Page 37 of Rekindled

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After kissing Spencer the night before, Molly went to bed conflicted over how to handle her investigation into his career. A restless night of sleep didn’t help anything.

As she ate breakfast, she made a decision she was going to change tactics. Rather than try to find out if the allegations were true, she was going to try to prove they were false.

Even if her boss got mad, she would rather know she fought for Spencer instead of letting him go down for something he didn’t do.

Molly started to form a plan in her head. She could go to Spencer’s office and poke around. If she noticed anyone there was acting odd or had a vendetta against Spencer, it could explain what was going on.

Molly rinsed off her plate and mug with soapy water in the sink, then set them in the drying rack.

“What are you doing today?” her mother asked from behind Molly.

“I thought I would go surprise Spencer with coffee this morning,” Molly said as she dried her hands on the kitchen towel by the side of the sink.

Her mother frowned and shook her head.

“What is it?” Molly inquired. “I can tell you have something on your mind.”

“I’m just worried about you.”

“What? Why?” Molly asked with confusion.

“It’s just all starting to happen again. I was excited when you first came home, thinking maybe we could reconnect and build a closer relationship,” Beverly said with concern as she reached out and placed her hand on the side of Molly’s arm. “Then you started spending time with Spencer Conrad again. I’m worried you’re going to get wrapped up in him again. I don’t want you to lose yourself. I made the mistake of ignoring the warning signs the first time, and didn’t say anything. I won’t do it again.”

Molly gave her mom an appreciative smile. “Mom, I understand your concern, but that’s not going to happen. Spencer and I are very different people than we were in high school.” She picked up her purse, and headed towards the front door. She stopped, turned around and added, “And for the record, I want us to build a closer relationship too. It’s one of the reasons I decided to stay longer than just the weekend.”

“And what is the other reasons?” her mother probed.

“You already know the answer to that,” Molly said with a smirk. “Spencer Conrad.”

Five minutes later, Molly pulled up in front of the coffee shop and grabbed six cups of coffee along with a half a dozen muffins. She figured it couldn’t hurt to show up with an offering of good will.

Ten minutes after that, she entered the Public Defenders Bayfield downtown office. She checked in at the front desk and asked for directions to Spencer’s office. She made her way through the cubicles until she reached the hallway that lead to his office.

A brown-haired woman with glasses was sitting behind a desk in front of Spencer’s office. She glanced up and gave her a smile. “Well, if it isn’t Molly Price. How are you doing?”

“I’m great,” Molly stated, trying to mask her confused look.

“You probably don’t remember me. I’m Jane Sternman. I was a class behind you and transferred in mid-year of my sophomore year. We only went to school together for a couple of months.”

“Oh, then how do you recognize me?”

The other woman raised her eyebrows, then shrugged. “Everyone who went to Bayfield High knew who you were Molly, after what happened and all. I want you to know, I think it was rotten, and more should have been done to those who did it.”

“Thank you,” Molly said. “Not many people are of that same opinion. It’s nice to know I had at least one person on my side.”

“It was more than one,” Jane corrected. “Most of the people I hung out with felt the same. Everyone was just too afraid to stand up to Tiffany and her followers.”

“Again, that does make me feel better about the whole thing. I always felt so alone, like no one cared what happened to me.”

“So, I’m guessing you’re here to see Spencer.” Before Molly could question her how she knew, Jane added, “Allison told me what happened at the dinner last night. He should be back by the end of the hour. He had to go to court on a case.”

Molly offered a cup of coffee and muffin to Jane who gratefully took both. “Why don’t I give out the rest of these, and I can place the last set in Spencer’s office.”

“Sure. You can wait for him inside his office after you’re done.”

As Molly made the rounds, passing out her goodies, she casually asked questions about Spencer. Nothing useful came up, and she didn’t notice anyone who seemed upset with him.

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