Chasing Summer: Date with Destiny / Marooned with the Maverick / A Summer Wedding at Willowmere. Abigail Gordon

      ‘Hm. Wayne’s not exactly popular with you, is he?’ Mike commented.

      Salome shrugged. ‘He’s all right, I guess. I hardly know him. Neither does Molly,’ she added pointedly. ‘Certainly not enough to have him stay.’

      ‘He’s living with your mother?’

      ‘He moved in yesterday,’ she said curtly.

      ‘Ahh...I see... Hence your move to the penthouse.’

      ‘Exactly.’ Salome pushed open the car door and climbed out on to the footpath. Mike alighted from his side, a sardonic smile on his face as he walked around to join her. ‘And here I was, thinking you had succumbed to the fatal attraction of living next to me.’

      ‘Mike! Salome!’ Molly called from the driveway. ‘Come on in. You’re just in time!’

      ‘In time for what?’ Salome muttered under her breath.

      ‘Now, now, be nice,’ Mike whispered, sliding an arm through hers. ‘Besides, your mother is a grown woman, entitled to live her life as she sees fit. You demand the same rights, don’t you?’

      ‘Well, yes, but—’

      ‘But nothing! Let the woman have her fun.’

      ‘F-fun?’ Salome spluttered, outraged. ‘I’ll have you know that she’s been having fun with men since before I was born. Always at my expense, I might add. Do you have any idea what it was like, having a procession of creepy uncles living with you? Most of them young enough to be my boyfriend, instead of Molly’s, with libidos to match? I had to have eyes in the back of my head, trying to outwit their octopus hands!’