Chapter 2
MOLLY
What mattered today was not that Molly had paired her date with one of her favorite friends, and not that Molly was now sitting awkwardly alone at the head table while everyone else danced. What mattered was that Rachel was blissfully happy with her new husband.
Yes, that’s precisely what mattered.
Molly fidgeted with the edge of her napkin in the large, heated event tent erected in the backyard of the Frank family mountain mansion.
The wedding planner had transformed the inside of the tent with loads of flowers—white roses absolutely everywhere and hydrangeas mixed with wisteria lounging along the ceiling poles.
White silk curtains all around the edges added a finishing touch.
They may have held the reception in an event tent, but the place looked like a palace.
And the Franks had brought in a band. Good music. Mostly country, which made sense given that they were in the country.
The packed dance floor lay smack dab in the center, and though there were not a ton of guests, most were dancing. Dan and Kaiya were in the middle of it all. They had hit it off, because of course they had.
Even the kids were getting their groove on under the disco ball.
The three boys might as well be triplets, what with the way they cemented themselves together as a unit.
“Is this seat taken?” Gavin asked, maneuvering beside her to Dan’s long-vacant chair.
“Not anymore.” She didn’t even try to think of a spunky comeback like she usually did with Gavin. “Have at it.”
He sat and slid a fresh bottle of sparkling water in her direction. Started to say something, then stopped. Finally, after clearing his throat twice, he said, “Are you okay?”
She nodded, not meeting his eyes because she did not want a repeat of the whole butterfly, nerve endings, sizzling thing that had happened in the kitchen. “Yeah, why?”
His shoulder lifted just a smidge. “The life of the party isn’t usually sitting alone.”
“Am I the life of the party?” she asked, sounding a little sad even to her own ears. Which was unacceptable. So she willed herself to set down the napkin in her hands and said, “You’re usually in bed by the time the party starts. I didn’t think you’d noticed.”
He lifted an eyebrow. “While it’s true I like shut eye, I have eyes, so I can see that you’re usually at the center of things. I assume that continues after I eat my blue plate special and go to bed early?”
Yes, he was right. Usually, she wouldn’t have cared if she didn’t have a date. She would’ve borrowed a dance partner or forced Ollie to groove with her.
“I guess I’m not feeling it tonight. Leave it to me not to drink enough coffee on the wedding day.
” She gave in to the pressure inside her and turned to fully face Gavin.
Striking, of course, in his tux. But he looked tired.
Like he actually did need to go to bed before eight. She’d really been joking before.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
He grinned, but it missed his usual sarcastic glow. “I’m fine.”
“The boys wore you out today?” The three of them together were a total handful. Three full handfuls, if one were counting.
“Nah, they’re good kids.” He’d been with them all day so Molly and Rachel didn’t have to worry about the distraction. He’d even taken them rollerblading down on the asphalt drive—Ollie had talked nonstop about it through the reception.
She swallowed the toad that lodged in her throat at the realization she needed to thank Gavin for that. Ollie had had a fantastic time.
Was she willing to give him a hall pass for the years he skipped out? No. She wasn’t.
But he’d been there for Rachel—and for her today.
What was that? Up to three points now?
“I guess…I should…thank you,” she forced herself to say.
He ticked his head to the side in question, the edge of his styled hair brushing along his ear at the movement. Her fingertips itched to smooth the misplaced chunk of hair.
She bristled at the urge. He needed another haircut. “I’m telling you thanks. For taking care of Ollie today,”
she blurted. Then she gulped. “Thank you for taking care of him.”
There. Done. Didn’t kill her.
“You’re welcome. For taking care of Ollie today,” he said, carefully. “You’re welcome for taking care of him.”
Was he making fun of her? She squinted. No, the tone was light. Gavin was trying to be funny. Look at that.
“Do you want to dance?” Gavin asked. She stilled, glanced around behind her. Was he speaking to her?
There wasn’t anyone else within earshot, so it must’ve been her.
“Yes, I mean you,” Gavin said with a low rumble that could’ve been a chuckle or it could’ve been…she did not know.
“Me?” she asked, the need for confirmation urgent because in that moment you could’ve tipped her off of her chair with only the light from the disco ball. What, with the intensity of his brown eyes boring into her.
Dancing meant touching. And touching was a terrible idea because she’d probably end up strangling him. Then the police would have to come. It’d be a whole thing and would totally wreck Rachel’s happy day.
“Won’t your date mind?” she asked. Because surely he had a date here. Didn’t he have a date? Gavin was Gavin, so surely he had somebody here with him. Someone he probably didn’t set up with his friend in the middle of their date.
She scanned the room and racked her brain, but no; she hadn’t seen him with anyone but the kids.
He shook his head. “No date for me.”
“She decided at the last minute your teeth aren’t straight enough?” Molly asked because she was still Molly.
Gavin chuckled. “I’m on a break from all of that.” He leaned forward, barely touching her personal space. “And the orthodontist signed off on my straight teeth when I was fifteen.”
“All the women told you no, didn’t they?” she asked. “Bound to happen sometime, I guess.”
He gave a wry smile. “I didn’t give anyone the chance. I figured I’d fly solo for a while.”
“That’s very unlike you,” Molly said. Super unlike him, really.
“I decided after my engagement imploded that I needed to take some time to get to know myself.”
She waved him off, shaking her head. “That’s a bad idea.”
“Because I’m not likeable?” He asked the question with a debonaire smoothness that would’ve been endearing on anyone else.
“Hey, you said it.” Molly nudged him with her elbow. “Not me.”
He chuckled. Rolled with it.
“How’s that going for you?” she asked, because he was
still sitting there and she didn’t have anyone else to talk to. “The whole getting to know yourself thing?”
“Good. I’m enjoying my company. Enjoying my kids.
Trying out new hobbies.”
That all sounded very adult. Look at him, adulting. Adulting and watching all the kids all day, and now he was making small talk with her. In a tuxedo no less. Whew. It’s like he wasn’t even Gavin anymore.
She hadn’t realized the chilly mountain air had seeped into her skin until the warmth of his body so near hers made it disappear. Not in a normal Gavin-induced-rash way either. He smelled of oak and vanilla and a really heady male scent that made her want to sniff him real good.
What the hell?
She had never, not once in her entire existence, wanted to sniff Gavin Frank.
Throw him in a lake? Oh, lots of times.
Tell him to jump off a cliff? At least a dozen times. The sniff thing? Nope. Never.
Good thing they were both happy to be single together. “Welcome to Club Solo.” Molly tried to go with light,
but it actually sounded sort of sad the way it came out.
“So Dan’s pretty excited about Kaiya,” Gavin said. “He said you introduced them?”
She nodded. Fidgeted with the chilled green bottle of Perrier he’d brought for her. “Yup.”
He said nothing to that. She said nothing to that.
They both just sat there, saying nothing.
She could totally say nothing by herself. His presence was not required for that.
“I’d prefer to discuss your lack of date than mine,” Molly said, finally.
They sat in silence for a moment, but oddly, this time, it wasn’t uncomfortable silence. Just quiet. Watching the room together.
“Somebody once said that before a person is ready to commit, they should be comfortable being alone.” He grimaced a bit. “I’m trying that out.”
In that moment you could’ve knocked her over with a splash of club soda. Because the someone who said that was her. On her web show. About six months ago.
She was an idiot for giving that advice, and mostly it was to comfort herself and her lack of a committed relationship.
“You watch my show?”
“Oh, hey, it’s Molly,” he said in just the same way she did at the beginning of every episode. Not mocking her or anything, just clarifying that he’d seen the show.
The hinge of her jaw stopped doing its job and her mouth plopped right open.
Gavin seeing her show was reasonable on some level, because it was fairly popular. She made enough on ad revenue to pay her rent. Sometimes she’d even do appearances and speaking gigs for viewers who enjoyed her brand of advice.
Still… Gavin? Watching her show?
She couldn’t seem to make her tongue work.
And he’d taken her advice?
“You look like I just told you that there’s no more wedding cake,” he said. “Is it bad that I tune in?”
“How many?” she asked, regaining some control over her lips and the ability to move them. “Episodes?”
He glanced back to the dance floor, then to her.
“Seriously?”
“How many?” she asked again. “Seriously.”
“Uh…” He scratched at his collar, finally loosening the tie with the edge of his fingertip and unbuttoning the top button.
She did not appreciate how his now-exposed Adam’s apple bobbed because it seemed to be taunting her. Her advice was for normal people in the dating world. Not Gavin.
“All of them,” he said after a long pause, covering his mouth with his palm as he spoke.
“I’ve been making episodes for years.” She leveled a stare at him. “You’ve seen them all?”
He nodded. Lifted a shoulder. “You give excellent advice.”
“You watched my show even when you were with Dakota?” she asked, because there was no way Dakota watched it.