Page 24 of Rekindled

Theresa rolled her eyes. “I highly doubt someone like you ever had friends.”

“Stop it, Theresa,” Spencer said with a protective tone. “Molly didn’t deserve you’re bullying back in high school, and she doesn’t deserve it now.”

Theresa’s eyes grew round with shock as she flipped her curly brown hair over her shoulder. “Whatever you say, Spencer.” She glanced past him and said dismissively, “There’s a line growing and I need to help people that actually count.”

As Molly and Spencer made their way further into the ballroom, he asked beside her, “Are you all right? You seemed to be somewhere else back there.”

She glanced up at him and forced a smile. “I’m fine. This is all just so overwhelming. It’s more than I anticipated.”

“Just relax. It’s going to be a nice night,” Spencer coaxed.

“Easy for you to say; you were popular in high school. The golden boy coming home to rule over his graduating class. I didn’t have that experience, as you well know.”

“Yes, but people change. Plus, you must have had some friends on the debate team, right?”

Molly was shocked. “You remember what I did in high school?”

“I know I messed up at the end of our relationship, but it doesn’t mean I didn’t care. I remember everything we talked about.”

Against her will, she felt her heart warm a tiny bit more towards Spencer. It felt good to know that not everything between them had been a lie.

“Why don’t we grab a set of seats for the dinner portion of the night?” Spencer suggested.

Molly nodded as Spencer guided her over to one of the center tables. If it had been up to her, she would have picked one more towards the back, but she decided not to fight it.

They sat down at the table, and one of the catering waiters brought them each a glass of iced tea. Several of Spencer’s football buddies came over and said ‘hello’ to him. They glanced skeptically at Molly and gave her a cold greeting before leaving the table. The other six seats remained empty and Molly wondered if they were going to be the social pariahs of the evening. If that was the case, she was going to have a much more difficult time than she had anticipated, getting people to talk about Spencer and his job.

Tired of being at an empty table, and deciding to focus on her work, Molly excused herself from the table. “I’m going to head to the restroom. I’ll be back in a bit.”

After she collected her thoughts, she could circulate in the room to talk with people and see who had useful information. Someone had to know something which could point her in the right direction.

As Molly turned down the hall to go to the restrooms outside the ballroom, she heard the familiar voices of Theresa and Regina talking. She stopped in her tracks, evaluating whether she should try to get past them, or turn back around to leave.

“I can’t believe she had the nerve to show up here,” Theresa said with indignation. “Why would Molly Price think anyone would want her here?”

“It sure looked like Spencer wanted her here,” Regina stated with disgust. “It makes me wonder if the rumor about her having his baby is true. It sure would explain why he was so protective over her, not to mention why her parents sent her away so quickly.”

Molly had to put her hand over her mouth to keep from making an audible gasp. She had no idea such a rumor had circulated about her when she left. She knew people would speculate why, but she had no idea they would think something so outrageous as that would be why.

Nausea formed in the pit of her stomach, causing Molly to want to throw up. She chocked back the bile, and tried to remain calm as she continued to listen.

“Really? You believe that? I don’t,” Theresa countered. “I think it was because her stalking of Spencer got so bad, her parents had to hospitalize her in a psych ward. Tiffany told me that Molly was relentless going after Spencer. I mean, look at her now. She’s already back at it, showing up with him here.”

“He doesn’t seem to mind it though,” Regina pointed out, “which makes the secret baby more plausible. Her parents are probably watching the kid right now.”

Not wanting to deal with them or their lies, Molly turned around and headed back the way she came. As she weaved back through the small groups of people talking, several heads turned to look at her, and then turned back to whisper to one another, making it clear they were talking about her.

Though Molly knew she needed to talk to people about Spencer and his job, she couldn’t muster the energy with what was going on around her. Instead, she plopped down in the seat next to Spencer and leaned back in it.

“You look upset,” Spencer noted as he narrowed his eyes. “What happened while you were away?”

“It doesn’t matter,” she said, shaking her head. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Tell me so I can go deal with it. Whoever upset you should—“

“There you two are,” Sarah said, interrupting them without realizing it. Next to her was a blond man who looked vaguely familiar. “I was hoping there would be empty seats at your table.”

Molly gestured to the unoccupied chairs around them. “Take your pick. I don’t think you’ll be fighting anyone to sit next to us tonight.”

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