Chapter 19
GAVIN
What was Gavin supposed to do in a situation like this? Hug Cassidy? No. That was probably not a good idea. Not when he was there with Molly and he only really wanted to hug her.
Handshake maybe? Nah, that’d be weird. “Hi,” Cassidy said.
What did he do? Nothing. He did nothing. The “hi” just sat there like a weight in the air. Which was more awkward than if he’d just given her a side hug.
He probably should’ve gone for a side hug. Those were safe. He gulped. “Hi, Cass.”
“Hi.” She moved her gaze from him to Molly.
Molly, who looked like she’d just eaten bad tuna and turned a little green.
“You must be Rachel?” Cass asked, as though the moment could not be more awkward.
“Um.” Molly slid her gaze to Gavin. “Why would I be Rachel?”
“Your wife?” Cassidy asked. “Last I knew you got married to—”
“Rachel.” He nodded. “Yeah. No. We’re not together anymore. This is Molly.”
He did the side hug thing to Molly.
But that felt even more awkward and, yeah, he wasn’t supposed to side hug his date in front of his ex-girlfriend.
Wrong message sent way too loud. Damn. He was not good at this.
Molly rolled with it, though. She gave him a friendly side-squeeze in return.
“She’s drinking your usual,” Molly said out of the side of her mouth. “How adorable.”
“How are your kids?” Cassidy asked, pivoting as well. “They’re good. With…uh…Rachel tonight so I could
go out here with…uh…Molly.” Very smooth, Gavin. Nice work.
“That’s me.” Molly slipped right into her online persona, the green hue to her skin totally disappearing and the shutters closed tight. “Oh hey, it’s Molly.” She pointed to herself.
“Nice to meet you, Molly.” Cassidy did that thing that girls do when they’re evaluating the other. The up then down then coming to a conclusion.
Gavin didn’t like it.
Cassidy was his past. A past he’d met in college when he attended business school in California all those years ago.
Molly was his now. A now that would hopefully become his future, too. But they had to get through the now to find their way there.
“How are your kids?” Gavin asked. “Your husband?”
“Kid. Singular. She’s good. Husband isn’t my husband
anymore.” Cassidy smiled like it hurt. “It happens.”
“That it does. To the best of us.” Persona-Molly swooped right in. “But then we get the entire bed to ourselves, amirite?”
Cassidy grinned, now under the spell of Persona-Molly. “You’re so right.”
Well, good that Gavin wasn’t really needed in this conversation anymore, because he was pretty sure he’d just screw it up.
Cassidy and Molly had apparently decided to be friends. He liked that even less than the Cassidy evaluation from before.
They moved forward two more spaces while Cassidy and Molly made small talk and he said, basically, nothing.
Except adding a few words here and there to Cassidy’s walk down memory lane with Molly in tow.
He did lace his fingers with Molly’s—hoping that small show of what he wanted would be enough to break through her persona to the real person underneath.
“I’m onto a new life. New try. Denver. Where you are, Gav. Wow. Who knew?” Cassidy said.
Not him, that was for sure.
“I should go. You two have a really great night.” Cassidy pulled a novel—the next in the series he was presently
reading—from her bag. “I’ve got a date myself.” She held up the book.
Molly’s lips parted. She looked from Cassidy to Gavin and back to Cassidy.
“You’re reading that series,” Molly said, again out of the side of her mouth. “It’s like destiny just vomited all over you.”
That was an apt description.
“You two should catch up,” Molly suggested. “Since you’re both in the same town.”
Don’t do it, Molly. Don’t go there. I don’t want that.
“That’d be great.” Cassidy chucked Gavin on the shoulder.
Okay, well, that was more awkward than the side hug for Molly. All three of them looked to where Cassidy’s fist had bounced off his shoulder.
“I should go, though. Another time,” Cassidy said. “Good to see you, Gavin. Really. Great to see you.”
“You too.” He said it. He meant it. Now she could skedaddle to her date with her book.
She needed to leave so he could have his Molly back.
Cassidy pushed through the door, and the weight of what had just happened settled square on his shoulders.
“You want to tell me what just happened?” Molly asked, this time not out of the side of her mouth.
“That’s Cassidy. She’s on a date with a book, apparently.” That, he hoped, was the end of that.
“No.” Molly shook her head, making a c’mere motion. “Give me more.”
Fine, he’d give her more. Just a taste. “We dated once.”
“Uh-huh? When?”
“This is going to get uncomfortable for both of us.” Molly grinned. “Just you.”
Okay, fine. He’d tell her. They’d get this bit of information out of the way early so they could move on with the rest of their lives.
“After Rachel, I dated Cass for a little while,” he said. “Not long.”
Molly raised her eyebrows in obvious question. “Before Rachel and I found out about the kids and plans
changed.” He paused. “Obviously, plans changed.”
The night Gavin met Rachel, he thought she was beautiful. Thought they had some chemistry. Figured her pursuit of him meant she was interested.
Turned out, Rachel was an amazing woman, not looking for anything more than a one-time hookup. (And not the kind at the Brown Palace with his mother’s friend Audrey.) Two days after Gavin gave up on Rachel ever calling him back, he met the woman he was certain destiny had hand-picked for him.
Blonde hair that went on for ages, gray eyes post-grad Gavin fell right into.
Cassidy was not a talker. Happy to sit in silence, Cassidy was kind. She was pretty. She had a laugh that lit up his soul.
And then Rachel called.
Told him about the babies. That something had gone seriously wrong with their birth control method. That she was scared of what came next.
“You broke up with Cassidy when Rachel found out she was carrying the boys?” Molly asked, and lucky for him, this was not Persona-Molly—this was real Molly. Concerned Molly. Curious Molly. The Molly he wanted to talk to, but
not about…this.
“Cassidy and I decided it would be best not to complicate things further,” he said, grateful to Cassidy of the past for understanding the situation he’d created for himself.
“That was very adult of you both.” Molly gnawed at her bottom lip.
“Thank you.”
“Also.” She turned and smacked him on the chest. “Really stupid. Because she clearly likes you. Rachel didn’t like you like that, and we both know I’m right.”
Gavin had married Rachel because he thought it was the right thing to do.
By the time they both truly realized they were not a forever package, their co-parenting relationship had already been born. And it worked.
“Could we not talk about my ex-girlfriend and ex-wife on our first official date?” he asked, hoping Molly would go along with this.
Molly held up her hand. “I have questions.”
“Is it about the previous topic?”
“Yes.”
“Then I’m not answering.” But he wished he could rewind time and take her to a different coffee shop.
“She looks just like Dakota,” Molly said, plunging forward.
“Minus the whole, like, Cruella de Vil thing Dakota has going on.” She held up her hands in immediate surrender.
“I know I’m not supposed to say things like that.
But I didn’t like her.” Molly pointed to the patio where Cassidy had found a table for her and her book. “I do like her.”
“Dakota is a good person,” he said. Why did he feel the need to defend his other ex?
Well, she was a good person. Misunderstood. Deserving of love. Deserving of success.
He was sorry he couldn’t give her the first. Hoped like hell she got the second.
The night Gavin met Dakota, he thought she was Cassidy.
That was his first mistake.
But it was a mistake that gave him hope.
He called her name, thinking she was Cassidy. The woman who turned was not Cassidy.
“Sorry,” he had said. “I guess you’re not who I thought you were.”
Dakota had studied him thoroughly. Up, then down. She quirked an eyebrow in that way only Dakota could do. “Perhaps I could be?”
He had chuckled before saying, “Perhaps.” But she wasn’t.
And by the time he realized he didn’t love her the way she deserved, she’d come to the same conclusion. So it was best for everyone that she moved to Boston without him.
“Cassidy was a good person when I knew her. People change, but she still seems like a good person. I hope the divorce wasn’t hard on her.” He did hope that. He was also done talking about it so they could talk about gala dresses or whatever.
“Oh, it was hard on her.” Molly glanced through the windows at Cassidy. “Trust me on that.”
“I’ll take your word.” They moved to the front of the line and he ordered his espresso. She ordered her mint and ginger tea. There was a bit of a kerfuffle about who would pay. He got his credit card out sooner, but promised she
could buy the next round.
Compromising already. This was good.
They moved to the booth he’d had his eye on and settled in across from each other. The two of them. He laid his hand on the table, hoping she’d take the bait.
Molly sipped at her tea, her lips wrapping over the plastic lip of her lid. She did not take the bait.
Instead, she played with the lid of her paper cup.
She sighed. Then she went for it. “Cassidy is totally into you.”
“Okay,” he said. Once, he’d been into Cassidy, too, but that was years ago. Tonight, he’d really like to focus on Molly. He was very into her at the moment. Refocusing on that was most definitely the priority.
“Are you into her?” The crack in Molly’s voice gave away her feelings without her having to say a syllable.
Gavin reached for her hand on the table. He gave it a squeeze. “I’m here with you, not her.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t be.” Molly said this with her gaze focused on the woodgrain of the table.
“Molly.” Gavin squeezed for her hand again. He didn’t pull away after he squeezed it. “She’s not the one I’m into.”