Molly finished powdering her face before taking one last look in the mirror. She inspected the black, knee-length dress for any wrinkles or layers out of place. Next, she moved on to her black heels, and finally, her necklace and earrings.

Once she was satisfied everything was in order, she headed to the living room to wait for Spencer. Her stomach did a somersault in anticipation of seeing him, and she had to remind herself not to get too attached. Her real purpose in being in Bayfield was not to reconnect with Spencer, or catch up with old friends. Instead, she was really investigating to determine if he was a corrupt public defender. She needed to spend the night talking to people about Spencer to get to the bottom of the truth. Developing romantic feelings for Spencer again would complicate everything. She didn’t want to jeopardize her future for a man who had already hurt her and ruined her life once before.

She heard a knock at the door, but before she could get to it, her father made it there first. He opened the door, and she heard Spencer say from the other side, “Good evening, Mr. Price. I’m here to pick up Molly for our class reunion.”

Her father didn’t budge, his bulking frame taking up the doorframe. “Spencer, I want you to know, I’ve watched you over the years. I know you’ve changed; however, that doesn’t change what you did to Molly ten years ago. I’m warning you; there won’t be a repeat. If you do anything to hurt my daughter again, I’ll make sure you regret it.” He stepped back and let Spencer enter the hallway leading to the living room.

As her eyes finally settled on Spencer, she realized she was in trouble. It was going to take all her efforts to keep from falling for him. He looked so handsome in his black suit with a white shirt and navy tie. His dark hair was styled to one side, and his eyes appeared to be a deep, ocean blue because of the shirt color he’d picked.

“You ready?” Spencer asked with a grin.

She nodded as she grabbed her jacket and purse. He helped her into the former, before they headed out the door.

A few minutes later, they arrived at the Red Lion Inn. They parked the car and headed into the ballroom where the reunion was being held.

The room was decorated with tables with white linens, accented with blue napkins and gold center pieces. The lights were dimmed. Popular songs from their youth softly hummed in the background. There was a wall of pictures from their high school days, along with another wall of memorial pictures of the three classmates who had passed away.

There was a table where everyone checked-in. Though they both had tags on with their names and senior photos in the corner, Molly recognized the two women behind the table. They were Regina Burke and Theresa Vasquez. Both had been on the student council as well as on the cheerleading squad.

When they saw Spencer, they gave him a warm smile and greeting, but as they turned their attention to Molly, their smiles vanished. It was replaced with a look of disdain.

“My, isn’t this surprising, seeing the two of you coming here together,” Regina stated with a disapproving tone.

“Will wonders never cease,” Theresa added, handing them both their name tags as well as their meal preference card. “And here I thought tonight was going to be boring.”

Molly didn’t like the sound of that. She had nothing but problems with those girls after Tiffany made it her job to ruin Molly’s life. The bullying had gotten so bad, she had to leave town permanently.

It had started out with small occurrences—dirty looks, snickering, and notes being passed around about her. Then it progressed to name calling in the halls and nasty emails. The final incident was the worst, which drove Molly away.

Molly was at her locker switching out her books, when she heard from behind, “Look who we have here. If it isn’t Spencer Conrad’s little side-piece,” Tiffany shouted loud enough for the dozens of students in the school hallway to hear.

Shocked and afraid, Molly spun around to find Tiffany glaring at her. She was wearing her cheerleading outfit with her red hair pulled back into a high ponytail. As she placed her hands on her hips, it was obvious Tiffany liked flaunting her status to everyone.

“We have a poll going,” Tiffany said as she handed Molly a flyer. “Everyone is voting on whether Spencer hooked up with you because you’re a sure thing—you know, since you’re easy and all—or because he felt bad for you since you’re a loser.”

Molly looked down at the flyer in her hand, and saw a horrible picture of her face added to a fake body dressed in a short skirt and tube top. Below it, there were big bold letters that read, ‘Molly Price—decide why Spencer went for the school’s biggest tramp.’ Sure enough, the two options were as Tiffany described.

Tears filled the corners of her eyes, but Molly forced herself not to let them fall. There was no way she would give Tiffany the satisfaction of reacting to her bullying.

She pushed the paper back towards the cheerleader, not wanting to look at it one more second. “Take it back. I don’t want it.”

Tiffany shook her head and moved closer, forcing Molly’s hand to drop to her side. “No, you need a reminder of what really happened. You threw yourself at Spencer because you’re desperate. You thought you found a way to become popular, but it doesn’t work that way. Once a tramp, always a tramp,” Tiffany teased.

A crowd had gathered around them. Everyone was pointing and jeering. Molly wanted to defend herself, but the chaos of the situation made her shrink back in embarrassment.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Spencer join the back of the group. She hoped he would come to her aid, but after several more seconds of ridicule, she realized he had no intention of rescuing her.

Unable to take the abuse anymore, Molly pushed through the crowd. The tears she tried to keep from falling fell fast and furious, stinging her eyes and blinding her path of escape. She rushed from the school, not caring where she went, except as far as way as possible.

“Hello, I asked you a question. It’s impolite not to answer someone,” Theresa whined, bringing Molly’s attention back to the present. “Geez, you’re just as weird as ever.”

“I’m sorry. What did you ask me?” Molly inquired with confusion.

“I asked, why did you decide to come to the reunion? Considering why you left and all, I wondered what would make you think you’re welcome.”

“Despite what you and your friends think, I did have some friends at school,” Molly defended. “You weren’t the only ones who went there.”

Theresa rolled her eyes. “I highly doubt someone like you ever had friends.”

“Stop it, Theresa,” Spencer said with a protective tone. “Molly didn’t deserve you’re bullying back in high school, and she doesn’t deserve it now.”

Theresa’s eyes grew round with shock as she flipped her curly brown hair over her shoulder. “Whatever you say, Spencer.” She glanced past him and said dismissively, “There’s a line growing and I need to help people that actually count.”

As Molly and Spencer made their way further into the ballroom, he asked beside her, “Are you all right? You seemed to be somewhere else back there.”

She glanced up at him and forced a smile. “I’m fine. This is all just so overwhelming. It’s more than I anticipated.”

“Just relax. It’s going to be a nice night,” Spencer coaxed.

“Easy for you to say; you were popular in high school. The golden boy coming home to rule over his graduating class. I didn’t have that experience, as you well know.”

“Yes, but people change. Plus, you must have had some friends on the debate team, right?”

Molly was shocked. “You remember what I did in high school?”

“I know I messed up at the end of our relationship, but it doesn’t mean I didn’t care. I remember everything we talked about.”

Against her will, she felt her heart warm a tiny bit more towards Spencer. It felt good to know that not everything between them had been a lie.

“Why don’t we grab a set of seats for the dinner portion of the night?” Spencer suggested.

Molly nodded as Spencer guided her over to one of the center tables. If it had been up to her, she would have picked one more towards the back, but she decided not to fight it.

They sat down at the table, and one of the catering waiters brought them each a glass of iced tea. Several of Spencer’s football buddies came over and said ‘hello’ to him. They glanced skeptically at Molly and gave her a cold greeting before leaving the table. The other six seats remained empty and Molly wondered if they were going to be the social pariahs of the evening. If that was the case, she was going to have a much more difficult time than she had anticipated, getting people to talk about Spencer and his job.

Tired of being at an empty table, and deciding to focus on her work, Molly excused herself from the table. “I’m going to head to the restroom. I’ll be back in a bit.”

After she collected her thoughts, she could circulate in the room to talk with people and see who had useful information. Someone had to know something which could point her in the right direction.

As Molly turned down the hall to go to the restrooms outside the ballroom, she heard the familiar voices of Theresa and Regina talking. She stopped in her tracks, evaluating whether she should try to get past them, or turn back around to leave.

“I can’t believe she had the nerve to show up here,” Theresa said with indignation. “Why would Molly Price think anyone would want her here?”

“It sure looked like Spencer wanted her here,” Regina stated with disgust. “It makes me wonder if the rumor about her having his baby is true. It sure would explain why he was so protective over her, not to mention why her parents sent her away so quickly.”

Molly had to put her hand over her mouth to keep from making an audible gasp. She had no idea such a rumor had circulated about her when she left. She knew people would speculate why, but she had no idea they would think something so outrageous as that would be why.

Nausea formed in the pit of her stomach, causing Molly to want to throw up. She chocked back the bile, and tried to remain calm as she continued to listen.

“Really? You believe that? I don’t,” Theresa countered. “I think it was because her stalking of Spencer got so bad, her parents had to hospitalize her in a psych ward. Tiffany told me that Molly was relentless going after Spencer. I mean, look at her now. She’s already back at it, showing up with him here.”

“He doesn’t seem to mind it though,” Regina pointed out, “which makes the secret baby more plausible. Her parents are probably watching the kid right now.”

Not wanting to deal with them or their lies, Molly turned around and headed back the way she came. As she weaved back through the small groups of people talking, several heads turned to look at her, and then turned back to whisper to one another, making it clear they were talking about her.

Though Molly knew she needed to talk to people about Spencer and his job, she couldn’t muster the energy with what was going on around her. Instead, she plopped down in the seat next to Spencer and leaned back in it.

“You look upset,” Spencer noted as he narrowed his eyes. “What happened while you were away?”

“It doesn’t matter,” she said, shaking her head. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Tell me so I can go deal with it. Whoever upset you should—“

“There you two are,” Sarah said, interrupting them without realizing it. Next to her was a blond man who looked vaguely familiar. “I was hoping there would be empty seats at your table.”

Molly gestured to the unoccupied chairs around them. “Take your pick. I don’t think you’ll be fighting anyone to sit next to us tonight.”

“This is my brother, Greg. He was two grades lower than us, but knew a lot of our classmates, so I invited him to come with me.”

“Oh, I think I remember you, Greg,” Spencer said with recognition. “You played on the JV football team, right?”

“I did. I’m surprised you remember me though, considering how busy you were with the varsity team.”

“Hi, Greg. It’s nice to meet you. I’m Molly.”

His face changed from light and easy to rigid and somber. “I know who you are, Molly. I remember what happened to you in high school. I’m really sorry you had to go through all that. It wasn’t right.”

“Thank you. Besides my few friends, I didn’t think there was anyone who even cared what happened to me.”

“There was more of us than you know.” He glanced over at Spencer with a frown. “And we would have tried to stand up for you if we weren’t so afraid of what might happen to us.”

Spencer shifted in his seat as he averted his eyes. Molly could tell he was uncomfortable with what Greg was saying. A few days ago, she would have reveled in it, but getting to know the man he was now, she didn’t wish ill for Spencer anymore.

Over the next ten minutes, two members from the debate team and their spouses joined them, filling the table. The server brought their plates of food. Everyone ate and talked about their lives. By the end of the meal, Molly was enjoying herself, and able to mostly forget about the first part of the evening.

After dinner, Spencer and Molly took a look at the memory wall and also went over and took some photos in a picture area.

“I have to go to the restroom,” Spencer said, letting go of Molly’s arm. “I’ll be right back.”

Spencer headed out of the ballroom and made his way down the hall to the bathrooms. He thought about the night so far, and was grateful for Sarah and her brother, Greg, sitting with them. It had made it easier once some people she knew joined them.

He had expected his school friends to treat Molly coldly. Considering how much time had passed, he had hoped people had let it go. Instead, it seemed from all the gossiping and mean-treatment, people were still rehashing what happened between Molly, Spencer, and Tiffany.

After finishing up in the bathroom, he exited and started to make his way back to the reunion. From a distance, Spencer stiffened, recognizing Tiffany.

The years hadn’t been kind to Tiffany. Her hair was still dyed red, most likely in an effort to hide her aging—but it only made it obvious she wasn’t the knockout she’d been in high school. As she got closer, her wrinkles and extra weight added to her poor image. Part of him felt bad for her. She had been forced to move back to Bayfield to live with her parents several months ago after her Hollywood husband cheated on her, then dumped her. A solid prenuptial agreement left her with nothing to show for the last ten years.

“Hey there, Spencer. I’ve been looking for you ever since I got here a little bit ago,” she slurred out as she placed her hand on his arm.

The smell of alcohol wafted off her, making it clear she was intoxicated. Her eyes were unfocused, and she stumbled a bit as she leaned against him.

“You’re not looking too good, Tiffany. Maybe you should have some coffee to help sober you up.”

She pulled back, giving him an angry look. “I don’t need you telling me what to do.” Then trying to give him a seductive smile, which ended up being a lopsided grin, she added, “Unless it’s in the bedroom. You can do that any time.”

Spencer had to force down the bile rising in his throat. The last thing he wanted was to do anything with Tiffany, let alone that.

“You’re drunk, and I’m not interested in…” he gestured towards her, “whatever this is. You need to sober up, and I need to get back to my date.”

Not waiting for a response, Spencer disentangled himself from Tiffany and headed back to the ballroom. He made a straight path to Molly, who was talking with Sarah at the table.

“Would you care to dance?” Spencer asked, reaching out his hand to her.

“I’d like that,” Molly said with a smile, putting her hand in his.

He led Molly to the dance floor, where he gathered her into arms. It felt great to have her body snuggly tucked against his own. He grinned down at her and said, “You’re a great dancer, Molly.”

“Thanks. I didn’t get much practice while in school, missing prom and all, but I took dance classes for one of my stories when I worked for Elite Magazine.”

The pang of regret hit Spencer hard. He should have been the one to take Molly to the prom, but it never happened, because he was too stupid to fight for their relationship. He pushed the painful thoughts away, and focused on the last part of what she said. “That’s right. You worked for a fashion magazine for a couple of years.”

“It was a great learning experience, but I’m much happier writing for a news outlet.” Then her brows came together in a questioning look as she asked, “Wait, how did you know I worked for a fashion magazine?”

“I have a confession to make. I’ve been following your career for years. I’ve read all your articles. You’re really talented, Molly.”

Her face flushed pink as her eyes turned up to meet his. “Really? I can’t believe you did that.”

“I told you, I still care about you. That never changed. I just always thought the damage I did was too bad for me to be able to overcome. I was too scared to contact you, but when I saw you at the library the other day, I couldn’t help myself. I wanted to see if we could have a second chance, even if it was just as friends.”

Molly’s eyes grew wide with surprise. “I wasn’t sure I believed in second chances, but ever since I came home and saw you, I keep thinking maybe it’s possible.”

The song ended and Spencer asked, “Are you thirsty? I am thinking a glass of iced tea sounds great.”

Molly nodded as he led her from the dance floor. He guided her back over to the table where the glasses were sitting, refilled.

“I was wondering, how are your parents? I know your dad wanted you to play professional football. What happened when that didn’t pan out due to your injury during your first year of college?” Molly inquired.

“I didn’t know you were aware of that,” he said, his brows coming together in furrow.

“Oh, I heard it somewhere on social media,” Molly stated with a shrug.

“My dad was less than pleased when I couldn’t play anymore. Then when my brother died, he just stopped caring. With them living on the East Coast now, we don’t really talk much anymore.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Molly said sympathetically. “It’s hard not being close to your parents. I know how that is. After mine sent me away, I barely saw them, and we grew apart.”

“But you’re back now, and they really seem to care about you. Maybe you can change that.”

“I’d like to,” Molly agreed. “My mom—”

Before Molly could finish her sentence, Tiffany appeared beside them. She looked exceptionally perturbed as she glared at them with her hands on her hips. “I can’t believe you’re still slinking around with that tramp.”

“Don’t call her that,” Spencer warned. “I made the mistake of letting you get away with it once. It won’t happen a second time.”

“I don’t care what you say, Spencer. You don’t belong with her. She’s damaged goods. I mean, she can’t even keep a boyfriend. The one she brought with her from Seattle didn’t even stick around.” She turned her attention to Molly, and added, “Sounds like the same old Molly—running off any guy who is stupid enough to get involved with you. I mean, I would think after all these years, you would have figured desperation looks horrible on you.”

“Tiffany, you should really shut up and get out of here. You’re making a fool of yourself,” Molly stated with irritation.

“You’re the one who’s a fool, still throwing yourself at Spencer. You should know—”

“Stop it right now,” Spencer demanded. “If anyone is desperate, it’s you, Tiffany. Stop trying so hard to destroy everyone else’s happiness because you’re so miserable.”

“Look at you, Spencer. Still chasing after a nerdy girl who clearly is beneath you.” Then letting out a cackling laugh, she slurred out, “Guess you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.”

Tiffany marched to the front of the ballroom, climbed the stairs of the stage, and grabbed the microphone from the podium. “I think everyone has a right to know why Molly Price left Bayfield ten years ago,” Tiffany slurred out. “She wants you to think it was all a misunderstanding, but it wasn’t. The truth is, she was a crazy stalker, throwing herself at Spencer while he was committed to me. She was a liar and a manipulator who didn’t stop until her parents had to intervene for her own good by sending her to a mental hospital.”

Several people gasped around the room, and Molly’s few friends came up and put their arms around her.

Greg marched up the stairs and said with aversion, “That’s about enough out of you.” He took the microphone from her hands and placed it back on the podium. “I’ll take you outside and get you an Uber ride. You’re in no condition to drive home.”

As they left the stage, Spencer turned to Molly and said, “I’m so sorry. You shouldn’t have to be subjected to all of this again, but I’m going to fix this right now, once-and-for-all.”

Spencer took Tiffany’s place at the center of the stage, then picked up the microphone. “None of what Tiffany said was true. Molly Price didn’t do anything wrong back when all of us where in high school. I was too scared to stand up for her back then, but I’m not weak like I once was. Molly was, and is, the most kind, generous, and thoughtful person I have ever known. I didn’t deserve for her to care about me, but she did, and I turned my back on her to save my own reputation. We never did anything more than kiss, so all those rumors you’ve been spreading for the past decade, they’re false. Those of you who participated in making the situation worse, you should be ashamed of yourselves. I know I am. She left because she was bullied so bad, she couldn’t stay here anymore. Molly is a good person, and didn’t deserve what we did to her. I, for one, will be forever sorry for my part in what happened, and anyone who was involved should be too.”

There were a few random claps around the room, which made the rest of the silence even more awkward. Spencer put the microphone down, and made his way back to Molly’s side. He leaned towards her and whispered, “I should have done that a long time ago.”

“Thank you,” she whispered back, “for coming to my defense and telling everyone the truth.”

Spencer reached out and took her hand. “I can’t fix what I did in the past, but I can promise you, going forward, I will always have your back.”

Over the next half hour, several of their classmates came over and apologized to Molly for believing the rumors. Two even apologized for not standing up to the mean girls who had bullied her.

With each one, Spencer watched as Molly relaxed more and her smile became more prominent on her face. The urge to kiss her surfaced, but before he could act on it, Molly blurted out, “Oh my goodness. This is my favorite song. We have to go dance.”

Molly pulled him to his feet and then onto the dance floor. They spent the rest of the night dancing, laughing, and having fun with old friends.