No Safe Secret by Fern Michaels Page B

addict. She only cared about the next man, and it didn’t matter who he was as long as he could provide her with drugs, alcohol, and a place to flop when she needed one.
    By the time Maddy was fifteen, she had three part-time jobs as well as continuing with school, studying as hard as she could, and making straight As. It was then that she’d started paying rent on the trailer. She’d thought her mother owned the tin box, and she had at one time, but she’d sold it to some guy for a wad of cash on the condition her kids could live there, explaining to him that her daughter would pay the rent. It was a great deal for her mother. It was a terrible deal for Maddy, but she didn’t really have much choice.
    But now, she thought, as she continued down I-95, she had a choice. And she was not going to live like white trash ever again.
    She’d arrived in Boston at four o’clock the next morning. Exhausted, she’d driven through the city, stopping in Cambridge, just north of Boston, at an all-night diner near Harvard, a place called Lou’s. It reminded her of the diner on Happy Days . She and Cassie had spent many hours laughing at the characters’ antics, both secretly wishing for the normal and often silly lives of the characters they admired so much.
    Inside the diner, the floor had large black-and-white-checkered tiles, the booths were red faux leather and the tabletops a pale-gray Formica.
    Even though it was still early, the place was pretty full. Students , she thought, as she glanced at the diners. Some had piles of books on their tables, with notebooks and cups of coffee beside them. Others were dressed in business suits, and some wore what looked like hospital scrubs. Quite a mix , she observed, as she found a seat at the long counter that stretched across the entire restaurant.
    She sat down on a high stool at the counter. A young girl about her age asked, “What’ll you have?” She quickly ordered black coffee, two scrambled eggs, toast, sausage, and a side of bacon, with home fries and a large glass of milk. When the food was placed in front of her, she focused her attention on eating every single morsel she’d been served. This wasn’t going to be an everyday thing, she told herself. But as a reward of sorts, she’d decided to start her new life with a good, hot meal.
    â€œI don’t think I’ve ever seen a girl eat that much in my life,” the man seated two seats down from her commented.
    Maddy looked at him, her eyes doubling in size. Had he followed her? Were they on to her already?
    â€œI’m Tanner. Dr. Tanner McCann. And you are?”
    Maddy wanted to faint, but instead, she held out her hand, offered a slight smile, and said, “I’m Molly Hall.” It was then she realized how she must look and realized how stupid it was to give him her name, even if it was fake.
    Dr. Tanner McCann was older than she, but not so old that she didn’t appreciate his good looks. His coal-black hair and compelling blue eyes, the assured set of his shoulders, the way he held her hand when she’d offered it—all left no room for doubt: this guy was somebody, and she had no business pretending she’d fit in with his kind.
    â€œWell, Molly Hall, what brings you to Lou’s this hour of the morning?” He let go of her hand, but not before giving it a slight squeeze.

Chapter Five
    M olly returned home, unloaded her purchases, and for the next three hours, she chopped, mixed, chilled, and sautéed. When she finished, she set the formal dining-room table with her best china and the eighteen-karat gold utensils that Tanner had insisted on purchasing years ago when he’d decided that their dinner parties needed a touch of class, that having the best of the best would impress his colleagues. Personally, Molly thought they were just a bit gauche. But if Tanner wanted her to use gold utensils at their dinner parties, she would.