bickering, their conversations ranged from art and their travels to their observations about human nature. They had everything in common, and it was obvious they were attracted. Just as obvious that Lilly was fighting it.
Molly learned that Lilly had been to his house once and that he'd started a portrait of her, but Lilly refused his repeated requests to return and sit for him. Molly wondered what had happened at the house that day.
She carried Marmie over to the shade of a big linden tree near where Lilly was planting. Just to be perverse, she said, 'I'll bet he looks great naked.'
'Molly!'
Molly's devilry faded as she saw Kevin jogging toward the Common from the highway. As soon as he'd finished his interviews, he'd changed into a T-shirt and his gray athletic shorts, then taken off. Even when they served breakfast together, he barely spoke to her. As Amy felt duty-bound to point out, he spent more time talking to Charlotte Long than he spent talking to Molly.
All week he'd been killing Lilly with cool politeness, and Lilly had been letting him get away with it. Now, however, she jabbed her trowel in the ground. 'You know, Molly, I've just about run out of patience with your husband.'
That made two of them.
Molly watched as he slowed to cool off. He bent his head and rested the palms of his hands on the small of his back. Marmie spotted him and stirred in her arms. Molly gazed at the cat resentfully. She was jealous. Jealous of Kevin's affection for a cat. She remembered the way he stroked Marmie's fur, those long fingers sinking deep… sliding down her spine… It gave Molly goose bumps.
She realized she was blindly, utterly furious with him! She hated the fact that he'd spent the morning interviewing strangers to take over the campground. And what right did he have to act as if they had a genuine friendship, then dismiss her just because she'd refused to go to bed with him? He might pretend he was angry because of the incident with the canoe, but both of them knew that was a lie.
Impulsively, she turned around and set the cat against the trunk of the linden tree they'd been standing beneath. A squirrel stirred in the branches above. Marmie flicked her tail and began to climb.
Lilly caught the action out of the corner of her eye and spun around. 'What are you-'
'You're not the only one running out of patience!' Molly glanced up to see Marmie scramble higher. Then she called out. '
He looked over.
'We need your help! It's Marmie!'
He picked up his stride and hurried toward them. 'What's wrong with her?'
She pointed into the linden tree, where Marmie had climbed out on a branch high above the ground. The cat yowled her displeasure as the squirrel scampered from sight.
'She's stuck and we can't get her down. The poor thing is terrified.'
Lilly rolled her eyes, but she didn't say anything.
Kevin gazed up into the tree. 'Hey, girl. Come on down.' He extended his arms. 'Come here.'
'We've been doing that for ages.' Molly eyed his sweat-soaked T-shirt and running shorts. The hair on his bare legs was matted. How could he still look so gorgeous? 'I'm afraid you'll have to climb up after her.' She paused. 'Unless you want me to do it.'
'Of course not.' He grabbed one of the lower branches and pulled himself up.
She couldn't quite contain her relish. 'Your legs are going to get ripped to shreds.'
He shimmied higher.
'If you slip, you could break your passing arm. This might end your whole career.'
He was disappearing into the branches now, and she raised her voice. 'Please come down! It's too dangerous.'
'You're making more noise than the cat!'
'Let me get Troy.'
'Great idea. The last time I saw him, he was down at the dock. And take your time.'
'Do you think there are any tree snakes up there?'
'I don't know, but I'll bet you can find some in the woods. Go look.' The branches rustled. 'Come here, Marmie. Here, girl.'
The limb where the yowling cat crouched was fairly thick, but he was a large man. What if it snapped and he really did injure himself? For the first time Molly's warning was genuine. 'Don't climb out on that, Kevin. You're too big.'
'Would you be quiet!'
Molly held her breath as he threw his leg over the limb about eight feet from where Marmie crouched. He scooted forward, making soothing noises to the cat. He'd just about reached her when Marmie stuck her nose in the air, hopped delicately to a lower branch, then proceeded to pick her way down the tree.
Molly watched in disgust as the traitorous cat reached the ground, then shot toward Lilly, who scooped her up and gave Molly a pointed look. She didn't say anything to Kevin, however, who was climbing back down.
'How long did you tell me she was stuck up there?' he asked as he dropped.
'It's, uh, tough to keep track of time when you're terrified.'
He studied Molly, his expression suspicious, then bent to examine a nasty scrape on the inside of his calf.
'I've got some ointment in the kitchen,' she said.
Lilly stepped forward. 'I'll get it.'
'Don't do me any favors,' Kevin snapped.
Lilly clenched her teeth. 'You know, I'm getting really sick of your attitude. And I'm tired of biding my time. We're going to talk right
Kevin was taken aback. He'd grown accustomed to the way she hadn't pressed him, and he didn't seem to know how to respond.
She jabbed her finger toward the side of the house. 'We've postponed this long enough. Follow me! Or maybe you don't have the guts.'
She'd waved a red flag in his face, and Kevin was quick to respond. 'We'll see who has guts,' he growled.
Lilly charged toward the woods.
Molly wanted to applaud, but she was glad she didn't because Lilly spun around to glare at her. 'Don't touch my cat!'
'Yes, ma'am.'
Lilly and Kevin headed off together.
Lilly heard the sounds of Kevin's footsteps rustling in the pine needles strewn over the path. At least he was following her. Three decades of guilt began to snuff out the temper that had finally given her the courage to force this confrontation. She was so sick of that guilt. All it had done was paralyze her, and she couldn't stand it any longer. Liam tormented her by appearing every morning for a breakfast she never felt like eating but couldn't seem to avoid. Molly wouldn't fit into the pigeonhole Lilly had assigned her. Kevin looked at her as if she were his worst enemy. It was too much. In the distance ahead, the trees gave way to the lake. She marched toward it, silently daring him not to follow. When she couldn't stand it any longer, she turned to confront him, not knowing until she spoke what she was going to say.
'I won't apologize for giving you up!'
'Why am I not surprised?'
'Sneer all you want, but have you once asked yourself where you'd be today if I'd kept you? What chance do you think you'd have had living in a roach-infested apartment with an immature teenager who had big dreams and no idea how to make them come true?'
'No chance at all,' he said stonily. 'You did the right thing.'
'You're damn right I did. I made sure you had two parents who doted on you from the day you were born. I made sure you lived in a nice house where there was plenty to eat and a backyard to play in.'
He gazed out at the lake, looking bored. 'I'm not arguing. Are you about done with this, because I have things to do.'
'Don't you understand? I couldn't come to see you!'
'It's not important.'
She started to move closer, then stopped herself. 'Yes, it is. And I know that's why you hate me so much. Not
