After a time neither of them bothered counting, Edmund looked up, sniffed to clear his nose, and said, “You hungry?”
Molly rolled her eyes and thought, Boys. But she said, “Sure, what’d you have in mind?”
“Barbecue?”
She nodded, and they walked together over to The Notorious P.I.G. Edmund deliberately chose a slightly longer route than necessary, and although Molly knew where they were headed, she didn’t object. After a while, they started talking again, about books, classics and pulp, about Maine and Montana, about Marvel movies…normal, happy things to talk about.
At the P.I.G., Edmund ordered them two pulled pork sandwiches, mac & cheese, and potato salad, which were dished up for them in short order.
As they sat down, before they began eating, Molly asked, “Do you really think you’re crazy?”
Edmund looked at his sandwich, looked around at the others sitting in the restaurant, and looked back to Molly before answering. “No. But I absolutely think that you need to stay the hell away from all of this.” And he took a bite of his sandwich.
The food was great, although he suspected his neighbors in Greensboro would’ve had other opinions. The barbecue was sweet and spicy, and nothing was as satisfying as tender, saucy pork.
As they sat and ate, Molly told him stories of hilariously obnoxious customers, and he told her about chasing down a particularly elusive bug in an inventory management program one time. Molly was not particularly interested in programming, but was fine with listening to Edmund explain it.
As Edmund wiped a smear of sauce off his cheek, he realized that he felt…happy. Happy in a way he hadn’t in a long time. Spending any time with this girl was risky, probably stupid, but…he felt happy.
He collected their trays to take them to the trash can. When he returned, Molly said, “You know, I never see you fiddle around with your phone. Everyone fiddles around with their phones all the time.”
Edmund pulled a grey, old-fashioned flip phone from his coat pocket. “Smart phones are not a wise choice in my line of work.”
“As mayor.”
Edmund smiled a bit and gave a sardonic nod.
They headed back to the park. Edmund decided he actually wanted to be home that night, and didn’t want to make that drive in the dark, so it was time to head out.
They walked in silence for a minute before he said, “Molly, I like you. You’re a smart girl. But you don’t know what you’re getting yourself into.”
Molly walked a few more steps before replying, without looking back at him, “Do any of us? Ever?”
Edmund didn’t have an answer for this, and they walked the next couple of minutes in companionable silence. When they reached the parking lot, Molly headed for her car, a dark red, mid-2000s Corolla, it looked like. Edmund stopped about 25 feet short of her car and watched her walk away.
When she reached her car and started unlocking the door, Edmund made a decision.
* * *
Molly headed to her car. It wasn’t sunset yet, but the sun was in the west, and growing large and just-tolerable to look at.
It had been an odd afternoon, not bad, but definitely unusual. She guessed it had gone…well. She didn’t really know what outcome she’d expected.
She fumbled in her purse for her keys. She usually put them in one of the side pockets, but this afternoon, she’d dropped them into main compartment, and now they were under…everything. Ah, there they were.
She heard someone behind her, and felt a hand on her arm, though not rough this time. She turned. Edmund leaned in and kissed her. Molly pulled away for just an instant, then leaned in and kissed him back.
When he stepped back, she looked up at him a moment, then said, “Mr. Dantent, I like you, but you don’t know what you’re getting yourself into.”
Edmund laughed quietly, turned his head away, then turned back to her.
She smiled. “Good night.”
Then she got into her car and drove away.
The Mayor of Christ Mountain 
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