Chapter 26

Molly spentthe night at Hayden’s after the carnival. Did she always plan to stay there or was it to avoid me? Whatever the reason, I left a surprise on her bed. I’m hoping she sees it before she leaves.

I keep busy raking leaves, taking care of the pre-winter yard maintenance Remy won’t have time to get around to. The dull aches in my shoulder and knee keep reminding me not to get carried away.

Around one o’clock, Molly’s car pulls into the driveway.

I glance over as she steps out wearing a hot-pink, velvet tracksuit with a red sequined heart on the front and pink flip-flops so small, her toes hang over the front.

Our eyes meet and I bite my lip, trying to hide my laughter.

“Don’t you dare say anything,” she warns, her voice carrying through the backyard.

“What in the early 2000s Legally Blonde are you wearing?” I manage between chuckles.

“Shut it!” Ignoring my amusement, she pulls a bag out of her back seat, then rips off the flip-flops and tosses them inside.

I rest my rake against a tree and hurry to help her.

“Want me to take that?” I lift the heavy bag out of her hands and catch a glimpse of her balled-up black velvet dress and boots inside.

“My beloved boots betrayed me last night.” She lifts one foot, showing me the large Band-Aid across her heel.

I wince in sympathy. “Ouch. You all right?”

“I’ll live.”

I follow her into the house.

In the kitchen, she takes the bag from me. “I need to sort this stuff and then pack to go back to campus.”

“Already?” I can’t hide my disappointment. I thought she’d at least stick around for dinner. Is she leaving because of me? Am I making her uncomfortable in her own house?

“I have some stuff to do to prepare for tomorrow,” she explains.

“Okay. Remy know you’re leaving?”

“I said I’d stop by the bar on my way out.”

“That’s good.”

She hesitates, lifts her bag, then sets it down.

“Did you eat?” I ask.

“Oh yeah.” She rests her hand over her stomach. “Lots of pancakes.” She turns away. “I have to go pack my stuff.”

“Yeah, yeah.” I back away slowly. “I’ll be outside.”

I want to follow her upstairs. But I force myself into the yard again. My knee throbs in protest. I stop and study the yard. Still plenty to do but I put a good dent in it. I gather the tools I used and return everything to the shed.

The screen door screeches open. “Griff?”

Molly steps onto the porch, now in jeans and a purple sweatshirt. Her feet are still bare and her long hair’s pulled into a messy ponytail. The black stuffed bunny I left on her pillow dangles from one hand. She lifts it and waves it at me.

“Thank you.”

I spread my hands wide, feigning confusion.

“It was you who left it, I hope?” Her smile falters and she lowers the bunny to her side. She steps down into the grass.

I lift my eyebrows, still playing confused.

“Stop it. I know it was you.” Her expression softens as she comes closer. “I have a question, though.”

“What’s that?” I cross my arms over my chest, my heart quickening.

“How did you know I tried to win something just like this last night?”

It’s not “like” it. It’s the exact one she was trying to win from the creepy dude running the skeleton toss game.

“I was out and saw it.” Not a lie. “It reminded me of your devil bunny costume.” I shrug, as if I hadn’t watched her try over and over to win the creepy little fluff ball.

She laughs and holds it up and examines it. “I guess you’re right.”

“So you like it?”

“I do.” Her smile fades. “Thank you.”

She waves her hand around at the piles of leaves. “I’ll tell Remy you’ve been busy here.”

“Tell him he needs a leaf catcher attachment for his lawn tractor, too, while you’re at it.”

“Suure, I’ll get right on that.” She glances down at her bare feet. “I need to find some shoes that won’t bother my heels.” She mumbles a hasty goodbye and hurries into the house again.

A few minutes later, I go inside too.

In the mudroom, she has her bags of clean laundry lined up. The rabbit’s sitting on top of her backpack. I grab her stuff and haul it out to her car.

I load everything in the back, then set the bunny on the front seat and pull the seat belt around him.

When I’m done, I stare at the back porch. No sign of her yet.

I can’t do this.

I can’t watch her leave when we haven’t fixed anything between us, yet.

And I can’t make her stay here, either.

I go inside and grab my keys off the kitchen counter. I wait a beat. Scuffling and banging echoes from upstairs. She must be tearing her closet apart looking for shoes.

Grabbing my jacket from the hall closet, I slip out the front door. My car’s parked at the curb. I slide behind the wheel, fire up the engine, and get the hell out of there.

* * *

Hours later,I’m back in Remy’s house, going out of my mind with boredom. Definitely overdid it this morning.

Resting and recovering, hell, just sitting still in general, have never been easy for me. My knee’s cursing me out for all the yard work, and fire burns from my shoulder to my wrist.

By the time I hear Remy’s car in the driveway, I’m jittery as all hell.

I limp to the front door and open it before he has a chance.

“Jesus Christ,” he breathes out. “You’re supposed to be my roommate, not a butler. What’re you doing?”

Feeling like an idiot, I step back and shrug. “Trying to be nice. Sorry that’s such a confusing concept for you. Thought you might have your hands full.”

He holds out his empty hands. “Is that your way of saying you ate all the eggs?”

I snort. “No. I ran to the store this afternoon and bought groceries.”

“Good roomie.” He pats my head like I’m a damn golden retriever. “Yeah, Molly said you took off before she left.”

I shrug, not really wanting to explain myself to him. “I had stuff to do.”

“You mind?” He sweeps his hand through the air, indicating I should move away from the hall closet.

“Are you always this grumpy when you come home?”

“Probably.” He opens the closet door and stares. “Fuck.”

“What’s wrong?” I step behind him, expecting to find a colony of mice living in his coveralls based on his expression.

“We’re supposed to get a lot of snow this week.” He gestures to the coats neatly hanging in the closet. “Molly didn’t take her coat or her boots.”

“I’ll run them out to her.” The words pop out of my mouth without a second thought.

He turns and rolls his eyes at me. “Really? You’re going to drive allllll the way out there to give her a coat and shoes?”

“Well, yeah. If it’s really going to be that cold…” I shrug. Who am I kidding? Of course I’d drive out there to bring her anything she needs no matter what. Remy has to know that.

“Maybe they cancel classes for snow,” he mutters.

“It doesn’t matter. I’ll take them out to her.” I squint and jerk my head toward the door. “Are you sure, though? It’s kind of early for snow, isn’t it?”

“Nah. Remember that one Halloween my mom sent us out trick-or-treating in snow boots?”

How could I forget? “Yeah, you kept bitching they ruined your Spiderman costume.”

He chuckles at the memory. “You were such a suck-up. ‘Yes, Mrs. Holt, I’ll wear my boots,’” he says in a high, mocking tone.

The bittersweet memory stings less over time, but I still miss Remy’s mom more than I ever talk about. “I wouldn’t have had any winter boots if it hadn’t been for your mom. So, yeah, if she wanted me to wear them, I was wearing them.” My own mother barely knew if I was alive from day to day, let alone if I had weather-appropriate clothing. Even when Mrs. Holt was sick, she always made sure her kids had what they needed. Thankfully, she included me too. And later, so did Remy’s grandparents.

The teasing smile melts off his face. “She loved you too.”

Other kids might have gotten jealous about the attention Remy’s mom showered on me. But he never did. If anything, it made him happy she treated me like one of her own. “I know.”

He pulls out his phone and taps out a quick message. Then stares at the screen while he waits for a reply. I jam my hands in my pockets. His phone buzzes and he sends another text.

Done with the exchange, he glances up. “She says Tuesday would be better. There’s a cafe she likes near her dorm. Meet her there at nine? Is that too early?”

Too early? I’d go set up camp there right now if I could. “No.” I lift my chin at the phone in his hands and stuff down my annoyance that she answered his text so fast when she still hasn’t unblocked me. “Are you going to tell her I’m coming instead of you?”

“Nah, bro. I actually want her to get her stuff and she’ll probably dodge you if she knows you’re the one delivering it.”

“Thanks,” I grumble. “We got along okay this weekend.”

“Yeah, and then you took off before she left.”

“Was she that mad about it?”

He shrugs. “I don’t know. More like, confused? Hey, if she gets mad when you’re there instead of me, just toss the stuff at her and run.” He taps his fist against my arm and heads into the kitchen.

Using deception isn’t how I wanted to repair my relationship with Molly. But now I feel even shittier for not saying goodbye to her. This visit can be a sort of a do-over.

Besides, my desire to see her again outweighs my guilt about Remy tricking her into the meeting.