Chapter 2 #2
He paled just a touch at the mention of his ex-fiancée. Damn, that was low. She mentally smacked herself. “I’m sorry,” she said quickly. “I’m so sorry.”
It’d been a while since he broke up with his fiancée, but Molly was sure the death of that relationship still smarted.
Heck, her last serious relationship ended over eight years ago and she still ached when she thought of how it all crumbled.
Thought of how she’d ended up alone and pregnant and suing the shit out of her ex for child support.
Child support for a child they’d both actively tried to bring into the world.
An ex who took a sledgehammer to her heart. That part she could forgive.
Leaving Ollie? She could never.
“I was out of line.” She shook her head and wished the ground would swallow her. “I’m really, really sorry.”
“It’s okay. I hadn’t thought of Dakota all day.” He grimaced. “I haven’t thought of her in a while, actually.”
Molly hadn’t cared for Dakota—mostly because Dakota always looked funny at Rachel. Like Rachel had what she wanted, and Dakota would do whatever it took to take it.
Which was funny, because Rachel did not want Gavin and was actually happy that he’d met someone else.
But it was best friend code that when someone looked that way at your bestie, you got defensive on their behalf. Therefore, Molly never warmed to Dakota.
That worked out though, since she and Gavin had ended the engagement.
“Dakota and I were dating,” Gavin said, slowly.
“So watching your dating show made sense. I took your advice, and I’m nearly certain that’s why it lasted as long as it did.
So maybe I should thank you.” He paused, clearly deep in thought.
“Or maybe not, since it lasted as long as it did.” His attempt at levity fell flat.
He reached for his tumbler and whatever golden liquid remained in the bottom, taking a solid gulp.
Molly had really stuffed her ballet flat in her gullet. She should leave, except this was her seat. And if she moved somewhere else, it would probably rub salt—the coarse Himalayan kind—in the wound she’d inadvertently opened.
First rule when engaging with Gavin: don’t actually touch him.
Yet, she still reached out to his arm, giving him a totally platonic stroke. “Breakups suck.”
“Yeah. They do.” He nodded, lifting his hand to hers,
which totally negated her platonic efforts because her skin touching fabric was fine. Skin on skin? Yeah, that sparkler she’d hoped for with Dan suddenly lit right the hell up. Flames and sparks flipping all over the place, ready to burn down her heart.
Maybe she could close her eyes and pretend this wasn’t Gavin? Or ask that he put a bag on his head? Or something? Carefully, oh-so-carefully, she extracted her hand from underneath his. Not in a way that made it an obvious retreat.
No, just a hey-it’s-totally-normal-that-I-just-touched-you kind of evacuation.
“Your posse seems to be short a mom,” Gavin said, glancing around the room.
“April’s having a hard time right now. Kent decided to go full jerkwad and have an affair.” Molly pinched her lips together. Cheating asshole husbands caused a hard time. “She wasn’t able to make it.”
Gavin nodded, still scanning the room. “Where’d the boys go?”
“They were just here.” Molly checked back to where they’d been dancing not minutes earlier.
Bride. Groom. Kaiya and Dan. No boys.
Crud. Nope. She didn’t like this. Her stomach sank.
They had the entire wilderness here to get into trouble at the lake house. Therefore, all the parents gave explicit instructions to stay within the confines of the tent—unless they asked either her or Gavin for permission to leave.
Rachel was off duty for the night, given it was her wedding and all.
“They probably went with Meemaw to find some sugar.” Gavin stood. Then he frowned.
Molly followed the direction of his gaze. Meemaw Evelyn hovered near the wedding cake alone, not dishing out sugar to the kids.
“I don’t think they went with her.” Molly gave another cursory look around the room before standing quickly and heading toward the nearest exit.
She had a hunch.
Call it mom intuition, but that hunch gave her a stomachache. Because the boys were all good kids, but they were still kids… Kids who didn’t always make the best choices, the ones that their grown-ups would prefer them to select.
Gavin was at her back as she emerged into the chill of the springtime evening mountain air. They only had a little more daylight before the sun totally set.
“I’ll check the house. You check the…” She scanned the vast acreage, her heart stumbling.
“Let’s both check the dock.” Gavin headed that direction, his jaw set.
She hurried after him. “What makes you think they’re at the dock?”
He turned, waiting for her to catch up, while the pulse in his jaw ticked more visibly. “It’s where I’d go if I were their age and wanted to terrify my parents.”
“Dock it is.” Molly scooted right alongside him.
“They wouldn’t actually go swimming without an adult, right?
I mean, we set the rules.” She sidestepped an oversized rock in the middle of the path.
“No swimming alone. I was there when you said it.” Her toe caught on a pinecone.
She kicked it away. “I even signed off on it.”
Gavin grunted, the stride of his gait seemingly longer with each step. Molly adjusted her pace to keep up with him.
“Loopholes.” Gavin said. “Kellan’s good with loopholes.”
On a scale of one to terrified, Molly leveled up to clearly concerned at this point in the search. The setting sun seemed to place an odd filter over the serenity of the forest—an ominous sort of filter that pushed her into seriously worried territory.
She did not appreciate the ambiance while searching out her kid and his counterparts.
Because Gavin wasn’t wrong. Kellan was his older son by a few minutes, and he was excellent with loopholes. If there ever was an attorney in the making, Kellan was it.
Ollie followed along wherever the other boys went and did whatever they wanted to do. Even though Molly had encouraged him—oh, how she’d encouraged him—to follow his own star, he trailed right along with his buddies.
No matter the extra-curricular activity he took part in, he had a load of fun. Content to do what they did. Never getting too worked up about any of it.
Unfortunately, that meant he went along with most anything, even those things that led her hustling after Gavin to the dock at sunset, holding up the hem of her dress so it didn’t get coated in pine needles.
They rounded the corner to the dock where they’d held the ceremony.
The flowers and the white folding chairs were all removed, taken down by staff while the guests ate coq au vin.
You’d never know a wedding had taken place there only hours before.
The place looked now like a normal dock of planked wood leading to the water.
A normal dock where her son strapped roller blades to his feet.
She frowned, hurrying faster.
There was no asphalt here. No concrete. Nowhere to skate—just a dirt path and the dock.
Kellan held a cell phone, filming the whole thing. Brady stood off to the side, arms crossed, frowning at the scenario.
She was with Brady on this one.
“What are they doing?” she asked, but she didn’t have to wait long, because Ollie stood and started skating down the wooden dock toward the water.
Gavin took off in a full sprint, calling her son’s name. “Oliver!”
She did her best to run in the dress, but it was tight around the thighs, and long strides were not happening.
“Ollie,” she yelled.
He paused for the slightest second. Then he kept moving toward the water.
No. No, no, no. If he skated into the water, those skates might as well be cement blocks on his feet.
“Stop,” she cried at the same time Gavin yelled, “Don’t go in the water.”
Her heart lodged in her throat, unwilling to beat as Gavin took the steps to the dock two at a time. She’d never seen someone move that fast.
But Oliver was near the edge and appeared to have no plans to stop.