Chapter1
Beyond the city limits was a small town, a town that you would miss if you weren’t looking for it. There wasn’t even an exit for it along the freeway. It was tucked away like a box of girl scout cookies, hidden from prying eyes. Some even called it the best kept secret in the Pacific Northwest: Pine Falls.
Molly certainly knew of it. Her small family grew up in a town not too far from that little hole in the wall. When she was young, she would often ride her bike to the small town so that she could shop in the small shops down in the town square with her friends. Even when she moved into the big city, she would sneak away once a month so that she could thumb through her favorite books at the used bookstore, and take her favorites to the small café on the corner.
Molly’s favorite pastime was shopping. She didn’t have expensive taste – like her mother. Instead, she took after her father. When Molly spent money, it was either a book, something he needed, or something that needed a home. Her mother had hoped that her taste in clothes, antiques, and material goods would have changed as soon as her father left – when she was eight. Unfortunately for her mother (and fortunately for her), she inherited more of her father’s personality than her mother had hoped.
She did have her mother’s good looks though. Since she was a small child, she always had her hair in tight curls. When she was a little girl, she would push the door to that bookstore open with all her might and bounce in with her little pigtails swaying to and fro. She was a tomboy. Jeans and a t-shirt or overalls – to her mom’s dismay. Until her mother got engaged to a doctor; then all of that went out the window. They moved to the city and her entire world changed.
She was always a natural beauty and didn’t wear make-up often. There was no need. Her skin (a creamy shade of mocha) was flawless. Her lips were a little too thin for her tastes but it was never that big of a deal. Her brown eyes were always wide and curious. However, as she grew older, the harsh realities of adult responsibilities dulled them. She hoped that happened to most adults. It was the thing she missed most about her childhood. That and living in a small town.
Her mother always tried to get that sparkle back into her eyes by buying her love. Especially after her father left. She treated her like a princess. While her mother wanted her to be more like Cinderella, she much preferred to be compared to Belle. The beauty behind the book. She loved to read anything that she could get her hands on. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the Molly that everyone knew. The Molly Richards that everyone knew wasn’t quite the Molly that she felt was genuine but that didn’t worry her mother at all.
“As long as you keep up my good taste and your beauty regimen, you will nab yourself a great husband, then you can do whatever you want,” her mother would tell her while they were at the beauty salon. Molly hated weaves. She was never one to want to fix her hair too much and her natural hair wasn’t that bad anyway.
The beautician tugged her head as Molly chatted with her mom. “I have a date with a lawyer tomorrow night,” she said. She hoped that her mom hadn’t caught the hint of indifference and apathy in her voice. The guy was nice enough – Kevin Tyler, or whoever. She would rather pick her dates that have her mother set her up again. Those dates never ended well, and afterward she always had to deal with the lecture from her mother.
* * *
Four years later, her outlook on life hadn’t changed much but she was better at compartmentalizing. Natalie James burst into the fitting room at Burke and Loams’. A half-naked Molly would have otherwise screamed but Natalie had texted her as soon as she got on the escalator to the lingerie section.
“What do you think?” Molly asked, showing off the teddy that she was thinking of buying for her vacation with Kevin. She wasn’t sure where he was going to take her. He just told her to pack a suitcase for a week or so.
“Guess who I saw coming out of DeMarcino’s four hours ago?” Natalie sputtered, without acknowledging Molly’s question.
Molly dropped her arms and turned her attention back to the mirror. “What are you talking ab-” she started but caught herself. She spun back around. “Wait, what? Who?” she asked, fearful that she already knew the answer. “Oh my gawd, don’t even kid about that.”
“Giirl, I totally saw Kevin coming out of those frosted double doors with a little purple bag in his hand. You know why he had a bag, right? No one goes into DeMarcino’s and walks out with a tiny purple bag without one thing in mind.”
Molly gasped. “I can’t believe it,” she said. “We’ve been together for three years. No wait, four years. Ugh, my mom’s been telling me that if he won’t propose, I should move on but…”
“You excited?” Natalie asked. “Happy? Scared? What? What? Tell me.” She jumped up and down. She looked more excited than Molly felt. Molly almost felt like Natalie was her exact opposite – which was sad because she also felt like Natalie was the daughter that her mother always wanted. Fair porcelain skin, wavy blonde hair, crooked grin, piercing blue eyes, button nose…. Nattie was
“Um, happy of course,” she said. A smile appeared on her face – one that she was a little surprised to see. It was a habit to smile out of necessity in order to hide her true feelings. “Kevin is a great guy.” She looked down at her teddy. “Maybe I should get something a little more...” Her voice trailed off as she glanced back at the mirror.
“I saw the most perfect thing back there. Stay right here while I grab it,” Nattie said with a giggle as she sprinted out of the dressing room.
“She’s always full of energy,” Molly said softly. “I wish I could be that happy all the time.” She smiled at the mirror. It felt insincere but no one had ever said anything about it. She shrugged.
“We’ll need to practice your surprise face,” Nattie said as she walked back into the tiny segmented room. She held up a black, lacy number. “Give me your best surprise face.”
Molly flipped around and acted shocked.
“Mmm…” Nattie said. “That’s more of a ‘You stepped on my toe.’ Try more, ‘Ohhh, for me?’”
Molly raised her eyebrows and held her hand up to her chest. Her eyes twinkled and her mouth formed a crescent moon smile.
Nattie clapped. “Better. Still a little angry.” She shrugged. “You’ll have the rest of today and part of tomorrow to work on it.” She motioned toward the babydoll teddy that Molly had in her hand. “Try it on, try it on!”
* * *
It was 2 o’clock the next day when Molly’s doorbell rang. She lived in an apartment which was paid for by her stepfather. Molly had held a few jobs in the past but nothing stuck; work always got in the way of her mother’s plans for her. By the time that she got together with Kevin, she was working for a small online magazine as a local feature story reporter. The work was sparse and didn’t pay the bills, but it kept her busy and she found that she really enjoyed it.
Molly rolled her Louis Vuitton brown suitcase (a present from Kevin) to the living room and answered the door. Kevin held his arms out and she jumped into them. He was dressed in a dark gray three- piece suit: pants, jacket, and vest. It was a look that Molly loved. Any man could look great in a three- piece suit and Kevin was no exception. His dark chocolate colored hair was a bit shaggy – she kept telling him that he needed a haircut. He smiled at her with his boyish grin and with his dark blue eyes. It was as if his parents searched for the deepest blue in the middle of the night sky, just for his eyes. They were almost abnormally deep.
“Hey, babe,” he said, kissing her on the forehead. “You ready?” He grinned again. His mouth moved to the right, bringing with it a small dimple in his right cheek.
She nodded eagerly. “Where are we going?” she asked. She ran back and grabbed her suitcase. It was heavier than she expected, since she just rolled into the living room and hadn’t carried it in. She struggled with it to the door.
Kevin checked his smartphone. “It’s a surprise. I can’t tell you. I don’t want to ruin it,” he said, not even looking up. He backpedaled out into the hallway. Molly followed suit and set the suitcase next to him – hoping that he would get the hint – before locking and shutting her door. She jingled the keys in her coat pocket before doing so, just in case. Kevin slipped the phone into the breast pocket of his suit jacket and ran his hand through his hair before picking up her suitcase. “Where do you think we’re going?” he asked, his voice strained. “Cause this thing weighs a ton.”
“I wasn’t sure.” She eyed him. “You wouldn’t tell me.” She grabbed onto his arm and leaned on it.
He chuckled. “Fair enough,” he said. “My baby’s always prepared for something.” He looked her up and down. “I thought I said that you should dress in white today. You’ve got that pretty white dress that you look lovely in.”
“Well, it’s just a bit chilly out and it’s a bit breezy,” she said. “The hem’s a bit short and I didn’t want the wind to-”
“Don’t you worry about the wind,” he said. “Just be a doll and go back and change for me, would you? I want this to be perfect.” He motioned toward her front door. “I’ll just wait inside for you.”
She nodded and unlocked the door, looking back at him for approval. He pulled his phone out of his pocket again instead of acknowledging her look. She hurried inside and sprinted to her bedroom to change. When she had stripped off her blue dress, she caught a glimpse of herself in the full length mirror that hung from her door. What are you doing? she thought to herself. Jumping like that. You should have just told him that it was too bad. I mean, why go through all of this trouble. The blue dress looked great… The voice in her head tapered off and she filled it with other thoughts. He had gone through the trouble of doing this after all. The least I can do is dress the part.
She shrugged and took a deep breath as she stared at herself in the mirror. It had been a long time since she could look at herself like this. She turned to the side. She was in good shape. Not great shape, but she was healthy. Her hands grasped at the small pooch of her stomach. It wasn’t large and she wasn’t overweight but she still saw these as flaws and felt ashamed of them: the small pooch of her stomach, her lack of a thigh gap, the mole on her left breast (nothing to worry about but still a blemish) … Her mother used to point out every single one of these things and more when she lived under her roof. She shook her head again, trying to free herself from these thoughts. Slipping the white dress over her head, she tugged it into place and turned to the mirror once again. It barely covered her mole and the belt covered her small pooch. The hem covered her lack of a thigh gap. Thank goodness for the little things, she thought.
Kevin was sitting on the couch with his left foot crossed over his right knee. He was chatting on the phone and by the tone of his voice, she assumed that it was a business call. She primped in the hallway mirror, adjusting any stray hairs on her head and making sure that her lipstick was on just right. No smudges. She still wasn’t used to putting on make-up but she did it because Kevin wanted her to. He always showered her with gifts so these little things that he asked of her weren’t too much trouble. At least that was what she told herself. She never liked make-up. Growing up, she would just throw on a thin layer of lip gloss and a thin layer of mascara before running out the door. She didn’t like how high maintenance a face mask of make-up normally was.
“All right,” Kevin said as he stood up. Molly turned toward him and noticed that his phone was gone. He must have been talking to her. “Sorry about that,” he said. “I promise that this weekend is all about you and me. No more phone calls from work.”
“Did you turn your phone off?” she asked, hopefully. “We’ve been together for four years and I don’t think that I’ve ever seen you turn your phone off.”
He shook his head. “That’s because I can’t. This is just what needs to happen when I’m in the running for the next partnership. I need to be available to them.”
“So what happens if they call this weekend?” she asked. “Are you going to answer?”
“Well, yes but they know that I’m on a short vacation with you. I rarely take weekends off so this is a big thing. They’ll leave me alone this weekend. Promise.” He reached over and gave her a reassuring hug before stepping back to look at her. “You always look gorgeous in that dress,” he said. “I love you.” He kissed her forehead again and picked up her suitcase with his right hand. “All right, time to go. I want to make sure that we can spend as much time as we can there, before Monday comes around and I have to go back to work.”
I have a job too, she thought to herself. Just the thought of saying that aloud made her cringe. No one thought of her journalist job as a real career or profession. She could work more hours there if her schedule allowed for it. She chose not to – but not because she didn’t want to. She muddled over this as they walked to his Jaguar, who was parked in front of the building. She walked in between his back bumper and a moving van. She didn’t know any of her neighbors were moving. Her gaze moved from his passenger’s side door to the large brick building. It was a great place, located right in the middle of all of the action in the city. There were perks to living in this part of town but she didn’t know if it really outweighed the perks of living out in a rural town. Trees. Silence. Quiet bookstores and cafes that were equally as quiet. Maybe it was time for her annual trip to Pine Falls.
* * *
Molly wasn’t really sure what she was expecting. Maybe a trip to the Bahamas. She heard that Aruba was great this time of year. However, as they kept driving toward the outer limits of the city – not in the same direction as the SeaTac airport, she began to feel a bit suspicious.
“We’re not going to the airport?” she asked.
“Nnnnope,” he said. He had that grin again. The one that said that he knew something that she didn’t and that he was cocky enough to think that he knew just what she wanted.
Except this time, he was kind of right.
They drove to a small town just outside of the city where all of the houses looked the same, except for a few choice homes with perfect hedges and wrought iron gates. Then he pulled into one of those wrought iron gates homes and parked in the circular driveway. “Welcome to our new home,” he said quietly.
Molly’s eyes searched the front face of the…mansion? What classifies as a mansion? More than two stories? Check. This one had at least three. White façade? Check. Porch, looking out over your property? Check. It also had a perfectly manicured lawn, beautiful fruit trees, little dome bushes that looked as if they were straight out of a made- for- TV movie. “This house,” she said. “This house is… Wait, did you say ours?”
“I did.” He handed her a set of keys. “The first one is for the front door, the second one is for the back door, and this one is the emergency key that will open the security gates,” he said, pointing to the gates which welcomed them to their new abode.
“But what about my apartment? The lease. And my stepdad. My stuff.” She suddenly realized that she could no longer form complete sentences.
“I already talked with your father. He said that he was extremely happy for us.” He waved his hands. “Apparently, he really likes me. Those moving trucks will be packing up your things and bringing them here. Though, to be honest, the house is furnished already. It came that way, but we can get new furniture if you like. The commute to work won’t be that bad.”
“But the office,” she said. “The paper is all the way across town.” Her voice disappeared as the sentence came out.
“You don’t have to worry about that silly hobby of yours anymore,” he said. “That didn’t even pay your bills, did it?” He shook his head. “Listen, all you have to worry about anymore,” he said, reaching into his pocket. “Is how to be the best housewife you can be.” He opened up his hand and in it was a velvet box. She recognized the dark violet color and it took her breath away. That’s right. He had bought an engagement ring, hadn’t he? “Molly Richards,” he said. “Will you marry me?” He opened the box with his other hand and inside was a dazzling ring. A single (GIGANTIC) solitaire (HUGE) that had to have been (ENORMOUS) round cut diamond that was set in a white gold ring. It was beautiful.
“Oh…my…g…” She couldn’t even finish her thought as she stared at the ring box. Her eyes followed his arm up to his shoulders, his neck, then his face. His eyes looked sincere. He had been the first to tell her that he loved her. He bought a house for them and their future. “Yes,” she said, finally. “Yes, I will marry you.” Tears began to form in her eyes. Her dreams were coming true. Her mother would be so proud.
* * *
Paint swatches. That was what was on Molly’s mind when she would fall asleep and wake up for the first two weeks in the house. Paint swatches. She looked at hundreds of them. It wasn’t quite how she thought she would spend the first couple weeks in a mansion. When she was a child she thought that one of the rooms would be a gigantic ball pit and that there would be a churro machine on each floor. Growing up had since dampened her creativity when it came to interior decoration.
Kevin wasn’t much help. “I like neutral colors. Accent walls are fine as long as none of them are too feminine. I’m sure you’ll do great, hon,” he said before he left for work each day. The house was always so quiet after the car pulled away. Miguel (their driver) spent most of his time in the living room reading. He was only there from noon to five and would swing by if they needed him any other time during the day.
So Molly would often spend the morning going through her favorite social media accounts, trying to find some ideas to make their house feel more like a home and less like a furniture store front. It was nice but she hadn’t really felt comfortable it in. Kevin had let her loose with his black Am Ex so there wasn’t a monetary reason for her lack of decision making skills. She just wanted everything to be perfect for Kevin. He had done so much for her and trusted her with so much. She didn’t want to let him down.
On this particular morning, she was still in her pajamas when the doorbell rang. When she opened the heavy, dark wood French doors to the front porch, the breeze felt great against her bare legs. Her pink shorts rippled and her light blue robe billowed back against the wind that came rushing through.
“Hey,” Nattie said, holding out a cup of coffee for her. “I heard through the grapevine that you’re doing a little bit of redecorating and you need a shopping buddy for some furniture.”
Molly nearly began to tear up. “Who told you that?” she said, overly emotional – though she couldn’t grasp why. “Because I’d love a friend right now. I’m totally out in foreign territory right now. I don’t know how to do all of this domestic stuff. I don’t know how to make a home feel like a home.” She opened the door wider, letting Nattie inside. She hugged her as soon as the door shut. It was a familiar sound. At times it sounded like a prison door shutting in place. In other times, it sounded like a golden gate, opening and closing toward her future which was lined with reflective gems and anything that she could possibly wish for.
Molly gave Miguel the day off since Nattie offered to drive her around to her favorite furniture galleries. It was a wonderful day and one that she needed. She didn’t get to relay her anguish and fears about eventually marrying Kevin. There’s wasn’t that type of friendship. Sure, they called each other “best friends” and they would tell each other that “you can tell me anything” – but they didn’t. Theirs was a friendship built on appearances and more superficial things. Molly often wondered if she really had a friend that she could talk with, about anything. But as it was, this day of shopping and female bonding was just the right amount of friendship that she needed.