Molly nodded, but after the way his mother had reacted, she doubted the woman would ever “calm down.”
He leaned forward and kissed her on both cheeks. Suddenly overwhelmed with emotion, Molly pressed her lips together.
“Hey.” Jake brushed a lock of hair back from her face. “It’s going to be okay.”
“Is it? I hate confrontation, and sometimes, this adulting business is hard work.”
“It can be.” He opened the car door for her. “What are you up to this weekend?”
“I have a family dinner Saturday night, and not sure about Sunday.”
“Same. Shall I call you on Sunday then?”
Molly slipped into the driver’s seat and fastened her safety belt. “Sure.”
Jake continued to hold her attention as he entwined the fingers of one hand with hers. “So you understand what’s happening here?”
She hesitated. “I think so.”
“No confusion?”
Molly shook her head.
A slow smile warmed his features. “Good.”
22
A dinner at Little Brown Barn had been Jake’s mother’s idea. Her sister, Elaine, was in town for a few days with her husband, Bruce, and Jake’s younger cousins, Chloe and Rachel, so a family meal seemed the best way for everyone to catch up.
Soft piano music played in the background as the server escorted them to their table. Illuminated by a low-hanging pendant, dimmed for both aesthetics and functionality, the setting rivaled any Jake had seen in Europe.
After chatting with the girls for several minutes, Jake looked over to a long table of around twenty people that flanked the deck and the river beyond. He recognized Mitch Harrington from Lime Tree Hill first, then Luka O’Leary, a local search and rescue pilot who was married to Molly’s cousin CeCe. And as he ran his gaze along the table, there, at the head, sat Molly.
With her hair swept up off her nape and that raspberry-red lipstick on those kissable lips, this Molly was an intensified version of stunning. Jake recalled the after-party at Petrie Park, when his fascination with her first escalated. Lying in bed that night after she dropped him off, he knew that one day soon, they’d cross the line he’d initially determined not to cross.
Now, he could think of little else.
Molly offered the suggestion of a smile, as if they’d shared a playful private joke, then turned her attention to an older woman seated on her right.
Throughout the meal, Jake—thankful his mother sat with her back to Molly’s table—struggled to hold his attention where it should be. He loved Elaine and her family, but with his parents now divorced and Jesse gone, some days, he just didn’t have the mental capacity for family gatherings.
After the mains, Jake shifted his attention to Molly’s table again, and for a moment, he longed to join them. To be a part of the world she’d created for herself here, where life was still a daring adventure to enjoy. It reminded him of his weekends in Paris, when he and his friends would party until sunrise, then stagger home for a couple of hours’ sleep before work on Monday morning.
And as he reminisced about it now, he realized how much he missed that part of his old life.
Jake excused himself for the restroom and pulled his phone from his pocket while waiting for a vacant stall. But as his fingers hovered over the screen, words failed him. How could he tell Molly he’d been thinking about her—wanting her—for weeks? That the very sight of her stirred a longing so deep it overwhelmed him?
He inhaled sharply, knowing that if she agreed to his request, there’d be no going back.
Jake:I’d like to see you later. I’ll leave a light on.
He pressed send before he had the chance to change his mind. Later, as he washed his hands, a rowdy rendition of “Happy Birthday” echoed along the short corridor.
“…dear Molly.”
It was her birthday, and he’d had no idea.
As the clock struck midnight, Jake drew back his bedroom curtains a fraction, then slipped into bed. He’d received no reply to his suggestive text, but it was her birthday—she’d probably still be out, dancing at some club with her friends, giving no thought to him and the kiss they’d shared. The kiss that had hovered in his head ever since.
