Molly

The sky was set to be beautiful and I could see the first wisps of pink coming up on the horizon. My coffee was in hand and I was going to be positive about the day ahead of me. Nothing was going to come at me that I wasn’t prepared for. No memories of the past was going to ruin my day. It was mine and mine alone.

I told myself this every day and for once I wanted to believe it was possible. I wanted my life back and I wanted to stop thinking about Chris because he was doing nothing good for me, but making it hard to think straight and get on with daily life.

Taking a sip, I pushed all of the negative thoughts away and tried to focus on the beauty in front of me. The mountains were rimmed with snow and I could just see the town underneath me if I looked towards the east. This was a sight that I could see nowhere else and I’d paid dearly for it. With all of the money in the world coming that I didn’t need, I knew that this part of my life wasn’t going to change. I never could imagine living anywhere else. It was hard to explain, but I was connected with the land.

The phone rang and I looked at the watch on my wrist to see what time it was. It was way too early for calls from anyone and the call put a damper on my morning routine. The restaurant wasn’t even open yet, so I was rather surprised when I heard Denise’s voice on the other end.

“Hey Denise, What’s up?”

“I got a customer down here that wants to see you Molly. He says that it is urgent.”

“It’s too early for customers.”

“That’s what I said, but he was very insistent that he sees you right away or he will come to you. I think he means it Molly and I don’t know what you want me to do.”

That had me thrown off for a moment because of how it was said and I couldn’t think of what she was talking about or who would say such a thing. It didn’t feel like a threat, but I didn’t doubt that whoever it was would show up at my house.

“He will come to me?”

Denise was holding something back and I wasn’t sure what it was. She had a sound to her voice and a way that she was so slowly answering questions that made me believe that there was more going on than what she was hinting at.

“Who is it, Denise? Do you know him?”

“It’s Chris.”

The one word that I didn’t want to hear. What was Chris doing here? I would have thought that I wouldn’t see him again. The deal was going through and he was getting his way. What was he doing here now, back in a place that he claimed to hate so much?

“It’s too early for me to come in. Tell him to come to me if he really wants to see me. I’m not ready to leave the house. The sun is just now coming up and I haven’t finished my first cup.”

Denise agreed and I heard her cover the phone so that I couldn’t hear what she was saying. When she got back on, she had a smile in her tone and I could see it in my mind. Denise considered herself a matchmaker and I already knew that she thought I desperately needed a man. Apparently she thought Chris would fit the bill.

“So are you finally going to stop being so hard headed and leave with that man? If you do, you better send me post cards from all of the great places that you go.”

I shouldn’t have told her because to Denise the answer was really clear.

“I’m going to see what he wants. You never know, next he might want to buy my house too.”

She scoffed and me and I hung up before I could hear an answer. I was trying to hold onto the anger and secrets that I had. I couldn’t have him coming back in here and messing my head up. It wasn’t right and I just couldn’t do it again.

Steeling myself for his arrival, I turned some of the flood lights on outside and waited on the back porch with my cup of coffee. I looked up at the sky and frowned. I had missed some of it and now I was going to blame that on Chris as well. Why was he back here? Was he just here to mess with my head again because he had done such a good job the first time around?

I heard a vehicle in the distance and it took a while for it to get to me, but I didn’t have to look to know that it was Chris. It was a feeling that I got. He must have been going fast to get here so quickly after leaving the restaurant. I never made that good of time and I wished now for more time to prepare myself to see him again. Chris was not the kind of man that I could see casually. It was always more than I wanted it to be and this time was going to be no different.

I heard him start to walk up and I hollered to him that I was on the porch so that he would know where to go. I had him a cup of coffee on the small table next to me and waited for another blow from my past life that seemed to haunt me. I needed to find out what he wanted and get him out of here as soon as I possibly could.

The sight of him did me in. I don’t know why, but it was like seeing him all over again for the first time. He wasn’t supposed to be here and he certainly wasn’t supposed to look this good. He’d most likely flew through the night and it looked like he had just stepped out of the office. He was all business and for once I could see him in the city running an empire. Chris certainly looked the part and he was just as handsome as ever.

“Long time no see Chris.”

He didn’t say anything as he got closer. He just had this determination in his eyes that worried me down to my core. What was he here for?

“I have some coffee for you if you want some. It’s how you like it.”

Chris was coming up the side steps to the porch and still his expression hadn’t changed and he had this look in his eyes that told me he wasn’t here for just business.

“Are you going to say something because you are starting to freak me out Chris? What are you here for?”

“I’m here for you.”

He was standing in front of me and pulled me in for a kiss that I did not see coming. His lips were soft and insistent and against all of my better judgement, I melted against him and kissed him back.  Fuck, I couldn’t tell this man no.