Chapter 40

CHAPTER FORTY

MOLLY

I don't know where Ellen took off to, but she's not gone for long. When she comes back to our room, she announces, "I ran into Blake. He's leaving tomorrow."

I stop packing mid-sweater. " He's leaving?"

She nods her head once. "He said to tell you how sorry he is."

"Where did you run into him?" I all but jump down her throat.

"In the hall. He was on his way to his room." She hurries to add, "He feels really bad."

"He should."

"Molly," my sister says as she crosses the room and hops up on the bed. "Journalists often need to practice anonymity. It's the only way for them to get the real story."

"He's writing about us , Ellen. Don't you think I should have known that was going to happen?"

She shrugs. "Not necessarily."

"You don't think it's my business to know my personal life is being used to entertain the public?"

She blows her nose before saying, "We have to run everything through legal. Nothing he was going to write would have broken any laws."

"Are legalities the only litmus test you use for deducing a good relationship? If so, it's no wonder Henry broke up with you."

Her face contorts into a look of pure shock. "That was mean."

"But not against the law." I throw her words right back at her.

"You know, I was glad that Blake is leaving because I thought it would give the two of us some nice time away together. But if this is how you're going to act, then I'm going back to Chicago, too."

"Good," I hiss at her. "Go."

In response, she calls downstairs and asks for a room for the night. When she hangs up the phone, she says, "The lodge is fully booked so I'm going to have to stay here. But don't worry, I'll be gone in the morning."

Ignoring her, I turn around and walk into the bathroom. As I start the shower water running, I realize this isn't Ellen's fault. Well, it is in the sense that I'm here at this time because she finagled me a spot at the singles' event. But it's not her fault that Blake lied to me.

Getting into the shower, I let the hot water rain down on me. My skin is so sensitive it feels like hot pin pricks stabbing at me. I let the water envelope me until my skin starts to prune. Then I get out and towel off.

After slipping into my nightgown, I walk back in the room. Ellen is on her phone doing her best to ignore me.

"I'm sorry," I tell her. "I know it's not your fault how things worked out. I just don't like your standing up for Blake."

"I'm a journalist, Molly. I do what Blake did all the time." She asks, "Remember Davis Fulton?" At my blank expression, she reminds me, "The musician who was accused of sexual harassment by his assistant?"

"Oh, yeah, him." It's no wonder I forgot with how inappropriate the music and film industries are. It's like you haven't arrived until you've been accused of aggravated assault.

"I pretended to be his new assistant to get the scoop on the guy. He didn't find out who I really was until I quit and my article ran."

"And that wasn't illegal?" I want to know.

"It would have been had I signed the confidentiality agreement he gave to me. But I put off doing that. It's not my problem he trusted me when I told him I gave it to his agent."

"But you were searching for the truth to help people." I hate that I'm starting to see her point. "You know, so that no one else fell victim to the guy. How is what Blake is doing helping people?"

"He's finding out if this is a decent event for single people to invest their money in. How is that not helpful?"

I let that sink in for a minute before deciding. "Fine, he's helping people. But he should have never started something with me based on false pretenses."

"He knows that," Ellen says. "But you were simply too irresistible to stay away from."

Climbing onto the bed next to her, I crawl under the covers. "Don't try to flatter me. It won't work."

"I'm not trying to flatter you. I'm simply suggesting there might have been some mitigating circumstances, that's all."

Changing the subject, I ask her, "What are you going to do about Henry?"

She sighs loudly. "I don't know."

"But what about Melissa and Sammy? Don't you think they made it look like this whole stepfamily thing can be good?"

"You know they do, which is why you introduced me to them. But Henry has three kids. Three little kids who haven't even gone through puberty yet. That's going to be rough no matter how you look at it."

Snuggling deeper into my nest, I tell her, "It'll be a lot easier with you joining the family now. They already know you and love you, Ellen. That's not going to change if you marry their dad."

"Maybe." She doesn't sound convinced. "I was hoping that you and I could stay here for a few days together. What do you think?"

"That sounds nice," I tell her. "So long as you don't talk about Blake."

"Fine, but I have a condition of my own." As if I can't see this coming from a mile away. "No talking about Henry, either."

"Fine," I tell her snippily.

Ellen gets under the covers next to me. "Remember when you were really little, and you would wake me up in the middle of the night to get you ice cream?"

"Remember how you always did it?" I laugh. "That was really cool of you, Ellie."

She scoffs. "I only did it so you would go back to sleep." She cuddles in next to me. "It's funny how life turns out, isn't it?"

"You mean how the men in our lives have been so disappointing?"

"Only a couple of them," she says, which makes me think she might be realizing that she doesn't want to lose Henry. She adds, "I was thinking more of how special it is that I got a younger sister. I'd just about given up hope of having a sibling and then boom, in comes this dark-haired little cherub to love."

"You're a great big sister, Ellen. I'm lucky to have had you." That's the truth. Ellen doted on me and bent over backwards to do fun things with me. When she went away to college, she let me come and stay weekends with her. When she graduated from college and got her own apartment, I would go and stay for a week at a time during my summer break.

I've complained a lot about how controlling Ellen is, but as I look back, I realize she was just trying to protect me. She was trying to make my world safe. And I love her for that. I just wish that now that I'm grown, I could do the same for her .

I suddenly have an idea. Getting out of bed, I grab my phone and go back into the bathroom. If this works, then maybe, just maybe, I can repay some of the debt I owe to my sister.