubt you saw anything you wouldn’t have had you been there. It wasn’t like Colin followed me into the restroom.”
Daniel cupped Mandy’s face. “Do you know what I did see?”
Mandy swallowed but didn’t move. His hand felt so right it made her wish for a lasting relationship.
“I saw how sad you were. How when you smiled, you didn’t light up. How you avoided the brothel—”
“Bordello sounds classier.”
“Bordello and Grandma Mae’s house. I wanted to crawl through the computer and hug you. Tell you I was sorry and explain about the dates. I was ready to hop on a plane and come back and skip the ribbon cutting. Terrance talked me out of it.”
Mandy tipped her head. “Terrance? How odd. That is the name of the Englishman who bought the entire show, including Grandma Mae’s and the bordello. I didn’t want to sell them.”
“I know.” Daniel let his hand drop.
Mandy’s hands flew to her face. “He works for you, doesn’t he?” Daniel owned them. He had been able to study the bordello in detail.
“Yes, and, as promised, they are in my private collection. So, I am curious, have you managed to get the fence the way you like it?”
“I haven’t worked on it.”
“And another question—why are you standing in the attic in the old yellow dress?”
Mandy turned to face the window. “I am sure I don’t know what you are talking about.”
“Still a terrible liar. Do you want to know what I think it is? I think you hoped I would come find you because I am not really a player.”
Mandy gasped.
Daniel put the car in gear. “Are you done hiding yet? Because I am looking.”
“Where are we going?”
“Back to your place.”
“I thought you wanted to talk.”
“I did, but if we keep sitting here talking I am going to kiss you, and right now I don’t think either of us is ready for that. We just moved past the duck-joke phase.” Nearly the same words he had used last time. Would they ever be ready?