The sun overhead shone brightly enough to dazzle her, and she squinted as she gazed down the street. “Quit interrupting me, Lise.”
“Make me, Mol.”
After a moment of companionable silence, Molly confessed, “The whole Charlotte-Karl thing is... really endearing. And maybe...” She cleared her throat. “Maybe part of me does want to agree to his stupid plan. But if I stayed...”
Her friend allowed the silence to stretch, then broke it. “If you stayed... what?”
“I might get too attached.” Her mouth worked. “I mean, we live across the country from each other. I don’t have the bandwidth right now to do a long-distance thing, Lise.”
“Hmmm.” Lise sounded skeptical. “Is that the only reason you’re hesitant to stay?”
Molly did her best to feign confusion. “What do you mean?”
Her thespian abilities and training had entirely abandoned her, though. Only a fool could fail to recognize the attempted dodge, and Lise was far from slow.
“Molly. You know what I mean.”
Sure enough. “Yeah. I know what you mean.”
“Then you might as well say it.”
Dammit. She really needed to pick less perceptive friends.
With a sigh, she closed her overly dry eyes against the glare from the diner’s windows and admitted everything. The whole ugly truth.
“I’ve loved two men in my entire life. Both of them turned out to be duds.” In different ways, but each way had ended in a failed marriage. Her mother’s. Her own. “It hurts, Lise. More than I like to admit. I don’t want to...” She swallowed hard. “No, Ican’thurt like that again.”
Lise made a humming noise. “And you think you could love Karl too, given enough time together.”
“I think part of medidlove Karl, twenty years ago.” Her temples were beginning to ache again, and she rubbed at them with her free hand. “So... yeah. He’s dangerous.”
Her overdramatic reaction to that damn obituary—after two full decades apart!—had made that much clear.
“Because you don’t trust him not to betray you somehow.”
“Because if he’s the kind of man whowouldbetray me, I wouldn’t see the red flags, no matter how closely I paid attention. Because if hedidbetray me, I wouldn’t realize until far too late, and I might...” Her chin dipped to her chest, and she exhaled shakily. “I might not ever be able to put myself back together afterward.”
If someone else she cared about left her, betrayed her, disappointed her, she’d probably make herself a blanketed burrow inside her recording booth and never leave again.
Lise’s voice had turned gentle. “So you’re scared.”
“Yes.” She hated admitting that. Always had.
“I get it. I really do. But...” Lise was silent for a moment. “Hey, Molly?”
“Still here.” In fact, her feet currently felt glued to the sidewalk.
“What if youcantrust Karl? What if hewouldn’tlie to you or betray you? Even if you don’t owe him, don’t you owe yourself a chance to find out what could happen between you?” Lise hesitated. “Because you’re very alone in LA, Mol. I worry about you.”
Frowning, Molly opened her eyes. “I don’t want you to worry about me.”
Sure, she was kind of isolated back home. But that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Right?
“I know. But I worry anyway, because I love you. Consider it a free gift with purchase.”
Molly might not be able to see her friend’s smile, but she could hear its warmth. Hear the honesty Lise was offering her.
Was this what it felt like to have a best friend?
