Her Mountainside Haven

by Jo McNally

  He watched her mother wheel a quiet Lucy down Main Street, turning at the corner. “Well, let me just get as much of the cake as I can onto the bottom of the box and into that trash can,” he said, “and then we’ll head back in.”

  “I’ll help,” she said.

  They scooped the destroyed strawberry shortcake onto a section of the box and got it into the trash can on the corner. Above the sweet smell of the cake he inhaled the faint scent of something spicy, Molly’s perfume.

  “I’ll completely understand if you want to call a halt to the interview,” she said, tucking another escaped curl behind her ear, a small glob of frosting on the sleeve of her jacket.

  “Are you kidding? With your very impressive résumé? Not a chance. And I meant what I said. If my kid was screeching outside while my mom was trying to deal with that and carry a birthday cake that just dropped, I’d go help, too. That you did wins you interview points.”

  Her brown eyes lit up. “So we can start over?”

  “Tell you what. You go home and be with your birthday girl. I’ll see you first thing Monday morning.”

  Molly tilted her head. “We’ll resume the interview then?”

  “The job is yours, Molly. Welcome to Dawson Solutions.” He quickly ran down the excellent benefits package as they ferried cake on the battered box pieces to the trash can.

  In the ten minutes he’d been in her company, he’d learned quite a bit about Molly Orton and he knew she was the candidate he was looking for. He didn’t have to ask his list of questions. She’d worked for an accounting firm for the past three years, her boss a known jerk (per a quick vetting of her résumé), which told him she knew her way around difficult people and stuck it through—to a breaking point, since she’d quit that job a few days ago, all detailed in her cover letter. He liked the honestly. And based on how she’d handled herself just now, he knew she’d be able to take on trying scenarios, key in a consultancy where nervous clients called at all hours and expected their problems to be handled. Zeke Dawson was a handler. And he needed his admin to be one, too.

  “Wow, that’s even better than I hoped. Thank you, Zeke. I accept!”

  He smiled. “I’ll see you Monday at nine a.m., then. I’d like to take you out to lunch to welcome you to the office and I can fill you in on the particulars of the firm and all that.”

  “Great,” she said. She hurried inside the office and put on her coat, then came back out. “Thanks again,” she said, and then practically ran down the street and disappeared around the corner.

  He had a good feeling about hiring Molly. There was something about her, something efficient and capable and calm. She’d be an asset with clients who came to the office for meetings.

  As he was about to head back inside Dawson Solutions he realized he forgot to bring up Danica Dunbar; he probably could have very easily found out from Molly if Danica was seriously dating anyone. But for once, he’d forgotten all about his old dream girl. He’d ask Molly about Danica at lunch on Monday.

  His to-do list was long, even for the weekend to get ready for the official opening of his business. But he could cross off a major one—he now had his administrative assistant.

  And if things went his way, he was about to have the woman of his dreams.

  * * *

  Molly stopped around the corner and closed her eyes, her heart beating so fast she was surprised she didn’t implode.

  As if seeing Zeke Dawson again—and for a job interview—after all these years hadn’t been enough, there was her crying daughter, quite possibly the loudest baby in Bear Ridge, and her mom and the cake landing right on Zeke’s expensive shoes.

  But she’d gotten the job! She could hardly believe she had. Mission accomplished, Molly, she cheered herself on as she resumed walking. The position was perfect for her, and as a bonus, she’d see Zeke Dawson—tall, gorgeous, sexy, dark-haired, Caribbean Sea‒eyed—every weekday from nine to five. Who knew what could happen in a two-person office, working late at night, sharing takeout, an unexpected kiss leading to her finally feeling Zeke’s lips on her, his hands on her. She grinned at the fantasy.

  But then she came back to earth fast. She was a realist who had never let her daydreams get the better of her. Molly had been secretly in love with Zeke Dawson since middle school and he had never noticed her. Now he would never see her as anything other than his trusty administrative assistant.

  There had been sixty-two kids in their graduating class at Bear Ridge High School. Everyone “knew” each other. Or of each other. But some people didn’t stick in others’ minds, and Molly had always been one of them. When Zeke had first walked into the office for their interview and she’d stood to shake his hand, her knees had wobbled. She’d been so consumed by seeing him up close and personal that she’d rambled on about their kindergarten teacher’s glasses, for Pete’s sake. She’d worried she might go mute when she came face-to-face with him, so at least she’d said something.

  And she was no longer that quiet girl with zero confidence, the plain Jane sidekick to the school beauty who no one ever noticed. Molly might not have changed all that much physically since senior year—though she’d given up glasses for contacts because Lucy liked to grab them and shake them in her little fists—but she had in all other ways. Between the divorce and motherhood, Molly had come into her own. She knew who she was and she liked that person.

  She could finally go for Zeke Dawson, make her move. Except there were two problems with that. One: now he was her boss. There was probably a policy against dating coworkers, particularly a subordinate, in the Dawson Solutions, Inc. company manual. And even if she “seized the day,” as her mom was always telling her to do, and made her feelings known, Zeke was just too gorgeous and sexy for the plain Jane in the pantsuit and sensible pumps. He’d let her down easy and she’d still have to work with him. Appreciated for her mind if not her face and body. That would actually make continuing on as his admin bearable, now that she thought about it. She frowned—didn’t she just say she wasn’t that same old girl without any confidence?

  Two: the fact that Molly’s name and face hadn’t registered with Zeke one bit did irk her. He hadn’t remembered she existed. Out of sixty-two kids in their graduating class? Come on. She’d be invisible to him all over again, and the new Molly Orton would not let herself fall for someone that shallow. She owed herself and her daughter better than that. How could she guide Lucy in the ways of womanhood if she was mooning over a man who didn’t even remember her? Molly had thought about dolling up for the interview; she actually did own a few push-up bras that she’d gotten for her bridal shower. But she’d learned fast that trying to be someone she wasn’t was never the answer. Molly wasn’t a push-up-bra type. She wore the teensiest bit of makeup—a dab of powder, a little mascara, a bit of rosy blush—as part of her professional look. She was understated—except when it came to her hair, which just couldn’t be controlled. She was who she was, and Zeke was who he was: out of her league on a looks level.

  But he’d never been a town golden boy. Far from it. Growing up, everyone had heard the stories about his dad, a flirtatious drunk. His father had been married three or four times and was a notorious womanizer. She remembered hearing about classmates’ dads chasing him down Main Street for making a pass at their wives. After running his parents’ fifty-year-old popular guest ranch into the ground, Bo Dawson had died just over a year ago, from alcoholism complications. Life as one of his six kids couldn’t have been easy. Zeke had been through some hard stuff from an early age.

  And Molly hadn’t been in love with him half her life just because he was so good-looking. Back in school he had a reputation for being a nice guy who’d always stood up for the underdog. Given how he’d reacted just now, he was still the same wonderful guy.

  Who had never noticed her. Not even when he’d walk down the halls of Bear Ridge High, unable to take his eyes off her b
est friend, Danica, and Molly had been right beside her—for years! Granted, every guy had mooned over Danica in school, walking into open lockers and doors and water fountains. Molly had been invisible.

  And now? She’d hardly be invisible in her new role. Molly would just wait and see what happened. They were both single and that meant something could develop between them. If he wasn’t attracted to her, fine. She’d move on from thinking of him as a remote possibility. Somehow.

  She started walking home but suddenly froze. Someone else was single again. For the first time since high school: Danica Dunbar. Molly’s bestie, newly divorced and looking, was five-nine, model thin with big boobs, long blond hair, angelic blue eyes, a warm, funny personality and had the opposite sex drooling everywhere she went. Her best friend would surely notice Zeke. He was the hottest guy in town.

  Then again, despite being one of the kindest people Molly knew, Danica had a thing for men who didn’t deserve her. She liked bad boys, always had. Whether slick in a suit or brooding in a leather jacket on a motorcycle. Molly had had lunch today with Danica, just before the interview, Danica asking for advice about getting back out there in the dating world. Bless her sweet heart for thinking Molly could possibly offer tips on men to a Christie Brinkley lookalike. Molly had told Danica to try changing her type—nice guys only. No bad boys. Molly wanted her friend to take her good advice—as long as she didn’t go for Zeke Dawson, a nice guy who looked like a bad boy in the smoldering sense.

  Hmm, she thought as she turned onto Oak Lane. Maybe Molly would have to break her vow never to tell anyone how she felt about Zeke. One thing Molly had never shared with Danica was her crush on him—not back in middle school or high school, when she’d hoped so hard he’d mysteriously ask her to the prom (he hadn’t), and not now, when he’d suddenly come back to town after a thirteen-year-absence. In high school, another girlfriend of theirs had had an insane crush on a major pop star that had consumed her, and Molly had always felt being secretly in love with Zeke was kind of like that. Unattainable. Ridiculous. Pointless. Molly—smart and sensible—had faced facts even in elementary school when not one boy asked her to the fifth-grade semiformal. If Danica knew how Molly felt about Zeke, her sweet, loyal friend would never look twice at him. Molly had no doubt of that. But she’d feel silly even bringing it up. Um, Danica, I’m in love with Zeke Dawson and may or may not go for him and he’ll never go for me, but if he asks you out, can you say no?

  Maybe he’ll ask you out, she reminded herself.

  Molly pushed all that away and channeled a scene from one of her favorite movies, Bridget Jones’s Diary, imagining Colin Firth telling Renée Zellweger he liked her, very much, just as she was.

  She’d keep her secret to herself. And play it by the ole ear. After all, now that she’d be working with Zeke, he’d truly get to know her. And didn’t her mom always say that to know Molly was to love her?

  She grinned and kept walking. All she knew for sure was that Monday would be very interesting.

  Copyright © 2021 by Melissa Senate

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  ISBN-13: 9781488075346

  Her Mountainside Haven

  Copyright © 2021 by Jo McNally

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

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