“Everyone likes Oreo. It’s a law of nature.”
“I love nature.”
*
Back at Molly’s house, Jordan fed Rover while Molly scooped the ice cream. “He’s a happy little guy,” Jordan remarked as Rover sprang into action, doing laps around the tank as if he knew he had an audience.
“He’s a little obsessed with dinner time. A fish after my own heart, I’m afraid.”
“I like his fish spirit.”
Molly handed Jordan a bowl and made her way to the couch. She’d taken off her shoes and wore just the green print sundress that preoccupied Jordan all through dinner.
Molly slid her a look. “Stop all that grinning and come sit with me.”
“On my way and doing my best stern face.”
Molly laughed. “Oh, that’s much better. Well done on stern. Really.”
“Thanks. It’s one of my better looks. I added in a little sultry. I don’t know if you picked up the sultry.”
“Trust me. I did.”
But Jordan had to then switch gears because the ice cream she’d just tasted demanded her full attention. “Oh, my. Hello,” she said to the bowl as she sat.
“Yeah?” Molly asked. She was clearly intrigued by Jordan’s mystification and sat a little taller.
Jordan held up a hand and pointed at her bowl. “Can’t talk to you right now. Busy.” She went back to the ice cream because really she just wanted to experience it fully. It was heavier than store-bought and the vanilla tasted more full-bodied. The large chunks of Oreo seemed luxurious in comparison to the tiny pieces most brand names mixed in. Quite simply, it was heaven on a spoon. Five bites later, she turned to Molly.
“Sorry. We were bonding.”
“You and the ice cream?”
“Right. Ice cream bonding. It’s a thing.”
Molly scooted closer to Jordan, enjoying this. “So you like this ice cream?”
“I would lay down my life for this ice cream.”
“Wow. That’s an endorsement. If I ever decide to mass produce, I’ll have to put that quote on the carton.”
“With my picture please.”
“As long as you work for free. Funds are tight.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Well, I accept other forms of payment.”
“Yeah? Lucky me.”
Jordan looked at Molly, and there was that prickle of awareness that started low and crept up her spine whenever she was in close proximity to her. Her eyes dropped to Molly’s mouth just in time for Molly to take her bowl into the kitchen.
“No way,” she said as she passed. “I know that look, and there can be no getting naked tonight.”
Jordan stared after her. “What do you mean? You’ve already decided this? Not even a tiny getting naked chance? I don’t think we should take the chance off the table.”
“Uh-uh. This is a first date . What kind of girl do you think I am?”
“The kind who enjoys a really good first date?” Jordan’s laughter faded and she covered her mouth when she realized Molly wasn’t joining in. “Oh. You’re serious?”
“As a heart attack, movie person.”
And Jordan got that she truly was. “Okay. So we’ll just hang out. And not think about getting naked at all.”
Molly glared at her as she took her empty bowl back to the kitchen. “Stop saying naked . That adds a whole new level of difficulty.”
“You said naked first. I don’t want to point fingers, but—”
“Neither of us is allowed to say it anymore,” Molly practically yelled.
“Got it. Geez. No saying the forbidden word.”
Molly took her spot back on the couch across from Jordan and stared at her as if struggling. She lifted one shoulder weakly. “But you are pretty far away. Maybe there’s no rule against, you know, proximity.”
“Well, you seem to be way more into rules, so I trust your judgment. I vote you come here.” Jordan swung her legs onto the couch between them and lifted an arm for Molly, who slid beneath it perfectly. With Molly-of-the-amazing-sundress up against her fully, Jordan felt every erogenous zone she had come to life and some she didn’t realize existed.
But she could do this. She was an adult.
“So tell me about your last relationship?”
An interesting turn in conversation. “You want to hear about me and other women?”
“It’s not so much that I want to. But I think it’s important I fill in the gaps. Plus, it will keep me from thinking about…other things.”
“Forbidden words?” Molly tickled her ribs in punishment, forcing her to laugh and squirm. “Sorry. Right. Other relationships.” Jordan sighed and settled back in. “Not a lot to tell. Last real anything was with a woman who lived in my building. We went out a couple of times, and it became a little more about the hook-up. We didn’t have a lot in common, though I think she wanted to pretend we did. Made her feel less guilty about the whole thing.”
“That’s rough when there’s no real common ground. Is that the main thing you would change?”
“I guess. She also didn’t get my sense of humor. Could never pick up on when I was joking and when I wasn’t. It was a problem for me. What about you? What would you change?”
Jordan felt Molly tense in her arms, clearly uncomfortable at how the tables had been turned. “Oh, about me and Cassie?”
“Yeah.” Jordan knew she was treading on dangerous ground, but she also knew it was somewhere she had to go. Before answering, Molly pushed herself into a seated position, breaking all contact, her gaze on the wall. “Um. That’s a hard one. Maybe her deep-rooted obsession with the cap on the toothpaste?”
“Wow. That’s pretty generous of you. There’s really nothing ?”
“You know, I guess maybe there isn’t. I’m going to get some water.”
Jordan wanted to drop it there, badly she did. But she was up and following Molly before she could help herself, her frustration growing by the moment. Through it all, she understood Molly’s thought process. She understood why Molly needed to remember Cassie in the most favorable light possible.
Yet it simply wasn’t fair. It was stacking the deck against her.
“Why do you act like everything was perfect with Cassie? That she was?”
“Of course she wasn’t perfect. No one is. But what we had, it was more than what most people have. It was—”
“Incomparable apparently.” Okay, that sounded overly sarcastic.
Molly went still, the glass in her hand suspended as she scrutinized Jordan. “Whoa. What’s with the attitude?”
“Because you set up this wonderful ideal of a relationship which is, A. bullshit, and, B. impossible to compete with.” Okay, now they were off the tracks entirely and Jordan didn’t seem capable of reining herself in.
Molly stared at her hard, defensive. Angry. “Who the hell are you to judge? And why is it that you feel you have to compete?”
Jordan was too far in to stop. “Just look over your shoulder, Molly. There are three pictures of you guys looking young and in love on the refrigerator.”
“You want me to take the photos down?” It wasn’t the question itself that got to Jordan, but the way Molly said it, as if it was an illogical idea. It was infuriating.
“I don’t think you could handle it if I did.”
“Well, it’s not your call anyway.”
“I guess my question is will it ever be yours? Because I’m starting to wonder, Mol.”
Molly shook her head in mystification, taken aback. She looked incredibly uncomfortable. “I don’t think you understand what it is that you’re talking about at all and maybe we should just—”
“If I had asked you if you were free after work on Wednesday, what would you have said?”
“That I’m not. You know that Wednesday is—”
“Set aside for Cassie. As is a large part of your life, and probably part of your heart, and that’s not a pattern I see ending anytime soon. That’s the only point I’m trying to make here. She’ll always be a part of our past, Molly. She was important to both of us. We both loved her. And we both miss her. But does she have to be such a big part of our present?”