Matalina gets a break, and I get pumpkin guts on my ceiling. I’m sure it would start sedately enough, but it wouldn’t be long before they started Pumpkin Wars, the sequel.

“So-o-o-o,” I said as I hung up the dishcloth. “How did your last interviews go?”

Marshal edged closer when Jenks got the bag open and the scent of sweet-and-sour came wafting out. “Great.” He started removing takeout boxes, and I looked up, suddenly conscious that our shoulders were almost touching. “I got the job,” he said when our eyes met, and I smiled.

“Marshal, that’s great!” I exclaimed, then gave him a neutral swat on the shoulder. “When do you start?” I added, not looking at him as I turned to fuss with the food. Maybe that was too much.

The man backed up a step and ran a hand over the new stubble atop his head. “November first,” he said. “But I’ll be on salary, so I can go back and forth to sell the business if I need to until classes start up after the winter solstice.”

Jenks gave me a warning look, and I scowled at him, bumping the table to make him jump when I went to get a couple of serving spoons. The scent of oil and gas blended with a witch’s redwood smell, making Marshal seem like a yummy piece of northern exposure. He dressed differently from anyone I’d spent much time with, smelled different, and had somehow skipped that uncomfortable stage of awkwardness most of my dates had, slipping into my church like he belonged. Not that this was a date. Maybe that was why. I had invited him over without any thoughts of a possible relationship, and we both could relax. But I expected the easy companionship was mostly because he had helped Jenks and me when we had really needed it.

Ivy’s chair bumped and scraped as Marshal pulled it to the open spot, and he sighed when he sat down. “It was one of the oddest interviews I’ve ever had,” he said as I rummaged for the chopsticks with my back to him. “They seemed to like me, but I thought they were going to give it to the other guy—and for the life of me, I couldn’t tell why. He had developed a swim program for a high school down in Florida, but he didn’t have either the dive time or ley line experience, and that’s what they were looking for.”

I sat down kitty-corner to him and his eyes flicked to the chopsticks.

“Then all of a sudden, they made a decision and offered me the job,” he finished.