Fine. As someone who guarded her own privacy, she’d respect Lise’s too.
I suppose I am.And for some reason, that admission didn’t aggravate her nearly as much as she’d have expected. Molly leaned her shoulder against the brick wall, allowing it to support her weight.How in the world did you find someone so quickly?
An amendment, in the interest of greater accuracy: She’dmostlyrespect Lise’s privacy.
There was another lengthy pause, replete with yet more blinking dots.
Long story, Lise eventually wrote.Anyway, I had an idea just now. Why don’t you ask Karl to be your date? If you invited him, I bet he’d say yes, and we could hang out as an antisocial trio.
It can’t be THAT long a story, since it transpired in the last twenty-four hours, Molly felt obligated to note before reading the rest of her friend’s message. Whereupon she sighed heavily, because... was Lisematchmaking? And why was everyone and everything—including her own traitorous thoughts—seemingly conspiring to keep her in Harlot’s Bay and Karl’s vicinity?
A mosquito hovered near her face, and she absently shooed it away.
You’d be surprised, Lise texted.Anyway, what do you think about inviting Karl to the reunion?
Okay. Texting wasn’t sufficient for this conversation anymore.
“Why is the entire universe pushing me toward Karl freaking Dean?” she demanded, as soon as Lise answered her phone.
“What?” Her friend sounded befuddled.
“First he ends up with an obituary whilestill alive, under entirely bizarre circumstances. Then I somehow get word of the obit despite living over two thousand miles away.Then—”
“I mean, you did used to live here,” Lise pointed out. “So that part’s not as far-fetched. Just saying.”
“—he tells me Iwrongedhim when I cut him offtwenty fucking years ago, Lise, and thus owe him four weeks in Harlot’s Bay so he can earn my trust, which isbizarre. I live across the damn country from him, so why the hell does he care?”
“Maybe he—”
“It isn’t as if I wouldn’t sleep with him anyway, trust or no trust,” Molly said, ignoring her friend’s attempted interruption. “But when I told him that, he turned me down, Lise. Even though he had a visible erection. Like, what the actual fuck? And sure, I misjudged him a second time and thought Charlotte was his partner and had borne him two adorable kids, but that doesn’t mean I have to—”
“Those are definitely not Karl’s kids. He’s one hundred percent single and evidently ready to mingle. With you, anyway. Although not sexually, from what you’re telling me. Which, I agree, is kind of inexplicable.” Lise paused. “And apparently he also took possession of your vocabulary sometime over the past minute. Holy crap, Molly. I’ve never heard you this flustered before.”
It’d been a long time since she’dfeltso off-kilter. Even longer since she’d let someoneelsesee or hear it.
When her husband had completed his residency—the last major step toward becoming a doctor, after her work had paid for his medical school—and almost immediately announced that he was leaving her after seventeen years together, she hadn’t yelled.Hadn’t cried. Not when he’d explained that he now wanted children, as well as a younger woman to bear those children, although they’d agreed to remain a family of two more than a decade ago. Not even when she’d asked why he didn’t say so much sooner, and he’d told her she was cold and uncommunicative and difficult to talk to.
“Kind of a bitch, Molly, although you know I hate to use that word,” he’d said.
Ever since they’d met at UCLA, he’d shaken his head at her cynicism. Told her she needed to think the best of people. Told her she could trust him, rely on him, that he’d never disappoint her the way others had.
It had taken nine years before she’d believed him, before she’d agreed to marry him.
And he’d used her to finance his future, then shaken her off like a fleck of lint.
But she hadn’t cried then. Hadn’t even flinched. She’d simply thrown his ass out of their home.Herhome. When his car had disappeared around a bend in the road, that was when she’d let herself break and rage and weep. Not a moment before.
So why couldn’t she seem to feign serenity now? Had the news of Karl’s death and his subsequent resurrection unsettled her that much? Was there something in the air here at Harlot’s Bay, the last place she’d even half-heartedly tried to find a real community? Because none of this was like her. Not the spontaneous travel. Not the uncontrollable emotions.
Grief. Joy. Guilt. Anger. And now—anticipation? Fear?
“He...” A saline-scented breeze blew a strand of hair into her mouth, and she moved it aside with a hooked finger. “He was really caring and patient with Charlotte and her kids, Lise.”
Lise’s calm, matter-of-fact tone was a balm for all that raw emotion. “She’s been working at the bakery since she was a teenager, and the father of her kids has addiction issues. And she’s sweet as pie, so over the years, she’s sort of become Karl’s surrogate daughter. He helps her out however he can. I think he even babysits on a regular basis.”
“Oh.” Her suede loafers were going to start pilling if she kept scuffing them against the sidewalk. “So naming her son after Karl—”
“Was a tribute to a man she loves like a father.”
