“Still not sensing a problem.”
“There’s more.” And here we go. “With Cassie, things were sweet. They were comfortable, right where you’d want them to be.”
“And with Jordan?”
She shook her head slowly. “We click in a way I’ve never experienced. It’s like this thing that overtakes me when I’m around her. I just want to talk to her, laugh with her, stare at her all the time. It’s a lot to take in in a really wonderful way.”
“Different is okay, Molly.”
“Different is okay. But what if it’s more? More doesn’t feel okay.”
Eden’s face softened as realization struck. She moved to her quickly, taking Molly gently by the shoulders and rubbing her hands up and down. “Oh, sweetie. You’re worried that you fit better with Jordan than you fit with Cassie? You can’t do that to yourself. You can’t beat yourself up for what you feel. That’s not something you’re in control of. I get that you don’t want to betray Cassie’s memory, but that’s not what’s happening here. You have to move on with your life and forgive yourself for what’s happening between you and Jordan, no matter how strong your feelings are.”
Molly raised her gaze to Eden, her voice laced with fear. “I don’t know if I can.”
*
It was the end of the day Wednesday and Jordan flopped onto her couch and turned on a little jazz to take the edge off her aching neck muscles. She’d spent the day researching office space and pricing equipment, and now her brain felt fuzzy, and really, who could blame it?
In some ways, Jordan was happy to be home. It felt good to see the familiar walls of her downtown apartment and scratch Frankie under his chin again. He still hadn’t totally forgiven her for leaving, but they were baby-stepping their way back to a respectable cat-human relationship. She fawned over him and he acted like he could perhaps put up with it. It was a start.
The meeting with the investors had gone well and after taking a look at some proposed projects and a reel of Jordan’s work, it seemed they had a tentative deal. And that meant cash. This production company was actually going to happen and there was a lot to be done.
But she had to hand it to herself. It’d been a productive month. She’d figured out her next career move, something she had a true passion for, and had even reconnected with her family. Yet, for the past week, her life felt incomplete and she knew why. Molly wasn’t there, and that made everything seem a little less vibrant.
She wanted the vibrant back.
It was a problem she didn’t see going away easily, if ever. But the space between them this past week had offered her perspective. She knew what she wanted one hundred percent, and it was Molly. And though that didn’t exactly come in a nice neat little package, she no longer cared. How brave was that?
She slid a look to the digital clock on the microwave and her heart did a little leap of excitement, acrobatic heart that it was these days. Three minutes until the phone date she and Molly had scheduled earlier in the week. She’d been looking forward to it all day. She stood for a quick second and checked herself in the mirror, which was ridiculous because it was a phone call. But then there seemed to be a lot of ridiculous lately.
“What?” she asked Frankie, who only yawned in cat judgment. “You haven’t met her. You have no basis on which to weigh in.” He looked at the wall in boredom.
She and Molly had exchanged a couple of phone calls and a few scattered text messages since she’d been home, but it had fallen drastically short of satisfaction for her. While on one hand, they’d both been busy, on the other, they were both probably a little cautious about the relationship. But as the days sans Molly added up, she felt her cautious side slipping away more and more.
The phone in her pocket started to vibrate. Right on time. She felt the smile on her face take shape and grow. “Hey, you.”
Molly sighed into the phone. “So it’s really nice to hear your voice.”
“It is?” Jordan got up and walked to her kitchen table because the zip of energy talking to Molly gave her required movement.
“You have no idea.”
“How was your day? Give me the scoop.”
“Five trays of blueberry muffins, a hundred million MollyDollys, three fancy birthday cakes, and that was just my morning. Now a segue. When do I see you exactly? Because that’s what I’d like to focus on.”
Jordan grinned into the phone. “I like that you announce your segues. Not enough people do that. And three days from now. I thought I’d come a couple of hours before the party to help out. My mom would like that.”
“I would like that.”
“All the more reason.”
“How’s Chicago?”
“Busy. I feel like I haven’t stopped since I’ve been home. But the deal’s in place. It’s time to start putting plans in motion for my first project, which I think might be an extension of the short film I did in college about the suicide forest in Japan. Do you remember that one? It would be a more full-length version now that I have the means.”
Molly took in air. “I loved that film. It was absolutely chilling. That’s when I knew that you were gifted at this, when you could elicit that kind of response in me.”
The compliment resonated, and she took a minute to let it wash over her. No one from back home had showed that much interest in her college work. Her family had definitely downplayed it, probably afraid to encourage her too much in that direction. “Thanks. That film meant a lot to me when I made it. One of the reasons I want to make more like it.”
“And you will.” A pause. “So as we talk, I’m trying to picture you at your place, all urban and ultra cool. What’s it like? A person’s home says a lot about them, you know?”
“That sounds like a lot of pressure. Not sure I want to tell you now.”
“Then don’t. Let me give it a shot. Okay, so I’m imagining brick walls in the living room, steel lighting fixtures in a rather open kitchen, and then a large bedroom with not a lot of furniture. You’re kind of a minimalistic kind of girl.”
Whoa. It was shockingly accurate. “Um. Yeah. Except the bedroom is pretty standard size. Other than that, you’re spot on. How exactly did you do that?” She glanced around curiously for the hidden cameras.
“I just thought about you and what you like.”
“Impressive, and I mean that genuinely.”
“Well, if I remember correctly, you’re really good at knowing what I like.”
Heat flooded her face and she wandered aimlessly back into the living room. “You’re too far away for a line like that. You’ll keep me up all night thinking about it.”
Molly chuckled quietly. “I was referencing chicken salad and romantic comedies, but we can talk about the other things I like, you know, if you want to.”
The insinuation made her stomach tighten reflexively as memories of their most recent night together flashed across her mind. Plus, there was the fact that she just loved Molly’s voice. She loved it even more when she dropped her tone and sounded super sexy, which was in complete contrast to her everyday good girl persona. It was thrilling to say the least.
She sighed deeply. “Exactly how many more hours until I see you again?”
Chapter Twenty-two
By late in the afternoon on Friday, Molly’s kitchen looked like a confection tornado had blown through it. And why shouldn’t it? She’d spent the entire day at home, baking away in preparation for her father-in-law’s birthday party the following day. She left Flour Child in Eden’s trustworthy hands in the meantime and only called in to check on things three times. She was working on easing her status as control freak when it came to the bakeshop she loved so dearly.