Page 14 of Ten Kisses

"He gives you free rent for chocolate? Is this the guy with the BMW?"

Salem had met her landlord before. He knew it was the guy with the BMW, but he wanted her to confirm.

She nodded. "Darren. He and Michelle, they're amazing. I mean, you see how nice my apartment is. I know they could get a lot more money if someone else was living in there. I can't believe they're willing to let me trade them. First, it was cleaning, now chocolate."

"You were cleaning for them?"

"Yeah, I was still trading them as my rental agreement. I've been living there for a year, and at first, the deal was that I would clean their house for them. That was their idea—sort of the deal that came with that apartment. They know our parents through the church. Michelle travels with her work, so they needed someone to do housekeeping and cooking for them in exchange for rent. In the last few months, with how my following took off, I was getting to the point where I didn't have time for the cleaning aspect of it. I was going to move out and get a normal apartment because of that, but Darren said I could do the monthly chocolate order for his firm instead. They have a cleaning service that comes to the house, now."

"Oh, well, I'm glad that worked out," Salem commented, not knowing what else to say.

"It's a bonus for his employees, and I got to stay in my apartment. It's amazing. Darren and Michelle are the best. They let me and my friends use the pool anytime. Even when I went to them about scheduling pickups… they don't mind if I run my shop out of the apartment."

Salem smiled on the outside. He listened to those good things about her landlord, and they didn't ring true to him. Salem knew almost nothing about this guy, and he was already skeptical.

Chapter 6

Molly Kennedy

~

Nearly two weeks later

It was a beautiful Saturday, and I couldn't help but feel like life was good. It was 11am, and I was situated in a gorgeous swimming pool with my friend, Kat, from school. We were both graduating college in a couple of weeks, and at that moment, it felt like life couldn't get better.

I was waiting on a call from Salem, who said he would try to be in touch before noon to deliver my new counter. I had talked to him that morning, and he said he was just putting a few finishing touches on it before coming over.

There was a shade sail above part of the pool, but Kat and I were in the sun. We floated in the shallow water, getting sun as we held onto the edge. Michelle was out of town, and Darren had been fishing with friends all morning.

"What are you wearing to graduation?" Kat asked as we floated.

"You mean to the ceremony?"

"Yeah, under your cap and gown."

"I was thinking about a skirt with Chucks."

"I knew you would do something like that," she said. "That or Docs. Weirdo."

"What are you wearing?" I asked.

"Heels. They're silver. They go with my dress. What dress are you wearing?"

"Just something I already have. I'm not buying anything."

"Did you take senior pictures?" she asked. "To send to your family?"

"No. I mean, my sister took some pictures of me in my cap and gown as a joke when they first came in. But no. I didn't."

"At least you have those."

"I won't do anything with those because the gown was all wrinkled. I'll probably take some pictures on graduation day, though. I saw yours, too. They came out amazing."

"I had Rebecca Carpenter take them."

I had no idea who she was talking about, but I knew Kat, and I knew she must've hired a good photographer.

The graduation ceremony was happening in just a couple of weeks and it had snuck up on me. I had completed my degree in four years, but I changed my major halfway through, and I had to take a ton of classes during my junior and senior years in order to catch up and graduate on time.