AllFreeNovel
Share Us
An exhale crackled over the line. "That's fantastic. She's safe?"
"Yes. It was all a misunderstanding." I reached over and squeezed Hailey's hand and she flashed me a shy smile.
"Wonderful. Well, I'll follow up with you at home in a little while. I'll go downtown and let the search party know she's safe."
I furrowed my brow. "Search party?"
Ricky chuckled. "Yeah, man. Molly organized one."
"Molly?" My heart skipped a beat, and Hailey shot me a knowing look.
"Yeah. You haven't seen the Facebook post?"
"No, I was out searching for Hailey myself."
"Well, the entire town has turned out to help look for her. Molly is one hell of a woman, man."
I chuckled and smiled down at Hailey, who was looking at me with wide eyes. "That she is, Ricky. That she is. Thank you for all your help. We'll see you later."
"Alright, take care."
The call ended, and I looked over at Hailey. She had a huge grin on her face, and I couldn't help but smile back.
"What?" I asked, laughing.
"Nothing," she said, shrugging. "Just glad to see you smiling again."
I ruffled her hair and pulled her in for a hug. "Me too, kiddo. Me too."
We drove home in silence, the only sounds the hum of the engine. There was so much on my mind that I couldn't hold on to one thought long enough to finish it. But one thing was for sure, I needed to talk to Molly.
"Dad?" Hailey's voice broke through the silence, startling me.
"Yes, Hailey?"
She looked over at me, her eyes serious. "What are you going to do about Molly?"
I sighed, gripping the steering wheel tighter. "I don't know, but no more meddling."
"You could apologize. Maybe buy her flowers. Girls like flowers, right?"
I laughed, shaking my head. "Some do, sure. But it's a little more complicated than that."
"How so?"
"Well, it's not just about the apology. It's also about the feelings that caused the argument in the first place. If I'm not ready to admit them, then an apology is just empty words."
"Gotcha. Kind of like how I don't feel sorry for setting you and Molly up, only for the problems it caused you."
"Exactly."
"But you can't just sit there and brood. You have to talk to her, Dad. You have to let her know how you feel."
I glanced over at Hailey, surprised by the wisdom in her words. "I will. I will. But first, let's get you home and grounded."
Hailey was right, but I still thought Molly and I had gone too fast. But was it really too fast or was it too good?
I had never been a man of many words. But when I did talk, I always meant what I said. So if I was going to talk to Molly, I had to be absolutely certain I knew what I wanted to say.
