Page 7 of Ten Kisses

She was mad, and it hit me to wonder if my sister could possibly be in love with Salem Kirkpatrick. I had never felt competitive in that way with my sisters. We steered clear of any guys the other one liked.

"Do you like Salem?" I asked her.

"No. Do you?" she said.

"No," I answered certainly. "He's helping me with my cabinet, Sara. What's your deal about it?"

"Because, Molly. If you meet someone at Camp Eden, that means I have to, too. Actually, I don't know what it means if you meet someone before me. You're younger. It has gone in order until this point, first it was John-Michael, then Jenny. You can't meet someone at Camp Eden and go before me. If those two things happen…" She paused and stuttered. "It-it m-means… it probably means that I'm not getting married at all, honestly, Molly. An actual, real-life spinster."

I stared at her from across my console.

I expected her to bust out laughing, but she didn't. I almost did. I had to hold it back.

"Are you being serious right now?" I asked after she stared seriously at me.

"Yes, Molly. You ca-can't fall in love with Salem."

"I'm not, Sara. I’m actually not. Salem sees me as too young for him, and he's in love with someone." I hated thinking of myself as too young for Salem, so I went off on the second idea. "He's, like, really in love," I added, since it was the truth.

"I thought Salem was single," she said, looking confused.

"He is, technically, but he's waiting for someone. Love. That girl… Isabel Love. You know her. The pastor's daughter. They have some kind of… understanding."

Sara knew the woman I was talking about. Isabel Love's dad was the pastor of the largest church in the Raleigh-Durham area. It was a mega church, and Isabel and her sisters were local celebrities because of it. Isabel was the oldest, and she was like Mother Theresa. She had given her life to God and had been off in Africa, working at orphanages. She had written a few books, and a time or two, she had come to speak at our church to promote her books and her charity efforts. I knew my sister had heard of her because we had talked about her family before.

"Salem has a relationship with that woman?"

"Yes. They used to be together. She was his only girlfriend and vice-versa. He's basically waiting for her while she's off doing God's work. That's why he's building this whole house. He's the settling-down kind. I'm helping him with it. He said he likes my style, and that probably means she would like it."

I spoke in a sarcastic tone like I could never in a million years wind up with Salem. I truly felt that way. He had been forthcoming with me all along about waiting for Isabel. I had been the one who talked him into the meaningless kisses. They weren't committed to each other, and I reminded him of that the first time it happened. There was no way I was going to tell my sister that, though. That would only confuse her even more. She would be devastated. I held my mouth closed, reminding myself not to ever mention the kissing part to my sister.

"I think I remember him saying something about Isabel," she said.

"Yeah, they were close."

"How are you paying for him to make you a cabinet? Aren't they expensive?"

"He's cutting me a deal because of helping him with his house. That's what I'm telling you. I'm going over there this afternoon to help him pick out floors for his bathroom."

"Why doesn't he just get that girl to pick them if he's making the house for her?"

"I don't know, I guess he wants to make it a surprise."

I took a deep breath and started my car. We had been sitting there for a few minutes because she was that affected by all of this. I was caught off guard and a little upset with her as I started backing out of my parking spot.

"You freaked me out with all that," I said. "You were so serious. I thought you were joking."

"No, it would actually give me anxiety if you ended up with Salem. That would definitely mean that I am not going to find anyone, don't you think?"

"How Sara? This isn't one of your books. Do you think if you write in your book about us marrying brothers, that's how it's going to have to happen?"

"They're twins."

"Okay. That doesn't mean we have to marry twins in real life. That probably won't happen. If you're going to need it to happen like the book, you shouldn't write it. We can't put ourselves in a box like that."

"Molly, think about it. If you started dating Salem, that means that the thing about meeting at Camp Eden is true. And if it's true, then the whole thing will have skipped me."

"You're making that up, Sara," I said, laughing as I drove and trying to make light of it. "I don't like Salem, and I'm not going to end up with him, but it wouldn't mean anything bad for you if I did. You can't be like that."

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