Otherwise Engaged Read Free

two years ago, wasn’t it?” he asked.
    “Three,” Molly said. “I’m surprised you even knew. Chuck Cassidy’s passing wasn’t exactly considered newsworthy.”
    “His obituary was in the local paper.” She blinked. “Here? On Sunrise Key?” “Yeah. According to local legend, he used to come down here for vacations all the time, back fifteen, twenty years ago. He even lived down here for a while. It was before I came to the key, but there’s still a picture of him up on the wall at Millie’s Market.”
    Molly turned away. “I didn’t know.” It was amazing. Another secret. Another piece of himself that Chuck hadn’t shared with her. He’d never told her anything about Sunrise Key, Florida.
    But then again, Chuck hadn’t told her much about
anything
.
    The Beach Boy was watching her and she forced herself to smile.
    And change the subject. “So, what is it?” she asked him. “Mike? Or Tom?”

TWO
    H E BLINKED . “Excuse me?”
    “Your name,” Molly said. “No, don’t tell me. It’s Brian, right?”
    His name. She honest to God didn’t know who he was. Well, of course she didn’t—she wouldn’t have insulted him right and left if she’d known.
    Not that he felt insulted. On the contrary. He was amused by her vehemence. What had she called him? Pompous. He didn’t think he’d ever been called pompous before. Certainly never to his face, and probably never even behind his back. Overbearing. He didn’t
think
he wasoverbearing—not the way some of his classmates at Harvard had been. He was intensely aggressive at times, yes, but never overbearing. And as for egotistical. Well … Perhaps she wasn’t quite off base there, since it was maybe a
little
egotistical to assume that Molly Cassidy would automatically know who he was.
    But on the other hand, he’d known exactly who she was the first time he saw her.
    “So am I right?” She was smiling at him as she led the way back into the hall.
    He followed her. Right about what? Then he remembered. His name. “Brian? Nope. Not even close.”
    At first glance she looked completely average. She had light brown hair, made darker now from the rain. It was a little longer than shoulder length, with a light fringe of bangs that framed her oval-shaped face.
    “Pete.”
    He shook his head as they went down the stairs. “I honestly don’t think you’re going to guess.”
    Her nose was unremarkable, neither too big nor too small and her mouth fit nicely beneath it.Her eyes were a very common shade of blue. She wasn’t too short or too tall—just a nice, average height. She was slender, but not too skinny. Her oversized T-shirt attempted to hide her curves, but the sudden downpour of rain had drenched it, and now it did quite the opposite, clinging to her nicely proportioned body. She looked to be in her mid-twenties, but he knew she had to be older. Her boy was at least nine or ten years old.
    “Steve?”
    “No.”
    “Okay, I give up. What is your name? Bill, right?”
    He laughed. “I thought you gave up.”
    She was a mom and a widow, and she looked the part. Wholesome. Average. Nothing special.
    At first glance.
    But Pres had had the opportunity to take a second glance at very,
very
close proximity up on the roof of the house.
    And up close, her hair had shone with overtones of gold. It was baby-fine and soft as the purest, most expensive silk as his hands had brushed against it. Up close, her seemingly average nose had a smattering of ridiculously perfectfreckles across it, and her lips looked incredibly, heart-stoppingly soft. She was quick to smile, and that smile lit her from within, transforming her and making her look anything but average.
    And up close, her eyes were so much more than common. They were filled with flecks of green and gold and brown, swirling in and among an ocean that never stayed the same warm shade of blue for long.
    “It’s my major fault,” she admitted. “I have this inability to give up. Just tell or I’ll