Page 2 of Extra Witchy

“We do. I’m truly sorry for the interruption. You have my full attention.”

She spent the next hour listening to valid agitation regarding budget cuts. As director of communications, Leanne shouldn’t be dealing with any of this. Both Mayor Anderson and Deputy Mayor Dudley were prime examples of people failing upward, until they plateaued and became someone else’s problem. If the people who’d voted for them had any inkling how much time they spent on the golf course while making staffers pull their weight—

Best not to dwell on it. I’ll end up with resting witch face, and Lorraine will think it’s about her.

At last, the meeting ended, and Leanne offered vague assurances about presenting their reasonable requests to the mayor. Who wouldn’t listen, because he never did. The man had perfected a jovial expression, one that seemed attentive and sympathetic, while he pondered something else. If her job wasn’t to keep his office smelling like roses, figuratively speaking, she’d have let him fall on his face years ago.

If only I’d known what a tool he is before I took this job…

Dan Rutherford, a city councilman, stopped her before she could make her escape. The man…loomed. There was no other word for it. He was tall and broad, dedicated to working out, and she had no doubt that he considered himself a vital and exciting man. Though he dressed well, she hated his affectation in wearing a bolo tie.And don’t get me started on the cowboy boots. It’s not like he’s from Texas or Arizona.His skin was deeply weathered, and he kept his haircut high and tight, showing off a faint and involuntary tonsure at the back of his head.

“Looking beautiful today, Ms. Vanderpol.” His gaze dropped to her boobs, lingering a while before it returned to her face.

She refused to say thanks for a compliment she didn’t want; instead, she folded her arms across her chest. “Did you need something, sir?” Goddess, but it galled her to add that respectful word at the end. She’d rather kick his shins.

“Can you ask your boss to call me? He said something about setting up a tee time, but I can’t get him on the horn.”

“You could call the office,” she suggested.

This is so sus. Send him a text. Or an email? Try his assistant, even. Why are you bothering me with this?

“But you’re right here.” His tone became cajoling. “I’ll make it worth your while. Hell, if I had my way, you’d be on my arm, brightening up every room you enter. You wouldn’t need to work another day in your life.”

Wow. I just threw up a little in my mouth. Did this bastard seriously just ask me to be his trophy wife? Well, he hinted at it anyway.

She counted to ten because if she told this asshole off, he’d complain to Mayor Anderson, then the mayor would find creative ways to make her life worse. Nothing actionable, of course. He was too crafty for that, even if he wasn’t brilliant in other ways.

The lesser of two evils was to comply with this request and end the conversation. “What days and times work for the golf meeting?” she asked briskly.

“That depends on you,” he said with what he likely intended to be a flirtatious smile. “When areyouavailable?”

Just as she’d suspected, this was an excuse to ask her out. “I don’t play golf, but thanks anyway. If you need to check your schedule first, I suggest contacting the mayor via text. He tends to dodge actual phone calls.”

Rutherford let out a booming laugh. “You’re feisty. I love that. Never mind, then. I’ll get in touch with him sooner or later. Man can’t run forever—he owes me money.”

Uh, what?That was way more than she wanted to know about their personal business.

“I have a meeting. If you’ll excuse me…” Leanne strode off, taking that permission for granted, mostly because she didn’t care about Dan Rutherford’s response.

I can’t believe that jerk represents my district.

Without looking back, she hurried to her car, feeling vaguely grimy from that interaction.

According to the time, she should return to the office for an hour, but if she did that, they’d suck her into some other crap that wasn’t part of her job description. It didn’t seem so bad, suddenly, to go have a margarita with Junie. Fudging the truth a little, she called the receptionist to say, “I’ll be out of the office this afternoon. Let anyone who might be looking for me know that I’ll be in at the usual time tomorrow.”

The nice part about her job was that she did sometimes work off-site, so the mayor wouldn’t follow up. Neither would the deputy mayor, as they were teeing off by now. Maybe Rutherford could join them. And nobody else had therightto check up on her, so she could get away with being a little irresponsible today. Leanne headed straight home from the community center, passing through the residents’ gate with card access. Junie’s skill with illusion meant she’d probably pretended to be Leanne to gain entrance earlier. That was the way she operated: convenience before honesty in most regards.

The guard stared so hard that Leanne paused as the gate lever rose. “You probably didn’t even see me leave, did you?”

“I sure didn’t.”

Which meant she was right about Junie. “Watch less court TV, Ernest.”

He shot her a rueful look as she pulled away, making room for the car behind her.

Leanne’s condo was on the fourth floor. The building had an elevator, and she appreciated not having any neighbors above her. The view was nice too; she faced the back of the community, overlooking a man-made pond. Landscaped with carefully shaped topiary and a profusion of flowers, the little lake even had ducks that flocked to it. Leanne had no idea if they had been part of the plan or if they’d moved in on their own. She’d heard the grounds keeper bitching about cleaning up after them, though.

She input the code to let herself in and found her mom chilling at the breakfast bar with a margarita in hand. The kitchen was a mess, as Junie never did anything neatly. “I see you made yourself at home.”

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