Chapter 7
Salem
Salem couldn't help but smile on his way to Molly's apartment. She was going to fall in love with her counter. He had engraved her logo on the front of it and had added a few other details she knew nothing about. She hadn't seen it, and he knew she was going to love how it came out. He took another guy with him to help him unload and set it up.
Salem had been to her apartment a few other times. He knew it was detached from the house and that he could access it from a circle driveway in the back. The property felt similar to other houses where he had done work. His carpentry business usually attracted upscale clients, and he had done work in this exact neighborhood before.
He drove slowly to the back of the house where he parked next to her apartment. The small, hand-painted sign hung outside, Molly's Chocolates . Salem had the counter on a trailer, and he had parked carefully so that the back end of it was close to her door.
Darren Collins came out of the main house before Salem even got out of his truck. He had met the man before. He had seen signs for his law firm around town and knew who he was. Darren was wearing a smug grin as he came outside.
Salem told his employee, Nathan, to start taking the straps off of the counter while leaving the moving blankets in place. It was impossible to see, and Salem liked it that way. Nathan nodded because he knew what to do. He would make quick work of getting it prepped and to the edge of the trailer.
"Are you making the delivery for my tenant? She's in the apartment back here."
"Yes, sir, it's for Molly. I've got it. I know where I'm going. Thank you."
The guy pulled back a little, standing up with his back straight and looking Salem over with an appraising stare before extending his hand. Salem straightened his posture as he shook the man's hand.
"You're not Molly's boyfriend, are you?"
"No sir."
The man smiled like this information pleased him.
What did he care?
"We are close, though. We're family, basically," Salem said.
"Oh, you know the Kennedys?" He asked with furrowed eyebrows.
"My sister's married to Molly's brother."
"Oh, you're Sadie's brother, I remember. I think we've met. That's great. Yeah, I recognize the name now," he said, pointing at the writing on the door of Salem's truck. "She's been with us for over a year, now, so I get her friends mixed up. We love Molly. This must be her new counter. She's really pushing for this chocolate thing."
"She's good at it. The chocolate's excellent."
"I should have known you've tried it already."
"Yeah, no, Molly and I are close."
Salem baited the man with that, and it worked. He glanced at Salem with a testy stare. No words were exchanged, but it was a challenging stare. The man stuck out his chest and looked down his nose at Salem even though he was no taller than him. Salem didn't like the feeling this guy gave him, and instinctually he pulled back and stood up straighter, appraising that guy, the same as he was being appraised.
"What is this? What does she owe you for this?" Darren asked, nudging his chin at the trailer. "I'll pay you for it, and Molly and I can work it out with her paying me back. We already have a system worked out."
"Molly and I are square. She paid me already." Salem gave that guy a chin nudge that matched his own. Salem felt like this guy was being possessive of Molly, and he didn't like that at all. He didn't know what that meant about his own feelings for Molly. Did he have feelings for Molly? "I know she appreciates all you and your wife do for her," Salem told the guy curtly. "I'm going to help my assistant in with this, but it was nice seeing you. "
"Molly's here," Darren said, pointing toward her apartment.
She had appeared in the doorway. The house was an off-white stucco finish, and she came out of the apartment with her dark-red hair looking even darker while it was damp. She was wearing a little sheer outfit, but he could see the outline of her green swimsuit underneath. It was too much. She was too beautiful to be walking around with a sheer piece of fabric over a bikini like that.
Just then, another girl came out of the apartment. Her coverup was even more sheer and revealing than Molly's. They looked like a couple of swimsuit models, and it bugged Salem. As long as that guy was out here, he wanted them to get back inside and put on some clothes.
He went to the other side of the truck and got to work, helping Nathan get the counter onto the dolly and off of the trailer. It was in two pieces, and they guided the first of them toward the door. Molly hadn't seen it. She had no idea that there was a section with a glass display, and Nathan had no idea that she didn't know, so Salem had to run interference and make sure he didn't say anything to spoil the surprise.
He wanted to tell her to wait outside while he set it up, but he didn't want to intrigue the nosy neighbor, so he waited until they got both pieces inside and closed the door .
"Oh, my goodness. Two pieces? I can't wait to see this," Molly said. "Can we take the blankets off?" She put her hand on Salem's shoulder when she asked the question, and he turned at her touch. "You made two pieces?" she asked, looking directly at him with those green eyes.
"Yes, and I don't want you to look yet. Turn around, please, and let me get them set up before you look."
"I'll take the blankets to the truck," Nathan offered.
"Yes, once Molly's not looking," Salem said. "Close your eyes or turn, please."
Molly and her friend stood shoulder-to-shoulder, looking away from the counter and closing their eyes.
"Don't look at it, I'm just talking to you about your set-up as I work. These things are on locking wheels, so you can easily move them. I'm going to get them set up how I think it looks good, and then you can turn them around later, if you want. They'll move easily."
"Can I look now?" she asked wiggling in her spot.
"No. Not even close. Nathan hasn't even gotten the… keep your eyes closed. It's going to take me a second."
"It's on wheels?" Molly asked, eyes closed.
"Yes. Sturdy ones. You're going to like it. They lock. Hang on give me a second to… turn… this… piece around. Don't look yet." Salem moved the pieces next to each other and situated them, straightening them and getting them ready for the big reveal. "Okay…" he said, finally.
Molly turned and squealed, covering her face.
She quickly dropped her hands and rushed over to the counter.
"Ohh, there's a glass… display… oh, Salemmmm, I'm… ohhhhh… I don't know what to sayyyy!"
Molly knelt in front of the counter, staring into the glass window at the case and then at the logo that had been carved on the front of it. She ran her fingers along the edges, appreciating the finish.
Salem had spent time on it. He designed it and did a good bit of it with his own hands. It affected him to see Molly run her hands over it and appreciate it like that. She basically hugged it. He watched her stare at it, moving around, checking out every detail.
"I'm speechless, Salem. This is more beautiful than anything I could have thought of."
"It's gorgeous," the other girl said. "I can't believe you made this. I'm Kat."
"I'm sorry. This is Kat, and Kat, this is Salem." She introduced them, but she couldn't care less about looking their way. She moved around the counter, opening the drawer, staring intently at every detail. Salem greeted Kat, shaking her hand when she came over to him .
"Molly is… she was praying for this," Kat said. "She's one of the most Godliest women I know and this is just a blessing to her, from the Lord."
"Thank you, Kat," Molly said. "It is a blessing. Thanks. That's good." Molly gave Kat a pleading glance and Kat shrugged.
"It's an amazing piece of furniture," Kat said, switching gears. "It looks like a machine made it. It's hard to believe it's custom. Did you carve that by yourself?"
"Thanks," Salem said. "I have a machine that carved the logo."
Molly spread her arms and laid out on top of the piece, holding it lovingly.
"Salem, thank you," she said. "I'm blown away. I know I owe you more for this than what we talked about. We'll work it out the next time we talk business."
He just smiled at her. He wasn't going to take anything from her, but he also wasn't going to deny her in that moment.
"I'm glad you like it."
"I could not like it any more. It's better than anything I had in my mind. I imagined you using scraps, and I don't know, getting guys to build it on their break. I don't know what I was picturing, but it wasn't this. I honestly don't know what to say." Molly was keeping it together. Her voice wasn't giving out, and she was able to communicate clearly. But she could not control the tears that ran down her cheeks.
"Molly, what?" he said, stepping toward her.
"I’m just… it's happiness. Is this seriously mine? I can't even believe it."
"It is yours," Salem said. "I’m happy you like it."
She went to him, took his hand, and looked him in the eyes. "Salem, I…" She blinked. Her eyes were still filled with tears. "I'll call you tonight and we can talk about what else I owe you."
He gave her a small smile. She was beautiful. Her mouth was full and curvy, and she had no lipstick on, or any makeup at all. She had been swimming.
"I'm going. Nathan's waiting in the truck."
She squeezed his hand. "Thank you, Salem. I'll call you in a little while. Thank you."
He could tell how excited and sincere she was by the way she was acting. She squeezed his hand and stared straight at him, and he knew. He knew she loved it. He told Molly and her friend goodbye, and then he headed out the door.
"You were right about him!" were the words he heard just before the door closed.
It wasn't Molly who had said it. It was her friend. But what had Molly been right about? Was it about the furniture? Salem didn't have time to think about it. He was busy talking to Nathan and pulling out of that driveway .
Molly's landlord was outside with two other guys. It looked like one of them was leaving and the other two were standing near his car… a new, red Corvette. Salem had seen it when he pulled up.
This whole scenario was odd to him.
He didn't like the landlord.
Or maybe he did like Molly.
Something had changed.
Something was different.
Molly called him four hours later. For some reason, he expected to hear from her sooner, so four hours had seemed like a long time to wait.
Salem was by himself when she called. It was late Saturday afternoon, and he was in the shop. He had crews at his house this morning, but they had all gone home.
"Hello?" he said pushing the button to answer his phone.
"I sound like I'm on speakerphone," she said, her voice filling the room.
"You are. I'm in my shop."
"Are other people there?"
"No, I'm alone."
"I'm sorry I'm just now having the time to call. I was having to work for the last few hours. Those guys, the chef, Darren's friend, he wanted me to make him a chocolate recipe, and he paid me to do it right then."
"He paid you to cook? "
"Yeah, and we finally got the perfect recipe that he wants to use at his restaurant, indefinitely! He's going to have his chefs make a dessert out of it. that's what took me so long. We worked out this big deal where I'll deliver weekly. He wanted to use my double dark chocolate for two weeks, and the white chocolate was the one that he wanted to tweak my recipe. That's going to be on the permanent menu. That's what we've been doing the last few hours. Can you believe it? Isn't that amazing? It's happening, Salem."
She was so excited that he went with it. What was he going to do? He couldn't tell her that he was creeped out by those guys and thought they had less than honorable intentions. The fact was that he didn't know them. Maybe their intentions were honorable. He had no way of knowing that for sure.
She was beautiful, and there was a chance that these men were just trying to get close to her. But there was also a chance that the guy's intentions were pure. Salem didn't show his skepticism. He held his tongue.
"That's amazing," he said. "Congratulations, Molly, you deserve it."