“And you’re scaring me by not talking about it. What is it? Whatever it is, we’ll figure it out. You know I’ve got your back, Will too.”
Her ovaries squeezed. She’d never be able to settle down with a man. Her daddy, Will, and Finn, had ruined all other men for her. They were all the things Cleo’s book boyfriends were made of. Molly couldn’t have Finn, but she wouldn’t ever settle for less than Finn either.
“It’s not me.” It was, but she wasn’t going to tell him that. At least not yet. She couldn’t bring herself to say it aloud. Being confronted with her mortality in the doctor’s office was one thing, speaking it out loud, sharing it with someone who cared for you… she wasn’t there yet.
His nostrils flared. “Who? Mom?”
Her breath caught like the thorn of a rose stem pricked her lungs. “Kind of. Your birth mom, not your bonus mom.”
She let him sit with the information for a moment in silence. His hand clenched on his thigh and he cast his eyes toward the ground. After a few audibly deep breaths, his chest and shoulders heaving with visible effort, he nodded. “What about her?”
“She called to see Mom.” Her fingers were cold, her hands shook harder than when she was in the doctor’s office.
His handsome face hardened. “What did she want? And why didn’t Mom tell me?”
Molly’s hand twitched. The urge to reach out and squeeze his hand was almost too overwhelming to think of anything else. But if she touched him, if she allowed herself to slide her hand over his, if she took a step over that line, she wasn’t sure she’d ever have the strength to drag herself back.
She caught a droplet of condensation from the side of the can and wiped it along the aluminum. “Mom texted me this morning at the rink. She said your mom came to visit, she wanted your cell number so she could call you to talk. Mom said she didn’t give your mom your number, she took hers instead, but she wasn’t sure how you’d react or if you’d even want to know. She was asking what I thought and I told her I’d talk to you.”
She twisted her hands in her lap. “I dunno. I guess I figured it would land better coming from me… Stupid…” She barely whispered the last word, but he heard her.
“Not stupid. Kind. I appreciate it.”
Her heart stuttered along in her chest as she scanned his face for any sign of reaction. “I feel like I need to remind you that she doesn’t have the right to come back into your life if you don’t want her to. You wouldn’t be a terrible person if you wanted to maintain your distance and boundaries. She might have made the first move, but if you’re not ready to talk to her, you don’t have to. Even if you’re never ready to talk to her. You need to protect yourself and your own mental health.”
He nodded, but stayed silent.
“And you don’t have to talk to me, either.” She gave a small smile.
“I know I don’t.” He heaved out a long sigh. “I don’t mind talking to you.”
She snorted. “High praise, Sparky.”
His mouth twitched but she still wasn’t rewarded with a smile. “I…” He raked his hands through his auburn hair and when he met her stare again, his cornflower blue eyes shone. “I don’t know if I can see her after all this time.” His voice was thick.
“Then you don’t have to.”
Seeing him so broken, so fragile, unlocked the box of anger in her chest. She hated his parents for doing this to him. She understood that they’d lost a child, but that didn’t mean they could abandon their surviving son to fend for himself. Did his mother know that his dad beat him? Did she turn a blind eye? Waves crashed in her stomach like a raging storm against the side of a jagged cliff.
“And if I want to?”
She ached to reach out and wrap her arms around him, to protect him from any more pain. But she couldn’t. “If you want to…” She paused, digging her fingernails into her thighs so she wouldn’t touch him. “I’ll go with you.” Her breathing quickened. “Or Will. If you’d rather he go with you, I know he would. As much as you both have my back, we have yours, too. You know that.”
Finn nodded. “You’d really come to see her with me?”
“Or sit with you while you call her. Of course I would. You’re family, Finny. We love you.”
I love you.
“And if I fall apart?”
“I’ll always patch you up.” Her voice broke as her backstabbing heart flexed in her chest. She’d walk through fire for the man sitting in front of her and he had no idea.
He gave a watery smile and sniffed. “I’m going to think on it. I don’t want to make a snap decision.”
She nodded, staring at the untouched pasta and soda cans sitting between them on the table. He would call her, she knew it. He wasn’t the kind of guy to abandon people when they needed him – and his mom might need him. And if she broke him again, Molly would be there to pick up the pieces, even if it ripped her up inside.
“What else?”
