Free Until She Met Daniel by Callie Endicott Page B

nuisance.”
    â€œDon’t worry. He’s welcome.”
    Strangely, Daniel realized he meant it. The cat had brought a measure of warmth to the Victorian, making him wonder if he should consider getting a pet. Samantha would probably enjoy it. He’d talk with Joyce and see what she thought.
    * * *
    C HRIS R USSELL   PARKED   in his garage and stretched. It was too bad he had only two weeks for vacation. Since Susan had taken three off from the mill, they might have taken a longer trip, except that she had wanted to be home for the city council meeting. Nevertheless, it was good to be home again, weird as it seemed with Evan away at college.
    As Chris slid out of the car, he glanced at his bicycle, deciding to ride it to work tomorrow. To date, he’d kept his resolution to ride the bike to the forestry station a minimum of two days a week—it was much better for the environment. Besides, the exercise was healthy and he had an official vehicle for any fieldwork.
    He came into the house and found his wife in the kitchen. He pulled her into a hot, sexy kiss. It was great that after twenty years of marriage they were still this good together. After a couple of minutes, he eased his grip and stepped back to admire the flush on her face. He grinned. “Hi, honey. Did you have a good day?”
    â€œNot bad. I saw Mandy and met the new city manager...and had coffee with Dad at Elena’s.”
    His nerves tightened. Thankfully, Susan didn’t mention her father very often. Big Joe Jensen was, in Chris’s opinion, a boil on the butt of creation, even if the description was a bit clichéd.
    â€œOh,” he said shortly.
    â€œYeah, he’s still upset we didn’t go to Hawaii.”
    â€œHow is it his damn business?”
    â€œHe’s my father, Chris.”
    â€œYeah, well...let’s just forget it.”
    An odd expression crossed Susan’s face, but then she smiled. “Right. How was work?”
    â€œGreat. What’s for dinner?”
    â€œQuesadillas and salad.”
    â€œSounds perfect. I’ll go get washed up.”
    * * *
    S USAN   CHECKED   THE   food in the oven and pulled the salad from the refrigerator. She’d considered making pork or chicken tacos for herself. It wasn’t that she objected to Chris being a vegetarian, but she enjoyed having meat part of the time...until he got that look on his face, as if he’d smelled something rotten. Under the circumstances, it was easier to fix the same thing for both of them.
    She set out extra fillings for the quesadillas on the counter. The tortillas were particularly delicious when packed with chopped cabbage, tomatoes, avocado, salsa and other things. They were good with meat, too, but... She pushed the thought away. She’d known Chris was a vegetarian when they had married, and at least he wasn’t vegan. Proper vegan cooking was complicated, having to mix certain foods to ensure you ate complete proteins. Luckily, Chris was a cheese fanatic, and hadn’t been able to give up dairy products.
    He also hadn’t given up an occasional fish dinner, though
that
was a problem for her since she was allergic to seafood.
    By the time Chris had returned to the kitchen, everything was ready. He’d shaved, and the base of her abdomen tightened. Shaving usually meant he hoped for a hot night in bed, so maybe their trip had done more than she’d thought. Or it could be the knowledge that, as much as they missed Evan, being alone in the house also had a few advantages.
    He grinned knowingly. “How about an early night?”
    â€œSounds good to me.”
    They served their quesadillas and added the salad on the side before taking their plates to the kitchen table. Their view looked out to a wooded area beyond the house, which was much better than the four walls of the dining room they rarely used. But as soon as they sat down, Evan’s absence hit her, and she had a