AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Mollie looked up at me with her pretty little blue eyes. “I thought she would be my mommy.”
My gut clenched, that Ellie’s actions would affect Mollie. Granted, there hadn’t been anything to indicate Ellie would ever be Mollie’s mother, but hadn’t I been thinking that perhaps there was a future for us?
“Why did you think that?”
“Because I saw you kiss her. Daddies kiss mommies. And you used to smile when you saw her. Now we don’t see her and you’re sad too.”
Jeez, she was perceptive. I kissed her head. “You don’t need to worry about me or Ms. Webb, okay?”
“Are you guys mad?”
Royally pissed. But I decided to change the subject. “Hey, baby, I think I found us a house. Want to see it?” Of course, I couldn’t buy the house I’d seen with Ellie, because there was no way I could use that bathroom and not think about how I’d fucked her there. But if it would get Mollie on a new stream of thought and have her preparing to move this summer, I’d take her to see it.
“Does it have a pool?”
“No, but it has room for us to build one someday.”
She looked up at me, and I was thinking she was going to be a tough sell. But finally, she nodded. “Okay.”
Surprisingly, Mollie liked the house a lot. The bedroom that would be hers had a window seat that she took to immediately. She also enjoyed the large yard, asking if she’d be able to get a dog. I was non-committal about that, even though I thought it would probably happen. Mollie and I would never have a traditional family. Tiffany made sure of that. And Ellie reminded me why trusting a woman was risky. So, it would just be Mollie and me, and perhaps a dog in our family unit. Along with my parents, we really didn’t need any more than that.
On Thursday, I was finishing the first draft of a sales letter, when Rick called saying Angela would be out that night and asked if I wanted to go out. He offered to be my wingman if I was still wanting to hook up with a woman. I declined the wingman offer but did say going out for a drink would be nice.
We set a time and I made arrangements for my parents to babysit Mollie while I was out. At seven, I strode into the local bar and found Rick already at the back nursing a beer and watching a sports newscast on one of the many jumbo TVs around the bar.
“Hey, man,” he said when I joined him. “Hope you don’t mind, I started without you.”
I raised my hand to get the waitresses attention. “Don’t mind at all.” I ordered my beer and asked Rick, “So, all is right with Angela?”
“Yeah.” He shook his head like he couldn’t believe the situation he was in. “I thought for sure love was a bunch of bullshit, but I have to say, she might be the one.”
“Last week you two were on the outs.” How could he know she was the one when they’d only been back together for a short time?
“I think I knew before and it scared the shit out of me, which is why I went nuts on her.” He took a sip of his beer. “Now, I’m not saying I’m buying a ring just yet, but it feels right with her, you know?”
I shook my head because I didn’t know. All I knew was that even though I was angry at Ellie, I missed her. I missed her humor and how gentle she was with Mollie. I missed her beautiful smile and sweet personality. I was fucked.
“So, what’s the deal with you and Ellie? Angela said she needed to be with her tonight because of something between you two.”
I scoffed as I leaned back to the let the waitress serve me my beer. “She’s the one that ended things, so I’m not sure why she’d be upset.”
Rick tilted his head to the side. “You can hardly blame her with her job on the line. Besides, you said you weren’t serious about her.”
“What?” I stopped mid-drink of my beer.
“You said you weren’t serious—”
“No, about her job. What do you mean her job was on the line?”
He stared at me for a moment. “She didn’t tell you? There’s some crazy rule at her school that teachers aren’t allowed to date parents. I guess she decided to break that rule, but apparently, her boss found out. At least she wasn’t fired, but she was told that it was you or her job.”
“That’s fucked. But she made her choice.” Turns out I may have lucked out if she put her job above her relationships.
Rick leaned forward. “You’re a bastard you know that?”
I jerked back. “She chose her job over me, and I’m a bastard?”
