She shook her head, staring at herself in the bathroom mirror. It had to be guilt feeding her paranoia, there was no way Dad could know that Finn was her boyfriend. Right?
She couldn’t splash cold water on her already made-up face, but she ran the faucet, letting the cool water pass over her wrists as it loosened the tight knots in her chest.
“We’re heading out to the car.” Mom’s keys jingled together as she picked them up from the bowl next to the door. “Lock the door behind you, Molly.”
“Yes ma’am.”
Awkward wasn’t a severe enough word to describe the drive to the graduation ceremony. Sandwiched between Will and Finn in the back seat of her parents’ SUV, with her thigh pressed against Finn’s, Molly held her breath for almost the entire ride.
When Dad helped her out of the back of the car, she heaved a full breath. His soft eyes radiating warmth. “You okay, Mol?”
She nodded. If she opened her mouth she’d squeal like a sinner in a confessional box. It wasn’t the time or the place to unburden her shoulders.
Mom hugged Will and Finn, tears in her eyes. “I’m so very proud of you both.”
Will rolled his eyes, but Finn’s welled with unshed tears. “Thanks Mrs. M. My mom should be here to meet you any minute.”
Finn had snagged a last minute ticket for his mom to attend the ceremony. He’d met her once a week over the past month, and while things weren’t magically fixed between them, they were both making a concerted effort to get to know each other and move forward.
She’s missed out on enough,he’d told Molly while he paced Cleo and Molly’s kitchen, trying to make a decision.She should be able to come if she wants to come, right? If she wants to watch me graduate… I can’t take that away from her. It’s an once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Molly bit down on her lip. Dad hugged both boys, and said he was proud, too. Molly threw her arms around Will, gripping him like it was the last time she was ever going to see him.
“I can’t say I’m surprised you’ve done so well, Willy. But I will say I’m proud, and more than a little envious of just how well you do. At everything.”
Mom handed him his gown from a hanger in the trunk. “Don’t forget this.”
Finn rocked back on his heels, searching Molly’s face. Was he seeking permission to hug her? Steadying her breath, she stepped toward him, straining against the urge to launch herself at him. Pulling him into a hug, she breathed him in. “I love you, Finnegan.”
His arms tightened around her at her whispered confession.
“I’m so proud of you, Finny.” She stepped back, speaking at a normal volume so everyone else could hear and shoved his shoulder playfully. “Try not to fall on your faces out there, mmkay?”
Mom gave Finn his gown and the two men turned to leave.
Dad’s knowing smirk smacked the panic button in Molly’s chest. He had to know. He didn’t seem mad about it. Just amused. She’d have to talk to him at some point, but if – by some miracle – she was wrong and he didn’t know, she didn’t want to tip him off either.
Ugh. Why was everything so complicated? Molly was many things, but a global woman of mystery she was not. She would never make it as a spy. Only a month in and she was already flagging from all the deception and sneaking around.
Mom shrugged. “Or a woman. I’m not picky. I just want grandbabies.”
“I can get pregnant from a one night stand, you know.”
“Meabh! It’s so nice to see you.”
Molly cringed. While she didn’t care whether Finn’s mom liked her or not, she could have done without the woman hearing how she could get knocked up from a one night stand.
“Hi.” Meabh wrung the front of her shirt as Mom pulled her into a hug. “I’m so proud of him.”
The woman collapsed against Mom’s shoulder in a wave of tears and Molly struggled not to break.
While the two mothers hadn’t been friends before, they’d bonded since Finn opened the door for Meabh to come back into his life.
Mom said they talked on the phone a couple times a week, and they had coffee together sometimes too. Mom would pull out old photo albums of Finn’s late teen years and his college life and tell Meabh about the time she had missed. Mom said she couldn’t get enough.
“You could definitely do worse for a mother in law.” Dad’s voice was so low Molly wasn’t sure she’d heard him until he winked at her. She could only assume he winked and it wasn’t her own eyes twitching at the information her brain frantically struggled to process.
“You know.” Her voice was a croaked whisper.
