Until She Met Daniel

by Callie Endicott

  “I just don’t understand why you won’t look at the other side of an issue,” she murmured, breaking the silence. “You used to, a long time ago.”

  “Someone has to stand up for the environment.”

  “I know, but the night we met, you talked about building coalitions and educating people. About searching for workable options. I thought it was wonderful. Then you met Dad and turned into a knee-jerk radical.”

  “That’s ridiculous.”

  “Is it? You’ve assumed that I’m just echoing my father—you haven’t bothered looking at the reality of the town’s need for water, or tried to understand or be reasonable. And for twenty years you’ve treated me the same way, never noticing the bite marks you and Dad leave behind.”

  He snorted. “Don’t be melodramatic. We’ve agreed on most things.”

  Susan let out a short, brittle laugh. “Actually, you’ve just assumed we agreed because I got into the habit of simply going along with what you want.”

  “You’re still saying I try to control everything?” Chris asked incredulously.

  “Not exactly. But you have gotten your way most of the time without realizing it. I usually let things go by, without saying I had a different opinion, and now I’m paying for it. This is the first time we’ve really butted heads over something important. And what happened? I didn’t cave, you didn’t get your way, and you moved out. It feels as if we’ve spent twenty years building a house of cards.”

  Heat crept up Chris’s neck; he wasn’t proud of the way he’d left. “You’re saying this is all my fault, then.”

  “No. It wasn’t until Mandy said she’d left her husband so she wouldn’t become a Stepford wife that something clicked in me. I grew up watching my mom suppress her own opinions for the sake of domestic peace. And I’ve been perpetuating the same dynamic.”

  Chris was too confused to respond, so he went inside the house to collect the few things he’d brought. He didn’t know what to think, yet the sadness in Susan’s voice bothered him...almost as much as the possibility that he hadn’t understood how she’d felt through the years. If there was any hope for their marriage to survive, he had to give it some serious thought.

  * * *

  MANDY SAW THE tension in Daniel’s face as soon as she went into his office the next day. He obviously regretted initiating their hot kiss—a kiss and other seductive moves that had left her aching all night and longing for more.

  “I’m sorry,” he said without preamble. “Yesterday was a mistake I shouldn’t have made.”

  “Yeah, I figured you’d be back to your old self before long.”

  “I’m concerned.” Daniel stopped and ran his fingers through his dark hair. “What if Samantha had come in? She could be getting her hopes up about something that’s never going to happen. My God, she’s been hurt enough.”

  A confused rush of anger and pain swept through Mandy, however illogical it might be. After all, she’d told Daniel she didn’t intend to get tied down, so she shouldn’t be hurt he didn’t see her as a potential life partner. And he’d said from the beginning that he wasn’t ready to get involved with anyone. As for him being protective of Samantha, he was a loving father. It was one of the things she liked about him.

  Actually, there were a lot of things Mandy liked about Daniel. Too many things. And that was why it stung to have him push her away.

  Besides, he was the one who’d broken down and kissed her the day before, in his own house with his daughter and his ex’s mother just down the hall. Now he wanted to act as if they’d never done more than shake hands.

  She squared her shoulders. “I don’t see the problem with us being friends—you and me and Samantha. And Joyce, naturally.”

  “Do I have to spell it out? She’s a little girl with an emotionally detached mother. And you aren’t going to be here for long—you aren’t anywhere for long.”

  “I love Willow’s Eve and I’ve stayed for almost seven months now.”

  “I’m sure that seems like an eternity after nine years of peripatetic jumping from one job and town to another.”

  “Peripatetic?” Mandy hiked an eyebrow. “What did you do, search the dictionary last night to find the word with the most syllables? Don’t forget, I’m the one with the English lit major. The way you phrased it is redundant.”

  “Regardless, moving on is what you do every time things get complicated.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Tell me truthfully—with all of this mess going on in town and between us, you’ve considered packing up and leaving, haven’t you?”

  “It’s not the same,” Mandy protested, though it was true the thought of leaving the turmoil behind was attractive. “I told them when they interviewed me that I probably wouldn’t stay. Four or five months is usually my limit.”

  “Then why are you still here?”

  “I thought I’d finally found a place where I fit it. Now I’m just...not so sure.”

  “Terrific. For once you found a place where you feel comfortable, and that means most of the people fit what you want them to be. But I don’t match what you expect, and now with the water issue getting so hot, a lot of people aren’t adjusting to your narrow specifications, either.”

  “You don’t understand.”

  Mandy stalked out furiously, heading for her own office. When the rubber hit the road, Daniel was a jerk.

  And they were impossibly mismatched, despite the fact they generated enough heat to solve the energy crisis, presuming some scientist could discover how to harness it. But he was conservative establishment. She was spontaneous and eager to try new things and gain new experiences. And what was wrong with being like that? After the disaster with Vince, she’d promised herself she would never get involved with a guy who didn’t accept her as she was. She should remember that promise whenever Daniel made her blood sizzle.

  “Mandy?”

  It was him. Office keys in hand, she wheeled around. “What do you want?”

  “The reason we came in today was to discuss questions on the water issue. Remember?”

  Guilt stabbed her. City Hall, including the Senior Center, was closed for a four-day holiday break. Daniel hadn’t needed to come in; he could have stayed home with Sam. And unlike her own father, who had consistently chosen work over time with his daughter, Daniel obviously enjoyed his daughter’s company. But whenever they had tried to talk for the past week, they’d been interrupted. So he’d come in, anyhow.

  She swallowed and opened her office, inviting him inside. “Okay. Number one on the list of latest concerns is the fact this is a small town, and having a sewage treatment plant seems unnecessary, not to mention expensive.”

  “You can’t tell me they like septic tanks.”

  “As they say, there are pros and cons to any system. They’re used to septic tanks. And someone found a study showing that in some areas, septic tanks are more ecologically sound than the alternative.”

  “So the environment becomes more important when it’s possible to save money?”

  “That’s a mean-spirited way of putting it.”

  He made a face. “Perhaps, but I’m trying to anticipate what Joe Jensen’s objections will be. He’ll put it much worse.”

  “True,” Mandy had to acknowledge. Big Joe was as cynical as they came.

  They ran through the list of concerns the seniors had raised over the past week.

  “We need to get everyone discussing things on a rational basis,” Daniel said when they were finished.

  Mandy nodded. Rationality was something he probably doubted she had in abundance, but he was wrong. She could see both sides of the issue, and knew that if anything was to get resolved, it would require give-and-take from everyone.

  Daniel got up to leave, then hes
itated. “Look, I probably said some things I shouldn’t have...about why you move around so much. The truth is, I think you care so much about people, you invest too much in their problems. But everyone has problems, and it isn’t up to you to fix them.”

  His insight made Mandy gulp. “Sometimes I can help.”

  “That doesn’t mean you should. They say a chick needs to break its way out of the shell to be strong enough to survive.”

  She clenched her hands so hard, her fingernails dug into her palms. “You don’t think I should have agreed to represent the seniors, do you?”

  He shook his head. “I’m not saying that, but I wonder how you’ll feel if a decision is made that they don’t like...provided you stay around long enough for that decision.”

  Mandy glared as he walked out, wanting to boot him in the backside, and at the same time wanting to cry. Only she had no reason to cry...except for her frustrated body and mixed-up feelings. She wasn’t falling in love with Daniel. It didn’t matter he wasn’t quite the bureaucratic rule follower she’d believed...or that he was a loving father and hard worker, and had a decent sense of humor after all....

  She put a brake on her thoughts. She did not need to enumerate his good qualities, again. Instead, she should remember he was pigheaded, occasionally stuffy and stuck in his ways.

  Hell.

  Daniel had accused her of wanting to be accepted, but not accepting him or other people. It had infuriated her when he’d said it, but she couldn’t shake the thought. Was there an element of truth in what he’d said?

  Especially since she had been considering the joys of a fast exit ever since things had gotten sticky in Willow’s Eve.

  * * *

  ON THE WEDNESDAY following Thanksgiving, Daniel paused going down the steps of City Hall to gaze at the large community Christmas tree in the city square. The tree-lighting ceremony had taken place on Saturday night and the tree glimmered with thousands of lights.

  He’d never lived in a town with so much sense of community, and it was growing on him. A Christmas tree-lighting party, groups caroling through the streets, holiday songs sounding from the clock tower...he was enjoying it thoroughly. Joyce and Sam had been enthralled, and they’d talked him into putting up lights on the house and on the trees and bushes in the yard.

  “Good evening, Daniel.”

  Turning, he saw one of the clerks who worked upstairs. “Good evening, Barbara. Did you have a nice Thanksgiving?”

  “Wonderful. And you?”

  “The same.”

  “See you tomorrow.”

  There had been a couple of intensive days working with Barbara as they ironed out evacuation procedures for City Hall. The fire in the kitchen had made Daniel wonder, so he’d looked into the matter and found there’d been no procedure updates since long before the place was remodeled. Barbara had proved quite competent as they put a plan together.

  In January, he planned to look at the whole community’s preparedness. The fire department held regular drills, which sounded promising, and they’d sent him copies of their after-action reports. But he was also interested in personal readiness, wherein each household had emergency kits and a plan. He wondered if they could link up households to check on each other if a disaster should strike, with a central command...oh, he had lots of ideas. Some he’d had for years, but when he’d proposed them at his previous job, he had found little support. Now he had the opportunity to put them into play. It wasn’t the same as being the head of emergency services for a large city, but satisfying.

  His job at Willow’s Eve was proving far more interesting than the work he’d done down south, with the option of going beyond the normal administrative responsibilities. Not that the council had given him authority to do anything he wanted, but they trusted him to engage in what was needed—city planner, emergency preparedness and anywhere else he saw a need.

  “That’s the perfect kind of job,” Mandy had said when she’d overheard him chatting about it with a group of seniors in the parlor. “It’s hard to get bored when you wear a different hat every day, or sometimes every hour.”

  She was right.

  Mandy...Daniel sighed.

  He had no explanation for Thanksgiving Day—or none that satisfied him. During those moments in the kitchen he’d felt as carefree as in his old bachelor days. Kissing her had seemed the natural thing to do.

  As for trying to keep a distance between Mandy and Sam...?

  Well, he wouldn’t get any support for that from his daughter, who was enchanted with her new friend and talked as if Mandy was a permanent fixture in Willow’s Eve. Yet, she was unlikely to stick around, and knowing he was disturbed at the thought of her departure was a sign he’d let Mandy become too important to him. Ironic. A few months ago, it was the last thing he would have considered possible.

  Hell. He’d even started calling his daughter “Sam” part of the time—the way Mandy did—and Samantha liked it. Apparently, she’d always wanted a nickname.

  He loosened his coat, despite the evening chill. Celia had arrived earlier in the day for a belated holiday visit. Joyce had hesitantly suggested it might be easier if he gave them time alone, which left him at loose ends for a few hours. Pizza, he decided, from the Pirate’s Cove restaurant.

  But for the moment he’d just enjoy the community tree.

  * * *

  INSIDE CITY HALL, Mandy tapped her foot, waiting for Daniel to leave. She could see him through the glass doors. Why had he parked on that side of the building? He usually put his Jeep on the north end, which was why she’d shifted her own space to the south, to minimize contact with him.

  She’d thought long and hard about what Daniel had said, finally deciding she would stay in Willow’s Eve, at least until the water project was resolved, no matter how hard it got. Making that decision gave an oddly different quality to everything, something she was trying to figure out.

  Daniel was still on the steps a few minutes later, so she shrugged and walked briskly through the door.

  “Have a nice evening,” she said cheerfully as she started down the steps.

  “Thanks.” He smiled. “It was a nice tree-lighting ceremony on Saturday, wasn’t it?”

  Slowing, she turned. “Yeah, great. What are you doing, hanging around here?”

  “I, uh...Celia came to visit and I’m giving her time with Joyce and Samantha.”

  Yikes. The guy couldn’t go to his own house? “That’s nice of you.”

  “I don’t mind. Being around my ex is tedious, but at the same time, I’m concerned about Sam.”

  Damn, he did look worried. No wonder—his ex-wife might have her vulnerable moments, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t shallow and thoughtless.

  “Say,” Daniel said suddenly. “Do you want to get a pizza and help me wait it out?”

  He probably thought a pizza sounded casual enough, and knew Samantha wasn’t likely to see them together at the pizza parlor. And it probably was best to treat each other that way.

  “Sounds good,” she agreed. “As long as you make part of it a Mandy’s Special. Let’s go.”

  They quickly walked the few blocks to Pirate’s Cove, chatting about the city’s Christmas tree.

  When they arrived, Mandy noted Daniel chose a table in the middle of the restaurant—dating couples preferred the back booths where they could whisper sweet nothings and sneak a few kisses. He ordered the pizza and brought a pitcher of ginger ale to the table. Mandy stopped herself from making a face—he was making sure that alcohol wouldn’t cloud his judgment. It was best for her decision-making abilities as well, but part of her wanted to throw caution to the wind.

  Why was the absolutely wrong guy making her so crazy?

  “Thanks,” she said as he poured the glasses of soda.

  “I should have asked
what you’d like.”

  “This is fine.” Her hormones screamed “liar.” What she really wanted was to find a bed and see if they could create more heat together. It wasn’t the kind of gift Santa could bring down the chimney, but it didn’t stop her from wanting it.

  As Daniel stared into the bubbles, she wondered what he had on his mind. Then he shook his head. “Did your parents give you a hard time before they left on Thanksgiving?”

  “What do you think?”

  He made a face. “You have my sympathy.”

  “And you have mine. About tonight, I mean.”

  “Celia’s trying harder than she used to, and it means a lot to Samantha. Truth be told, I’m glad my daughter isn’t shallow like her mother. Sam’s favorite things are reading and drawing, not Prada and Fifth Avenue.”

  Glancing around, Mandy saw no one was close enough to overhear them. “I know it’s none of my business, but why did you marry Celia? You seem an odd match.”

  “Ah, hell,” Daniel said with a rueful face. “Put it this way, if your parents are stodgy, self-righteous pricks, mine are guerilla warriors, at least against each other. They never let up. Not now, not when I was a kid. No violence, just verbal weapons, and they’re good at using them. Once I got away from the war zone, I swore I’d never live in one again. Celia was fun and rarely got upset or angry. Those are desirable qualities in a wife, but I was too young to realize they weren’t enough by themselves.”

  “Did you love her?”

  “I thought I did at the time.”

  Mandy swirled the ginger ale in her glass. They’d both had lousy childhoods, though Daniel’s upbringing sounded much worse than her own. And it was nice that he’d loosened up enough to finally tell her about it.

  “Maybe they should have marriage guides for people reacting to their childhood,” she mused. “I thought I loved Vince, too, but deep down, one of the reasons I married him was because it pleased my parents. They were thrilled when we announced our engagement. I thought I’d found the thing that would make me fit in.”