by P. J. Fiala
Jepson patted his jacket pocket and quickly stood. “I have to apologize, I thought I had the Offer to Purchase with me, but I seem to have forgotten it. I’ll bring it by a little later.”
“Actually, Molly and I are meeting with our banker in a few hours to write up an Offer. Our banker will get it to you for signature and I believe you’ll need to sign it and return it to her.” Ryder’s voice was firm and he never moved his eyes from Jepson’s. He wanted Jepson intimidated enough to know that Ryder was not someone to mess with.
“Oh, right…right. I was wondering what was going on with it all. It’s been a couple of weeks and I hadn’t heard anything from you. I’ll be going then. Sorry to have bothered you, it seems you have quite a lot going on.”
“There is usually someone here working with Molly or me. I have a very large family, so someone is usually hanging around. It was nice seeing you.”
Jepson walked quickly to the door with Ryder on his heels. Frank and Molly both stood, but stayed where they were. Ryder opened the door and Jepson left without turning or saying goodbye to anyone. Ryder watched him get into his car and drive away. Once he was out of the driveway, Ryder locked the storm door and the main door. He turned to look at Molly and she ran into his arms. She was shaking and wrapped her arms tightly around him. Ryder cupped her head and pressed her against his chest. He looked over at Frank.
“Thanks so much for running over here so fast. I can’t tell you how grateful we are.”
Frank nodded. “To be honest with you, I thought it was just Molly being a little paranoid, but as soon as I saw the look on his face, I knew that wasn’t the case. That one isn’t right.”
Molly turned and smiled at Frank. “I’m never paranoid!”
Frank chuckled. Ryder cupped Molly’s face in his hands. “Are you ok, babe?”
“Geez. I was scared shitless. He kept knocking and knocking and then when he yelled, ‘I want to talk to you,’ it really scared me. I was so happy to see Frank walk over. Thank you so much, Frank.”
“May I ask what the deal is with him?”
Molly took a deep breath. “Mr. Jepson, Ellison Jepson, my landlord, passed away a couple of weeks ago. Jeffrey is his son and found a sheet of paper in Mr. Jepson’s safe to sell me the house. The first time he came here to speak with me about it, he cornered me in the kitchen. I was scared but luckily, Ryder came in before anything happened. We’ll ask Pattie, our banker, to put her contact information on the contract for Jeffrey to respond to her directly. I don’t want to deal with him anymore.”
Frank nodded. “I’ll keep my eyes open from now on. I had no idea Ellison passed away. We haven’t been in contact since he moved out and you moved in.”
***
The next evening, Ryder and Molly joined Tammy and Danny for wings at The Stadium View and then went to The Barn for drinks and dancing.
They found a table not far from the dance floor and Molly and Tammy headed out to dance while Ryder and Danny sat at the table drinking their beers. Ryder loved watching Molly dance. Her beautiful body was so graceful when she moved. Her full breasts, one of his favorite things about her body, moved when she moved. Tonight, she was wearing turquoise jeans with a soft gray sweater and tall gray heels that allowed her cute little toes to peek out. She had turquoise dangly earrings that wiggled and sparkled while she moved around.
As Ryder watched her and Tammy move around the dance floor, he couldn’t help but smile as he watched.
“What are you up to?”
Ryder swung his head around at the woman’s voice only to see Rachel standing at his table looking at him. He turned his gaze to Danny and then back to Rachel.
“What do you want, now, Rachel?”
Rachel laughed at his tone. She wanted him back in her bed. Sure they’d only had sex, maybe three times, but dammit, she wanted more.
“Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friend?” She slid her gaze to Danny and smiled at him.
“Danny, this is Rachel. Rachel, this is Danny.”
Danny nodded at Rachel and looked back at Ryder, understanding this was the woman that Molly had complained to Tammy about.
“Do you want to dance with me, Ryder?”
“No, Rachel, I don’t want to dance with you. If I wanted to dance, I would dance with Molly, not you. You know I’m with her, why do you insist on constantly trying to start shit every time you see us here?”
“Come on, Ryder,” she whined. “We had fun together. I just want to have more fun that’s all.”
“We had sex a couple of times, that’s all. It was never anything more, and it never will be. Try and get that through your head.”
“Well, you keep coming back here, knowing I’ll be here, so I think you still want me.”
Ryder shook his head and looked at Danny again. He chanced a look at the dance floor to see Molly watching, her eyebrows raised in question. Shit!
“We come here because Kevin, the owner, is a very good friend of my dad. It’s a bar my whole family comes to and I’m not going to avoid going to a place my family frequents because of you. There’s no reason we can’t both be here without this constant bullshit. I’m with Molly. I love Molly. End of story.”
“But…”
“What’s going on here?” Ryder looked up to see JT standing at the table and Gunnar on his way over.
“Same old shit man,” Ryder said as JT and Danny shook hands.
Gunnar arrived at the table and shoved himself between Ryder and Rachel, then waved at Molly and Tammy on the dance floor. Molly waved back and smirked as Rachel scowled, first at Gunnar, then Molly. Tammy started laughing, returned Gunnar’s wave, then turned back to Molly to finish dancing out the remainder of the song. Rachel stalked back to her table as Molly and Tammy came back to join the men.
“Hey there, how are you?” Molly greeted Gunnar with a hug and whispered in his ear, “Thanks for helping with Rachel.”
Gunnar smiled at her and whispered back, “I hate that bitch and I’m sick of her bullshit.”
When he pulled away, he winked at her. Molly said hello to JT and Tammy said hi to everyone. Ryder and Molly danced a few slow dances, which really got Rachel snarling. Danny and Tammy danced a couple of slow dances as well.
“You know, it’s so weird looking at the two of you standing next to each other. Who would have thought something this strange would happen to people I know,” Tammy said, between sips of her drink.
Gunnar laughed and looked at Molly. “Yeah. All my life I wanted a sibling. I’m glad I have her now, but wish she would have been around a long time ago.” He nudged Molly with his shoulder, and she nodded in agreement.
“There were so many times in my life, I could have used having an older brother. You have no idea some of the things I had to endure!” Molly said.
Tammy gasped then froze; she didn’t think Molly had told anyone about her stepfather. The drinks must be making her tongue loose. Ryder, Gunnar, JT, and Danny all noticed the look on Tammy’s face. Tammy stared at Molly, and Molly realized she must have said more than she intended to say.
Gunnar cocked his head to the side as he turned to look at Molly. “Like when?”
It was Molly’s turn to freeze up. Shit! She shouldn’t have had that fourth drink; she knows better than that. Trying to gather her thoughts as quickly as she could, she looked at Tammy with a horrified look on her face.
“You know high school boys can be evil,” Tammy offered.
Molly looked relieved as she slid her gaze to Tammy and then back to the table.
“Hey. Something happen to you as a kid Molly? You can tell me you know.”
Molly looked up at Gunnar and shook her head. Gunnar leaned down and kissed the top of Molly’s head and looked at Ryder. Ryder’s brows drew together as he was processing these facts.
Some days were just made for puttering around the house. That was today. Ryder was working out with his brothers at their house and Molly was organizing her office space. She
had neglected it a little over the past few days.
On her knees in front of her desk, Molly pulled open the bottom drawer and began filing invoices from this month. Hearing a thump at the back of the house she froze. Nothing. Her imagination was getting the best of her lately. She continued filing as her phone rang.
Reaching forward to grab it off the desk she quickly swiped the answer icon, “Memories by Molly.”
“You’ll be happy to know I’m out. I’ll be around to collect what’s mine.”
“How…when did you get out?”
All Molly heard was laughing on the other end of the phone and then the line went dead.
Molly sat back on her heels as her heart thumped so loudly she couldn’t hear the music coming from the stereo. The trembling in her hands and tightness in her neck threatened to reduce her to tears. She would not let this bastard ever touch her again. In spite of the fact Molly thought she was damaged, she’d found happiness with Ryder.
Taking deep, calming breaths, Molly pulled her phone up and swiped her finger along her contacts until she came to the one person with whom she could freely talk to. Tapping the smiling picture staring at her, Molly lifted the phone to her ear.
“Hey, there girl, what’s happening?”
At the sound of Tammy’s voice, Molly’s composure crumbled.
“Tammy,” she sobbed into the phone and, trying to form words, Molly spoke again. “He’s out.”
“What…who’s… Fuck! When?”
Swallowing the thick knot in her throat, Molly whispered, “He just called me.”
“No. How did he get your number?”
“He called a few weeks ago. Told me he got my number from the Rolling Thunder video.” Molly’s voice cracked.
“Tammy. He said he’s coming to collect what’s his.” Molly swiped at the tears rolling down her cheeks.
“What did Ryder say?”
“I haven’t told him yet. Things are so good, how could I tell him? He’ll think I’m dirty.”
Tammy took a deep breath. Softening her voice, she said, “No he won’t, Molly. Just like I don’t, he won’t either. You have to tell him.”
“Tammy just called and she and Danny are going to get a Christmas tree at the tree farm by Danny’s house. They wanted to know if we wanted to pick our tree up at the same time. Are you interested?”
“That sounds like fun. We haven’t even talked about that. What kind of a tree do you like to get, Molly?”
Molly wrinkled her face a bit. She took a deep breath and looked at Ryder. “I usually don’t get a tree. This will be the first year since…I guess since I was eleven.”
“Why didn’t you get a tree?”
Molly looked past Ryder at the kitchen light. Then she looked out the window for a little while.
“Hey. You with me here?”
“Yeah. Um, well, since my parents divorced, we just didn’t get a tree.” Molly’s eyes were watery with unshed tears. Ryder stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her.
“Oh, babe. I’m sorry. Do you want to talk about it?”
Molly shook her head vigorously. “No. Not really.”
“Okay, well I say two things. First, let’s go get us a Christmas tree to celebrate our first Christmas together. And second, there’s something going on and I want to know. For the past week, you’ve been edgy and withdrawn. Have I done something?”
“No, of course not. I know I owe you an explanation, Ryder, I just can’t yet.”
Ryder wrapped his arms around Molly. “I won’t lie to you, it’s been killing me watching you. Mom says it will help you to talk about it and get it off your chest.”
Molly nodded. “It might.” Taking a deep breath, she continued. “Maybe we can just come back here for pizza after we play lumberjacks.”
“Sounds good, baby.”
Ryder watched Molly call Tammy. Each day he grew more in love with her. This past week she had changed. She was nervous at little sounds and she was constantly looking out the window. It just broke his heart to find out she didn’t have Christmas trees growing up. He couldn’t imagine not having a tree and presents and a big, loud family around. Of course, their Christmases were about to get bigger. This year, Joci, Gunnar, and Molly are added to their family, and next year he would have another little sister or brother to play with.
What on earth happened when her parents divorced? She was pretty tight-lipped about it all. He could ask Tammy what was going on, but he really wanted Molly to tell him herself.
“Okay. We should meet them at Danny’s house in about an hour and then we’ll all come back here. Should we stop at Papa Murphy’s and pick up a fresh pizza?”
“Sounds fantastic.”
***
“This is going to be so much fun. We’re putting our tree in the living room, in the front window. Where are you guys putting your tree?”
Molly looked at Tammy and smiled. “Our tree?”
Tammy squealed. “I’m moving in with Danny this week! Isn’t that exciting?”
Molly hugged Tammy and Danny. “Very exciting. Things seem to be going great for you guys.”
“They are.” Tammy looked at Danny and smiled brightly as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “Things are changing so fast in our lives. Even Cara has a boyfriend now. We should get together soon and go out for a girl’s night.”
Molly’s smile didn’t reach her eyes. “Sure. Sounds fun.”
They got in their vehicles and drove the couple of miles to the tree farm. Once there, they began their trek through the woods in search of the perfect trees. Ryder found one that he liked, but Molly didn’t think it was full enough. Tammy found one she kind of liked, but it was about nine feet tall. Danny told her it wouldn’t fit. They began to argue about it, so Ryder and Molly headed in a different direction to give them privacy to work it out. After wandering around the trees for a while, Molly spotted a tree she thought looked perfect. It still had pine cones in it and she was hoping for the rustic look. She clapped her hands as she hopped up and down with glee. It was the first time in a week he saw that spark again; there was no way Ryder was taking this joy from her. He watched her eyes light up and her smile spread across her whole face, and he couldn’t help but pull her in his arms and kiss her.
“Jesus, you’re a beautiful woman. You take my breath away, Molly.”
Molly wrapped her arms around Ryder’s neck and kissed him back. “I feel the same way about you, Ryder. You are a beautiful man. Inside and outside.”
They kissed until they were breathless. “I guess I better cut this tree down before we get so hot we melt the snow.”
Molly burst out laughing. “Good idea.”
Ryder worked at cutting down the tree. It wasn’t a huge tree, so it didn’t take very long, and with his muscles, it really wasn’t that hard to do. They started dragging their tree toward the spot where they left Danny and Tammy and found them lying in the snow making out next to a tree they had just cut down.
“I guess we weren’t the only ones melting snow.”
Tammy started laughing and so did Danny. They stood up and started pulling their tree towards their truck. Ryder had learned a while back not to ask Danny if he needed help. He hated that. He would try and do everything himself first, and if he struggled too much, then he would ask for help. But Ryder started ahead of Danny and Tammy, dragging their tree to knock the snow down a little. They chatted and talked the whole way back.
***
“This pizza is good. I’ve never had this kind before. What did you call it?”
“It’s Ryder’s favorite. It’s called Mama’s Special.”
They were sitting in the living room of Ryder and Molly’s place, eating pizza, drinking beer, and watching television.
“So, did your landlord sign the Offer to Purchase yet?”
“Ugh, wait till I tell you what happened.”
Molly proceeded to tell Danny and Tammy about the episode with Jepson. Tammy was horrified at it
all. Danny looked pissed. He looked at Ryder. “What happens next?”
“I called my uncle Tommy, he’s a cop. Not a lot we can do, but I gave him a description of his vehicle and they will have officers drive by a couple times each shift to make sure his car isn’t in the area. He didn’t sign the Offer to Purchase yet, but he has another day before the Offer expires.”
“Gawd, that’s frustrating. Sorry, Moll.”
Molly shrugged. “Nothing we can do but wait.”
They continued eating their pizza as Danny and Tammy talked about moving in together and the Christmas decorations they had purchased for the house. Danny loved the addition added to his home and told everyone how much easier it had made his life already.
Danny and Tammy left around eight-thirty to decorate their tree.
Molly was excited to decorate her tree. “I have some older decorations in the basement from my mom’s house. I haven’t looked at them in years, but maybe some of them are still usable.”
“I can go down and pull the boxes out for you. Where are they?”
“I need to go down and look. It’s been years, and I’m not sure how much stuff I’m going to need to move to get to them. Can we do it tomorrow?”
“Well, tomorrow we can go and buy new ornaments for our tree. If you find some in the basement you’d like to keep, you can just add them to the tree. But, for right now, Molly, I want you to stand in front of that tree and strip for me. You will be the only ornament in front of the tree, and I can’t think of anything more beautiful than that.”
Molly loved the way Ryder made her feel. She felt beautiful, alive, loved, and happy. He made her feel like the past was just that—the past—and the future was bright. She smiled at Ryder and stood up. She slowly walked to the tree and stood between it and Ryder and button by button, started undressing.
Once she had her jeans and blouse laying on the floor, Ryder started rubbing his cock through his jeans. It was swollen and hard and needed to be inside of Molly, soon. She was beautiful—this woman of his. He couldn’t imagine life without her in it. He was going to marry this girl. They were going to have beautiful babies, one day. But, he wanted her to himself for a few years first.