Taming Molly: Heroes of Henderson ~ Book 2.5 A DuVal Cousins Quickie (6 page)

“I bet you could not be prouder.” Josh beamed back at her.

“No, I honestly could not,” Evie agreed.

Josh dropped his voice just a bit. “So, it worked out for the best then.”

“It did,” Evie agreed. As those words sunk in—Molly saw it happen—Evie’s expression changed, and she looked back over at Molly and nodded.

It was subtle. But the change was there.

Josh.

“And how ‘bout your son’s boy, Mrs. Z? And his buddy, Mrs. Simms’ grandson and yours too, Mrs. Swift? That little scuttle out by the lake get itself all worked out?”

Mrs. Zimmerman and the other ladies laughed nervously. “Oh, Josh…you know…boys will be boys.”

“And girls will be girls,” he said bringing Molly in closer with his right arm around her waist. “Mrs. Egan, I understand that you were quite the scandalous debutante back in your day. How many times were you engaged before Mr. Egan managed to wrestle you down the aisle?”

Dottie Egan blushed proudly.

“Henderson has a rich history, starting right here with all of you beautiful women. I’m doing my best to convince Molly to leave all the glories of Raleigh and come home. Take her rightful place in the heart of Henderson’s history and continue the grand traditions that your mothers started and y’all continue to uphold today.

“Oh, Molly,” Mrs. Egan said. “You
should
come home. This town is dryin’ up faster than my skin in winter with all you youngsters leavin’ for greener pastures. We need the young people to stick around and start raising families again. Keep this town viable. Isn’t that right, Evie? You said so yourself when Tyler moved away.”

Evie Jackson turned her full attention to Molly. She even reached out and took her by the hand. “It’s true, Molly. I’m afraid it’s going to be left to your generation to turn this town around. We need girls like you to come back home and raise families here.”

“Girls like me?” Molly choked out.

“Exactly like you,” Evie Jackson assured her with a tug to her hand. “Girls who are movers and shakers and won’t be afraid to get things done around here. Now enough of all this. You two get out there and dance. Us old women need something to talk about, so git.”

As Josh clasped Molly’s hand and pulled her away, she whispered, “We are staying off the dance floor. I refuse to give them one more thing to talk about.”

“Fine,” Josh agreed as they approached the bar. “Because you and I have a few things that need settling.”

“I’m still not sleeping with you.”

“Oh.” Josh pulled her around to face him and grinned wickedly. “You think I did all that just so I could get in your pants?”

“Well, didn’t you?”

“No. I did that so you’d stop worrying about changing your stripes. I did that so the real Molly DuVal—the rock star—can finally move back home. I did that so that I can
then
initiate my very tricked-out plan of seduction to get in your pants.”

“Tricked-out plan of seduction?”

“I’ve got an app for that.”

Hot Poindexter didn’t need an app. He was doing just fine on his own. Making her feel a little giddy and lulling her into a false sense of security that she was going to be allowed back through the gates of Henderson.

“Well, thank you for that. With Evie,” she added as Josh ordered them drinks. “You accomplished in a few minutes what I had figured would take me months of well-placed, well-timed, serene social outings.”

“Yeah
—no. I don’t have time for that. We are fast trackin’ you back to Henderson. So what’s next?”

“Well, if you can work your magic and dazzle Aunt Charlotte over there into forgiving me for getting Jacey left off the debutante list, it’d be smooth sailing.”

“All right then. Come on.”

Molly stumbled along behind him, her hand firmly in Josh’s grasp. He stood her right next to Aunt Charlotte and her two best friends who were in the middle of howling about one funny thing or another—all of them on the brink of slurring their words.

“Molly!” Aunt Charlotte looked a little startled, like she wasn’t certain whether she’d just been overheard.

Molly was plenty startled herself. She felt a push from behind and heard Josh’s quiet command in her ear. “Fast track. Improvise.”

“Aunt Charlotte,” Molly said breathlessly. “Miss Mary, Miss Caroline.” Molly nodded in greeting to the other two ladies.

“It’s good to see you here, Molly,” Miss Mary said kindly.

“Thank you. Thank you for that. Because it’s good to be back,” Molly said, twisting her hands together. “I’ve missed Henderson. Missed the family and missed my friends. Raleigh has a lot to offer, but you know—you need your people.” She bobbed her head, anxious.

“That’s true,” Miss Caroline agreed. “Why, the three of us have known each other since we had our babies together.” She indicated her good friends standing in the circle. “I don’t know what I’d do if one of you decided to move away.”

“Oh—don’t even think of it,” Aunt Charlotte said. “Havin’ your friends close by—well, that’s just everything, isn’t it?”

“It is,” Molly agreed. “I can tell you from experience that new friends are wonderful and can certainly broaden your horizons. But, old friends and cousins,” she said, looking at her Aunt Charlotte, “well, there’s no replacing those.”

Aunt Charlotte put her arm around Molly. “You want to come home.”

“I do. I’m planning to move back.”

“Well, I’ll tell you, your cousins will be very happy to hear this news.”

Molly struggled to pull her courage together, knowing that if she didn’t address the elephant in the room now, she never would.

“What about you, Aunt Charlotte?” she ventured sincerely. “I’ve been racking my brain for ways to make up the lack of Jacey’s debut to you—and frankly, the only thing I can think of is to ask my friend, David, a portrait photographer, to take some shots of Jacey in your deb dress. It would be my treat. He’s a gifted artist, and it might be fun for Jacey to haul your dress to Raleigh for a sitting. I could arrange for a makeup artist to do her face and a stylist to do her hair. I know it would never replace the ball, but maybe having a framed picture of Jacey in your gown sitting next to your own debutante portrait in the living room might make the disappointment a little more tolerable.”

“That is a wonderful idea,” Miss Mary squealed. “Jessie-belle and I’ll join you. Remember, she was going through that God-awful black-hair phase when she came out? The pictures are atrocious. I would love to have a portrait done now that she’s back to her natural color.”

“Sure,” Molly said. “We’ll make a day of it. Throw in a little shopping and lunch.”

“Molly, that is very thoughtful. And generous,” her aunt said quietly, looking truly touched. “I can’t think of anything I’d like more.”

“Good.”

Standing under her aunt’s forgiving gaze, Molly felt her shoulders let go of long-held tension. She might not sleep with Hot Poindexter tonight, but she was definitely going to kiss him. She hugged her aunt and then introduced Josh as her date.

They walked away from the ladies hand in hand, strolling out of the tent where the evening was stretching out, showing off its last gasps of light in a glorious display. The day’s weather had been spectacular and the night ahead promised as much. Molly let her mind float, taking in the gentle breeze, the rolling hills, and an unparalleled feeling of contentment.

Josh had done that for her. Who knew Hot Poindexter was a take-charge, grab-the-bull-by-the-horns kind of guy? Wasn’t that generally her role?

They stood together, away from the crowds, facing the sunset. “So…,” she finally asked, feeling like she indeed owed him something, “what is it you want from me, Josh?”

Josh chuckled. “I have not minced words, darlin’.”

She turned her face toward his, quirking a brow.

“Move home. We’ll figure the rest out.”

She looked back toward the sunset. After a while, she told the truth as she saw it. “I’m not smart enough for you.”

She felt his thumb rub over hers. “I’m smart enough for the both of us.”

She laughed.

The moment quieted and she confessed more. “I’m not planning on coming home and tearing it up, but you’ve seen the rest of the DuVals in action. I’m probably still gonna be a handful.”

“Then it’s a good thing I’ve got two.”

She had to give him credit. The man sure knew how to make her smile.

Finally, Molly turned to Josh, sighing. “What’s really going on here?”

He shook his head. “I’m lonely,” he said, granting her a little smile. “Simple as that. I’ve led a fairly solitary life following my intellectual pursuits. Now I’m an assistant coach and I see all these young guys, old guys too, having fun. Being a part of something. A team. A crowd. A group of friends. A community. I want that. I want to be a part of something.”

“Not sure how I fit in, exactly.”

He shrugged. “I caught my front line chasing girls around the locker room. Looked like fun. One of the girls was your cousin, Tinley. She looks a lot like you did back then. Made me think of the time we met. How pretty you were. How you flirted with me even though I was nothin’. But what I especially remember was your kindness. How you went out of your way to save me from further embarrassment. How you walked with me, showing me the way to the auditorium—talkin’ with me the whole time like I was important—and then, wishin’ me luck.

“I’m sure that’s how you treated everybody. Probably still do. But that’s not how most people operate. I know that for sure. So to be exposed to that sort of kindness, especially during high school—when not a lot of that was going around—meant something. That day we met, I became a Molly DuVal fan.”

Molly knew her heart was beating, because she could hear it echoing loudly in her ears. Felt all of her pulse points pounding. But she wasn’t breathing. No air in and no air out. Just the lone heartbeat as she digested his gentle words. Most guys liked her because she was a party girl and wasn’t afraid to get naked. No one, except her father, had ever commented on her kindness.

“I didn’t have the courage to sneak a pretty girl into the locker room back then,” Josh continued. “But I do now. So I started thinkin’ maybe I could convince the infamous Molly DuVal to let me chase her around a bit.”

She laughed, grateful for his segue. Hoping to cover the bit of emotion she was trying to choke down. She lightened it up further by saying, “What’s in it for me, exactly?”

Josh spread his arms wide and gave her an expression of disbelief. “Come on. Now that Hale Evans is off the market, I’ve got to be the—what?—twenty-third most eligible bachelor in Henderson.”

Molly felt herself beam watching his antics. Felt like she was glowing from the inside out. Hot Poindexter had it all going on, and from his expression, he knew it too.

Hmm.

Molly started taking the pins out of her hair. Letting her French twist fall into wavy curls down her back.

She saw a stricken look cross over Josh’s face. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Letting my hair down.”

“I see that,” Josh said as he moved in closer. “Why now? Why here?”

Molly shrugged and grabbed his hand, leading him back toward the tent and the party that was starting to rock hard. “It’s a metaphor. One a smart guy like you ought to appreciate. Figured it was time for Molly DuVal the Rock Star to show up at her aunt’s wedding.”

“Oh, Lord.”

Molly stopped short. “What?” she asked, laughing at his pained expression. “You’ve been telling me all night you didn’t want any watered-down version.”

“True. But now—with your hair down, and you being…you again—I am bound to be faced with some stiff competition.”

“Now, what could you possibly be worried about?” She smiled, moving in to peck his lips. “After all, you’re the twenty-third most eligible bachelor in Henderson.”

Chapter Eight

Josh couldn't say for sure whether Molly DuVal, Rock Star, actually showed up, since he'd never had the pleasure to see her in action. But the girl who danced, drank, and sang the night away with him was definitely rockin' his world.

Taking her hair down was one thing—all kinds of shades of blond—it made his fingers twitchy wanting to grab hold of it and twirl her around. Then once Genevra and Hale left for their honeymoon, Molly kicked off her green high heels, making herself a full head shorter than him. Making her seem a little more real, a little more approachable. He liked that. A lot. And once the band quit, most of the guests began to head home, but Pinks and The Outlaw took over the stage with drums and a guitar, starting up the after-party. During that jam session, Molly’s tulle skirt went flying, and now she danced around him in what could barely be called a dress. He took to calling her Lady Godiva because her hair was practically as long as her hemline.