Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
Molly
“ Y ou have to be fucking kidding me,” I yell to the universe from the doorway to my bedroom, staring at what used to be my bedroom ceiling. I barely resist the urge to stomp my foot like a toddler having a tantrum. This is going to be my villain origin story; I know it for sure.
It’s raining through a giant hole right over my bed. Shingles, insulation, drywall, leaves, and twigs are scattered everywhere. Massive tree branches poke through smaller holes in the ceiling like giant, twisted fingers coming down from on high to steal my sanity.
I have just barely recovered from what was probably the best kiss of my life, and now I have a Defcon 1 level home emergency to deal with.
I’d laugh if I wasn’t so pissed.
Gabe comes up behind me, returning from his trip to my attic to assess the damage. He snakes an arm around my waist, and I spin around in his hold.
“What’s the verdict?” I ask him, as if I don’t already know from my tornado of a bedroom that this is a disaster of epic proportions.
He winces, and I groan. “Sorry, Rory baby, but it’s about as bad as it gets. The entire roof on this side of the house is caved in. The tree took out most of the attic, and your HVAC system is toast. I called my virtual assistant and he’s already working on getting the tree removed and the roof tarped, and he can coordinate the permanent roof fix as well as handle clean-up in here. Oh, and also, he’ll have the rest of the house assessed for water damage because of the rain. If you give me your homeowners insurance details, he can file the claim for you too.”
I stare at Gabe, not sure what part of that to address first. I decide to go with the low-hanging fruit. “You have a virtual assistant?”
He just shrugs. “Sure. I don’t use him all that much because I prefer doing stuff for myself, but it comes in handy sometimes. Like when my favorite person has a tree fall on her roof at eleven o’clock at night during a veritable monsoon.”
I smirk at him because I guess if a tree is going to fall on my house, better it happens when I’m in the company of a take charge kind of guy with unlimited resources and an assistant who can deal with the aftermath. “I’m your favorite person?”
Gabe grins at me. “You’ve been my favorite person since I found you cursing at a mini-fridge in the lobby of our dorm room when we were eighteen.”
This time, I smile for real, warmth filling me at the memory of eighteen-year-old Gabe asking me what the fridge ever did to me to deserve such awful treatment and then hoisting it up and carrying it to my room for me.
“Well, I’d like to be all, I am woman hear me roar, I can do anything all by myself, but the truth is, I hate any kind of home improvement project with the fire of a thousand suns unless it involves decorating and picking a new paint color for my walls. Cleaning is at the top of my list of least enjoyable activities, so I appreciate it. Just have your assistant send me all the invoices or whatever.”
Gabe makes a noncommittal sound, and I eye him warily, making a mental note to make sure I get those invoices. He may have kissed me in the pouring rain like some kind of romcom hero and has more money than god, but I can pay for my own damn roof. And ceiling. And HVAC system. And water remediation. Fucking Christ.
“Molly, you home?” Emma’s voice from downstairs interrupts my brief flirtation with catastrophizing.
“Up here,” I call. “Come join the chaos.”
“She lives next door,” I explain to Gabe. “I’m sure she saw the tree from her window.”
I hear two sets of footsteps, and a few seconds later, both Emma and Jeremy join us in my bedroom doorway. Jeremy lets out a low whistle.
“Sorry, Mol. What a fucking mess. How can we help? I have a tree guy who took some trees down for me at my old house. I can give him a call.”
I give his arm a squeeze. “Thanks, Jeremy. I appreciate it, but captain of industry over here and his virtual assistant seem to have it handled. Where’s Maddy?”
“With the Parkers. Rachel wanted a sleepover so we’re solo tonight. Now, tell me more about how Gabe has everything handled,” says Emma, sly expression on her face as she studies Gabe.
“My assistant doesn’t get that much work from me, so he’s going to handle all of this. Good to see you both.” Gabe grins and slides his arm back around my waist, tugging me closer to him.
I’m not sure how I feel about him being all claimy like this in front of my friends, but Emma and Jeremy are both clearly enjoying it because they look at us with twin grins spread over their faces. Then Emma’s gaze slides to me, and she cocks her head, studying me. I don’t have to have her weird mind-reading skills to hear what she’s saying.
You kissed him.
I stare back at her. So what if I did?
Her smile turns wicked. Was it good?
I sigh. So fucking good.
“Uh, what is happening right now?” Gabe asks, his gaze ping-ponging between Emma and me.
Jeremy snorts out a laugh. “They’re having a whole conversation. They do this. My girl especially. She’s spooky sometimes.” He swings an arm around Emma’s shoulders. His voice is soaked in love, and he’s looking at Emma like she is the reason he exists. “If I had to guess, you kissed Molly tonight before all hell broke loose up here, and that’s what they’re talking about.”
I splutter out some words, but none of them make any sense. Gabe just laughs and pulls me closer to him while I try to ignore the swooping in my stomach at his proximity—and the way I feel safe and cared for even though I no longer have a house I can live in for who even knows how long.
Emma looks at Jeremy, and I’m surprised hearts don’t actually shoot out of her eyes. “You’re getting good at that.”
“I know you, Ems.” He leans down and kisses her, and if my ceiling wasn’t caved in and it wasn’t raining in my bedroom, I’d probably think it was sweet.
“Okay, okay, enough of that. Help me get my stuff together. It’s late and I need to find a hotel for a night or two while I look for a rental or something until this is all taken care of.”
Gabe tenses next to me and I see his mouth open, but Emma beats him to it. “You’re not staying in a hotel. You can stay with us.”
“I love you, Em, but you and Jeremy have a kid-free night tonight, and I’m not getting in the middle of that. I know what you guys get up to when Maddy isn’t home.”
“And when she is. Bless kid bedtimes.” Jeremy’s grin makes him look every inch the playboy athlete he once was.
“Yeah, no. That’s a hard pass. And don’t even suggest I call Jules or Hallie. I love you all, but that is way too much coupledom for me.”
“You’re staying with me, Rory.” It’s a command, rather than a question. Later, when I’m alone, I’ll examine why my first response isn’t to chafe at being told what to do, but rather to feel my stomach flutter and my clit throb at his deep raspy voice and the way his hand tightens on my hip when he says it, and at the idea of being in a house alone with him late at night, with only a wall between us.
“Gabe, it’s fine. I’ll get a hotel.” I’m not in the habit of lying to myself, so I’m woman enough to admit that my argument is mostly for form. I’m suddenly exhausted, and the only thing I hate more than the idea of shacking up with any of my happily coupled and sexed up friends is being alone in a cold, soulless hotel room.
I don’t know what’s happening with Gabe, exactly, or what the future looks like for us. But what I do know is that our date tonight healed a part of me, and our kiss melted my soul. I think what I want more than anything right now is time. Time with him to figure all this out. And if that time comes in the form of a night or two in his house, then so be it.
I’m a bright side kind of girl, and maybe the bright side to this home disaster of epic proportions is that it will give me that time.
“Rory baby, there is no possible way I’m dropping you off at a hotel tonight. So, either you can march your gorgeous ass next door to stay with Emma and Jeremy, or you’re coming home with me. Besides, you’re my fake fiancée. It’ll look even more authentic if we’re living together.”
I make a face at him. “Don’t get ahead of yourself. It’s just for a night or two until I find something to rent for a while.”
Gabe smiles and shrugs. “We’ll see. I think I’m going to like living with you. We never did get the chance to do that the first time around. It’ll be fun.”
I just look at him, entirely unsure how to respond to that. Emma chuckles and gives me that weird look of hers, like she knows something I don’t know. “Looks like you’ll be well taken care of, Mol.”
“There is no one who will take better care of her than I will,” Gabe says with an earnestness to his voice that makes everything inside me turn to liquid. I want to keep my shield up. Really, I do. But I’m only human, and every time Gabe opens his mouth, it drops just that much more.
“I just bet you will,” Emma murmurs. “Mol, text me if you need me, okay? I’m taking my guy home.”
“I will. Thanks for coming over, guys.”
“Always, Molly.” Jeremy kisses my cheek and follows Emma down the stairs, calling, “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” over his shoulder.
I huff out a laugh and turn to look at Gabe, who is studying me with a mix of amusement and heat. “I really like your friends.”
“They’re the best people in the world,” I say honestly.
“I’m glad you have them,” he says, a note of wistfulness in his voice. Not for the first time, I see a loneliness in Gabe, and I wonder if he has people or if it’s really just been him and his sisters all this time. My instincts say it has been, since as soon as his youngest sister went to college, he picked up his entire life and moved it here.
For me. Gabe moved here for me. I don’t know what it is about tonight, but I have the sudden urge for everything. To let my heart lead me straight back to him. To put my arms around him and protect him from ever feeling hurt again the way I couldn’t the first time around. To give Gabe a place to call home and let my friends be his friends and live happily ever after. To see what Molly and Gabe, the sequel, looks like.
I can’t do all of that. Not just yet. I’m not ready. But what I can do is put in the time. Meet him halfway and do the work to see if what we have now is just left over from what we had then, or if we can build something entirely new. I’d like to hope we could.
“I’m glad I have them too. So, since Emma bailed, probably to go have freaky sex next door, want to help me navigate tree branches to get my stuff together? I’m looking forward to seeing what a tech billionaire’s house looks like.”
I give him a wink to let him know I’m kidding, but it’s not necessary. The smile that spreads across his face hits me right in the chest.
“Anything, Rory. Lead the way.”
Emma
See, the thing is, Molly is always the one pressing us for details about our sexy lives, but when it’s her having a sexy moment, she’s mysteriously silent.
Julie
OMGWTF.
Hallie
You better start talking.
Me
Keep your pants on! It literally just happened.
Julie
If it just happened, how does Emma already know?
Emma
Neighbor privileges.
Hallie
Isn’t Maddy having a Rachel sleepover tonight? I’m surprised you noticed anything. I would have thought you and Jeremy would have been…occupied.
Emma
We’ve been occupied plenty tonight. We were taking a snack break in the kitchen when I happened to look out the window.
Julie
And what did you see out the window? Give us every detail. Leave nothing out.
Me
She saw the tree that caved in half my roof.
Hallie
That is…decidedly not sexy. Are you okay?
Me
I’m fine, but my house is a fucking disaster. There’s a hole in my bedroom and it crushed my HVAC system in the attic.
Julie
I’m searching for emergency roofing companies right now. And you’ll probably need water remediation because of the rain. Email me your homeowners insurance binder too. I’ll check out your coverage for you.
Emma
Oh, none of that’s going to be necessary, Jules. Gabe is taking care of it for her.
Hallie
Okay, so now we arrive at the sexy portion of the story.
Julie
Home disasters are very unsexy.
Hallie
They aren’t if you hate anything house-related as much as Molly does and a sexy someone else swoops in and handles it for you.
Me
I don’t know why his take-charge attitude was so sexy, but it was. He was all, everything is broken but please let me handle it, and I’ll take care of everything. I almost melted into a puddle right at his feet.
I’m trying to stay all stoic and firm and let him work for his second chance, but he’s making it really hard to do that.
Emma
I think there’s another part to this story. What happened at the end of your date but before the tree fell on your house?
Me
He kissed me.
Hallie
*SCREAMS INTERNALLY*
Julie
We need donuts for this.
Hallie
It’s Saturday night. There are no donuts. Give us the highlights and reserve Monday morning for a more detailed story time.
Me
The date was amazing. Details later, but it just…I don’t even know. It gave me back a piece of myself that I think maybe I lost ten years ago when we ended. When we got back to my house, he kissed me in the rain like we were starring in our own adaptation of The Notebook. Fuck, it was everything. I don’t know what would have happened if the tree hadn’t fallen but it did, so here we are.
Julie
Where is here, exactly?
Me
Well, right now, here is in my car stopped at a red light while I follow him back to his house. I’m staying there for a night or two until I can find something to rent while my house is being fixed.
Hallie
Stop it. A fake engagement and forced proximity? I just absolutely die. That’s an A+ combo.
Julie
That’s a lot, Mol. Are you okay?
Me
Surprisingly, yes. I mean, I don’t love that it’s currently raining in my bedroom, but considering all that, and the fact that I’m about to spend the night at my ex-boyfriend slash love of my life slash fake- fiancé’s house, I am shockingly calm.
Hallie
You’re not just saying you’re fine, right? It’s okay if you’re not fine. You can tell us. You can tell us anything.
Emma
I was there. She’s fine. Better than fine, I’d venture to say.
Do you want to know what I think?
Julie
Yes.
Hallie
Yes.
Me
Literally always.
Emma
I think there is no rental in your future. At least not for a couple of weeks. And I don’t think that’s a bad thing. This time together will be good for you. It’ll help you figure out what you want. Whether what you feel for him is left over from what you felt for him before, or whether there’s something still between you that can grow into something new. There’s a really important difference there, and the only way to figure it out is to be a part of each other’s lives.
But don’t let what he wants influence what you want. What he wants is you. That’s not a secret. Take this time to decide what it is that YOU want.
Me
How…do you know everything?
Emma
It’s a gift. You’re lucky to have me.
Me
No shit.