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She shook off the silly thought. That kind of thing was Lila’s territory. Lila didn’t just talk to animals, she even believed she could communicate with plants. Even though Molly had a hard time believing that to be true, she’d learned through long experience not to doubt Lila. She would certainly be able to hear whatever music the snow was dancing along to.
Someone tapped on her door. It had to be Lila, since if the other person she knew in town, Sam, showed up, he’d probably bang, not gently tap.
Was he really some kind of “secret agent,” whatever that meant? She hadn’t been able to make out all of his conversation with the man in the cowboy hat, but what she’d heard hadn’t added up to an innocent chat with a fellow barfly.
She padded to the door and opened it to let Lila in. Her friend wore a long grayish cable-knit sweater that extended all the way to her knees, and a thick pomegranate-red scarf wrapped around her neck. Her eyes shone so brightly that Molly wished she had shades.
“Did you see the snow? It’s a magnificent morning! We have to get out and enjoy it because it’s going to snow again tonight, then it’s supposed to warm up and melt away after that.”
“I’m…good. I can enjoy it from here. I have a window.”
Lila pulled a backpack off her shoulder and set it on the floor. Squatting down, she extracted a Thermos. “I thought you might need some dark roast from Guyana. It has notes of vanilla and oak.”
“How…”
“Bear takes special orders. He got it for me.”
Molly took the Thermos. “But you don’t even drink coffee.”
“No, but you do.” Lila smiled up at her. “Unless you’ve quit caffeine along with your job?”
“Absolutely not.” She unscrewed the cap and took a swallow of the rich, life-giving liquid. With a sigh, she sat down on the edge of the bed, taking a moment to straighten out the covers. Lila toed off her snow boots and joined her, taking her favorite cross-legged position. “So you knew I’d come.”
“I hoped you’d come. I hoped all of you would.” Lila’s mouth turned down for a moment. Although she usually wore a happy smile, when it disappeared her face held an aching sadness. “But I knew that if anyone did, it would be you.”
“Why didn’t you just tell us where you were going?”
“What would be the fun in that?”
“The fun?” Molly thought about tossing her Thermos against the wall, but then she wouldn’t have any coffee to drink.
“I knew that you’d just blow it off if it wasn’t a challenge. You can’t resist a puzzle or a riddle. And you’re so good at solving them! How long did it take you to figure out where I was?” Her bright smile begged Molly to forgive her, but Molly wasn’t quite ready.
“You know what would have been fun? Knowing you weren’t in trouble.”
“How do you know I’m not in trouble?”
Molly set the Thermos on her knee. “Are you?”
Lila didn’t answer for a long moment. “I’m not sure. There’s something…I’m not sure.” Her violet eyes met Molly’s. “That probably sounds nuts.”
“I’ve learned not to use that word with you.”
“That’s probably a good thing, but sometimes I’m not so sure.”
Molly gave another long sigh. She could never stay mad at Lila. “It might have been fun to not quit my job to come find you.”
“Would it? You hated that job. It was killing you.”
“It wasn’t killing me, I was killing it. I got what’s-his-face a better divorce settlement than he ever dreamed of. I managed to break the unbreakable prenup. In fact, he might hire me as his in-house counsel when I go back. Then I’ll get to do all kinds of fun stuff like fight environmental restrictions and…okay fine, I’m glad to be out of that job.”
Lila just smiled. She wasn’t one to say “I told you so,” which was good because she would have been saying it a lot.
Molly sipped her gourmet coffee and basked in the presence of her friend. When was the last time they’d hung out like this, just sitting together with no schedule, nowhere else to be, no emails pinging into her phone? Just…being? She couldn’t even remember.
“Can I ask you some questions? Like, a whole bunch of questions?” she asked Lila.
“Of course. You can ask me anything. I’m so happy you’re here, you have no idea! This place is perfect, the only thing missing was my friends. And now you’re actually here! It’s like a dream!”
