Maggie Moves On(36)

She made a show of looking over both shoulders before answering. “I was wondering if this sweater was long enough that I could unbutton my jeans without anyone noticing.”

“Beats fluffernutter, doesn’t it?” he teased.

“Oh yeah.” She leaned back in her chair, eyeing her own empty plate with what looked like a mix of satisfaction and pride. She’d loved the finger steaks, rhapsodized about her trout club sandwich, and guzzled fry sauce like it was a beverage. It made him wonder why a woman who enjoyed food so much would waste so many of her meals on convenience foods and sandwiches eaten standing up.

“You know what I’d like to do with you next?” he asked abruptly.

Those brown eyes widened in hesitation and, if he wasn’t mistaken, anticipation.

“Excuse me, Maggie Nichols?” They jumped apart, and Silas eyed the interrupter. “Deputy Mayor Kressley Cho.” The woman shoved her hand in Maggie’s face, knuckles up, as if she expected one of her very large, very shiny rings to be kissed. Maggie leaned back and performed an awkward handshake.

“It’s nice to meet you, Deputy Mayor.”

“I’m really the acting mayor, seeing as how the actual mayor is a cat. Don’t ask me. It’s a town tradition,” she said with a roll of her eyes. “I just wanted to drop by and introduce myself. We’re all just tickled that you chose Kinship, and if you need any help with anything at all, I’m just a phone call away.”

Kressley reached into her bag and slid a business card across the table. “I’ve got several ideas on how you can best feature Kinship and its leadership on your show. I can pencil you in at my office Monday at, say, eleven?”

Maggie looked at Silas with deer-in-headlights eyes. “How about I have my partner call you and set something up? He handles the scheduling,” she said.

“I’ll alert my secretary to expect the call,” Kressley said. “Oh, excuse me. I see the school board president over there. Must go!”

She flittered off like a colorful butterfly.

“You were saying?” Maggie said.

“I forget.” Deputy Mayor Cho had that effect on people. She fluttered in, said a lot of bright and cheery words without taking a breath, and then vanished, leaving her victims shell-shocked.

“You asked if I knew what you wanted to do with me next,” Maggie recapped.

“Ah. Back on track. As I was saying, Mags. Do you know what I’d—”

“Excuse me?”

They both jumped again at the new interruption. A man with a sunburned nose and a little girl in pigtails and a Kinship hoodie stood next to their table. Silas didn’t recognize them, but both father and daughter were sporting the telltale exhaustion of tourists.

“We’re so sorry to interrupt,” the guy began, looking almost as excited as his daughter. “You’re Maggie Nichols, right?”

“That’s me,” she said with a quick, bright smile.

“My daughter and I are huge fans of you—your show,” he added quickly.

Silas realized he might not be the only man in Kinship smitten with the pretty, talented Maggie.

“It’s no bother at all,” she assured them. “What’s your name?”

“Isabella,” the little girl whispered, twisting her fingers in the pocket of her dad’s cargo shorts. “This is my daddy.”

“I’m Mateo,” he said. “We watch your show together every week.”

“We’re subscribers,” Isabella announced proudly, shedding some of her initial shyness.

“You are?” Maggie asked, clearly delighted.

Silas watched with something that felt a bit like pride as his date chatted with her fans and snapped a photo with them.

“I’m gonna build a house with a room for ponies to live in,” Isabella said. “Daddy said he doesn’t know if anyone’s ever built a pony room before. Have you?”

Maggie frowned thoughtfully. “No, I haven’t built a pony room.”

“You can build it first if you want to,” Isabella said graciously.

“Well, thank you. But I think it would be pretty cool if you built the very first pony room, since it was your idea.”

“Are you on vacation?” Mateo asked, trying and failing to sound like he wasn’t prying.

She saw right through him. “I’m actually working on my next project. This is my landscape architect, Silas Wright.”

“Wow!” Isabella gasped. “Can we see your new house?” Excitement had her voice entering near shriek territory, and Silas chuckled.

Mateo clamped a hand over his daughter’s mouth. “Maggie’s very busy, kiddo. We don’t want to slow her down. It’ll be just as fun to watch it on the computer.” Then he mouthed so sorry to Maggie.

Maggie leaned forward and rested her elbows on her knees. “Do you see that house way up there on the hill?” she asked, pointing over Decked Out’s flat roof. The Old Campbell Place was visible on the bluff.

Isabella nodded, and her dad dropped his hand from her mouth. “It looks very, very small,” she said.

“That’s because it’s so far away,” Silas explained. “It’s Maggie’s biggest house and biggest yard ever.”

Isabella’s mouth fell open, revealing two missing teeth. “Even bigger than the Midtown Mansion?”