She stepped back into the kitchen. David had noticed what she’d been doing.
“Yeah, we’re going to paint over that as soon as we can,” David said.
Tommy looked down into his coffee cup. “Jeremiah did that,” he said. Molly and David caught each others’ eyes, each hiding their amusement. David changed the subject.
“I’m going to rip out this linoleum and put down some tile, and replace the countertops, but I’m thinking of keeping the cabinets,” David said. “They’re original to the house. What do you think?”
The cabinets were solid wood and in need of a good cleaning but otherwise beautiful. “It would be a shame to rip these out,” she said. “Everybody seems to think they need new cabinets, but I’m not sure you’d ever find new ones that fit so perfectly in here. I’d get new handles. And this countertop has got to go.” It was made of a different linoleum pattern than that on the floor, very worn, with a little metal strip tacked around the edge. She’d seen that type a few times in other very old houses.
“I’ve already checked. These cabinets are heavy-duty enough to support either granite or tile. I haven’t decided which I want.”
“The right tile would probably fit more with the vintage look, I think,” she said. She pictured herself cooking in this kitchen, once it had been updated with new appliances. She made herself stop that. One time in his bed and she was ready to assume Suzie Homemaker status with him? Ridiculous. “So what’s on the agenda today?”
“We’re going to put in as many of the new windows as we can,” David said. “We got two in last night,” he said, indicating two of the kitchen’s four windows. “We know what we’re doing now, though, and the rest should go a lot faster,” he said.
“It’s not that hard,” Tommy said, modestly. “I mostly did the second one.”
“We’ll get these windows finished this week and then I’ll maybe get Tommy painting and I’ll start in on the kitchen. I’m having a guy come in next week to refinish all the floors, so while that’s going on we might work on tearing down the old garage. I’ll build a new one probably next year. Do you want to see it?”
Molly agreed and they went out to the garage, while Tommy got to work starting in on another window. She was dubious about the safety of entering the upstairs, but David reassured her. “It’s safe enough. It’s just not something I want here on the property long-term. I have in mind something with full electrical service, running water and maybe even a small living area. Haven’t decided yet.” He led her up the rickety stairs. The bed here wasn’t exactly tempting; the whole area appeared to have been completely neglected for ages. But the presence of the old bed and dresser made David’s theory plausible, and she said so.
“It doesn’t look so romantic right now. But in my grandmother’s time, who knows? Plus, where else would they have gone?” He leaned into Molly and gave her a gentle kiss, which her whole body responded to. “We can’t be gone very long,” she said. “Tommy isn’t stupid.”
“You’re right,” David said, but kept kissing her. She could detect an underlying scent of male sweat mixed with his deodorant, but she didn’t mind it at all. “Would it be so terrible if he knew?”
“No, of course not,” she said. “It’s just … well, I haven’t really ever introduced them to anyone before. They’ll think it’s serious.”
“Are you sure it’s not?” he asked.
“I barely know you,” she said. “Give a girl some time.” But she kept kissing him until he broke away.
“I probably need to supervise my young assistant,” he said.
“How’s he doing?”
“He’s doing well, really, but his expertise is a bit less solid than his confidence, so I’d like to check in and see what’s up,” he said. “His dad hasn’t taught him a lot of the traditional guy stuff, I take it?”
“Hey, watch what you say to the single mom,” she said. “I’ve taught him a certain amount. Not a lot, but he can hang pictures and … well, he can hang pictures,” she said. “OK. Maybe he does need somebody to teach him all this stuff. Beth, too, probably. I admit I’m not all that with home improvement.”
“Maybe Beth wants to come help paint? I’ll pay her the same rate. Let me know if she’s interested,” David said.
“I don’t need you to pay my children to work,” she said.
“It’s not charity, for God’s sake. It’s going to be winter soon and I really want to get this house livable before the snow flies. It’s not like I can do it all myself. New windows, kitchen remodeling, at least one of the bathrooms needs to be re-done, every room needs fresh paint, you name it.”
“I can ask her,” she said. “Are you trying to win over my children? Tommy clearly is already a fan,” she said.
“I’m not sure what the right answer is,” David said. “Will it impress you more if I’m trying to win over your kids? Or will that seem creepy?”
“I don’t know,” she said, laughing. “It might be a little creepy. But Tommy likes you. That’s a good thing. I’m just worried. I don’t want him to get attached to you and then you and I have some kind of falling out ….”
“If you and I have a falling out, that will have nothing to do with Tommy and I working together.”
“Good to know,” Molly said.
“Can I see you later? We could drive into Springfield, maybe get some dinner?”
“I don’t know. Maybe? I’ll text you,” she said.
When she left, Tommy and David were working away at a window, Tommy holding it in place while David placed shims in the frame to get it lined up properly. They seemed to work well together and she was glad.
Back home, Beth was reading a book, Clarence snuggled up with his head on her lap, snoring. “I gave him a walk around the block. He made it most of the way. Man, this dog is fat!” she said. Clarence appeared unperturbed by her criticism, continuing to sleep off his unaccustomed exercise. “I gave him half a can of green beans like David suggested, too. He still seemed so hungry after that little tiny bit of dog food this morning. Poor guy. He wants to eat more, you can tell.”
Molly gave Clarence’s sleeping head a pat.
“Tommy is learning to hang windows, and they’re apparently going to paint every single room in that place. I saw the inside today. It’s huge. Tommy’s college fund is going to be a lot fatter by the time it’s all done.”
“Lucky Tommy.”
“David did suggest you might want to help with the painting. Same deal, $10 an hour.”
“What, girls can’t put in windows? They can only paint?”
“Are you interested in learning to put in windows and the other stuff?”
“Not actually. Just saying I could if I wanted to.”
“Well, if you want to, let him know. There’s an awful lot of painting to do there. He wants to get all that done before winter. Probably to air out all the paint fumes before he has to close the place up for winter. Also, I’m going to the store later. What do we want to cook while Suzie is here?”
They made up a list and Molly headed for the store, first texting Lori and arranging a time for her to come over.
She grabbed the makings for lasagna and chocolate cake — two of Suzie’s favorites — and the other groceries. She chose a bottle of wine. At $7, it probably wouldn’t pass muster with Lori’s current guy, but she was willing to bet Lori herself wouldn’t know the difference.
She was right. Lori drank the wine without comment while Molly put a roast into the slow cooker along with some potatoes and carrots. This was one of Tommy’s favorite dishes, and she was betting he’d be good and hungry after a day of physical labor.
“So David isn’t working for you now, but Tommy is working for David, and Beth might go to work for him, too? But you haven’t told them you two are a thing.”
“I don’t know that we are.”
“Girl, I know you. I can tell you like this guy. For one thing, you let him within 5 feet of you. It’s been a while since you�
��ve let anybody so much as shake your hand.” Lori refilled her glass. Molly had barely touched hers. She picked up the wine and poured a bit over the roast, causing Lori to protest.
“Hey, not the wine!”
“I always pour a little red wine into the roast. It’s good that way.”
“It’s better to put all the wine into Lori. Get a new recipe,” Lori joked. “OK, but seriously, I think you should go for it with David. He’s cute, he’s got some money, apparently, and he’s the literary type. Oh, and he’s good with your kids, or at least with Tommy. What exactly are you waiting for?”
“It just makes me scared. I don’t want to get hurt. I don’t have a bad life here. What if I start dating him and then it doesn’t turn out? I was doing just fine before the Pirate Man came into town,” she said, absent-minded picking up the bits of vegetable paring and placing them in the garbage can. “I don’t want to get my hopes up for nothing.”
“You’re chicken,” Lori said. “You don’t see me too afraid to give a relationship a go. Yeah, it hurts when they end, but you’ve gotta try.”
“I’m just not sure.” She thought of how it felt when her relationship with Hank had begun to sour. She thought her world was falling apart. And it did fall apart. That life didn’t exist anymore. Neither did the Molly who had married Hank. That girl had had to grow up and learn to live life without a man. It hadn’t been easy, either. She remembered being unable to eat, losing weight and crying herself to sleep every night for weeks. Tommy had still been nursing, and her milk supply had started to dip from all the meals she’d skipped. Her mother had finally sat her down and reminded her that she simply did not have the luxury of letting herself fall apart. She had three babies to take care of, and she needed to pull it together for them. And she had. She forced herself to eat a little more, she forced herself to confine her crying to times when she was alone, and she made herself go out and look for a job. Luckily, the library had been glad to take her back. Molly was still thankful that her mother had welcomed her daughter and grandchildren back into her home. She had no idea how she could have paid for living expenses or babysitting otherwise. The old sorrow rose in her breast; Mom had been gone for four years now. She hoped her mother knew how much all her help had meant to her. There was no way she could have raised her children as well if she’d had to take a second job, live in a cheap, cramped apartment or if she’d had to find a way to pay for daycare out of her modest paychecks.
She looked up from her daydreaming. “Sorry, Lori. I was thinking about my mom, and how much I miss her. If she were here, she’d tell me what to do. She always gave the best advice.”
“What did she say about Hank?” Lori asked.
Molly laughed. “She told me if I married him, I’d regret it. She was right.”
“I bet if she were here today, she’d tell you to give David a chance,” Lori said. “Your mom was a pretty smart cookie. She’d probably tell you to go off for a weekend with him, while Auntie Lori stayed with your children. Yep, I am pretty darned sure that’s just what she’d say if she were here.”
“She’s not here, though. I have to figure out everything for myself.”
Chapter 9
Molly had known Hank her whole life. They’d gone to school together since kindergarten. She hadn’t paid any particular attention to him back then, but she remembered him. When junior high came along, he was always “going with” one girl or another; usually one of the prettiest ones. Molly didn’t “go with” anybody; she wasn’t sure how others seemed to match up effortlessly. She didn’t have the faintest idea how to talk to boys. She hung out with a group of the more studious and less popular girls. She always had friends, but she wasn’t in the “in” group and wouldn’t have known how to behave if she had been. Those were the girls who always had their hair perfectly done, every day, and always had nicer and more fashionable clothes than Molly ever had. There was a period when Molly’s jeans were usually far too short, and complaining to her mother that her jeans were embarrassingly “high water” didn’t convince her mother that new clothes were needed. Her jeans flapped around her ankles for months before her mother could be convinced it was time to buy new jeans for her. She finally solved the problem by ditching jeans altogether; even in the coldest weather she made it a point to wear dresses. That wasn’t cool, but Molly made it a point to claim she preferred dresses. After a while, she realized it was actually true. When other girls were wearing their jeans so tight they had to lie down and suck in the tummies to get them fastened, Molly had no such discomfort to deal with; she wore comfy sundresses with sandals in warm weather and warm dresses with tights in cold weather. If the dresses got a little too short, her mother did notice that, and lost no time replacing her old, shorter dresses with longer ones. Molly soon considered dresses part of her particular image. She was the one girl who wore dresses almost every day, wearing jeans only when they were long enough and ditching them as soon as she grew an inch. Soon she quit wearing them altogether, unless she needed jeans to do some kind of dirty work outside in cold weather. The other girls thought it a bit strange, but seemed to accept this affectation of Molly’s as just her own particular oddity. Nobody ever seemed to figure out she’d made the switch only because her mother thought it ridiculous to throw away perfectly good blue jeans just because they were a little short. After a few years of this, Molly actually felt like herself only when wearing dresses. After she got her job at the library, she decided the dresses fit in with the literary look she was going for. As much as possible, she tried to wear black dresses every day, having gotten the idea that fashionable New York literary types wore all black. She made it a point to hit thrift stores to find plain black dresses, making it clear that she wasn’t even trying to fit in with high school styles. She was above them. She was only hanging out in Fairview until the day when she would relocate to New York, where she would fit right in because she already had the all-black-clothes aesthetic down pat. Instead, of course, she had gotten pregnant and had never lived anywhere but Fairview.
She was shocked when Hank started talking to her. He had been seeing a girl named Julie, who had very long, permed blond hair that perfectly framed her face. Somehow or other Julie had fallen out of favor with Hank, as all girls did soon enough, and he started talking to Molly, who felt she didn’t know what to say back to him at all. He would talk about football, and the old Trans Am he was perpetually working on and improving. She would talk about books and what kind of books she would choose to publish once she had her New York job. They were both boring each other, yet they kept hanging out together. He’d invite her to come over and spend time in his family’s garage, where she’d perch on the one clean metal folding chair as he took parts off and put parts on for reasons she didn’t understand. She’d pretend to be impressed at the way the engine sounded after he made adjustments, or the way it looked after he put on new tires, but the truth was, she had zero interest in the car he was so proud of. She did learn to hand him the proper tool he needed, and he’d patiently explain what he was doing and why the new improvement was going to make the car faster or cooler. Sometimes she’d actually bring a book and read it while he silently lay under the car doing mysterious things, putting the book down to hand him tools as he called for them. Once in a while they’d see a movie or go to parties together. She never liked beer but she learned how to drink it, liking the effect if not the taste. As it turned out, having a few beers did make it easier to talk to people. She eventually skimmed a few books on auto repair, and learned how to tell the other kids things like, “Oh, I’ve been helping Hank install a new manifold.” Hank said he knew she’d get into it eventually. She was accepted into a different group of kids than she’d hung out with previously. Her mother didn’t approve of Hank and wanted to know why in the world she would spend whole evenings just sitting with him in his garage. Molly couldn’t explain to her mother that she had finally found out how to be popular, and all it involved was pretending to care about H
ank’s car and to drink a few beers down by the lake on Saturday nights.
She did like Hank. He could be very funny; he was the king of practical jokes and was always pulling one. He had to be the center of attention. She found herself warming to his funniness, but, as she later realized, once it was far too late, the main thing she saw in Hank was that he saw something in her. She didn’t know why he’d decided to “go with” her at all, but it meant she spent more weekends socializing instead of sitting at home in bed with a book. She decided she had successfully reinvented herself. They were together their whole junior year but she knew that their relationship would never last once she went off to college. She wasn’t really worried about that. Without ever quite admitting it to herself, she knew that she would be ready for a change by then; she knew she and Hank were not going to want to live the same kind of life and that was OK with her.
Another thing she liked about Hank was that once they started dating, Matt Green stopped bothering her. Skinny Matt was no match for Hank, who was solid muscle thanks to living and breathing nothing but football year-round; he was always lifting weights, even on the off-season. Matt had made a smart remark about Molly just once in Hank’s hearing; he’d made some comment about Molly just wearing a certain dress because she wanted everybody to look at her legs. Hank hadn’t said a word. He hadn’t needed to. He just gave Matt a look, and Matt had backed off. Matt hadn’t been much of a problem for Molly again until after she and Hank had divorced, when he finally felt safe making snide comments again — although never when Hank was around. Divorced they might be, but Hank was still quite decent and protective of Molly. He would occasionally come over and do a home repair if Molly was desperate enough to ask him. She usually didn’t, but there was the time the water heater had started leaking and she didn’t have enough money to call a plumber; Hank had come over, turned off the water, gone off to the hardware store, carried in the new unit and installed it all by himself, and hauled out the old one. She was grateful but felt guilty when she did ask him for favors. She knew Hank would move right back in immediately if she ever asked him to. The problem with Hank is that while he had always loved Molly, he just could not resist other women. He meant well, Molly thought. He just couldn’t help himself. So she did her best to get along without him.
Worth The Wait (Small-Town Secrets-Fairview Series Book 1) Page 10
