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“How about I drive?” she offered.
“I mean, you’re missing out, but if you insist.”
She laughed again, which made him even more confident about this plan. This wasn’t at all how he’d seen this conversation going, but he couldn’t have been more delighted about the new plan.
Of course, being this delighted about spending time with a woman gave him a slight hesitation. The last time he’d felt like this—and it had been a while—things hadn’t turned out the way he’d expected.
But almost as quickly as the thought popped into his mind, he pushed it away. This whole adventure agreement with Molly wasn’t personal. It was professional, which made it a completely different ballgame. Besides, didn’t enjoying spending time with one’s colleagues make a more pleasant workplace? And from what he’d seen, Molly was going to make a great addition to their team.
“I have to ask, what made you change your mind about working here?”
“The turtle we rescued today.” Molly glanced in the direction of where the tanks were. “She deserves the best chance at a full recovery. I’m not going to be in town long, but it can be my mission to get her the best care possible and back in the ocean before I leave. And maybe a few of the others while I’m at it.”
Grant nodded. “I know the feeling. Which reminds me, you still have to give our newest turtle a name.”
Molly thought about it for a second. “Hope,” she said eventually. “Because we all need a little hope in our lives.”
“You’ve been in town less than a week and you’ve already gotten yourself a side hustle,” Hadley said Monday morning after Molly had finished telling them about her decision to help out at Turtle Rehab.
“Not a side hustle. I’d say it’s more of a pet project.” She giggled after hearing how it sounded. “Or you know what I mean.” She took a sip of the latte Hadley had made for her. “This is great, by the way.”
“A good view and conversation with friends are enough to make even the most basic coffee amazing.” Ellyn took a sip of her own coffee. “Although, I’m glad you’re here, because it makes it easier to get Hadley’s caffeine creations.”
“Yet there’s a small part of me that’s a little sad I’m the reason you retired the coffee-box-delivery system.” A picture of the small wooden box they’d rigged to a pully system that strung between their two balconies floated to the front of her mind. “That was some A-plus science fair stuff if ever I’ve seen any.”
“It was all Hadley’s idea,” Ellyn said, sipping her coffee.
Hadley gave a nonchalant shrug, even as a proud grin tugged at her mouth. “Apparently there’s no limit to what I’ll do to be lazy.”
“Well, it was brilliant,” Molly said. “And so is this coffee. For real, if you ever get tired of the whole project-management thing, you should open a coffee shop.”
Ellyn’s eyes got wide. “Right? That’s what I’m always telling her.”
Hadley waved a dismissive hand in the air. “Okay, we get it. Coffee’s great; the delivery box was inspired. But what I want to hear about is the rest of Molly’s story.”
“That’s it. That’s the whole story.” Molly shrugged. “We rescued the turtle, and I agreed to be their resident vet while I’m in town. In exchange, they’re going to take me on a few excursions to show off the best of what the Florida panhandle has to offer.”
“Which is why you’re going out of town with Grant next weekend?” Hadley clarified.
“I’m not sure it qualifies as going out of town if it’s a day trip. But yes, that’s why I’m going.”
“Hmm.” Ellyn flashed her a knowing look over the rim of her coffee mug as she took another sip. “Sounds chummy.”
Sure, Molly knew what it sounded like. She’d been afraid of that when she’d proposed the plan to Grant. Asking someone to be her personal excursion guide had the potential to be taken the wrong way. But their agreement was nothing more than a business deal. He needed a vet, and she needed someone to help her navigate through a new town and check a couple of boxes off her personal growth list. “Nope. Not chummy,” Molly said quickly. “Simply a work thing. Purely professional. There’s definitely no chumminess whatsoever. Just, you know, a couple of colleagues.”
“To be clear…” Hadley blew on her coffee, her expression falling somewhere between facetious and teasing. “That’s a no to things being chummy?”
Ellyn giggled on her other side.
Molly rolled her eyes. So maybe she’d been a little too emphatic in her denial, but the truth behind the statement stood. “It’s as chummy as things can get at a scientific symposium.”
The truth was, a business relationship was as far as it could go. Grant was a great guy, and maybe in a different time or a different place, it’d be a different story. But as it was, Molly was actively avoiding anything of the sort, chummy or otherwise. Anything more than professional would be a direct violation of the first and most important rule of Molly 2.0—no relationships.
She glanced down at the finger where the two-and-a-half carat, emerald-cut, diamond engagement ring had been until three months ago. As it turned out, relationships were not the sure thing she’d once thought them to be. They were risky. The kind of risk that could bankrupt a person, in fact, which was how she ended up here.
One day life had been humming along and she’d thought everything was great. Fine, maybe great was a stretch. But it was good, and good was good enough, wasn’t it? She and her dreamy fiancé had been headed toward picket fences and rocking chairs on the front porch. As far as she’d been concerned, all was right with the world.
Then one day it had all come crashing down. She’d thought they were meeting up at the wedding venue to talk about the best location for the cakes and the dance floor, maybe where to put the favors. But that conversation had gone a very different direction. Apparently, he was in love with someone else.
