Worth The Wait (Small-Town Secrets-Fairview Series Book 1)

by Sophia Sinclair

  David was motioning them into his car. Ugh, she’d have to accept a ride from him. She shot Tommy The Look, the kind every mother knows how to make. Tommy couldn’t meet her eyes. He quietly slid into the back seat.

  “I’m sorry — ”

  “Hold your tongue! We will talk when we get home,” Molly said. Tommy deflated into himself, seeming to take up half as much space as usual. Molly kept her eyes down, feeling about as miserable as she could ever remember.

  “I was thinking,” David said. “There’s a lot of work to do out there. Lots of clean-up. Later there’s painting and clearing out the landscaping and about a million other things. I could use another set of hands. If you’re interested. And if your mom approves. I won’t pay you to clean up your own mess, but I will pay you for the rest, once that’s done. It’ll be hard, dirty work and I’ll expect it to be done well. What do you say?”

  Molly was of two minds. She knew it was a kind gesture; it was also a kind of justice. Yet it would involve further entanglement with a man she was trying to unentangle herself from, even though her foolish, impulsive decision to hire him at the library had already tangled them up quite enough.

  She looked at Tommy, who said nothing.

  “Well?” Molly asked.

  “Geez, you told me not to talk!”

  “Thomas Henry James Miller! Just answer the question. Do you take the deal or not? It’s much more than you deserve,” she said.

  “I guess so,” Tommy said, his eyes down. Mercifully, they had arrived back at the hotel. David kept the motor running as they got out. Tommy got straight into his mother’s car, but David motioned for her to wait.

  “I know I should have talked to you first, but I think you’ll find this is a good thing. I had something like this happen after I did something stupid as a kid. Gave me a chance to make amends and gain back some self-respect. I don’t have any reason to think he’s a bad kid, but getting arrested wouldn’t have helped him get on the right path. I hope you’ll forgive me for not getting your permission. And I know now’s not the time, but I hope we can talk soon about some other things.”

  “You’re right, you should have asked me. But I can’t talk right now. I’ll see you later.” And with that, she got into her car and she and Tommy drove silently home. She didn’t even know where to start, but she did know that once she got started it was going to be hard to stop. She tossed him her phone.

  “Call your sister. Tell her you’re safe and we’re on our way home.”

  He awkwardly made the call. Molly could hear that Beth was puzzled but Tommy would only say they’d be home in a minute. She waited until they were inside, sent the questioning Beth upstairs with a plate of scones and a glass of juice and sat Tommy down at the table before she lit into him.

  “OK. Start talking. I want to know what made you think this was a good idea.”

  “Well, there’s this new kid in town. Jeremiah Jacobs. He heard about the Conrad murders and that the house was sold and he said we should go check it out. See if there’s really blood on the walls like people say. There isn’t, by the way. We checked.” Molly supposed Jeremiah was the boy she couldn’t recognize. No doubt a rotten influence, but that hardly let Tommy off the hook.

  “So you broke inside, saw there wasn’t any blood, and then decided instead of going home, you should bust the place up, start a fire, and just generally do stupid shit. Seems legit,” Molly said. She knew her sarcasm wasn’t helping, but she also didn’t much care right then.

  “I didn’t know we were going to build a fire or break the windows. I only broke one of them anyway.”

  “Do you know how disappointed I am in you? Do you know what high expectations I have for you? You understand I need you to qualify for financial aid to pay for school, right? You get that if you have a police record you can kiss all that goodbye? Do you want to live in Fairview your whole life? Work some shitty little job?”

  “You and Dad both do.”

  “Thank you very much! Maybe I wanted more for you! And you’re just going to mess it up? How did you get out there, anyway?”

  “Cody picked me up around midnight on the corner. Jeremiah said if we didn’t have the nerve to go in at midnight, it was because we were pus- uh, chickens.” Molly knew what he was about to say.

  “Oh, dreadful.”

  “Anyway. We took flashlights and Jeremiah broke the first window so we could get in. There’s actually not very much to see in there. Pretty ordinary.”

  “Maybe it occurred to you that a few different people have lived there since the murders, and they probably didn’t just leave the crime scene there for future dumbass teenage boys to see? Did you ever think that somebody might have gotten around to cleaning things up between then and now? Did you ever think about any of this at all?”

  “Can I have a scone?”

  “Sure, by all means! Let’s have a nice little family breakfast together. We’ll eat scones and discuss how we almost got arrested.”

  “Mom, I’m sorry! I really didn’t think it was going to be like that, and then I didn’t have a ride back home and it was dark but they built a fire and you don’t let me have a phone and so I stayed there and Cody said he’d drop me off in the morning but we all fell asleep around the fire and then Mr. Conrad shows up super early and woke us up and his car was blocking us from driving off and he called the cops.”

  “Oh, now I see! It’s my fault because I haven’t given you your own phone. If only I had understood how important it is for my son to have a phone so he can call me to pick him up at the scene of the crime before he’s caught! Now I see! Yes, of course. All my fault. What a shitty mom. We’ll go right into town and get you whatever phone you want so next time you can stay one step in front of the law!”

  Tommy looked abashed, but he was also eating his second scone. Nothing interrupted that kid’s appetite, it seemed.

  “You’re lucky Mr. Conrad decided to let you off the hook.”

  “How come you were with him?” Tommy asked, a bit of suspicion in his voice.

  “I was looking for you. Thought you might be partying at the motel. Ran into him there.”

  “Oh, so you guys aren’t, you know, a thing?”

  “No, we are not, you know, a ‘thing.’ It would not be any of your business if we were. But we are not. I don’t even like the man.”

  “You hired him.”

  “He happens to have a lot of library experience.” She hated that she sounded defensive. She was telling the absolute truth. Just not the complete version of it. And it wasn’t her son’s business anyway. And he had no right to try to shift the conversation away from his own transgressions.

  “I’ll tell you one thing. I expect you to work your little ass off for Mr. Conrad. You have a chance to make this right and you will, or I’ll … I don’t even know what I’ll do. You’ve shamed me. I don’t like Mr. Conrad. I’m embarrassed that he’s done us a kindness. If you don’t work hard and do a good job, you’ll double shame me. Am I making myself clear?”

  Tommy nodded. His mouth was full of scones.

  “And another thing. You’re grounded.”

  “For how long?”

  “Forever, probably.”

  Her phone rang. Hank. Shit. She’d have to tell him what happened, which she wasn’t looking forward to. She knew she shouldn’t hang her self esteem on how well her children did in life, but she did. Hank didn’t think it was that big of a deal, but when she told him how David had decided not to press charges and had offered Tommy a job, Hank jumped to the same conclusion that his son did and asked if she and David were “a thing.”

  “No, we are not,” she said.

  “OK, OK, no offense,” Hamk said. “You want me to talk to Tommy?”

  “I’ve handled it, but yes, you probably should.”

  “I’ll pick him up later. I’ll have part of the child support, too. I don’t have all of it. Had to replace the transmission in the Chevy. But my next paycheck I’ll catch you
up for sure.” Molly doubted that. This month it was the transmission, next month it would be something else. But she knew that throwing a fit wasn’t going to make him pay any faster. As usual, Hank’s intentions were better than his actions.

  What a mistake it had been to marry Hank! But then again, what choice did she have? He had gotten her pregnant, and they were in love, and she had the same high hopes any young bride has. He wasn’t a bad man. He was fun and good-looking and a great football player, which is what had attracted her to him when she was 16. She would have done better to choose someone who was less popular but a better student. Matt Green, for instance, though to tell the truth she couldn’t stand the man. His family had plenty of money, partly because they owned a good deal of the farmland surrounding town and partly because Matt’s grandfather had made quite a chunk of change when the state put a highway through some of that farmland back in the day. But she found it impossible to find anything attractive about Matt. She didn’t care for his attitude, frankly. Even as a high school student, he seemed to think he was better than anyone else. He hadn’t earned any of that money himself, but you’d think he had earned it single-handedly by the way he carried on. He pursued Molly all through school and was flabbergasted when she’d chosen to date Hank. He took it as a personal insult, one that he’d never quite gotten over and one he held over her head. When he had become the president of the library board some years ago, she felt he’d done it just to have a bit of power over her again. It certainly wasn’t because he was any great lover of literature. And she was sure at least part of the reason he was so parsimonious with library funds was because he enjoyed putting Molly into difficult situations. His mouse of a wife was a nice lady and had an expensive car and wonderful clothes, but Molly felt sorry for her, having to live under Matt’s thumb. She had to admit it would be nice not to have to worry about money, but not at the price of having to be married to Matt. She shuddered. The man gave her the creeps.

  And now, here she was attracted to the entirely wrong sort of man again. David was handsome and charming and appeared reasonably well off, and she was powerfully attracted to him. She groaned. If only he hadn’t slept with Tina! She felt embarrassed at how enthusiastically she’d kissed him back, and at all the secret daydreaming about him she’d done. She was angry and disgusted that he’d fooled around with Tina, and angry and disgusted at herself for still being so attracted to him. It had been stupid to hire him. Now she was stuck dealing with him. She could hardly fire him just because she was uncomfortable with him, and even if she did, she would have to deal with him on some level because now her son was working for him. God only knew what kind of gossip was going on around town. If both her son and her ex thought they were “a thing,” everybody else must think so, too. She dreaded Matt’s next move. She wouldn’t put it past him to make insinuations.

  She had the rest of the weekend to herself, with both kids off with their dad. She knew some divorced moms used their weekends off to see their boyfriends or party or do something fun, but for her weekends meant catching up on the laundry and cleaning and, when that was done, reading. Sometimes she and Lori did something, but Lori tended to cut loose on the weekends more than Molly cared to. Lori’s weekends were more often than not spent dancing or hanging out with the flavor of the month. Not that Lori ever saw them that way — she always had high hopes for each relationship being The One, but they never lasted very long. Molly privately thought Lori’s rush into relationships was counterproductive and she’d get more mileage out of slowing down and being more selective about who she dated, but Lori was an adult and capable of making her own decisions. In theory, at least.

  But Molly had her books and cleaning and didn’t mind the solitude. Usually. This weekend, though, she was restless. She didn’t know what she wanted, but the house seemed more quiet than usual to her. She poked around in the refrigerator, looking for the leftover pizza, but of course it was gone. Most likely Tommy had inhaled it. She made herself a grilled cheese sandwich and took it up to bed with her, to eat while reading her bed. Hank used to object to this habit, claiming she always left crumbs in the sheets. Well, there hadn’t been anybody to object to the state of her sheets for quite a while now. Thoughts of Tommy’s stunt were heavy on her mind. Had she missed any signs? Was this, as David seemed to assume, just one of those things even a good a kid might do? Should she worry, or should she accept it was a one-time thing and let it go? She couldn’t let it go. She would have to deal with David, if Tommy was going to be working with him. She didn’t like it. But what could she have done differently? Her hands had been tied. She could hardly insist Tommy not do the clean-up of the vandalism, after all, and it would have been mean-spirited, after David chose not to press charges, to insist that Tommy not continue working for payment afterward. All in all, it was a very generous offer, and she found herself thinking, once again, about David. She didn’t like to admit it, but she’d liked the man, and had especially liked his kissing. His bad judgment in fooling around with Tina was the only thing she didn’t like about him, frankly. But it wasn’t something she could ignore, either. This was why she’d remained single all these years. She wasn’t willing to compromise. If she were going to commit to a man again, it was going to be someone she could trust. Which was why, she thought to herself, she was likely going to remain single. In a few years her nest would be empty and every day would be like this — a quiet, empty house with only her books to keep her company. Maybe she should get a dog.

  She picked up her phone, out of idle curiosity, and checked the local animal shelter’s website. Just to see what kinds of dogs might be available. Of course, there were dozens, each more sad-eyed and hopeful-looking than the last. If she were really going to get one, would it be better to get a puppy and have to go through all the training, or get a mature dog that others would probably overlook? She should wait and see what the kids thought, she supposed. She’d sleep on it tonight.

  Her sleep wasn’t restful; she had a vague, disturbing dream that Tommy was trapped in a maze and she couldn’t find him to help him get out. Not too hard to figure out the hidden meaning of that dream. After what felt like half the night, she finally managed to fall asleep again. This time, she had dreams of David, dreams of him kissing her again, but this time it was in his motel room, and instead of stopping at kissing, the dream went on and on. They undressed each other, fell into the bed with their lips still locked together and he entered her, going so slowly that she finally pushed her hips up against him to more quickly gain the sensation of being filled with him. Both of them were moaning into each others’ open mouths, kissing deeply as they desperately moved against each other. She felt her excitement rising and reached her hands down to grasp his tight, muscular little butt, desperate to feel him as deep inside her as possible. She bucked her hips and mewled with pleasure as she got closer and closer to reaching satisfaction. And then she woke up, wet and throbbing and frustrated as hell. Couldn’t the dream have lasted just a few seconds longer? She rolled over onto her hand, and before she could think any complicated thoughts about David, quickly finished herself off.

  Now her physical frustration was abated, but her mental frustration was worse than ever. She had to admit that her attraction to him was strong. How could she be so stupid? One kiss, and she was hooked? She had to admit that she was. One thing was certain — he was never going to know how she felt. When Monday rolled around, she would be extremely professional and would make sure he knew nothing like that kiss was going to happen again. With that thought, she felt a measure of peace, and she turned over and finally fell into a dreamless sleep.

  Chapter 6

  Monday morning was a whirlwind. She made a pot of oatmeal for breakfast and the three of them made quick work of it — there wasn’t a lot of time for chitchat in their hurried mornings.

  “I am thinking about getting a dog,” she said suddenly.

  “All right! Can we get a puppy?” Beth asked.

  “For real
?” Tommy asked.

  “I haven’t decided definitely,” she said. “But I’m thinking about an older dog. Everybody wants a puppy, and we aren’t home enough to potty train a puppy anyway, I don’t think. I thought we might hit the animal shelter after school tonight, if you guys are game.”

  “I always wanted a dog,” Beth said. “You always said no. What changed your mind?”

  “For one thing, you are both going to be out of the house before I know it. A dog would be good company,” she said.

  “So you’re going to replace us with a dog?” Tommy asked. Molly started to protest, then saw that Tommy was smiling. That was good. He had been scowling more than anything since their dad had dropped them off Sunday night. She suspected Hank had given him a hard time about the vandalism; served Tommy right if he had.

  “Yes, I tried raising kids. Found out it’s harder than I thought. Maybe I’ll have better luck getting the dog to behave,” she teased back.

  “I would like a poodle,” Beth said. “They’re actually one of the smartest dogs.”

  “Those take a lot of grooming, don’t they?” Molly said. “I was thinking something a little less high maintenance.”

  “A German shepherd would be good,” Tommy said.

  “I don’t know,” Molly said. “We’ll see what they have. Come right home after school. You don’t have practice tonight, right?” she asked Beth.

  “Nope, I’ll be home early.”

  “I am going to take off just a bit early, too,” Molly said. “I think I can trust David to close tonight. If we hurry, we’ll have enough time to get there and look around. We aren’t going to get one tonight, though. We need to get all the equipment first. We’re just going to look. Come straight home though, or we won’t be able to get there in time.” The kids rushed off to school — Cody picked them up most days, freeing Molly from the need to drive them herself.