Page 46 of Ten Kisses

"Yeah, and I thought she was… I just never even thought of you two as… but now that you say it… I bet you're a good couple, huh?"

"So good," he said, grinning.

Sadie shrieked. "I'm so glad Ethan's riding with John-Michael so I could make this phone call."

"I would have said all of this in front of them," Salem said. "I assumed they were with you."

"I'm glad they aren't here," she said. "I want to talk to my husband about it without E there since he repeats everything he hears."

"At this point, I don't care who hears. I respect her wanting to take her time, but in my mind, it's not that big of a deal."

"In my mind, it's a pretty big deal. I thought I was gonna call you and you'd say it was an accident when you touched her back. I half-expected you to deny ever doing it."

"Oh no, I definitely did it. That was no accident."

"You are hilarious," she said laughing.

"Hey, I'm going back to this job site, and I'm pulling up right now."

"Okay, I'll let you go," Sadie said. "I love you, brother. I'm proud of you. I think Molly's such a good choice."

"Thank you. I know. Love you too."

Chapter 16

Molly

The following week

Darren and Michelle had an absolute mansion. My own family had been blessed with abundance, but no one in my family had a house that had been furnished and decorated like Darren and Michelle's. Everything was grand. The house itself was six thousand square feet of lavishness. Every fixture and detail looked like it had been specially ordered. The art was grand and everything was original. This house was millionaire minimalism at its finest. Michelle was into design, and they had no children and more money than they could shake a stick at, so the furnishings and details were simple, beautiful, and elegant.

They liked to entertain and they were always having people over. They knew a lot of people in Raleigh and they had a good reputation of being upstanding Christians. I had always been welcomed here and felt at home with them. The utter luxury didn’t hurt. It was nice having open access to such a wonderful home.

I was going over there at the moment. It was 6pm and Darren had just gotten home from work. It wasn't unusual for him or Michelle to ask for my help with some small project around the house. It only happened once every few months or so, and I didn't mind.

Darren had called yesterday saying he wanted to surprise Michelle by organizing his shirts. He said he had them mostly sorted but he could use my help finishing the job since he was slightly colorblind. He said it would be an hour's work, and I believed him because he was always good with time management and he was always honest with that kind of thing. I told him I would go over when he came home from work, and he called me when he arrived.

Music was playing on the main sound system as I walked inside. It was moody, soul music and it wasn't playing quietly. I called for Darren, and he came out of the bedroom wearing his work attire. He had unbuttoned the collar and sleeves as if he was about to take it off.

"Hey, Molly, I'll have you come back here in the closet," he said, motioning for me to follow him. "I'll grab my stuff to change and get out of your way."

I followed him down the hallway and into their master bedroom, which was perfect and pristine. It was all tans and greys with a giant rug and a bed that looked larger than a king size. Everything about their home was over the top.

Darren showed me to his closet. One side of it was packed and unorganized and the other was empty. I could see that it would take every bit of an hour to finish it.

"I'm going to change and order some dinner, and then I'll be back to help you. I was going to have sushi. I figured you'd want in on that. Should I get you a few rolls?"

"No, thank you. I was going to pick up a pizza later."

Darren cocked his head at me with a smirk. "You can still get pizza. Come on, who turns down sushi? You know I'll order from Tak. It'll be here right when we're finishing this."

Darren knew I loved sushi. Tak was a great chef. "I could probably eat one roll if you twist my arm," I said.

He smiled. He had ordered sushi for me twenty times and he knew what kinds I liked.

"Thanks, Darren. I'll just do 'roy g biv', and separate short sleeves from long if that's okay."

"That's great. You know what to do."

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