Page 63 of Mending Fences
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
“Hey, Mandy! Are you up there again?” The wrought-iron steps clanged as Candace climbed into the loft.
Mandy looked up fromWuthering 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 finishTristan & Isoldeyesterday? 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.”
