of chatter and noise met his ears as his senses returned.
“Yeah?” Hunter glanced down at the boy for a fraction of a second. “What?” He looked back to where Molly had been, but she’d moved.
No! his heart cried out. He had to find her and talk to her. He had to know if she was seeing someone or if she might be available to be his again.
“Tucker’s gone,” Deacon said, and that got Hunter to focus.
“What?” He turned around, expecting Tucker to still be collecting his bag from the floor. He wasn’t there. He wasn’t anywhere behind Hunter. “Where did he go?” He scanned the front doors, but bright sunlight poured into the building, blinding him.
“Hello, Hunter,” Molly said, and Hunter felt like he was being whiplashed all over the place. He swung around again, and she stood in front of him now, definitely older than the girl he’d first crushed on, but still just as beautiful. She smiled and tucked her hair, just as she’d done in the past. He remembered when he’d tucked it for her, and then kissed her. He’d done that many times, and he wished he could think of something else. Anything else.
“Hey, Molly,” he said. “I, uh, sort of have a problem.”
Her smile faltered, and she glanced at Deacon. “You do?”
“Yeah,” Deacon said with plenty of five-year-old sass. “He lost our brother.”
Chapter 2
Molly Benson had felt an incredible energy when she’d arrived at church that morning. She hadn’t known what it was, and her father’s sermon, while great, hadn’t been the source of Molly’s excitement that day the way she’d expected it to be.
Now, she stood face-to-face with Hunter Hammond, having been drawn across the foyer toward him by some unseen magnetic force. He was the reason for the renewed energy at church today, and Molly wished the Lord had given her some hint that the boy she’d shared her first kiss with would be standing in front of her that morning.
He wasn’t a boy anymore, that was for sure.
In fact, he’d bulked up and grown another four inches during the last three years of high school, and Molly had regretted breaking up with him more than anything else in her life.
At least until she met and married Tyrone Hensen.
Trepidation moved through her, and she told herself it was because Hunter’s brother was lost, not because she’d already been divorced before she’d turned twenty-five.
“What’s his name?” she asked, glancing around for another miniature of Hunter Hammond.
“Tucker,” Hunter said, and he raised his voice and called the name again. He looked at Deacon. “Did you see if he went outside?”
There were three entrances to the foyer, one on each slanted side of the front of the church. Molly’s mother and father stood next to the one on the right, as that one led to the parking lot most patrons used. The crowd had thinned enough now that Molly could look over her shoulder and meet her mother’s eye.
She managed to convey that she needed help, and her mother started toward her. “We can split up,” she said. “My mother will have seen him if he used the west door.”
Mama arrived, and she said, “Hunter Hammond. How are you?” in the most pleasant voice. She stretched up and hugged Hunter, and Molly was jealous of her mother. Ridiculous, but oh, so true.
Hunter smiled, and such a gesture should be illegal because of what it did to Molly’s pulse. “Real good, ma’am.”
“He’s lost Tucker,” Molly said as they parted. “Did you see him go out the west door?”
“No.” Molly’s mother sobered and looked from Molly to Hunter to his little brother. “Let’s check out front.”
“I’ll take Deacon out the east door.” Hunter moved that way, and Molly couldn’t seem to get her feet to work.
“Mols,” Mama said, and Molly jolted back to attention. She didn’t have time to stare after the handsome man Hunter had become. As she followed her mom out the front doors, she wondered if Hunter had felt any of the electricity she had. Had he simply moved on? Was he married? What was he doing now? Where was he living?
He might not even be back in town for good, Molly told herself. Don’t go getting your hopes up.
There were a hundred different things that could keep Molly from reconnecting with Hunter, and her mind started to list all of them as a defense mechanism.
She heard Hunter calling for Tucker around the corner, and her mother did the same thing. A little boy came