The Chocolatier's Secret (Magnolia Creek, Book 2)

by Helen J Rolfe

  ‘Gemma hates me, you know.’

  ‘The wife?’

  She nodded and filled him in on everything else she’d overheard.

  ‘It sounds like the Bennetts have a lot going on.’

  ‘I don’t want to come between them,’ said Molly. ‘I don’t know. Maybe in her position I’d feel the same.’ She rested her arms on the table, the beer bottle pressed between outstretched hands. ‘This is the sort of thing that makes me wonder whether I’m mad to get involved. I mean, I’m happy in England. There I am with a great mum and dad, a pretty awesome brother – don’t tell him I said that – so why, oh, why did I want to screw it all up?’

  ‘Because you’re human, Molly. You wanted to know where you came from and you decided to give this man a chance to know about you. You gave him the benefit of the doubt.’

  Their eyes met for a moment until Ben’s gaze focused on her bag. ‘We could use the spa.’

  ‘What? It’s cold out.’ Already she’d pulled on the cardigan she’d brought from her place.

  ‘It’s heated.’

  She shook her head. ‘I dunno. Feels weird, sitting in a bath … with you.’ She tried to make a joke, nervous at the intimacy of the proposed situation.

  ‘It’s not a bath.’ He laughed, and looking at his profile Molly saw the Ben who was a little mischievous when he wasn’t being sensible. He had tiny creases at the corners of his eyes when he laughed, creases that were there face on but looked different from this angle, and she tried to ignore the way his lips made contact with his bottle of beer, the stubble on his chin and neck as he swallowed the liquid.

  ‘Look, my parents aren’t around,’ he said. ‘We have the place to ourselves and barring my brother making an unexpected trip to the back garden, which I highly doubt now he’s all loved up with Rosie, we’re safe. You can get changed inside in the bathroom. Come on, what do you say? It’s a great way to unwind after a stressful day.’ He hooked an eyebrow and she knew she couldn’t resist.

  In the downstairs bathroom inside the Harrisons’ house, Molly pulled on her midnight blue tankini, adjusting the bottoms correctly, ensuring the top was covering everything it should. When she emerged, wrapped in a towel, she looked up at the Harrisons’ home. It was a beautiful house with a garden she couldn’t imagine having in her wildest dreams. The pool and the spa were something else, the tended rose beds all inspiring and the view of the bush looked as though it could make you forget anything else existed outside the walls of the home. It was certainly a huge contrast to her flat back in England and the house she grew up in, a modest semi-detached in a quiet town with neat, boxed front lawns and uniform driveways. But it seemed nobody had the perfect life, not even the Harrisons, judging by what Ben had told her.

  Molly clutched her towel to her body and made her way back down to the pool. The blackness of the night had wrapped around Magnolia Creek quickly, but even in the dark she could appreciate the contours of a man’s body. Ben had taken off his shirt, and she watched him as he unhooked the fasteners of the spa cover. He was defined but not in an over-the-top way, and the rose tattoo looked in place, as though it was part of him rather than something that had been painted on.

  When he looked at her, she could tell he was making an effort to keep his gaze at her eye-level and she hadn’t even dropped her towel. She scooped her dark hair into a high ponytail, using the band on her wrist, and climbed in to the spa.

  ‘Sit on the far side.’ Ben dragged the spa cover away and stowed it at the edge of the pool. ‘It’s the best position to look at the stars, although the moon must be hiding.’

  Molly lowered herself into the water on the far side, facing away from the house, and Ben pushed a button, sending the bubbles into life. The gentle hum of the spa was paradise itself, and the water lulled Molly into an unexpected sense of calm.

  Ben put one leg over the side of the spa, but before the other leg followed he tutted. ‘I can’t believe I almost forgot. Can I get you another drink?’

  Molly settled on a glass of wine this time, too blissed out to even think about Andrew, Gemma or Louis Bennett. Right now she could’ve been anywhere in the world, on holiday, enjoying the company of a man who understood her more than anyone else for miles around.

  He clinked his beer bottle gently against her glass of white. ‘To new friends.’

  She met his gaze briefly and took a sip.

  ‘See, sharing a bath with me isn’t so bad, is it?’ he said.

  ‘No, I don’t suppose it is.’

  ‘And you’re starting to relax, I can tell.’

  She rested her glass on the side of the spa, careful to place it so it wasn’t in any danger of falling off. She shut her eyes. ‘I’m not even going to mention the “B” word for the rest of the evening.’

  ‘You mean the Benn–’

  She opened one eye and shut it again when he nodded his understanding.

  ‘This place is gorgeous, Ben.’ She kept her eyes shut. ‘You’re spoilt living here.’

  ‘It’s only temporary.’ His voice came from the seat on the other side of the spa, facing the pool. ‘Now I’ve done my travelling stint I’ll be moving into a cottage up past the fire station.’

  Molly opened her eyes. ‘You’ve bought somewhere.’

  ‘I have, but it was a hole when I bought it. Owen renovates properties for a living, so he helped me see past the ugly exterior and the interior, which looked more like a squat.’

  ‘Had someone been living there?’

  ‘Not recently, which is why it’d been so neglected. But it worked out well as I couldn’t afford to buy anything renovated. Aussie prices are sky-high, even out here, but the cottage is a decent twenty-minute walk to Main Street, and it needed work doing and was a deceased estate, so I got a good deal. Owen did the work much cheaper than anyone else would’ve and what’s more, he’s done it properly. He’s very particular.’ He laughed after another sip of beer. ‘He’s so … what’s the word? Pernickety?’

  ‘Great word.’

  ‘More polite than saying he’s anal.’ He grinned. ‘Growing up he was no different. One Christmas, all three of us boys got a magic set. When our parents cleared out the loft a couple of years ago, we found Owen’s. I don’t even know what’d happened to mine or to Tom’s, but I expect they were trashed after a few years and then thrown away. Owen’s, however, was still in its original box, completely intact, not a single piece missing. I mean, who does that?’

  ‘Pernickety people.’ Molly had shut her eyes again. ‘He seems nice, your brother.’

  ‘He’s a top bloke. I think Rosie helped to mellow him out. She was a surprise to all of us. Owen has never been one to get serious about a girl, and there was a mix up when my parents went overseas. They had a contract with an official house-sitter – Rosie – and then Owen turned up and refused to leave. Somehow, God knows how, they coexisted in the house and eventually they got it together.’

  Molly smiled, totally blissed out until Ben spoke again.

  ‘It’s hard to believe you’re only here temporarily,’ he said. ‘You’ll have to come back and visit again.’

  One eye open, she said, ‘Maybe.’

  ‘Maybe as in you don’t know if you want to see me again, or maybe as in if the Bennetts accept you?’

  She frowned, not knowing what to say.

  ‘Sorry, I forgot we weren’t mentioning the “B” word.’

  ‘It’s fine, I don’t really have the luxury of blocking them, much as I’d like to, and sit in this spa all night. Those stars are amazing.’ She looked up as one winked at her and a sliver of the moon appeared from behind a cloud, the silhouette of trees masking any more of it.

  When Ben moved to her side of the spa, his leg touched hers beneath the water, and she was suddenly aware of their near-naked bodies, side-by-side, gazing up at nature’s beauty. His leg touched hers again, and she wondered whether he felt it, whether the water had moved his body her way and he hadn’t resisted.

&n
bsp; ‘It’s a beautiful night.’ She sank a little lower into the warmth of the water.

  ‘You’re beautiful,’ said Ben.

  Molly looked at those stars, kept her mind where it had to be. ‘Ben, we’ve been through this.’

  ‘Ah, the long-distance thing again?’

  ‘It’s not long-distance, it’s stupid-distance. How can anyone from the UK get involved with someone who lives in Australia?’

  ‘I bet it happens all the time. I bet there are backpackers, even now, tonight, looking at the same moon and stars as we are, both from opposite sides of the globe, having this same debate.’

  ‘Yeah, and they’re probably all wasted, and what seems like a good idea tonight won’t be in the morning.’

  ‘Maybe you can’t control who you fall for.’

  ‘Ben—’ She didn’t get a chance to say anything else because all of a sudden it wasn’t his leg touching hers that was the problem. His hand had reached around and cupped her cheek, and his face moved closer to hers until their lips finally touched. And she didn’t want it to feel this good, but it did. She’d been strong up to now, but tonight she knew they were only doing what she’d thought about ever since she’d first seen him at Heathrow waiting for her. And Molly was no longer preoccupied with her fear of flying, now she was scared of something else. She was scared of getting in too deep in an impossible, never-going-to-happen relationship, with someone on the other side of the world.

  Her eyes conveyed the feeling to Ben when they pulled apart, the taste of him still on her lips.

  ‘Stop fighting it, Molly.’

  ‘But—’

  He silenced her with another kiss, and this time she didn’t let it end so quickly. His hands tugged through her hair; she felt the dark tendrils escape in his eagerness. She ran her hand up his arm, the one with the tattoo, knowing exactly what it looked like, and finally getting to feel the skin of this man she’d let get so close so quickly. He trailed kisses down her neck, spluttering as he tried to kiss lower and the bubbles jumped up into his open mouth.

  ‘That’ll teach you!’ Molly grinned in delight.

  He moved in to try again. Molly was pinned back against the spa but sat taller to lift the top of her body from the water, letting his kisses go lower this time. She ran a hand through his dark blond hair as the stubble on his chin scratched pleasantly against her chest. He moved the straps of her tankini top so they fell off, and he kissed the top of her shoulders, his tongue circling. And then he met her mouth again. She knew she should stop, and she felt vaguely out of control when, instead of telling him this was a bad idea, she climbed on top of his lap, sitting over him, kissing him all the while. His hands planted on her hips, pulling her as close to him as he could. Her hands framed his face; she looked deep into his eyes, eyes that told her this wasn’t a game.

  ‘I wish you weren’t leaving,’ he said. But Molly put a finger across his lips. ‘I do,’ he said again, teasingly licking the tip of her finger so she couldn’t silence him any longer.

  Her head tipped back as he kissed her along her collarbone. ‘Ben, we should stop.’

  ‘Probably,’ he said.

  Back in control, she looked at him again, her body curled over his, her hands forcing him to meet her gaze. ‘It’d be different if this could go somewhere, but we have to say goodbye in two weeks and I don’t want to catch the twenty-four-hour flight home pining for you.’ She’d be doing that anyway, but she didn’t want it to be any worse than it had to be.

  ‘I’ll be pining for you, Molly Ramsey.’ He accepted the situation and pulled her into a hug. ‘You big tease,’ he laughed, nibbling playfully at her ear.

  ‘I know, sorry. Heat of the moment.’ She clambered off, and they sat side by side, the moon appearing from behind the trees as though watching them. They sat for quite some time, both contemplating the boundaries they’d overstepped in their friendship, the boundaries they both wished never existed and that breaking them made perfect sense.

  ‘My fingers are shrivelled.’ Molly let Ben wrap a towel around her when they eventually climbed out of the spa. He pulled her to him once she was encased in the soft material.

  ‘So are mine,’ he said. ‘Thankfully nothing else is.’ His eye raise made her laugh. ‘Sorry, I forgot we can only be friends.’

  She kissed him lightly on the lips. ‘Stupid-distance, remember. Not long-distance, stupid-distance.’

  ‘Ridiculous-distance,’ he said.

  ‘Absurdly-long-distance,’ she replied.

  ‘This could go on all night if we’re not careful. Come on, get changed and I’ll walk you back to your place. I promise I won’t even try anything.’

  Part of her wished he would.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Gemma

  ‘Try to keep the paint in the pot, or on the paper,’ Gemma instructed her class. For the last few days, she’d kept herself busy with teaching, volunteering to take extra-curricular activities, taking piles of work home with her when she didn’t always need to. She’d gladly taken Louis to each and every dialysis appointment, relieved to get out of the house and away from Andrew. The tension was palpable following the day at the chocolaterie when Molly had walked in on them, and she and Andrew had barely exchanged three words with one another since.

  Today the kids had been asked to paint based on the ‘Home’ theme, and so some had painted their own houses, another had painted a picture of his back garden equipped with swing and monkey-bar set and another had painted the fire station.

  Gemma stopped next to Megan. ‘Do you live right near the fire station?’

  The little girl shook her head. ‘No.’

  ‘But you think it’s pretty important?’ She guessed the fire station was in the forefront of many peoples’ minds given the recent bushfires. Owen Harrison had been in yesterday to give a fire safety talk to the kids. He’d had them enthralled with his natural sense of adventure, the animated way he spoke. And the teachers were even happier than the kids. He was pretty easy on the eye.

  ‘My grandad was a volunteer,’ said Megan.

  ‘He must’ve been very brave.’ She let Megan get on with her work of art and walked round the next few tables until she came to Ellie, who had only painted long green strips across the bottom and was flicking droplets in numerous different colours. Usually a teaching assistant worked closely with Ellie, but she was out today with a bad case of the flu and they hadn’t been able to find a substitute. Gemma had thought she’d be able to handle it but now realised Ellie was having trouble focusing.

  Gemma did a quick scan of the room, but all the other kids were enraptured with the task, and the paint looked as though it was going to and from the correct places.

  ‘Remember how we said this was the “Home” theme?’ When Ellie didn’t answer and the brush showed no signs of stopping, Gemma covered her hand with her own. ‘Ellie, eyes on me.’

  Ellie stopped and looked at her teacher.

  ‘That’s better,’ said Gemma. She turned to the back table and grabbed a fresh sheet of paper. ‘I’ll put this first one to dry on the rack. You’ve got some lovely autumn colours there, but now let’s think about what you can paint to show me where you live.’

  Ellie didn’t tear her eyes away from the original piece of artwork, suspecting Gemma was going to drop it in the nearest bin, but when she saw Gemma hang it on the rack as she’d said, Ellie turned back to the plain sheet. Gemma did another scan of the class, told Jacob to stop messing about and knew she had a few minutes one-to-one with Ellie.

  ‘Right, Ellie. What comes into your head when I ask you to think about where you live?’

  Ellie bit gently on her bottom lip as she always did when she was thinking. ‘Mummy and Daddy, Cooper and Ebony.’

  ‘Ebony?’ Gemma already knew Ellie had an older brother called Cooper.

  ‘My dog. She’s a black Labrador.’

  ‘Right, that’s a great start. Now, close your eyes, and where do you see Mummy, Daddy, Coo
per and Ebony?’

  She did as she was asked. ‘In our backyard, playing.’

  ‘Now paint what you see.’ Gemma guided Ellie a little more. They talked about trees in the garden, a rusty swing, her dog running to catch a stick, and Gemma left the little girl powering ahead with the task. She was coming out of her shell more and more, and although different to the other kids with her mild autism, she was doing better in the mainstream classroom than anyone had predicted.

  As Gemma walked around the classroom, she wondered whether, if she closed her eyes, her picture of ‘Home’ would look the same as it had a few weeks ago when Andrew and Louis were as close as could be, when she and Andrew still talked about having a family – when she and Andrew talked at all for that matter – and before Molly came on the scene. She looked at Joe, a little rascal but cute to boot; she watched Katy, hair never staying in her ponytail and whose clothes got muddy the second she stepped into school; she watched Millie, the little girl who blushed whenever she was asked a question in class. She wondered then how they had come into the world. Had their parents gone through the same struggle? Or had it all been plain sailing for them?

  As the class came to an end and Gemma supervised the hanging of the artwork, the clearing up of paint pots, the washing of brushes, she realised what she needed to do if any of this mess was ever going to be sorted out. And she knew she should do it sooner rather than later.

  *

  Gemma knocked tentatively on the door to the cottage opposite the lake. No answer. She lifted her hand to knock again, but before she had the chance, Molly opened the door.

  ‘Hi.’ Molly was wrapped in a towel.

  ‘I’m sorry, you were in the shower. I can come back.’ Gemma turned and stepped off the tiny veranda.

  ‘Would you mind?’ Molly stayed tucked behind the door so nobody could see her. ‘Give me five minutes?’

  ‘Of course.’

  Gemma gave her twenty. She felt terrible putting Molly on the spot, but she couldn’t let this go on any longer. Despite her nerves at the thought of a confrontation, she had to face the girl for all their sakes.