Well, wasn’t I jumpy! Maybe I’m not cut out for adultery.
Jenn came from the bedroom wearing a white terry-cloth robe. Her hair was still wet, and she wore no makeup.
God, she looks like a schoolgirl.
“Your hair’s wet,” Molly said.
“I just took a shower,” Jenn said.
“Naturally curly hair?” Molly said.
“Yes. God was kind.”
“If mine gets wet it goes floop,” Molly said.
“God was kind to you in other ways,” Jenn said. “Is that coffee?”
“It is.”
Jenn poured some coffee into a thick white mug, put in a sugar substitute, and sat at the kitchen table opposite Molly.
“Amber’s father has arrived,” Molly said. “Jesse won’t give her up.”
“Does the father know she’s here?” Jenn said.
“Not so far,” Molly said.
“You think Jesse has a legal leg to stand on, keeping the girl from her father?” Jenn said.
“I don’t think Jesse expects it to go through the legal system,” Molly said.
“Because the father is a gangster?”
“Yes.”
“That’s kind of scary,” Jenn said.
“Yes, it is,” Molly said.
“Does it scare you?”
“I have a lot of training, and some experience, and I have great respect for Jesse Stone.”
Jenn nodded.
“But does it scare you?’
“Some,” Molly said.
“Me, too,” Jenn said.
“But you’ll stick?”
“I am not going to get to the big leagues,” Jenn said, “if I run away from a developing story because I’m scared.”
“Any other reason?” Molly said.
Jenn smiled. It wasn’t exactly a happy smile, Molly thought.
“I, too, have great respect for Jesse Stone,” Jenn said.
“And he thinks he’s such a mess,” Molly said.
“He is,” Jenn said. “In many ways. And I have helped him to be a mess. But he’s a good cop. And he won’t quit on us. And at the very center of himself, he’s a very decent man.”
“Why can’t you be together?” Molly said.
