Chapter 17 – Molly
My pregnancy hormones must have been at an all-time high, because standing there—secretly watching Liam change a light bulb—was turning me on far more than it should.
I was used to seeing him in his uniform, clean-cut, boots polished, everything about him sharp and controlled.
Today was different. He wore blue jeans and a white T-shirt that showed off a tan he definitely hadn’t had the last time I’d seen him.
He must’ve been spending a lot more time in the sun lately.
Maybe whatever maintenance he’d mentioned doing around the station had him working outside.
He reached up to the light fixture above my kitchen island, his shirt lifting just enough to expose his abs. Not that I hadn’t seen them before, because we all know I definitely had.
Liam was a few years older than me—well into his thirties, while I was still clinging to my twenties—which only made things more annoying for me.
The relaxed look, the toolbox at his feet, the I-can-fix-anything-you-need attitude he was giving off were definitely screaming I’m a dad, or at least going to be one.
I still wasn’t sure how I felt about the situation, and that disaster of a dinner at Jace’s house hadn’t helped.
After hearing Liam out, his behavior made more sense than I wanted to admit.
His apology felt genuine too. But that didn’t stop my mind from replaying the moment he walked out of my house, saying he couldn’t be a father to our son.
I hadn’t been exaggerating when I said his words had made me feel like my heart had been ripped straight out of my chest. I was a forgiving person, sure, but this wasn’t some half-serious boyfriend who’d cheated, leaving me stuck at the crossroads of whether to forgive him or not.
This was way bigger than that. This was the rest of my life.
“Why do you have three pans of lemon bars sitting over there on your counter?” Liam asked, cutting off my train of thought.
“Oh—uh, I’ve been craving them a lot lately, so I just keep baking more,” I said with a shrug. “This kid already takes after you, and he’s not even born yet. Do you want some?” I asked, holding up one of the pans.
Liam took a slice, immediately tossing the entire thing into his mouth without a second thought.
“I could’ve poisoned those, you know. Remember the last time when I accidentally drugged you?”
“Death by Molly McKinley wouldn’t surprise me a bit. At least I’d go out eating something delicious,” he said, mouth half full. “I wanted to come by your bakery the other day and get a blueberry muffin, but I didn’t.”
“Why didn’t you come?”
He paused. “You want the truth?”
“No, I want you to lie,” I said sarcastically. “Duh, I want the truth.”
“I don’t know where we stand. As friends.
As co-parents.” His voice dropped. “I don’t even know if you want me around.
This isn’t me fishing for sympathy. I just honestly don’t know.
And after the crap I said before, I didn’t trust myself to open my fat mouth again.
So I’ve decided my best option is to lay low and be quiet. ”
“Oh,” I said, taking in his honesty. I didn’t really know what to say in response. Liam was right—I didn’t know where we stood, and I didn’t know where I wanted us to stand either.
“Well next time you get a craving for a blueberry muffin, you know where to find me,” I said, calling a silent truce.
“How have you been feeling?” he asked as he screwed in the last light bulb.
“Good, honestly. The morning sickness finally went away. My feet hurt a little more at the end of the day than they used to, but it’s nothing I can’t handle.”
“Have you had any more panic attacks since the break-in?”
The sincere question caught me off guard. I hadn’t expected him to worry about me on that kind of personal level.
“No, they’ve held off for the time being, thankfully. I think my brain knows I’ve got way more on my plate right now than I’m used to, and it decided to do me a solid and chill out for a bit.”
I crossed the kitchen and opened the freezer, focused on satisfying my newest and sudden craving—ice cream.
I crouched down as the cold air swirled around me, scanning the shelves from top to bottom.
“Dammit.”
Liam glanced over at me. “What?”
“I want ice cream,” I said, scrunching up my face like the pregnancy gods should’ve known what I needed and made it magically appear in my freezer.
“Based on that look on your face, I’m guessing you didn’t find any, did you?”
“Nope.”
“Well, unless there’s something else you need me to check on or fix, I could take you to get some ice cream… if you want,” he said gently.
“You’d take me to the store just to get ice cream?”
“I can take you to the store, or I can take you to get ice cream at Maggie’s. Wherever you want,” he said, like his offer was no big deal.
“You’d do that for me?”
“I’d do anything for you, Molly. You’re the mother of my child.”
Well, shucks.
“Maggie does make a mean banana split,” I said, imagining big scoops of Neapolitan ice cream tucked between two banana slices, topped with delicious strawberries, sweet chocolate syrup, and whipped cream.
I peeked around the kitchen wall, through the living room, and out the front window. “Do we have to take your Jeep, though?”
He clutched his chest as if I’d wounded him. “What’s wrong with my Jeep?”
“You could be a terrible driver for all I know.”
He laughed. “I’m trained to chase people at high speeds, Molly. My driving is probably better than most people’s. Besides, I don’t know if you’ve compared my height to yours lately, but there’s no way I’m fitting comfortably in your Toyota Camry.”
“We seemed to be the same height when I was straddling your lap,” I said, before I registered that my internal thought had accidentally become external.
What the hell, Molly?
Liam’s cheeks perked in a small smile as he bit his bottom lip, clearly trying to suppress his laugh. And he was probably thinking about the night in question, just like I was right now.
“How many times in your life has that mouth of yours managed to get you in trouble?” he asked, crossing his arms.
I pretended to count on my fingers as if the number wasn’t astronomically higher. “A ridiculous amount, but I’m just as good at bullshitting my way out anything, so it’s always evened out in the end.”
“How do you plan to talk yourself out of this one?”
“I don’t. I can tell by your smirk you liked my reference to the night in question. Am I wrong?”
He grabbed his toolbox and turned toward the door. “Let’s go get you your banana split, wild child,” he called over his shoulder as he walked out of the kitchen. A victorious smile spread across my face behind his back.
We both headed out the door, Liam making a point to keep his distance from every chicken wandering through my yard. After noticing his movements, I hurried up behind him, grabbed his lower back, and made a clucking sound. He jumped, spinning around like he was about to fight off a wild animal.
I doubled over, laughing so hard I nearly peed my pants.
He shot me his signature scowl. “Not funny, Molls.”
“You make it so easy though,” I said, still laughing.
“One of these days, I’m going to get you back,” he said, scowling as we approached his Jeep.
I climbed into the passenger seat as Liam got behind the steering wheel.
Climbed was a generous word. Liam hopped in effortlessly, while I, on the other hand, struggled to haul myself up using the oh-shit handle and the running board.
Another month or two and getting into this thing would be absolute hell.
Who was I kidding? I’d probably never get into this thing again after tonight.
Liam slid the key into the ignition, bringing the engine to life. Country music crackled through the speakers as he pulled out of my driveway.
I gathered my hair into a messy bun on top of my head, grateful I’d decided to bring a hair tie with me. The wind started blowing it in every direction as soon as Liam’s foot pressed down on the gas pedal.
“Are you comfortable?” he asked loudly over the rushing wind, as he pulled onto the two-lane highway that ran through Silver Creek.
Instead of yelling back, I gave him two thumbs up and a smile. He laughed as he continued to drive down the road.
After a few minutes, Liam pulled into the parking lot of Maggie’s—the best diner in Silver Creek. The only diner in Silver Creek too, but whatever. The food was the best around, and I would argue with anyone who said otherwise.
Liam held the door open for me, and as I stepped inside, the summer humidity was replaced by blessed air-conditioning. The smell of fresh cheeseburgers and salty fries hit me immediately. It was every pregnant woman’s dream.
We slid into one of the vinyl booths, the seat cool against the backs of my legs. The waitress immediately walked over, handing us two menus. I flipped it open, suddenly hungrier than I’d been before we had gotten here.
After scanning the menu, I peeked over the top of mine at Liam. “Is it bad that I want dinner and dessert now?”
“Get whatever you want,” he said. “I think I’ve sold myself on the Reuben, anyway. What about you?”
“A greasy cheeseburger with a side of greasy fries, smothered in ketchup. I’ll probably have the worst heartburn later, but it’ll be worth it. Besides, I’ve got an extra-large bottle of Tums at home, so I came prepared.”
The waitress came back and flipped open her notepad. “What can I get you two lovebirds?” she asked, eyes still locked on the page.
I glanced over at Liam, and his eyes were comically wide.
“I’ll take a cheeseburger and fries, please,” I said, deciding not to correct her. Liam and I were by no means lovebirds, but my pregnant belly was starting to become more than I could pass off as bloating, so it was a fair assumption on her part. No need to make things more awkward than they were.
“Reuben for me,” Liam added, handing over both menus.
“Comin’ right up,” the waitress said. She flipped her notepad closed, took the menus, and headed for the back.
“When Jace and I came here as teenagers, we always sat at the booth in the corner,” Liam said, nodding toward a spot off to our left.
“Have you talked to him since that night at his house?” I asked.
“No. He said he couldn’t forgive me unless you did,” Liam admitted, stirring his drink with his straw.
“Oh.”
I could tell by the somber look on his face he didn’t have anything to say back, so I tried changing the subject. “Tell me more about teenage Liam. What was he like?”
“Well, you know wherever Jace went, I followed. I’m surprised I didn’t run into you more as a teenager, considering how much time I spent with your brother.”
“There was a huge difference between two seniors and a tiny freshman like me. Our circles barely overlapped back then,” I pointed out.
“We were always on the run too, trying to find our next adventure or getting into as much trouble as possible.”
“I specifically remember you two always have fishing poles in the back of his pickup truck,” I said.
“We used to go sunset chasing all the time. Then we’d end the night catfishing.”
“What’s chasing a sunset mean?”
Liam laughed. “You’ve never heard of chasing sunsets?”
I shrugged. “Literally never. Not once in my life.”
He smiled. “It’s just driving around, finding a good spot to watch the sunset.
Jace and I did it all the time. We made sure to find spots near a body of water, so we could fish after the sun went down.
If we didn’t get any bites at that fishing spot, we’d back up and go find something else to do.
It usually ended in us getting in trouble, as you know. ”
“My dad was just talking the other day about the time Jace lost a bet to you and spray-painted red dicks all over the high school walls.”
Liam started coughing and laughing at the same time. “He was?”
“He talks about it now like it’s the funniest thing he’d ever seen. I think he secretly thought it was hilarious, but he knew he had to go into dad mode and scold you guys or my mom would’ve lost it.”
“He made sure to give me the same I-expected-better-from-you speech he gave Jace, since the school couldn’t get ahold of my dad.
He was too busy to return calls from his own son’s school.
For all he knew, I could’ve been hurt,” Liam said with the same annoyed tone he had any time he brought up his dad in conversation.
“I knew it was you two who did that, you know.”
“How?”
“I found the red spray-paint cans under Jace’s bed. When I showed up to school the next day and saw red dicks all over the wall, I connected the dots pretty easily.”
“You were the one who ratted us out to Principal Larson?” he asked, eyes wide.
I leaned back in the booth, offended. “I was not the one who ratted you guys out. I never said a word, I’ll have you know. I should’ve ratted you out though, considering I’m positive you were the one who ratted me out for skipping school and going to the mall. I got grounded for a month for that.”
“I never ratted you out,” he said, offended that I had accused him.
“Who else would it have been? I know you saw me leave school that day with my friends. No one else saw us leave.”
“That you know of,” he said. “Scout’s honor, I never ratted you out.”
I crossed my arms, trying to decide if he was telling the truth or not.
“Damn. You’re telling me I held a grudge for almost a decade for no reason?”
“Where’s the Molly McKinley I know? If you really thought I ratted you out, why didn’t you confront me about it back then? You’ve literally never held back once in your life.”
“Good point. I should’ve beat you up for ratting me out, which would’ve been for nothing if what you’re saying is true. Either way, it would’ve made for a good story.”
I sat there for a minute longer. “If you didn’t rat me out, then who did?”
“My guess is Jace. He was standing right there with me when I watched you leave school that day.”
“That little shit.”