It Took a Rumor Read Online Free Page B

spent most of her free time on the ranch with the men. She went to college, worked hard, and by the time she got back home, most of the girls she’d gone to high school with had married and begun families. It wasn’t that that precluded them from being Ivy’s friend, it was just that they seemed to look at her with distrust once she’d arrived home in her business clothes with her business degree. She’d set herself apart by choosing career over family, as if one couldn’t have both, and was therefore outside their sphere of interest.  
    Molly was the one exception, probably because her bad attitude and behavior had driven everyone else away. And probably partly because she was a preacher’s wife, which always held with it a sort of social exile. Regardless, Ivy was grateful for Molly’s friendship. It made her feel a little less pathetic.  
    “Richard is a good man,” Ivy said lamely.
    “Richard is a good man,” Molly agreed. “And I love him. But I need this. I knew the moment Boone turned those heat-filled eyes of his my direction that there was no quenching this urge except to be with him. It’ll run its course and Richard will be none the wiser. We’ll all live happily ever after.”
    Shit, what was she supposed to say to that? It was so delusional and yet so straight-forward. “Well at least don’t meet at the same hotel.”
    “What other hotel is there? This is Fair Grove.”
    “Go one or two towns over. Eldridge. Oak Bluff. Anywhere but here.”
    “It’s not a big deal. I’ll have your truck and the night manager doesn’t know us. We’re being careful, trust me.”
    Did the woman not even think about the consequences of her actions? Even barring the infidelity sending her straight to hell, what about how it was affecting Ivy? If indeed their first rendezvous had been the start of the rumors, then Molly might consider Ivy’s feelings. Hell, Boone had at least had the decency to own up to his part in it, though it didn’t seem to be stopping from continuing in sin.  
    Ivy sank back on her bed. It was an abuse of her friendship, wasn’t it? Molly stood there preening, not a care in the world. “You know, my truck parked next to Boone’s truck outside that hotel…that’s probably where Myra got this idea that I was sleeping with one of them.”
    “Oh, psh.” Molly fluffed her hair in the mirror. “Myra’s an equal opportunity gossiper. She tells stories about everyone.”
    “Don’t blow this off. It’s a big deal to me.”
    With a long-suffering sigh, Molly came and sat on the edge of the bed. She took Ivy’s hands. “I’m sorry an old hag no one listens to is defaming your good name. But why don’t you just acknowledge it? So what? Say you slept with Dallas, he sleeps with everyone. That’s the secret to gossip. Once you put the truth out there, it stops being interesting.”
    “That wouldn’t be the truth. It would be a lie. Because I haven’t slept with Dallas.”  
    “So make the lie a truth and sleep with him. What’s the harm? He’s hot. He’ll do it. Then you can go forward in church on Sunday, repent of your sin, and be welcomed back into the community. No big deal.”
    “You’re a very different person than me.”
    “Don’t be a bitch. You know it’s more fun being me than you.”
    “I can forgo the kind of fun that hurts people.”
    Molly threw her hands up and returned to the mirror, taking up her eyeliner. “You should have married the preacher. You’d both have a lot of fun up there, the sole occupiers of the moral high ground.”
    It was on the tip of her tongue to tell her to fuck off, but Molly gathered her things, blew her a kiss in the mirror, and left.  
    Of course it was appalling what Molly was doing. It left Ivy mildly nauseous and continually desiring a shower, not that a shower could wash away this kind of dirt. But the worst part was that Molly was right. She really did have more fun. Not that Ivy approved of her kind of fun, but she