Page 41 of Nobody's Fool

That seems to be all they need.

Molly and I sit at our kitchen table finishing up breakfast.

Maybe it’s thinking about the Belmond money or whatever, but this kitchen suddenly feels too small and dated. I want better for Molly and Henry. I want to have a job again with a steady paycheck. I don’t want to see her worry, especially about money. Not ever. Old-fashioned thinking, and Molly would probably hit me for even considering it, but it should be my job to make sure she never has to worry about how we will pay our bills. I don’t say this in a bitter way or any of that. A wise (rich) man once told me that the best part about having a lot of money is that you didn’t worry about money. I feel that right now. I want that for us. For Molly.

“My coming home late last night has nothing to do with you and me,” I say.

“I know.”

“You do?”

“Yeah, silly. You love me. It’s written all over that goofy face of yours.”

I can’t help but smile. “It is, isn’t it?”

Forget what I said before. What man is wealthier than I?

“So what’s wrong?” she asks.

I decide to just say it. “Do you remember the case of Victoria Belmond?”

Her face indicates that wasn’t what she expected to hear. “The rich girl who was kidnapped?”

“Yes.”

“You didn’t kidnap her, did you?”

Gallows humor. I love this woman.

“Uh, no,” I say. “But I may have dated her.”

“Wow.” Molly tilts her head. “When?”

“About two years after she was kidnapped.”

She waits for the punch line. None comes. “You’re serious?”

“Twenty-two years ago, I went to Europe with a bunch of guys from college after we graduated.”

“You told me that earlier—”

“Right, I know.”

“—but not before today. Not a word about a college trip with the boys. Which I thought was strange.”

“Because I didn’t stay with them very long,” I say.

“Why not?”

“Early on, I met a girl named Anna. We hooked up in the Costa del Sol of Spain. I liked her, so I told the guys to go on without me and I stayed with her.”

I stop.

“Sami?”

“And now, for the first time in all these years, I saw her again.”

“Anna?”