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She enjoyed having freedom. Enjoyed her autonomy.
    It was a good thing she’d closed her account at Love.com because she didn’t need a man in her life right now. She wasn’t all that interested in being a wife.
    Perhaps her little house didn’t need men’s shirts and shoes filling its closets. Maybe what her house needed was a nursery.
    Maybe all she wanted was to be a mom.
    T hursday night Kit was at home sitting on her couch researching adoption on her laptop instead of grading papers that needed to be graded. If she didn’t tackle the essays now, she’d be doing them over the weekend in Capitola. Unfortunately, she didn’t feel like grading papers tonight. She was curious about how adoption would work for a single woman and so far she wasn’t particularly encouraged. Many organizations wouldn’t even look at her application if she filed as a single woman. Others might if she’d be willing to adopt an older child, or a toddler with special needs.
    Kit didn’t want to adopt an older child. Or one with special needs. She’d waited a long time to be a mom and she wanted an infant. A baby of her own.
    She was glad when her phone rang, diverting her attention. She didn’t recognize the caller. It was an out-of-state number. “Hello?”
    “Kit?” It was a male voice, and slightly familiar.
    “Yes?” she said, closing her computer and placing it on the coffee table.
    “Michael Dempsey. We met at Z’s in Alameda Monday night.” He paused. “I’m a colleague of Jon’s. You were with your friends.”
    Kit knew exactly who he was but was so stunned he’d gotten her cell number that it took her a second to speak. Being a teacher, she had an unlisted number. How did he track it down? “Yes, hi,” she said finally. “How are you?”
    “Good. And you?”
    “Fine.” She heard the reserve in her voice and wondered if he heard it, too. “Great,” she added, struggling to think of something to say. “How did you track me down?”
    “I have my mysterious ways.” He laughed. “Especially when it comes to beautiful women.”
    The compliment struck her as slightly cheesy and she flashed to Sebastian Severs. But there the similarity ended. Sebastian was of medium height and medium weight and had slightly thinning hair. Michael Dempsey was tall and handsome, with blue eyes and a hint of a Texas drawl. Sebastian made her skin crawl. If she were honest, Michael’s smile made her pulse race a little. “You do remember I’m the redhead…the one with freckles on my nose.”
    “Just a couple of freckles. And I love redheads.”
    Kit’s mouth dried. Wow. Not as cheesy this time, just brazen. He was certainly putting himself out there.
    “Nothing to say?” he teased her.
    She glanced at the TV screen, watched Steven Tyler’s eyes close as he got lost in a song. “Um, no.”
    Michael laughed, pleased. “Good.” She could feel his smile across the line. “And I was calling, Kit, because I hoped you were free Saturday night,” he continued. “I’d love to take you to dinner. As you know, I’m still new here, don’t yet know my way around, but I’ve looked up a few places, and thought maybe you might even have a suggestion.
    He’d caught her completely off guard. She’d pretty much written off men in December after that horrific date and she wasn’t feeling the need to begin dating now. Hot men like MichaelDempsey didn’t call out of the blue and ask her out for dinner. “I’m heading out of town this weekend,” she said, grateful she had a real excuse. She wasn’t good at rejecting men. “Polly and I are going to Capitola for a few days.”
    “Capitola? Where’s that?”
    “On the coast. Just a few miles south of Santa Cruz.”
    “I’ve never been there.”
    “It’s beautiful. My family has a beach house there. It’s been in the family for three generations now.”
    “Sounds fun. Can I tag along?”
    Something in his tone made her flush. “You’d hate it. We give ourselves manicures