AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chelsea nudged her again. “You weren’t even thinking about the restaurant, were you?”
She shook her head and shrugged.
“Are you going to give him another shot?”
She shrugged again.
“What’s the harm?”
Molly had to laugh. “What’s the harm? You really don’t know?”
“No. It seems quite simple to me. The two of you were great together ten years ago—”
“Twelve. It’s been twelve years.”
“Okay, however long ago it was, you were great together. Now you’re both single again, and from what I understand, he wants to give things another try. You haven’t shown much interest in anyone since him, so why not?”
Molly stared at her for a few moments. How could Chelsea not understand that he’d broken her heart, destroyed her when he’d chosen to leave Napa and go back to Sicily. How could she think it would be so simple to trust him again, to forget what he’d done—to forgive him. That was the biggie. Ever since she’d seen him at Antonio and Mary Ellen’s wedding, she’d wrestled with the fact that she’d never forgiven him. She should, she knew that. They’d been kids. He admitted to her at the wedding that he’d been a stupid kid who’d made a horrible mistake. It sounded easy if she just said the words: forgive him. It wasn’t so easy to do though. It wasn’t that she held a grudge, more that she had a self-preservation instinct. Forgiving him would mean opening herself up to let him break her heart again. She wasn’t sure she was strong enough to survive that a second time.
“I don’t even know who he is anymore. He doesn’t know who I am. There might be nothing there between us. And even if there is something, who knows if we could make it work? All I’ll say for now is that it will be good to see him again, but beyond that—who knows?”
Antonio turned around in his seat and met her gaze. “He hasn’t forgiven himself any more than you have.”
Molly looked into his eyes for a long moment. In some ways, he and Marcos were similar; in others, they were poles apart. “I’m not getting into it, Antonio. Like I just told Chelsea, it’ll be good to see him again.”
Antonio smiled. “Okay, okay. I’ll be quiet … after I tell you that he’s looking forward to seeing you, also.”
She nodded. Her heart was racing—maybe she was going to have a heart attack? It wouldn’t surprise her the way her heart had kept doing that for the last six months. Every time his name came up, every time she thought about him. She was stressing herself out, and she needed to stop it.
Mary Ellen had turned in her seat and was smiling at her. “I’ll change the subject for you, Molly.” She scowled at Antonio. “He needs to learn to let things go. He’s just not very good at knowing when he has to.”
Molly had to smile as Antonio landed a kiss on Mary Ellen’s lips. “But,bella, some things are too important to let go. Molly’s happiness and our babies are not things that should have to wait.”
Chelsea squealed. “Are you two trying for babies!?”
Antonio grinned and nodded his head emphatically.
“Not yet!” Mary Ellen tried to sound firm, but she couldn’t hide her smile.
“He’s right,” said Chelsea. “Why wait?”
Molly gave Mary Ellen a sympathetic smile. “It runs in the family. They don’t get it, do they? They think everything’s straightforward and that it can happen right this minute.”
Mary Ellen nodded. “I hear you. I do want babies.”
Antonio kissed the top of her head. “Lots and lots of babies.”
They all laughed as she pushed him away.
“But I have to get the timing right. I need to figure things out at work and—”
Antonio blew out a big sad sigh. “We must have a predetermined timeline, we must be organized. She must be in control.”
Mary Ellen smiled at him. “You’ve known this since we got together, you can’t start complaining now.”
“It is true. And you have known that I am Sicilian, and I want a big, loud family.”
Chelsea laughed. “So, you want a big, loud family, but you don’t seriously expect Mary Ellen to give up her job and be a stay-at-home mama, do you?”
