Chapter 27 – Molly
“You want me to do what?” Jace said, looking at me like I was crazy.
“I want you to help me turn the garage into a man cave for Liam, and we have until he gets off shift to finish it all,” I repeated, slower this time to make sure he heard me right.
“Okay, but why? If you want Liam to have a space to himself, why don’t you build it at his own house?”
“Because I figure he’ll be spending more time here when the baby comes, and I want him to have his own space,” I said, giving Jace half the truth.
“What are you wanting to put in there?” he asked.
“So the other day I was scrolling on my phone and purchased a few things, but I’m definitely going to need help assembling them.”
Jace shook his head. “What did you buy?”
“A pool table and some couches. Plus some smaller stuff, like toolboxes and a dartboard. Oh—and some panels to hang on the wall for his tools or fishing stuff. Whatever he wants to use them for,” I added.
“Where is it all?”
I peeked out the living room window. “It should be delivered any minute.”
“And you’re telling me we have until he gets back from his shift to put it all together?” he said, checking the clock on the kitchen wall.
I flashed him my biggest smile. “Remember how I’m your favorite sister?”
“You’re my only sister,” he deadpanned.
“Same thing.” I shrugged, hoping he’d accept the job either way.
“Show me the space we’re working with,” Jace said, looking around for the door to the garage.
“Right this way,” I said, cheering inside as we headed into the empty two-car garage and I flipped on the lights.
When Liam renovated the house, he’d added new insulation in the garage and installed Sheetrock. It was the perfect space for a man cave.
“Nothing but plain white walls and a slab of concrete,” I said, looking around the empty space.
As Jace studied the garage, beeping from the backup sensors of a truck reversing into the gravel driveway caught my attention. I pushed the button on the wall to open the garage door.
As the delivery driver climbed out of the truck, clipboard tucked under his arm, Jace stepped out of the garage to greet him.
. After a few minutes of small talk, the driver climbed into his truck and backed it up to the garage instead of parking by the front porch.
Using dollies, it only took a few minutes for him and Jace to unload everything.
The couches were already assembled, and so were the toolboxes—thank God—but the pool table came in one large box.
Between Jace and me, it seemed doable that we could put it together in a decent amount of time.
Once the panels were unloaded, along with the smaller items I’d ordered, the driver headed out for his next delivery.
I gestured at the pile of random things sitting in the middle of the garage floor. “So what do you think? Think we can knock it out?” I asked.
“You’re lucky you’re my sister and he’s my best friend,” Jace said, pulling the clear plastic off the couches. “I still can’t believe you two are having a baby together.”
“For what it’s worth, we used protection. It just broke.”
“Oh my God, please stop talking. I’m begging,” he said, scrunching up his face.
“Just saying.” I laughed.
“Please talk about literally anything else.”
“Did you know all that stuff about his dad and brother?” I asked, unboxing one of the smaller packages.
“I knew his dad was a prick, but I had no idea he lost his brother like that. All this time we’ve been friends, and he never told me,” Jace admitted.
“Why do you think that is?”
“He told me there was never a right time to bring it up, and I mean, if that shit happened to me, I’d never want to talk about it to anyone.
” Jace’s reasoning made sense. “Plus, as long as I’ve known Liam, he’s never once stood up to his dad the way he did that night.
I don’t know what names he called you, but whatever his dad said, I can tell you this—Liam cares about you.
He wouldn’t have fought him like that if he didn’t. ”
“I guess I can understand why he never wanted to be a dad. I’d be scared to turn out like that jackass too. I can’t say it didn’t hurt me though,” I said somberly. “Sometimes I get in my head and worry.”
“About what?” Jace asked, pausing what he was doing.
“That once the baby gets here and everything gets more real, he’ll get scared again and leave.”
“I’ve known Liam a long time, Molly, and y’all’s parenting journey didn’t get off to the greatest start, but he would never leave his son. He knows what it’s like to have an absent father—he wouldn’t do that to his own kid. Besides,” he added, “he knows I’ll kill him.”
“Yeah, sometimes I just get in my own head. It’ll pass.”
Jace studied the instruction manual that came with the pool table.
“This doesn’t look that bad, honestly. Add the legs and we’re pretty much set,” he said, closing it and pulling the pieces out of the box.
“You work on hanging the small stuff, like the dartboard, while I work on putting this together.”
For three hours, Jace worked on assembling the pool table and hanging the panels on the wall. Once he finished that, he arranged the couches to make a small seating area off to the side of the pool table.
Everything was coming together like I’d pictured it.
I was so thankful for Jace. Without his help, I never would’ve been able to pull this off.
As we finished the final details and made our way back into the house, I glanced up at the clock.
Liam would be home in half an hour. We were done just in the nick of time.
“Look at us, working together without fist fighting,” I said, smiling at Jace as he grabbed a cold water from the fridge. He twisted the cap off and took a long gulp.
“I’m going home before you con me into another project,” he said, laughing.
“Liam will kill you if you leave me here alone for even a minute,” I joked, but truthfully, the thought of being left alone out here terrified me.
I was at least a ten-minute drive from Silver Creek.
If another one of those goons found me and I had to call for help, it would be too late by the time Liam or anyone else got here.
“I’m kidding,” Jace laughed. “No way in hell am I leaving you alone with everything going on right now.”
“Who do you think is after me?”
“Have you upset anyone recently? Maybe an angry customer from a while back that you forgot about?” he said, searching for an explanation.
“No,” I said. “I’ve spent hours trying to figure it out, but I can’t think of a single person I’ve upset lately. No angry customers, no random strangers I’ve argued with at the grocery store—literally nothing comes to mind.”
“If you think of something small, even if you don’t think it’s important, you need to tell Liam. It could be the missing piece to the puzzle he’s trying to put together.”
He must’ve seen the worry on my face. It was getting harder and harder to hide. “It’s exhausting always feeling like I have to watch my back.”
“Liam will figure out what’s going on, Molly. You have to know that. He won’t let anything happen to you. He’s doing his best with the evidence he has,” Jace said, trying to cheer me up.
“You know me, I’m a social butterfly. Being locked away like Rapunzel in her tower sucks, no matter how nice Liam made this house big ol’ house.”
“Speaking of the devil,” Jace said, pointing as Liam made his way up the driveway.
I watched from the window as Liam hopped out of his truck and headed toward the front door.
He glanced at Jace, eyeing him curiously as he walked in the door. “Why do you look like you just ran a marathon?”
“Oh, you’ll figure it out soon enough.” Jace laughed and took another gulp of water.
“When you go home, can you remind Cassie about girls’ night tomorrow?” I asked Jace. “For obvious reasons, we have to have it here.”
“Trust me, I don’t need to remind her. She’s been talking about it all week—can’t decide if she wants to bring her pickle pinwheels or lil smokies. She acts like her life depends on choosing the right answer.”
“Those sound amazing. Tell her to bring the pregnant lady both,” I said, practically begging.
“Will do,” he said. heading out until the next time he got to babysit his little sister.
Once Jace was gone, Liam pulled me in, giving me a long, soft kiss. “How was your day?” he asked, kissing my neck gently.
“It was good—even better now that you’re here.” I giggled as his kisses continued to pepper my neck.
“What did you and Jace do all day?”
“Well, actually, I have something to show you,” I said, smiling. A worried look flickered across Liam’s face. “You’re gonna love it—I think,” I added, trying to reassure him.
I grabbed Liam by the hand, leading him toward the refurbished garage. “Close your eyes.” He did as I said.
I opened the door, flipping on the lights. Everything was in its place, the neon signs we’d hung up earlier gleaming on the walls. I guided Liam down the steps and into the garage, turning him so he’d be facing everything Jace and I had worked on all day.
“Okay, open your eyes,” I said, anxiously anticipating his reaction.