Page 57 of The Followers

@InvincibleMollySullivan

It was one of those glorious stay-in-bed mornings, the kind they had enjoyed before they were married, when Scott would visit Molly in Denver or she’d come to Durango. The kind of morning when they’d each prop themselves up with pillows in bed, Scott with a book (reading peacefully), and Molly with her phone (scrolling, liking, commenting). Since their romantic getaway to Telluride, she and Scott had both committed to spending as many mornings in bed together as possible.

Which reminded her: time to set down the phone and focus on her husband. She reached for her charging cable, which she always kept tucked under the base of her lamp. It wasn’t there. Sitting up halfway, she glanced around; the cable had fallen between the bed and the nightstand.

Goosebumps crawled up her arms; she’d had this sensation a few times since returning home from Telluride. A feeling that something was off inside her house, but she couldn’t pinpoint why.

Shaking herself, she plugged her phone in and rolled over toward Scott. “This is perfection,” she said.

“Perfection,” Scott agreed. He lifted an arm and pulled her close, so her cheek pressed against his chest. She relaxed, soaking in the moment: the rise and fall of Scott’s chest, the morning sunlight warming the room, and the dogs snoozing on the floor.

“What are you reading?” she asked, and he tilted the book in her direction. It was a travel guide. The front cover showed a gorgeous town nestled against snow-capped mountains.

“About Banff,” he said. “It’s a resort town in Alberta, Canada. I know a guy who runs a white-water rafting company there, and he’s been bugging me to come work with him. I told him I’d never leave Durango, but I thought we might take a trip there this fall with the girls. I hear it’s beautiful in the autumn.”

“Sure, that would be fun.” A family vacation sounded lovely. She ran her hand down his chest, across his stomach. “The girls aren’t awake yet. We might have a few minutes, if you don’t mind putting down the book. I mean, I hear Banff is beautiful in the autumn and all, but...”

His quiet laugh rumbled through her. “I don’t mind one bit.”

He reached over to the nightstand for a folded piece of paper he’d been using as a bookmark, but it fluttered down onto Molly’s face.

She grabbed it and sat up. “I don’t know why you can’t just dog-ear a page to mark your spot.”

“That’s sociopathic,” Scott said, one corner of his mouth quirking up.

“It’s better than using trash as bookmarks! Let’s see... this time it’s a bill.” She glanced at him, trying to look severe. “Scott! You’ve got to keep the bills where I can see them and make sure they get paid.”

“It’s not a bill, it’s a receipt from a donation.”

Thank you for your donation to Kendra’s Hope, it said in dark letters at the top, followed by a tax-deductible form for a shockingly large amount of money donated over the prior year. “I didn’t know you were such a philanthropist,” she said.

He smiled and took the paper from her. “It’s a nonprofit raising money for childhood leukemia. The couple who runs it are family friends and I worked for them for a little while after college. They lost their daughter to leukemia—she was my year in school. It’s something I’ve been doing for a few years.”

“You donate this much money every year?”

“I try to.”

Molly knew Scott’s business was doing well, and she donated to causes she believed in, too, but the amount surprised her. “Well, I’m impressed.”

He rolled her onto her back, pinning her under him, and grinned down at her. “How impressed?”

Unfortunately, Chloe chose that exact moment to burst through the door and launch herself onto the bed, landing between Molly and Scott in a heap of purple nightgown.

“Good morning, awesome family!” she yelled, wrapping an arm around each of them.

“Good morning, lucky Clover,” Scott said, catching Molly’s eye and mouthing, sorry.

She couldn’t possibly be upset, though, because there was nothing better in the entire universe than watching the man she loved being sweet to her daughter. Within a few minutes, Ella joined them, sitting cross-legged on the edge of the bed as they discussed their plans for the day. It was the kind of moment she’d dreamed about since first discussing blending their families together—casual, comfortable, and full of love. Even Ella was smiling and joining in the conversation.

Molly’s heart warmed with satisfaction. And for the first time in a while, she didn’t have the itch to pick up her phone, snap a picture and post it to Instagram (#familytime #sundaymorning #invinciblefamily). She just smiled and soaked in the moment.

That afternoon, Scott took the girls to the park so Molly could talk with Brookelle, who had been sending her panicky messages for the past few days. She was out in the backyard chatting via actual telephone, Molly using her earbuds while weeding the flower beds.

They’d lost out on two sponsorship opportunities, Brookelle reported—a meal delivery service and a makeup subscription box—and a third was trying to negotiate a post for only half of Molly’s standard fee. Their social media manager told Brookelle a rumor was going around that Molly was going to quit.

“You have to do something soon,” Brookelle was saying, her voice urgent. “Something big. You’re losing touch with people, Molly.”

Molly bit her tongue to keep from pointing out this was not a life-or-death situation. There was no emergency here. Yes, a year ago she had been obsessed with all of this too, but things had changed. She had a different focus now. Currently, removing a weed that was trying to choke her snapdragons.

---