The lovers sprang apart. Molly was ready to avert her eyes, but Kevin stalked into the kitchen. He glared at Amy, whose scrunchy had come out of her hair and who was doing up her buttons wrong. “I thought I asked you to get those dishes cleaned up.”

“Yeah, well, uh …”

“Troy, you’re supposed to be mowing the Common.”

He struggled with his zipper. “I was just getting ready to—”

“I know exactly what you were getting ready to do, and believe me, that won’t get the grass cut!”

Troy looked sulky and muttered under his breath.

“Did you say something?” Kevin’s bark must be the same one he used on rookies.

Troy’s Adam’s apple worked. “There’s, uh, too much work to do around here for what we’re getting paid.”

“And what’s that?”

Troy told him, and Kevin doubled it on the spot. Troy’s eyes gleamed. “Cool.”

“But there’s a catch,” Kevin said smoothly. “You’re going to have to actually do some work for that money. Amy, sweetheart, don’t even think about leaving tonight until those guest rooms are spick-and-span. And, Troy, you’ve got an appointment with the lawn mower. Any questions?”

As they shook their heads warily, Molly saw matching hickeys on their necks. Something uncomfortable stirred in the pit of her stomach.

Troy moved toward the door, and Amy’s longing gaze reminded Molly of Ingrid Bergman bidding Humphrey Bogart a final farewell on that Casablanca runway.

What would it feel like to be that much in love? Again she felt that unpleasant quivering in her stomach. Only after the lovers had parted did she realize it was jealousy. They had something she seemed destined never to experience.

Chapter 10

10

“It’s much too dangerous,” said Daphne.

“That’s what makes it fun,” Benny replied.

—Daphne Gets Lost

A few hours later Molly stepped back to admire the homey space she’d created for herself on the nursery cottage’s screened porch. She’d put the blue-and-yellow striped cushions on the glider and the chintz-patterned ones on the bent-willow chairs. The small, drop-leaf kitchen table with its chipped white paint now sat against one side of the screen with two of the unmatched farmhouse chairs. Tomorrow she’d find some flowers to put in the old copper watering can she’d stuck on top.

With some of the essentials she’d transferred from the B&B to the cottage, she fixed toast and a scrambled egg and carried them out to the table. While Roo snoozed nearby, she watched daylight begin to fade over the wedge of lake visible through the trees. Everything smelled of pine and the dank, distant scent of the water. She heard something that sounded distinctly human rustling outside. At home she would have been alarmed. Here she settled back in the chair and waited to see who would appear. Unfortunately, it was Kevin.