by Marie Force
“We made some incredible memories that summer.” Molly picked up the story, smiling at him the way she had since the first day they met. He never had gotten over the way her smile lit up her entire face. Making her smile had been one of his favorite things since their beginning.
“Don’t say anything that can’t be unheard,” Lucas said warily.
“Haha, we’ll spare you the gory details,” Molly said. “Your dad and I were immediately best friends. We ate together, worked together, hung out after work, went to the movies.”
“She took me to see The Shining and Friday the 13th,” Linc said, shuddering. “I wanted to see Airplane! That’s when I found out your mother is diabolical.”
“We knew that,” Will said. “Remember when she picked The Shining for family movie night, and we didn’t sleep for three days?”
Molly laughed. “That might’ve been a parenting mistake.”
“Do you think?” Charley asked.
“What can I say? I’ve always loved the scary stuff. I can’t help it if you’re all like your father—a bunch of babies.”
“Don’t lump me in with them,” Wade said.
“Except for you, Wade. You’re the only one who’d watch scary movies with me.”
“Mama’s boy,” Landon said on a cough.
Wade flipped him the middle finger.
“Anyway,” Linc said, amused by his children as usual, “as the summer went on, your mom and I began to realize we had serious feelings for each other, and the reality of being separated after the summer was starting to loom large. We had our first real fight over what we were going to do when the summer ended.”
“And it was a doozy,” Molly added.
Chapter Four
“Love is all you need.”
—Paul McCartney
The days in Mississippi took on a predictable rhythm—breakfast with the group of volunteers who’d become like family to him and Molly, followed by a long day of hard work in the broiling sun. Molly, who claimed she never tanned, had watched her skin turn a golden brown over the course of the summer.
On Sundays, the one day they had off, they left camp first thing in the morning to go to the beach for the day before dinner at Joseph’s mother’s home, which had become the highlight of their week. Miss Anthea, as she’d told them to call her, could cook like no one Linc had ever met, and the thought of her Sunday dinners had him drooling all week.
She’d also taught them an appreciation for the blues, bringing in an array of local musicians to play each week, hoping to send their volunteers back to their homes with a newfound love for the music Mississippi had made famous.
“Wonder what Miss Anthea is making today,” Linc said.
“Is it okay to hope it’s chicken? I’ve never in my life had chicken as good as hers.”
“Or pulled pork or beans and rice or jambalaya or anything she makes.”
“And the cornbread…” Molly moaned from her spot on the blanket next to him. “The cornbread is to die for.”
“It really is. And now I’m starving.”
“Want to get a hot dog?” she asked.
“I do, in a minute. But first I want to talk to you.”
“About what?”
“About this, us…”
“Oh.”
For a second, Linc worried he might’ve read things wrong, but he hadn’t. He was one hundred percent sure she felt the same way about him as he did about her. As July slipped into August, he was becoming increasingly more concerned about how he’d live without her in his daily life when they went their separate ways in three short weeks.
“What do you want to talk about?”
“What happens after this summer.”
“You’re going to Oxford, and I’m going home to Vermont. That’s what’s happening.”
“What if…”
She put her hand on top of his, her touch sending a bolt of sensation through him the way it always did. “Don’t, Linc,” she said softly. “Don’t go there.”
“Why not?”
“Because. We both know what this is—and what it isn’t.”
“All I know is that in the course of seven weeks, you’ve become the most important person in my life, Mol. I want to be where you are.”
“You’re going to England.”
“I don’t know,” he said, giving voice to his reservations for the first time. “I may have something else in mind now.”
She surprised him when she got up from the blanket and walked away.
His eyes were drawn to the spectacular sight of Molly Stillman in a bikini. Front or back, the view was outstanding. He followed her to the water’s edge, where she stood gazing out at the Gulf of Mexico. In the distance, he could make out the hulking towers of the oil rigs that populated the gulf.
“Talk to me, Molly. Don’t run away.”
Linc couldn’t believe it when he saw tears in the eyes of the most fearless, free-spirted woman he’d ever met. He couldn’t bear to think he’d made her cry, so he put his arm around her and drew her into his embrace. “Tell me.”
“You’re going to England. We’re not going to even talk about anything other than that.”
“Why not?”
“Because! It’s your dream. It’s what you’ve wanted your whole life, and you’re this close to getting it. There’s no way in hell I’m going to be the reason you don’t go to England.”
“What if my dream has changed?”
She pulled back from him, shaking her head. “A dream you’ve had all your life doesn’t change in seven weeks.”
“Says who?”
“Says me.”
“England isn’t going anywhere,” he said.
“I’m not going to discuss this further. You have a plan for your life, and it’s one you were happy with.”
“Until I met you and discovered a whole new possibility.”
She crossed her arms, her pose and expression defiant. “And what’s that?”
“You and me, maybe a couple of kids, as many dogs as we can handle, a house in the country and decades together.”
“You… That… Stop it right now, Lincoln Abbott.”
She took off, and again he followed, taking her by the arm to stop her from getting away. All of a sudden, it had become essential to him that she not get away. “What if I tell Oxford I’m not coming this year?”
“That’s not happening. I refuse to be the reason you give up your dream.”
He tipped her chin up and kissed her. “I love you.”
“What? You do not love me! We’ve had fun. That’s all this is. Fun.”
“That’s how it started out, but it’s way more than that for me now. I love you, and I’m going to keep telling you that until you believe me. I want to be wherever you are, even if that means living in a small town in Vermont.”
“I’m not listening to this anymore.” Molly stormed off toward the blanket, grabbed her coverup, towel and bag and headed for where they’d parked the bikes they’d borrowed from Joseph and Keisha. She’d already taken off toward camp by the time Lincoln jumped on the other bike to follow her.
Back at camp, which was deserted on the one day the volunteers took for themselves, she went directly to her tent and zipped it closed, even though it was broiling and would be unbearable with the tent sealed off.
He decided to give her some space, to take a shower and figure out his next move.
Molly sat inside the roasting cocoon of her tent and tried to get herself together. How could he love her? He barely knew her.
Except that wasn’t exactly true. She’d told him things about herself that no one else knew, such as how much she wanted to be a mother and how little interest she had in her family’s business. In this day and age, a woman was supposed to want a career of her own, but all she wanted was a family. And her sister, Hannah, felt the same way, leaving both of them in a bad spot as the youngest children of Elmer and Sarah Stillman, proprietors of the Green Mountain Country S
tore. Their older siblings already had lives and homes of their own elsewhere, so it had fallen to her and Hannah to inherit the business.
Molly and her sister had frequently talked about what they were going to do after college when they’d face a come-to-Jesus moment on the business their grandparents had started decades ago.
They didn’t want it.
Their father couldn’t wait to bring his girls into the business.
Her plan was to give the business a few years so she could say she tried before she hopefully got married and had a family. The one thing she knew for certain is that she’d never disappoint her beloved father by not showing up to work at the store when she got home. Regardless of what she wanted or didn’t want, she loved him too much to let him down.
A man with dreams of spending a year in England followed by his own family obligations didn’t fit into her plans. Even if she liked him more than she’d ever liked anyone since she lost her beloved Andrew while still in high school.
Okay, so maybe she loved Linc a little bit, too.
Or maybe she loved him a lot and couldn’t imagine life without him after working and living side by side for weeks. And that made her feel guilty because she’d promised herself she’d never love anyone the way she’d loved Andrew.
How could this be happening?
Resting her head on her knees, she felt confused and thrilled and terrified all at the same time. Lincoln Abbott, the nicest, handsomest, sexiest, smartest man she’d met in all the years since she lost Andrew, loved her. So why was she hiding out in her tent when Lincoln Abbott loved her? Because she didn’t want him to change his plans for her. He would hate her for that someday, and that would kill her.
But maybe when he came back…
She unzipped the tent and spotted him returning from the shower, wearing only a pair of shorts. The summer of hard work had left him with a chiseled, muscular body that had her imagining things she couldn’t afford to think about when she was trying to talk him out of loving her.
He caught her staring at him and smiled as he walked over to her tent. “I wondered how long you were going to broil in there.”
“I… I’m sorry I behaved that way.”
“No apology necessary.”
“Yes, it is necessary. You said something lovely to me, and I acted like a… I don’t know what, but it wasn’t an appropriate response.”
“It’s fine. I still love you.”
“Lincoln.”
“Molly.”
His lips quivered with amusement while his blue eyes lit up with delight at the sight of her, the way they had from the start.
“Will you come in for a minute?”
“If I must.”
And he was funny, always making her laugh over the silliest things. Molly scooted over to make room for him in her tiny tent. When he was settled next to her, she summoned all the courage she possessed to look him in the eye. “I probably love you, too.”
He raised a brow. “Only probably?”
She swallowed the huge lump in her throat and tried to ignore the sweat running down her back. “Definitely.”
“That’s the best news I’ve ever heard.”
“Better than getting accepted to Oxford?”
“A million times better.”
“Here’s what I think we ought to do… We should take this year while you’re in England to make sure this is what we really want. We can write to each other and maybe call once in a while and… Why are you shaking your head?”
“I don’t want to be without you for a year.”
“You didn’t even know me seven weeks ago!”
“And now I do, and I don’t want to leave you, Molly. Come with me.”
“What?”
“Come to England with me.”
“I… I don’t think I can. I promised my dad I’d start work at the store when I get home.”
“Could you delay that for a year?”
“He’s so excited about me starting. I just… I couldn’t bear to disappoint him.”
Linc thought about that for a second. “You want to know what I think we ought to do?”
She was almost afraid to ask. “What?”
“You should take me to Vermont to check out this country store your family owns and see if there might be a place for me there.”
She stared at him as if he’d just suggested they take a quick trip to Venus. “Are you out of your mind? You have an MBA from Yale. What in the hell do you want with a country store in Vermont?”
“I’m intrigued, and by the way you described it, it sounds like something that would interest me.”
“No.”
“Just no? We’re not even going to talk about it?”
“We did talk about it, and you’re not doing that. It’s insanity. You could do anything you want.”
“Exactly—and what I want is to check out your family’s business in Vermont.”
“You’re going to England.”
“Maybe not.” He reached for her, wrapped his arms around her and kissed her. “I love you. I don’t want to be without you ever again. Even if that means living in Vermont and running a country store. I’d live in a tent if I got to be with you.”
“The heat has pickled your brain. You’re not thinking clearly.”
“I’ve never thought more clearly than I am right now. I look at you, and I see everything I ever wanted.”
“How can that be true?”
“I don’t know. It just is.” He kissed her again, more intently this time, as if trying to prove what he’d said was true.
She was beginning to believe him. “You’re going to England.”
“Maybe not.”
“You’re going.”
“We’ll see.” Tipping his head for a better angle, he kissed her again.
They ended up reclined on her air mattress, oblivious to the intense heat or anything other than each other. They’d shared a few stolen kisses here and there before today, but with privacy hard to come by in the camp, it had never progressed beyond that. But this…
Molly was lost to him and how he made her feel. And knowing he loved her, as preposterous as that might seem, made being with him even more necessary to her. Her bikini top disappeared, and with her breasts pressed against his chest, the desire was dizzying.
And then she felt guilty. How could she be doing this with someone else when Andrew was gone forever? She broke the kiss and took a couple of deep breaths while berating herself for letting this thing with Lincoln get so out of hand.
“What’s wrong?” He ran his thumb over her nipple, making her tremble.
“I… I can’t do this.”
“Why not?”
“I just can’t.” She pushed on his shoulder and sat up, reaching for a T-shirt and putting it on.
“Mol…”
“I’m going to take a shower before dinner.” Molly grabbed her shower bag and left the tent before he could talk her into staying. She was beginning to realize he could talk her into just about anything.
Chapter Five
“Love one another.”
—George Harrison
Molly avoided him for two very long days. At the end of the second day, they were wrapping up at the site when Keisha drove in, her car skidding to a stop before she got out and called for Joseph. The frantic edge to her voice put Linc immediately on alert.
Something was wrong.
Joseph came rushing out of the house where he’d been working.
Keisha ran over to him.
Linc could see she was crying.
“What’s going on?” Charlie, one of the other volunteers, asked him.
“I don’t know.” Joseph and Keisha had become their friends, and Lincoln wanted to know what he could do to help them. He walked over to them. “Are you okay?”
The look of terror on Joseph’s face sent a chill down Linc’s spine. “Jalen has been arrested.”
Jalen was their fourteen-year-old son, and he, too
, had become a friend during the summer as he worked with them when he wasn’t in summer school to catch up in math.
“For what?”
Keisha looked at him, eyes full of fear and anger. “For being Black.”
Lincoln was taken aback, both by the vehemence in her tone and the terror coming from both of them.
“What do you know, honey?” Joseph asked, his voice tense.
Keisha wiped tears from her face. “He and two friends were walking in town after school let out, and according to the other boys, the police stopped them to find out where they were going. When they said they were going home, the police started asking them if they were part of a fight that happened last night. Jalen said they knew nothing about it. The police said they didn’t like his attitude and cuffed him. When the other boys protested, they told them to shut up or they’d take them in, too.”
“Let’s go get him out,” Joseph said.
“If we can do anything…” Linc said, feeling impotent, angry and scared for his friends.
“We’ll be back,” Joseph said. “Finish cleaning up, and call it a day.” He got into the driver’s side of Keisha’s car, waited for her to get in and took off, leaving a cloud of dust behind him.
“Jesus,” Cory said. “What the hell?”
“I don’t know,” Linc said, his stomach twisted in knots.
“It’s not good,” Desmond, who was one of Joseph’s business partners, said. “Happens far too often, and sometimes it doesn’t end well.”
“How can they get away with that?” Charlie asked.
Desmond, who was also Black, shot him a withering look. “Get away with it? They’re the police. They get away with whatever the fuck they want. Who’s gonna stop them?”
“There has to be something we can do,” Linc said.
“Do us all a favor and stay in your lane. This is so much bigger than you and one summer in Mississippi.” Desmond walked away, got in his truck and drove off.
Linc hoped he was going to help Joseph and Keisha, because it seemed like they’d need all the help they could get.
