By the time she got home, Dottie could barely contain herself. She was so glad she had taken her mother’s advice to go to the job interview. She couldn’t believe she had spent more than a month and a half in this town and hadn’t made any friends. All it had taken was one outing to turn that around. Why had she been so shy? Her parents were right; when she put herself out there, there was nothing she couldn’t do.

She cleaned off her shoes on the mat by the front door. “You won’t believe what happened!”

Her mom looked up from the stove and turned around. “What? And it’s almost time for dinner. Would you wash your hands?”

“Sure, sure.” Dottie unwound her scarf and then took off her shoes. She peeled off her gloves and put her coat on the hook next to the door. “I made a new friend.”

“That’s nice, dear,” her mom said absentmindedly and turned back to the stove. “Could you go find your father?”

Dottie nodded. “He’s a shifter too. Do you know how many shifters there are in this town? The guy who runs the Christmas thing is a shifter too. I bet more than half the people I met today were shifters.”

“Mmmm,” her mother replied. She knew what that meant. Her mom was too busy to listen to her right now.

That was fine. She was too excited to care. She checked around the house for her father and couldn’t find him in any of the rooms. Since she was so excited to talk, of course he was in the last place she could check. The basement, of all places.

“What are you doing?” She carefully descended the stairs. There was no railing, and the wooden steps looked like they would crumble if she stepped too hard. They were going to need to be updated before her family sold this place.

“Come over here and check this out.” Her father held up a canvas. “Did you know that your aunt collected art?”

She shook her head. “I never met her, so, no. Strange, though. There’s no art upstairs.”

“She kept it boxed up down here.” He pointed to a stack of boxes next to him. “I don’t know why, but I found three or four boxes of this stuff. She even has it organized by type. It must have been important to her.”

“These are really pretty.” Dottie took one from the box and held it up in the dim light. It was a black canvas with a white elephant painted on it. There was another one behind it of a black butterfly on a white canvas. The whole box was black and white paintings.

They were simple but beautiful. These were exactly the kinds of things she liked. She was going to put these upstairs. They would be perfect for showing the house. “I met someone today.”

“You did?” Her dad patted her on the back. “Good job, pumpkin. I knew you could do it. When you give people a chance to get to know you, they all want to be your friend. Did you get the job?”

“I think I did. I’m waiting for a call back, but I feel pretty good about it. I was the most elf-like person there. The boy I met even said so. I mean, the man. The man I met.”

She was going to have to stop doing that. There was nothing boyish about Wyatt. He was a hulking beast of a man.

“So, was he cute, then?” her dad teased. “From the stars in your eyes, I’m going to bet he was.”

“I guess he was okay-looking. But that doesn’t matter. He was nice to me.”

“That’s great, honey. I’m glad you made a new friend. Did you get his full name?”

“I think it was Wyatt Schultz, but I could be wrong. I didn’t really pay close attention.”

“Write that down on the pad upstairs next to my computer?”

She tipped her head. “Why?”

He pulled another painting from the box. This one had a stark black raven on a white background. “I’ll need to look him up. I can’t have you going out with any random man. I want to make sure he’s a good person before you get in too far.”

Dottie couldn’t believe it. She had just met Wyatt, and her dad already wanted to do a background check. That seemed a bit much for a new friend. “I never said I wanted to date him. I just said that I wanted to get to know him.”

“Are you two down there?” her mom called from upstairs, interrupting them. “The food is ready.”

Her dad rubbed his tummy. “Sounds great. I’m starving.”

They went upstairs, and Dottie washed her hands. They all sat down at the round table, and her mom dished out soup.

“Did you hear that our girl met a nice young man?”

Her mother looked at her. “Was that what you were going on about earlier?”

Dottie nodded. “I did. His name is Wyatt, and he’s wonderful.”

Her mom wrinkled her nose. “So, what, do you want to date him or something?”

“No. He’s just a friend,” Dottie stressed. They were both jumping to the whole dating thing when she hadn’t even brought it up. She had made a new friend, that was all. She wished they’d be happier for her and stop trying to make this into a big thing.

“Have you looked him up yet, Dave?” her mother asked.

“He doesn’t need to look him up,” Dottie explained again. “I don’t want to date him. He’s just nice. I needed a friend, and I was lucky to find one. You were the one who told me to go to this thing and put myself out there.”

“I haven’t yet,” Dad said to Mom. “But I’m going to as soon as we finish eating. I have his full name already. Wyatt Schultz. He has to be from around here, too. That should be enough for a quick check.”

“Good.” Mom touched his arm. “We can’t have her going out with any old man.”

“He’s not just anyone,” Dottie insisted. “If you met him, you would see how nice he is.”

“We’re not going to meet him yet. Not until we check him out first. Once we know he’s okay, we’ll be glad to have him over.” Her dad picked up his bowl and tipped soup into his mouth. “This is really good, honey. You outdid yourself this time. Forgive me if I lick the bowl clean.”

“You remember Billy, dear, don’t you?” Dottie’s mother asked her.

“Yes.” Dottie looked at her bowl and pushed the noodles around in the liquid with the back of her spoon. “But he isn’t Billy. He’s much better than Billy could ever dream of being.”

Billy. That was a name that would always make her shudder. Her ex-boyfriend. The only boyfriend she’d ever had, and the one who had made her and her parents so suspicious.

They had dated in high school, and he’d started a vicious rumor that had followed her around town. It was one of the reasons she had been so glad to escape to this house in Maple Creek. She was only going to be here a few months, but it was nice to get away from the whispers. It had been years since high school, but whenever she went out, she could swear people were talking about her. It made her so self-conscious.

“Yes, you don’t want that to happen again, do you?” her mother said, shaking her head. “No, we can’t let that happen again. This is your fresh start. I know you like this boy, but…”

“Man. He’s a man, Mom.”

“I know you like this man.” Her mother smiled indulgently. “But we don’t want you going out with any man we don’t know. We think you can do much better than just some Maple Creek fellow, anyway.”

“That’s why we set you up with Lovely and Kind Brides,” her father reminded her. “I thought you liked the service too.”

“I do. But that doesn’t mean I can’t meet someone in real life.”

“I think I’ve had enough of this kind of talk.” Her mother pushed back from the table. “Does anyone want any bread? I forgot to bring it out with the soup.”

“I’ll take some,” Dottie said with a sigh.

Her father started talking about the art in the basement, and she knew the conversation was finished for now. She wasn’t too happy, but she wasn’t going to complain, either. After all, her parents had been right about most things.

It wouldn’t be so bad to wait until she knew a little more about Wyatt before committing to anything. They were just friends for now. Although she could see them possibly being more in the future, she didn’t want to jump the gun. She trusted her parents. They only wanted what was best for her.

And she had just signed up with Lovely and Kind Brides a few months earlier. They were her best bet for getting a high-quality match. She should really let them do the work and not worry about it at all. She didn’t need to push anything with Wyatt.

It was always better to wait and be cautious. It would cost her nothing. Once her father was able to look Wyatt up, she could invite him over to meet her parents. Then they would be more comfortable with her hanging out with him.

If they met him and hated him or had any misgivings—oh, well. She had much bigger and brighter things going on in her life. She could focus on getting the house ready to sell and, hopefully, her new winter job. Yes, it was better that way. No need to get herself too hung up on a man she had just met. She was going to be leaving in a few months, anyway.

It had been silly of her to think she and Wyatt could ever be anything more than temporary friends. She was too lonely and had let herself get too attached to the first person she’d met. It was a good thing her parents were there to set her straight.