Page 26 of Mending Fences
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
As soon as the question left her lips, she knew she shouldn’t have asked it. Daniel didn’t answer. Mandy took another bite of her fish, which seemed to be composed of bones as she tried to swallow.
“Sorry, that was rude of me,” she squeaked out.
Daniel set his fork down. “No, you’re right. I’ve become jaded. And suspicious. As I have proven.” He gestured to the crutches. “I am sorry.”
“You don’t need to keep apologizing. Why did you think I was a land developer?” She ignored the flash of another camera.
“About a year ago I started looking at options. I have at least six offers on the land I have been sitting on, waiting for Grandfather’s stipulations to expire so I can sell. A couple of the buyers are getting desperate, sending surveyors, photographers, etc.”
“Why would you want to sell your home?”
“It never really was mine. I lived there until I was two, but I don’t remember it. Spent a few Christmases there as a child and one very memorable summer. After my mother died, my father and I only went back a few times. To me the mansion was my grandfather’s home, never mine.”
“Surely you don’t want to destroy it. Architecturally it is a perfect example of Victorian Gothic revival. I am surprised it isn’t on the National Registry.”
Daniel made a face. “Grandfather was adamant about that. Didn’t want some government park official telling him he couldn’t paint the place purple if he wanted to.”
“Purple? Like the house out on Spring Creek? If you did, I would trespass just to paint it period colors.”
“If you did, I wouldn’t yell or be rude.” Daniel’s voice took on a somber tone.
Mandy wanted to return to a lighter subject but she couldn’t figure out how. “Did you know they almost called in the bomb squad over the camera delivery?”
“Really? Why?”
“Your private carrier bypassed central receiving and delivered an anonymous box straight to the dean’s secretary. I am glad they didn’t try to detonate it.”
He flashed the same smile that graced every fangirl’s pin board. “Oh, I didn’t know it would cause trouble.”
“Don’t worry about it. Dr. Christensen, my adviser, is still laughing about everyone running around like Armageddon was in the box. Says it’s the most life that has been in the college all year. The dean is happy to have a replacement camera with little effort. And I’m glad to be able to graduate. Having an MFA gives me a few more options than teaching high school for the rest of my life.”
“Don’t you like teaching?”
Mandy swallowed her bite of asparagus. “I love teaching the students who want to learn, but many of my students are trying to get an easy A or just filling hours. They don’t want to be there and make no attempt to hide it. Then their parents call me when they get a C.”
The waiter approached. Daniel ordered a double batch of the scones to go.
After the waiter left, Mandy asked, “Why to-go?”
“We seem to have garnered more than the local cell-phone paparazzi. The photographer who just stuck his head into the lobby looks like a pro. We will be leaving through the kitchen if Geoff will let us.”
The waiter delivered their boxed scones, and Daniel handed him three bills with smiling Ben Franklins on them. After retrieving the crutches, he helped Mandy out of her chair and whispered, “Pretend you are going to the restroom, then slip into the kitchen. I’ll be there in a moment.”
The waiter held open the kitchen door and gave Mandy a little nod. Daniel entered before she needed to say anything. Without a word, he motioned her to follow. They passed a short man dressed in white, Daniel nodded and held up his box. Now Mandy understood Daniel’s choice of parking space —better than to have to walk around the building if a quick exit became necessary. As he opened the door and swept her into the cab, a man ran around the side of the building, a camera dangling from his neck, another from his hand. Before he got into position, Daniel had the truck out of the parking space.
Mandy held on to the door handle as the truck turned the corner faster than she liked.
After several minutes of driving, Daniel stopped looking in the rearview mirror as often as he looked forward. “Sorry about that. I had hoped they would leave me alone tonight. Usually when I am down this way I can get by relatively unnoticed. But this was the first time I have been on a date in the area, and I guess someone decided it would be newsworthy.”
“Usually when you’re down here? How often are you here?”
“I spend a week or so every few months here, but I keep a low profile. It has only been since that stupid magazine article that the locals have noticed me.”
“That explains how you know more about the area restaurants than I do.”
Daniel turned down a tiny lane, stopping at a familiar gate.
