Home > No Offense (Little Bridge Island #2)(48)

No Offense (Little Bridge Island #2)(48)
Author: Meg Cabot

Fortunately, John had recommended one of his deputies to the Larsons to take her place at the Lazy Parrot, and the transition had worked out perfectly.

“I’m glad Eric’s doing well,” Molly said.

“More than well.” Carl was practically radiating high spirits. The Snappettes could do that to people. “That guy’s got a real feel for hospitality. I don’t know what he was doing in law enforcement in the first place.”

“That’s so good to hear! I have to go now, okay? I’ll see both of you later.” Molly happened to spy John—who’d changed back into his regular street clothes—in the crowd behind Carl and Joanne. He was holding the bouquet of roses that Patrick and Bill had given him and throwing her desperate looks while trying to fend off a large group of other well-wishers.

“Oh, of course, honey.” Joanne gave her one last hug. “Give Fluffy the Cat my love. We miss him over at the inn, but he just loved you so much—it’s better that he’s with you.”

“I will! And thanks!”

And then Molly was across the lobby and at John’s side.

“You were so great!” she cried, rising on tip-toe to give him a modest peck on the cheek. She didn’t want to scandalize any of the “cottontops”—as John affectionately referred to Little Bridge’s more elderly citizens—by doing what she wanted to, which was throw her arms around him and kiss him on the lips.

“Thank you, Molly,” he said, behaving as circumspectly as she was—but only, she knew, because they were in public. “I have to admit, I was pretty nervous.”

“Glad it wasn’t me up there,” Randy Jamison, the city planner, said, slapping John on the back. “Of course, it wouldn’t have been, because I’d have to be dead before I’d be caught up on a stage like that.”

“That could be arranged,” Pete Abramowitz said dryly.

“What was that?” Randy asked.

“Nothing.” Pete winked at Molly, who grinned back at him.

“Do you want to get out of here?” John leaned down to whisper in Molly’s ear.

“Sure, if you want to. But what about Katie?”

“Oh, she and the other girls are heading off to get pizza. They’re starving.”

Molly slipped her fingers in between his. “You must be, too. You expended a lot of energy up there.”

He grinned down at her. “I think I have a little left.”

“Miss Molly! Sheriff Hartwell! Miss Molly! Over here!”

Molly turned toward the sound of the all-too-familiar voice and saw Elijah standing by the lobby’s drinking fountain, his father’s Leica in his hands.

“Hi,” he said. “Hey, sorry to disturb you, but can I get a photo of you two together?”

“Elijah,” Molly began, rolling her eyes.

“Just real quick. It’s for the school paper. I’m the official school photographer. It’s for the last edition, before school lets out for the summer.”

“Sure.” John, suddenly magnanimous, wrapped his arm around Molly’s waist and pulled her toward him, then plastered his “sheriff’s smile” on his face. “How’s this?”

“Oh, great,” Elijah said, snapping away, making generous use of his flash. “That’s just great! You two make a real attractive couple—did anyone ever tell you that?”

“Elijah,” Molly said in a warning voice.

“No, I mean that most sincerely. I’m sure a lot of people say that, but I truly mean it. I’m taking photography next semester, did you know, Miss Molly? I’m going to be the next Angel Adams.”

“Ansel Adams,” she corrected him.

“Yeah, whoever. Anyway, I don’t want to take any boring landscape photos like he does. I want to be a crime scene photographer. All because of you, Sheriff. And you, too, Miss Molly.” Elijah tipped an invisible hat toward Molly. “I won’t be seeing too much of you at the library this summer, Miss Molly, because I’m going up to Tallahassee to visit my dad for a few weeks. But I’ll be back in the fall. I’ll see you then.”

“See you then, Elijah,” Molly said, and was relieved when he hurried off to go take photos of Katie and her friends.

Only then did she turn to John and say, “Tallahassee? His father lives in Tallahassee. Isn’t that where . . . ?”

“Yes.” John’s bright blue eyes were alight with mischief. “Rich Wagner, the sheriff I replaced after he turned out to be hiding a second family in Tallahassee, is Elijah’s father.”

Molly couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “But Elijah has a different last name.”

“He took his mother’s maiden name after he found out the truth about his father.” John shrugged. “He wanted to hide his relationship to the man. Most of the kids at school knew the truth, anyway—but not Katie. She was in Miami when that happened. And not you—you just got here.”

“Oh, the poor thing.” Molly stared after Elijah, remembering how much time he’d spent in the library and his mother’s concern for him. “He certainly seems to be coming out of his shell now, though,” she said, as she watched him flirt with Katie and her friends.

“That’s all because of you,” John said, giving her an affectionate squeeze as he followed the direction of her gaze. “He’s a different kid now than from even a few months ago, wouldn’t you say?”

“It’s all because of us,” Molly said. “You’re the one who let the paper run his photo. You gave him back a sense of self.”

John grinned. “Yeah, maybe. I guess we make a pretty good team, huh?”

Molly side-eyed him. “Don’t get cocky.”

After saying their good-byes, they strolled hand-in-hand through the quiet, night-darkened parking lot. The high school had been built just yards away from the ocean, so all Molly could hear was the sound of the waves slapping against the seawall and the gentle breeze rustling through the palm fronds near the auditorium’s entrance. The summer air was balmy and sweet, and the moon, just rising over the ocean’s dark surface, cast everything in blue-and-white shadows.

“You really were amazing,” she said, as they approached his enormous gas-guzzler of an SUV—which both she and Katie had convinced him to exchange for a hybrid as soon as he got approval from the mayor.

“I was all right. The last part didn’t go the way it was supposed to.”

Molly shook her head. “Yes, it did. You didn’t miss a step.”

“No, there was this whole part that the girls and I threw in at the last minute that we ended up not doing.”

“Why not?”

“Because I didn’t think you’d like it.”

Molly froze, realizing what he was referring to—what he had to be referring to. She dropped his hand and stood by herself in the middle of the parking lot, eyeing him suspiciously. “Wait a minute. Are you telling me the rumor is true?”

He grinned at her from about five feet away, one hand in the pocket of his jeans, the other still holding the roses. “Why? What have you heard?”

She put her hands on her hips. “I heard you were going to jump down off the stage and come up to me in the audience and put a ring on it.”

His grin turned into a smile that crinkled the skin around those too-bright blue eyes. “That was the plan, yeah.”

Her heart seemed to skip a beat. “So what happened?”

“You’re not really the public display of affection type.”

“You’re right,” Molly said, her heart thumping . . . but this time with pleasure, not dread. “I’m not.”

“So I thought I’d do it in private, instead. I wasn’t planning on it being in a parking lot, but I can’t wait anymore.” From the pocket of his jeans, he extracted a small velvet box, then opened it and held it toward her. “I’m not saying today, or tomorrow, or anytime soon. I know it’s only been a few months. I’m just saying sometime in the future. Will you?”

Trying to remain dignified and to suppress the silly smile that was threatening to break out across her face, Molly took a few steps toward him and examined the ring without touching it.

“Is that a six-pronged square-cut two-carat diamond solitaire with a platinum band?” she asked, fighting hard not to hyperventilate.

“It is.” John sounded surprised. “How did you know?”

“Oh,” she said. “Just a guess. Are those roses really for you, or are they for me?”

He gave her a sheepish grin. “They were supposed to be for you, after you said yes. Patrick was going to shower us with them. But I told him—I told everyone—that that plan wasn’t going to work. I know it’s soon, but Katie said I needed to follow the advice of the song and not let you get away, and I happen to agree.” The grin faded, and his expression turned serious. “So what about it, Molly?”

Molly stopped trying to act dignified and let out a joyous laugh. It was loud enough to startle the seagulls that had been roosting quietly nearby, as well as the last few stragglers who’d been heading toward their cars. Even John seemed startled.

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