Free Molly by Peggy Webb

since when does love wait around till
somebody gets a job? Look at me. And for goodness sake, look at
yourself. You didn’t wait till your internship to fall in love with
Dan.
    Belinda

    From: Clemmie
    To: Janet, Molly, Bea, Belinda, Joanna,
Catherine
    Re: Just saying
    Maybe you’re so caught up in your daddy’s
wedding, you’re a bit confused, Molly. Just saying.
    Clemmie

    From: Catherine
    To: Molly, Janet, Bea, Belinda, Clemmie,
Joanna
    Re: Fun!
    Give him a run for his money, Molly! From
what Bea says, Sam needs somebody exactly like you!!
    Cat

    From: Bea
    To: Molly, Janet, Bea, Belinda, Clemmie,
Joanna
    Re: Sam
    Now, Molly, you listen to me. Sam doesn’t
know
the first thing
about love! As a matter of fact, he’s
scared
of it, and all because our father happened to run
off with a floozy. Don’t you
dare
get involved and let my
brother break your heart!!!!
    Bea
    o0o
    Samuel and Glory Ethel were back in Florence
by midmorning. He’d been quiet on the ninety-mile trip, and so had
Glory Ethel.
    He parked in front of the Victorian house on
North Wood Avenue.
    Glory Ethel turned to him in the car. “Are
you coming in, Sam?”
    “Not today. I have a lot of work to catch up
on.”
    “You
will
be at the party.”
    “Of course.”
    “Why don’t you come and stay in your old room
next week, help me get ready for the big shindig?”
    “Won’t the Rakestraws be staying with
you?”
    “Yes. But the house is big enough for all of
us.”
    He stared off into the distance, seeing not
the wide green sweep of oak trees along the street but a woman with
golden hair and turquoise eyes. “I’m not even sure this town is big
enough for all of us.”
    “What did you say? I can’t hear you when you
mutter.”
    “Never mind, Mother. I’ll unload your
bag.”
    He unloaded her suitcase and escorted her
into the spacious, polished hallway of her house.
    “You will stay here, won’t you Sam? It’ll do
you good to get away from that lonely apartment.”
    “I’ll think about it.” He kissed her cheek.
“‘Bye, Mother.”
    After he left his mother’s house, his first
stop was the bank. He’d unload his bag later.
    He went straight to his office on the top
floor and checked with his secretary about priority phone calls and
mail. Then he went down the hall to talk with Carmondy, one of his
vice presidents and his top operations officer.
    Carmondy, just back from a vacation in Paris,
was looking fit and rested and happy.
    “Come in, Samuel.”
    “It’s good to have you back, Carmondy.”
    “You, too, boss. Enjoy Tupelo?”
    Samuel was just about to reply when he saw
the painting propped on the wall beside Carmondy’s wall. It was
enormous. It was shocking. And it was Molly.
    She was reclining on an array of red silk
cushions, her long bare legs stretched out, and her hair making a
curtain of gold down her bare back. A length of red silk barely big
enough to cover a sneeze was angled down her stomach and draped
across her hips. The artist had captured the wicked, wanton look in
her eyes; the come-touch-me texture of her golden skin; the pouty,
just-loved look of her perfectly sculpted lips.
    “Astonishing, isn’t it, Samuel?”
    Samuel stared at the painting. He was
incapable of words.
    Carmondy took his silence as homage due the
beautiful woman on his wall.
    “When I saw that painting in Paris—it was in
a little gallery near the Louvre—I fell in love, figuratively
speaking, of course. My wife was mad enough to die when she found
out I’d bought it. She wouldn’t let me hang it in the house, so I
sneaked it down here today.” Carmondy laughed, very much at ease as
his boss walked closer to the painting. “I guess I can drape it
with a curtain until I decide what to do with it. Looking at it
does tend to distract—”
    “Let’s talk business.” Samuel stalked off and
sat down beside the desk, totally unaware that he was wearing a
look that would quell a stampede of elephants.
    Carmondy was undaunted.