A little while later, she was inside the library, turning on lights and booting up the computers, when David walked in. She stifled the little flip-flop her heart did at the sight of him. Oh, he looked good. No wonder he was giving her dirty dreams. But she reminded herself this was an employer-employee relationship. Nothing else.
“How was your weekend?” he asked her.
“Just fine,” she said. “Well, not so much Saturday morning,” she admitted. “The rest was fine.”
“I thought maybe you could bring Tommy by after school to get started. Is $10 an hour all right with you?”
“That’s more than you’re making here,” she said. “But what you pay him is up to you. He will agree to whatever you think is fair. You needn’t pay him anything at all; he owes you free labor after the mess he and his friends made.”
“Cleaning up the mess will be free,” David agreed. “But there’s not much to that, actually. I was going to replace all those windows anyway. Mainly he’ll be sweeping up the broken glass and picking up beer cans at first. Later on he’ll help me install the new windows and get the inside painted. There’s a rather large, uh, male body part spray-painted on the living room wall he will have to paint over fairly soon. I’m hoping to move in as soon as possible. Nothing against The Clipper, but I’m ready to get out of there.”
“We are going to look at dogs tonight, but we aren’t going to get one. Just look. So I’ll drop him off right after that.”
“I love dogs,” he said. “We always had a mutt or two out at the farm when I was growing up.”
Molly realized they were just bantering away like old friends; she was already breaking her resolution to keep this relationship cordial but nothing more.
“Today I’d like you to learn how to use the microfilm system,” she said, trying to turn her voice more business-like. “I’ll show you how. We get people in from time to time who want to research old newspaper articles. Our records go back over a hundred years.” She motioned to an ancient-looking microfilm reader and a locked cabinet that contained the capsules of film. “It isn’t hard.” She unlocked the cabinet, demonstrated how to use the machine and then said she would leave him to practice. She had some software updates she wanted to get started before people began drifting in. The computers were getting old and ought to be replaced, but of course Matt wouldn’t have it. She was lucky she had been able to convince the board to purchase new software.
Naturally, it was never straight-forward; as usual, the new software didn’t want to play nice with some of the older software. This wasn’t her forte, but by struggling and sticking to it, she eventually managed to get the first two updated. Some of the senior citizens in the town used the computers for things like applying for their Social Security; it wasn’t as easy as just picking up the phone to handle things like that anymore. Some of the students whose families didn’t have computers at home would come in later in the day to do their homework. In between were people who for various reasons needed online access they didn’t have at home. Fairview wasn’t a wealthy town. She was surprised at how many people depended on the library, despite Matt’s contention that it was basically a place for poor moms to get free kid activities. She once again wondered why someone so uninterested in public libraries would want to be the president of a library board. Would he really do this just to get Molly’s goat as often as possible?
Speak of the devil. As if her thoughts had summoned him, Matt walked through the front door. She forced herself to speak to him cordially.
“Well, good morning, Mr. Green,” she said.
“Molly,” he nodded in return. “Let’s see this bathroom you can’t seem to keep functioning.”
“It’s the ladies, in the back. There aren’t any patrons this early. You can walk right in,” she said, seething. He was back shortly.
“It looks just fine to me,” he said. “To hear Johnny tell it, the bathrooms were a disaster. Tried to tell me we need to do a complete remodel.”
“We do need to do a complete remodel,” she said.
“Oh, and I suppose you’re a plumbing expert,” Matt said.
“I do know that antique plumbing fixtures eventually start to fail, and these are clearly failing,” she said.
“I bet some kid flushed a wad of paper down the toilet and made it overflow,” Matt said. “You probably just weren’t paying attention to the kids. I’ve told you before, you need to keep an eye on them or you never know what they’ll get up to. Hell, you know that. I heard about young Thomas, tearing hell out of the old Conrad place over the weekend.”
Molly hadn’t noticed, but David had quietly walked up and now he spoke. He put down a folder he’d been carrying.
“I was here when the plumber switched out the toilets. I can attest that the problem wasn’t a wad of paper. That plumbing is going to just get worse,” David said.
“Oh, you’re the new Conrad in town. Didn’t know you were a specialist in plumbing. Or in libraries. I did hear you were a regular specialist on handing juvenile delinquents. Heard you decided to let the kids off. I heard why, too.” Matt gave him a knowing little smirk.
“That’s no concern of yours,” David said. Molly saw Matt’s face darken.
“This library is no concern of yours, either,” Matt said. “Molly, I’d have thought better of you than to just hire the very first man to give you a second look. But I guess when you haven’t gotten a date in years, you’ll do whatever it takes, won’t you?”
Before she could even react, David did. His fist shot out and caught Matt squarely on the chin. Matt brought his hand to his chin and touched it, as if unsure to believe that David had really hit it.
“You need to apologize,” David said.
“I will do no such thing! You are fired, Mr. Conrad! Get out of here this instant. I’m calling the sheriff, and your ass is going to be arrested and run out of town.”
“You can’t run me out of town. I own a house here. You can have me arrested if you want the gossip, but I can guarantee it won’t be good publicity for the bank if I tell the whole story.”
“You’re a nobody! You think anybody cares you’re a Conrad? Everybody in town knows exactly what’s going on in this library. You two, carrying on. It’s disgusting. And after taking advantage of Tina Macintosh, too. But I guess you’re the type of womanizer Molly likes. Her husband was the same way. Some women don’t have any standards.”
David’s voice became very low, so low Molly had to strain to hear the words.
“You will not talk to her that way. And you will not spread nasty gossip, either. If you do, so help me God, you will live to regret it.”
“Get the hell out of this library! I’m not going to call the sheriff because you’re right, I don’t want the publicity. But you get out of here right now, and don’t come back. Or it’s not just your job. It’s Molly’s too. Now get out!” Matt’s face was red and he was literally spitting as he yelled. Molly had seen Matt mad before, but never like this. She took a step backward, involuntarily. David still looked absolutely calm. She saw his right hand was still in a fist, and as she watched, he relaxed it, but took another step toward Matt.
“Oh, I’ll go quietly. And I apologize for hitting you. I don’t want Ms. Miller to lose her job on account of me. But I can promise you, if I hear you do anything to her, anything at all, you will answer to me. And I can assure you, I do not make idle threats. If I hear a whisper of gossip about any of this, or if she loses her job, you’ll get more than just a little tap on the jaw next time.” He turned to Molly. “If you need me, you know how to get in touch.” She nodded, dumbfounded. He turned around, picked up the folder of papers and slowly walked across the lobby, pausing at the door to stare at Matt pointedly. And then he was gone.
Molly stared at Matt. She had never seen anyone stand up to him like that. Not in high school, not since.
“Stop staring at me. You never saw two men have a disagreement before? This never happened. Get back to work.
Don’t you have a library to run?” Matt turned on his heel and nearly bowled over two young women who were just walking into the library. He scowled instead of apologizing, leaving them both gaping.
The day was a busy one. She called Lindsay to see if she could come in later and to Molly’s relief, she grudgingly agreed. Otherwise Molly wouldn’t have been able to go to the animal shelter before it closed. She really just wanted to go home and get into bed and pull the covers over her head, but she knew the kids’ disappointment would have been off the charts if she had. She was grateful to be busy. She didn’t want to think too much about what had happened. Matt’s hostility had been greater than she’d thought. His insinuations were insulting, and David’s protective attitude of her was surprising. She didn’t hold with violence, ordinarily, but in this case she had to admit it had been quite satisfying to see. But pissing off Matt wasn’t the best thing for her long-term job prospects. What would she do if he fired her? It wouldn’t be easy to find another job. Running the library was all she knew. The phone rang about an hour later. It was David.
“Shh, just checking to see if you’re OK,” he said.
“I’m fine.”
“I wanted to give you my cell, just in case,” he said.
“OK.” She wrote it down.
“He didn’t threaten you in any way, right?”
“Look, I really can’t talk. I don’t want to lose this job,” she said.
“You won’t. I can just about promise you that,” he said.
“You can’t possibly promise me that,” she said. She idiotically thought of what a warm, soothing voice he had. It sounded like melted caramel. She licked her lips at the thought of it.
“Well, I can almost promise you that. I’ll explain it to you soon as I can,” he said. “Maybe when you bring Tommy by?”
“I don’t want to discuss anything about this in front of my children. Look, I’ve got to go. I can’t talk to you from work,” she said. “Goodbye.”
She let a lot of things go that day, but she didn’t care. She felt a level of stress she hadn’t felt in years — she even found herself looking at jobs online. As she’d suspected, there was nothing available locally that paid more than minimum wage that she was even vaguely qualified for. She hoped everything would blow over. She also realized that she still hadn’t managed to make it clear to David that their relationship needed to be strictly civil. She couldn’t help being friendly to him, and now he seemed to think they were cohorts in crime. She would correct that assumption tonight. Firmly.
At 4 p.m. she fled the library, hugely relieved, and picked up Beth and Tommy. She warned them once again that they were there strictly to take a look around, and not to get set on any one dog tonight. Then they walked down the row of cages and Molly felt her heart constrict. There were so many. Some were barking their heads off and others just looked hopeful. Others seemed to have no heart left anymore; those were even sadder. Beth looked like she was trying not to cry. Molly couldn’t blame her. This was more heartbreaking than she had thought it would be. The shelter worker asked them what sort of dog they were looking for.
“I don’t really know,” Beth said. “Not a puppy, though. We won’t be home enough to train it properly. I thought maybe one that’s already housebroken and past the chew stage. Not too large, but not a yappy little dog. Maybe medium-sized?”
“Oh, Mom, look,” Tommy said, pointing to a very fat dog with short legs and long ears. “Is it a …? What is it?”
“Oh, that’s a beagle-basset mix. He’s been here for a while. He’s not in the best of health. Former owners fed him everything he wanted, then got rid of him when he couldn’t get around. He can barely walk, he’s so fat. Honestly, he shouldn’t even be out here. He’ll be euthanized when the vet comes tomorrow. But look over here. We have a very friendly little cocker spaniel I think would be perfect for you,” she said. “Just came in yesterday. She’d make a very nice little pet for you.”
Both Tommy and Beth were looking at Molly with pleading eyes. They didn’t have to say what they were thinking. She already knew.
“This dog has problems,” she said.
“But he will die if we don’t take him home tonight!” Beth said, tears spilling onto her cheeks.
“We can help him lose weight,” Tommy said. “He just needs to go on a diet and go for some walks. I’ll walk him every day,” he said. Molly looked at the dog, who she would swear was purposely giving her the saddest look he knew how to give. Bassets look sad even when happy, she knew. But this dog seemed to know she was his last chance. Beth was reaching her fingers into the cage and stroking his head. Molly knew they’d made their decision and nodded to the shelter lady.
“Are you sure?” the woman asked. “I mean he’s been passed over for so long. He’s going to be a lot of work. I don’t want you to be disappointed if you can’t really play with him.”
“I don’t think we have a choice,” Molly said. She sighed. They didn’t have a dog bed or a leash or anything else, but if she left this dog behind, Beth and Tommy would never forgive her.
“Somebody else will want the cocker spaniel,” Beth said. She walked over to the cocker spaniel’s cage. The little dog immediately began wagging her tail. “You’re very cute. I’m sorry we can’t take you home, but we have to save — what’s our dog’s name?”
“Clarence,” the woman answered.
“We have to take Clarence. You be a good dog, and somebody will pick you soon,” Beth said.
They had to carry Clarence most of the way back to the car because he could only waddle a few steps. The shelter sent him off with a leash, so they had one piece of the needed equipment now. Molly wasn’t sure the leash was needed; a one-legged man could outrun this dog, she thought wryly.
Beth and Tommy situated Clarence in the middle of the back seat and petted and baby-talked to him.
“Tommy, I hope you didn’t forget you still have to work for Mr. Conrad tonight. Beth and I will get Clarence settled.”
“Don’t you think he would let me start tomorrow instead?”
“I do think he would. But we aren’t going to ask. You made a commitment, and you owe him. So you start tonight. That’s how it’s going to be.” Tommy didn’t argue, just continued petting Clarence, who appeared to be willing to go along with anything.
She turned down the long driveway to the Conrad house. She could see David already in the backyard, using a saw to hack rogue saplings out of the fence line. There was a big pile of them already. He was wearing old, ripped jeans and a plain black T-shirt and for the hundredth time Molly wished things could have worked out between them. One thought of Tina, though, and her resolve hardened.
“We got a dog!” Beth said. “Can we let him out?”
“Sure,” David said. “What kind did you get?”
Tommy lifted Clarence out of the back seat and gently placed him on the grass.
“Oh, a mutt. Best kind. Basset and beagle, I’d guess?”
“You’d guess right,” Molly said. “His name is Clarence.”
“They were going to put him to sleep tomorrow!” Beth said. “We had to save him.”
Clarence walked a few steps, peed by some weeds, took a few more steps and sat down heavily, panting.
“We’re going to put him on a diet,” Beth said. “His old owners let him get too fat.”
“I can see that,” David said. “Well, Tommy, are you sure you want to start tonight? Maybe you need to head home and take care of old Clarence here?” He shot a look at Molly, and smiled. She started to smile back but remembered she needed to start making it clear to David that she wasn’t going to be more than civil.
“No, sir,” Tommy said. “I’ll work first.”
“That’s fine, Tommy,” David said. “I think tonight I’d like you to pick up all the beer cans and get them into the trash, and then we’ll pile up all this landscape waste and throw it on the burn pile so we can burn it once it’s dried out enough. That’ll be enough
for tonight. Shall I run him home in a couple of hours?”
“That’ll be fine, Mr. Conrad,” Molly said.
“David,” he corrected her. “And I really do want to talk to you soon. I can see that now’s not the time. Maybe when I drop Tommy off later tonight?”
“I really don’t think so, Mr. Conrad,” Molly said. She caught a quick look of hurt and surprise in his eyes, but he hid it quickly.
“Another time, then,” he said. “I’ll have him home around 7, if that’s OK.”
“That’ll be fine. Good night,” Molly said. Beth lifted Clarence in the back seat, not without some effort, and they headed home.
“He’s really nice,” Beth said. “I heard you guys might be a thing?”
“We are very definitely not ‘a thing,’” Molly said. She stopped for dog food on the way home, choosing a diet variety, and when they got into the house, she instructed Beth to go find an old blanket to serve as Clarence’s temporary dog bed. She sacrificed a plastic bowl for his water dish and let Beth get him settled in while she got started on dinner. Spaghetti. It was fast and it was cheap and she didn’t have to think very much to make it. She made a few slices of garlic bread as an afterthought. Tommy would be extra hungry when he got home. She took care of setting the table herself; clearly Beth wasn’t going to leave Clarence’s side willingly tonight. They’d eat as soon as Tommy was home. She heard David’s car out front. Good. She poured herself a glass of Chianti. If ever she’d deserved a drink, it was tonight.
She had expected David would just drop Tommy off, but instead he came to the door with him. “I’d really like to talk to you, just for a second,” he said. “Please.” Tommy had immediately joined Beth in the back yard, where she was trying to coax Clarence into taking a few steps, rewarding him with cuddles and pets and coos of encouragement each time he did. Tommy had to be starving, but just now all his attention was on Clarence.
“All right,” she said, standing in the doorway but not inviting him in.
“A couple of things. I want to make sure Matt hasn’t made any more trouble for you, first of all.”
Worth The Wait (Small-Town Secrets-Fairview Series Book 1) Page 7