Page 97 of Letters to Molly (Maysen Jar 2)

I was expecting him to knock her off her feet with another sexy smile. But instead of looking at her, he turned to me.

I got the smile.

“Thank you,” he mouthed.

A single nod was all I managed in response.

“So, um . . .” Ashley muttered. “Let’s go back to the other side. We’ll do some stretches and see how your pelvis is feeling.”

Pelvis. She was always saying pelvis. She always touched his hip when she did.

I hated that Finn didn’t seem to mind.

I concentrated on work, doing my best to block out her giggles. But whenever I looked up from my computer, Finn seemed to be glancing my way.

He probably wanted me to disappear, go get coffee or something. Maybe he was waiting for a moment alone to ask her out.

Unable to focus on the financial projections I’d been working on all week, I shut my laptop and stowed it in my bag. Then I left the room, striding down the long hallway that led outside the physical therapy office.

I sent Finn a text that I was outside before wandering down the sidewalk, the sunshine warm on my shoulders. I found a small garden in front of the building, bordered by a thick cement ledge.

The garden was peaceful. All the plants circled a small rock fountain. The varying shades of the leaves and flowers made a spiral that burst with color. I sat on the ledge, mesmerized by the swirl of yellows fading into oranges and then reds. White flowers on emerald vines wound around the border.

It was a new discovery in an old town that was changing by the minute.

Bozeman wasn’t the quaint Montana town it had been when I’d been a child. It was now one of the fastest-growing cities in the country.

The sunrises over the mountains were too beautiful. The lush, green fields of the valley were too breathtaking. The winters, when the trees were blanketed with snow that glittered beneath the sun, were too majestic.

Everyone wanted to live here.

Except me.

If not for the kids, I would have considered moving after the divorce. But I didn’t want to take them away from Finn. There was no way he’d move away from Alcott.

Bozeman’s growth was part of the reason Alcott had been so successful. In the early years, when Bozeman was expanding faster than laborers could keep up, his services had been in high demand. He could have worked twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week and it still wouldn’t have been enough to keep up.

Maybe that was why I resented Bozeman’s growth so much. Not just because the town I’d loved as a child was gone forever, but because that growth had played a part in ripping my marriage to pieces.

“Hey.”

I jumped at Finn’s voice. “Oh, hey. I didn’t hear you come out.”

“It’s fine. Are you okay?”

I nodded and hopped down from the ledge. “Just thinking.”

“About?”

“Bozeman. None of this was here when I was a kid.” I waved my hand to the new building across the street from a new subdivision and new community park.

“Did you know I did this?” He pointed to the garden where I’d been sitting.

“You did?”

“Yep. Two or three years ago. I can’t remember. The years are blurring together.”

“It’s stunning.” Maybe that was why I’d been able to tune out the world so quickly and actually think for a change. Finn’s work created serenity.