AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Getting to Bree’s house, we’re joyfully greeted by her dog and only see a hint of the teenager that they’re fostering—as he hightails it down a hallway when we’re all still in the foyer. I let out a sigh of relief when Bree tells Tabby, Charlie, Riley, and me that Flint will be out for a while.
We dig into Bree’s buffalo chicken dip, and can’t help but to tease Tabby who decides to start with a cupcake. Our camaraderie helps me shrug off the long hours I work and eases my longing for my family.
“Molly?” Bree calls, and I can tell it wasn’t the first time she said my name. “Welcome back. I was asking where your family is from.”
“Oh, well, my mom was from a small town in Indiana, and I don’t know about my dad,” I answer her, continuing when she raises her eyebrows in question. “My mom left home for a few years after she turned nineteen, and she came back with me. Grandma once told me that Mom had decided to put me up for adoption, but at the end of her pregnancy, she just couldn’t do it. When she was certain she was keeping me, she called her mom and asked if she would be welcome back, with me, of course.”
“It sounds like you’ve lost her,” Bree says, reaching over to gently squeeze my arm. “I’m sorry, honey.”
“Mom passed when I was seven, which was before I really knew to ask questions about my father,” I tell them, noticing thateveryone is listening to the story that I had only shared with Jessa before. “I’ve submitted my spit to a couple of those DNA databases, with no luck. I wouldn’t say I’m actively searching for him, but Rowansville was along a trail of breadcrumbs Mom left, and when I got here—I just really liked it.”
“I don’t know if you know this,” Bree says, sliding a small piece of flatbread down to Ragnar. “A couple of years ago, after I was widowed, I was just kind of aimlessly traveling around the country, not really sure of where I wanted to live, and I happened upon Rowansville. It immediately felt like I had come home. The community and it is gorgeous—with the lakes and the mountains, isn’t it?”
I readily nod in agreement; my throat tightens in response to her words, and I feel a deeper connection to her after hearing her describe how I felt about Rowansville when I first arrived.
“Now, Molly, I’m curious what you meant about breadcrumbs your mother left? You tell me if I’m asking too many questions!” Bree says, reaching over for the bottle of sparkling wine and refilling our glasses while Tabby passes the orange juice after her.
“Every couple of months, Mom would send postcards home and I’m pretty sure she was either living around here or in Jackson Hole when I was conceived. There’s no possible way I could have afforded to start my bakery there, so I landed here.”
“How crazy is it that you could have already met your dad,” Charlie says in a near whisper and I’m suddenly reminded of my Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew books. “She didn’t have any pictures or anything? Do you look much like your mom?”
“A bit, I have darker hair than she did, but so does most of my family,” I respond, admittedly not the best judge of how much I look like my mom. “After my grandma passed away, I went tolive with my uncle. He treated me as more of a babysitter for his daughter, Trinity, than his niece. He was mom’s only sibling and his wife and Grandma died in a train accident.”
I snag a brownie from the table in front of me before I continue.
“About the time that I finished the culinary program I was taking, he told me that his girlfriend was going to move in with her daughter. My presence suddenly became detrimental to them bonding as a family.”
“Asshat,” Riley interjects and everyone nods.
“Then, we finally sold Grandma’s house and I found my mom’s postcards in a box of things that he was throwing away.” I stop, adding more sparkling wine to my glass, and decide to skip the orange juice this time around. With a signal from Bree, I top off her glass also. “From there it came down to using the dates from postmarks to my mom’s path. Granted she was gone for four years, I just didn’t know where to go and I hoped some place would call to me along the way.”
“Ugh. How are things with Trinity and hisgirlfriend?” Charlie asks, having heard me talk about that situation a bit.
“Awful. Now when Trinity calls me she’s apologizing for all the years I looked after her. She’s worried that I actually resent her, because now she’s forced to babysit her soon-to-be stepsister. Trin is much more of a social butterfly than I was in high school, and unpaid babysitting means less time for parties and other activities,” I explain to them. “The difference being that I was happy to have an excusenotto do stuff like that.”
“I was the same way in high school,” Bree confides in us. “Now college was another story.”
“Well, the good news is that Grandma left her business to my uncle, because he helped her build it, but she had left her savingsand house to Trinity and me. It’s her senior year, and she said she’s not looking at any schools closer than a thousand miles away.”
“Now, why do I have a feeling she’ll end up here?” Riley asks, getting a laugh out of everyone.
“I hope so. There are some good schools within an easy distance. Whatever is best for her would make me happy.” I smile at the thought of Trinity coming out this way, while I vow to keep her away from the Northern Grizzlies parties. “Anyway, what’s this ride thing I’ve heard about? A poker run, or something? Betsy placed a catering order with me and invited me to the after party.”
“Oh! Are you coming?” Charlie asks me, looking surprised.
“No, it sounds fun, but I don’t want things to be weird with…” I say, shrugging instead of naming the man they all know I avoid like the plague.
“Weird with who?” Royce asks. He’s suddenly standing in the entranceway with Flint right behind him.
“Grab the kid and get going,” Flint tells him, giving him a nudge just as Joe makes an appearance.
“Ma, Royce said he’d help me with my bike. We’ll just be at the garage, alright?” Joe says, looking at Bree before his eyes land on the brownies and cupcakes. “Oh, can I have some?”
“You have finals this week,” Bree responds with a nod, her eyes looking a little misty. “Royce, you get him back by eight. Sober.”
Joe grabs some dessert before Royce loudly clears his throat to get the kid’s attention, then he points back and forth between the food and himself.
“Nine. Love ya,” Joe quickly kisses her cheek before running past Royce with his hands full of the baked goods.
