“It does sound like fun.” Molly glanced down at her empty plate, then reached for another slice. “Guess I could think about it.”
“Great. I’ll pencil you in.”
With that, her fate was sealed. Whenever CeCe sharpened her pencil, the outcome was set in stone.
Molly’s thoughts turned to the card in her bag. Initially, she’d wanted to keep it to herself, but with a glass of red warming her insides, she decided to seek her cousin’s opinion. “While we’re alone, I have something to show you.”
“Yeah? What?”
“Remember that envelope of mail you brought to the patisserie last week, the one I almost left behind? Well, guess what was inside.”
CeCe sat back in her chair and waited.
“A card… from the man himself.”
“Who? Jesse? What did it say?”
Molly rose from the table and removed the envelope from the side pocket of her bag. She handed it to CeCe, then watched as she pulled out the card and opened it.
“‘Our parting forever stilled my heart.’ You have got to be kidding me. You hear nothing from the guy in eight years, and now he’s here, baking pastries and sending you love notes? Is he serious?”
“It’s a bit weird, isn’t it?”
“A bit? It’s more than a bit.”
“And another thing that’s never made any sense,” Molly continued. “A month after he dumped me, he sent me a pair of autographed drumsticks. No note, no return address, just the drumsticks.”
“What? You never told me that. Do you still have them?”
“I didn’t tell anyone. They’re in Mum and Dad’s attic. I’ve no idea why I kept them all this time.”
“In case he became famous?”
Molly chuckled. “Anyway, I went back to the patisserie today to return the card, but he wasn’t there, and I spent every minute of the drive over here trying to figure out why I felt the need to see him at all.”
“Closure?”
“Why is life always about closure? I’ve had more damn closures than I care to remember.”
CeCe slipped the card back into the envelope and held it out to Molly. “Just ignore it. No good will come of you being reactionary. Perhaps after he saw you at the lights that day, he just wanted to set the record straight.”
Molly shook her head. That had been her first thought as well. “But the card’s postmarked December, and I first saw him again on Valentine’s Day.”
“December? Where’s it been all this time? Hanging out at the post office?”
“Patrick’s not the most organized. It will have sat on the back seat of his truck for weeks.” Molly rose from the table and collected their plates. “Anyway, enough about Jesse Sinclair and his poetic reflection. What’s the dessert deal?”
“I may have a tiramisu to tempt you.”
“Yes! Who needs sex when you have tiramisu?”
“So you haven’t had any for a while, then?”
“What? Tiramisu?” Molly chuckled. “It’s been so long that I hardly remember what it feels… I mean,tasteslike.”
4
Even on his days off, Jake made a habit of swinging by the patisserie at the close of business to ensure the place was locked and instructions for the next day were loaded on the computer.
