26. Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Six
Preston
“Ready to go home?” I asked, twirling my keys on my finger like I wasn’t more nervous than I’d ever been.
Talking to Emmett after the game had been impossible. We were never by each other again and it wasn’t exactly easy to pull him to the side as we were flying home. Unless we wanted a bunch of rumors swirling around, yanking him to the bathroom wasn’t a good idea.
As much as I hated overnight games, it would have been great if we’d gone to a hotel and had a moment of privacy. But our itinerary was game, dinner, and the flight home with no room to breathe in between.
I fitfully slept throughout the flight, waking up in quick snatches to run through everything I wanted to say to Emmett. He dropped a bomb and then I had to play like it didn’t bother me.
Not one of my best games, but better than some of my recent ones.
The second we got in the car and both of our doors were shut, I turned in my seat and stared at him. “Why’d you change your mind?”
“What?”
“What?” I snapped. I groaned and grabbed the back of my neck. “Sorry. I’m tired and—” And I want to tell you I love you, but I lost touch with my feelings or maybe I never was in touch with them, and I don’t know how to and—
“I get it,” he said, buckling and leaning back. “It’s been crazy lately.”
“You do?” I asked, sitting up, surprised.
He nodded. “I just want to get home to Molly.”
“Me too,” I muttered, putting the car in drive as I cranked up the music.
I was in no position to talk.
“Molly’s gone,” Emmett said, walking out of her room in a daze.
“Okay. How do you know?” I asked, checking my phone before I jumped to any conclusions. “She didn’t text, but it’s not like she has to check in with us—”
Emmett held up a piece of paper and I recognized Molly’s looping handwriting right away. My stomach fell out of my body as I jumped to the worst possible conclusions with both feet. There was no way it was good news, based on the unbearable hurt etching Emmett’s face.
“She said she recognized that she’s just in our way and she appreciates everything we helped her with. She said the manuscript is almost done and she’s learned everything she can.” He scanned the paper again. “She said to not worry about it because she’s got it.”
“She’s delusional if she thinks I’m not going to worry about her,” I ground out.
“Exactly,” Emmett said, his jaw tight.
With the letter clutched in his hand, he flew down the stairs, and I was right behind him. So close, in fact, I slammed into him as he paused on the last step.
He turned around, eyes filled with confusion. “What would make her think she was in our way?”
My stomach leaped back into my body, just to drop out again. “It’s the first thing I’m asking her when we find her.”
I winced, hating myself for not just telling him.
Knowing Molly left because she thought I wanted to be with Emmett was not at all a way to win him over.
What was I supposed to say? “So, she left because I told her I have feelings for you. And you clearly have feelings for her. And so do I. Yep. This is really complicated. And, yep, I’m the reason she left. ”
No. I couldn’t say any of that. I was too chicken.
“She could be at Juliet’s or at Lucas’s,” Emmett said.
For a second, we stood frozen, like neither of us knew which direction to go if we wanted to find her as quickly as possible.
“Let’s split up.” I was reluctant to leave his side, but it was the only way to cover more ground, and our best hope of finding Molly quickly.