Chapter 15
It had been almost two months since Molly had moved to Storyville. She had spoken to her parents right when she settled in, but she hadn’t spoken to them since, except for a few text messages here and there. They were busy people, so it hadn’t surprised her… but it didn’t mean it didn’t sting.
She hadn’t told Eli, but part of her wondered if she should go back to Denver just so she could see her parents regularly.
If it was the only way she could have a relationship with them, shouldn’t she want it?
She wasn’t sure. It made her feel like a terrible daughter to stay away, but at the same time, she wanted to forge her own way in life, away from the chaos of a busy work life that left no room for a personal life.
But they also had the choice to see her, and they hadn’t made any attempts either.
She couldn’t imagine leaving Eli, but she also couldn’t imagine staying away from her parents.
Molly clicked on her mom’s phone number in her contacts and held the phone up to her ear. It rang a few times before she answered.
“Molly?”
“Hi, Mom. How are you?”
“I’m doing well, hon. How are you?”
There was a lot of background noise, which was unusual. Normally her parents were holed up in their offices working.
She heard her dad’s voice in the background. “There it is!”
“I’m good. What are you guys up to? It sounds like you’re out of the office on a Wednesday.” Molly raised her eyebrows. Not being in the office on a weekday was almost unheard of.
“We aren’t at work. We took the day off.” Her mom’s voice sounded distracted. “Molly, can I call you back in just a little bit? I’m in the middle of something.”
Molly frowned. “Yeah, that’s fine. I’ll be home all day.”
“Oh good. I’m glad to hear it. Talk soon!”
Then the line went dead. Molly looked at her phone, feeling rejected. Her parents had barely spoken to her since she had moved, and now they finally took a day off in the middle of the work week and couldn’t even bother to talk to her.
She sighed and leaned back into her couch. She had the day off, but she didn’t have any plans. Eli was working, so she couldn’t hang out with him. Although she could go hang out at the bookstore, she knew she would just be a distraction.
Molly grabbed the tablet off the counter and doodled on it.
After speaking the words aloud to Eli about possibly wanting to be a graphic designer, she had been drawing even more.
She wasn’t sure what kind of graphic design she would want to do, but she was testing out different options, whether it be websites, menus, book covers, or illustrations.
After creating the bookstore’s website and launching it earlier that week, she realized her potential was far greater than she gave herself credit for.
She considered starting her own business creating websites for companies, but for now, she wanted to make sure that was what she actually wanted to do for a living.
Her stylus moved along the screen as she made a mock-up design of her potential future website. She was only halfway done with it when there was a knock on her door.
Molly looked at the clock and knew it was too early for Eli to come around.
She didn’t have any friends in Storyville yet, aside from the Millers, and they were all at work.
She set her tablet down on the coffee table and walked over to the door, peeking through the peephole before gasping and swinging the door open.
Her parents stood on the other side with wide smiles on their faces. “Surprise!”
Tears sprang to her eyes, and she covered her mouth with her hand, unable to speak.
“Oh, honey, come here,” her mom, Ashley, said.
Her parents stepped inside and wrapped their arms around her.
“We didn’t mean to make you cry,” her dad, Jared, said.
“Oh, Jared, they’re happy tears,” Ashley said.
“How am I supposed to know that? A woman cries and I immediately scream ‘danger’ in my head.”
Molly laughed and pulled back from their arms, wiping her tears from her cheeks. “What are you doing here?”
“Coming to see you, of course. You can’t expect us to stay away forever,” her mom said.
“I would never expect you to stay away. But I didn’t think you’d come during the work week.”
“We needed to come check out where our daughter is living. Make sure you’re doing okay,” Jared said.
Tears continued to slip down Molly’s face. “I thought you guys were mad at me for leaving.”
“No, no. Why would you think that?” Ashley asked.
“I haven’t really heard from you,” Molly said.
Ashley and Jared exchanged a look, a silent conversation passing between them before turning back at Molly.
“Let’s take a seat,” Ashley said.
Molly led them over to her couch, and they sat down. She took the chair across from them.
“Honey, we’ve been trying to give you space. We didn’t think you’d want us calling you constantly,” Jared said.
“But why wouldn’t I want to hear from you? You’re my parents.”
Ashley sighed. “We were worried you would think we were trying to guilt you into staying in Denver. And we didn’t want you to come back for a job. We want you to find your own way.”
Everything she had believed since the moment she left Denver had been wrong. “Even if it means I’m not working for you and wouldn’t take over the company?”
“We don’t care about that,” Jared said.
“All we care about is that you’re happy. And if that’s in a small town taking a completely different career path, then that’s your choice. We will support you in whatever you decide,” Ashley said.
Molly swiped the tears from her cheeks. “I won’t be a barista forever.”
“But it’s okay if you are,” Jared said. “You can do whatever you want to do.”
“Thank you. That means a lot,” Molly said.
“Never doubt that we’re proud of you. We knew it took a lot of courage to leave your safety net working for us and move to a completely different town. I’m honestly very proud of you,” Ashley said.
Tears sprang to Molly’s eyes again. “Really?”
“Really. There’s nothing you could do that would disappoint us,” Jared said.
“You’re our daughter. We love you no matter what,” Ashley said.
Molly stood and walked over to them, bending over and wrapping her arms around their necks. “I love you.”
“We love you,” they both said.
When they pulled apart, Molly wiped her eyes and smiled. “Would you like a tour?”
After showing her parents around her apartment, she drove them to Storyville’s Stories. Once they had parked, she led them inside.
“And this is where I work,” she said proudly. The small cafe was busy as usual, but Katie had it handled. Eli was behind the register ringing up a customer, but he looked up when the bell jingled at their arrival. His eyes lit up immediately.
“This is such a cute store. I can see why you like it so much,” Ashley said.
Eli approached as soon as he was done with the customer. “Hey. Welcome in,” he said to her parents before giving Molly a questioning look.
“Mom, Dad, this is Eli, my boyfriend. Eli, these are my parents, Jared and Ashley. They surprised me a little bit ago,” she said.
A smile spread across Eli’s face, and he shook Jared’s hand before giving Ashley a hug. “It’s so nice to meet you. Welcome to Storyville.”
“We love your store,” Jared said. “It looks like you’re pretty busy too.”
“Thanks to Molly,” Eli said.
Molly furrowed her eyebrows and gave him a questioning look.
He continued, “She designed a new website for us. It was posted on social media and took off. We’ve already received a dozen online orders today alone.”
Molly’s eyes widened. “Really?”
“Really.” He took her hand and motioned for her parents to follow. “Come see.”
He led them to the office where an additional folding table was set up in the middle of the room. Cole sat in the corner working on the computer while Michelle packaged orders, filming herself while doing so.
Michelle looked over when they entered. “Hey! I’m making social media content. I figured with the uptick in sales, we might as well ride the high.”
Molly stared wide-eyed at the stack of books. “That’s twelve orders?”
Michelle nodded. “Can you believe it? Most of the orders were for more than one book. It seems like a lot of people want to support a small, family-owned bookstore.”
Cole spun around in his chair. “It also helps that Kelly is promoting it as well. The Wintervale Resort shared it on its social media page.”
Molly hadn’t met Eli’s sister, Kelly, yet, but had heard a lot about her. She worked for a resort in Wintervale, Montana, where she had met her now-boyfriend, Miles, the previous fall. Molly stared in disbelief, and then a ding sounded.
Cole spun back toward his computer. “We got another order.”
Eli, Cole, and Michelle tossed their hands in the air and cheered. Molly laughed in disbelief, and then a hand touched her shoulder.
She had completely forgotten that her parents were there.
“Oh my gosh. I’m sorry. Everyone, these are my parents. Mom, Dad, these are Eli’s siblings, Cole and Michelle.”
After they all shook hands, Ashley turned toward Molly. “You created a website that did all this?”
“Apparently.”
“No, seriously. She can take all the credit. We’ve never done online sales prior to today. Cole, pull up the website,” Eli said.
Cole loaded it onto his computer, and her parents went over to click through it. After a moment, they looked back at Molly.
“Molly, that’s wonderful,” Jared said. “I’m proud of you.”
“Thank you,” Molly said, tears springing to her eyes again. She had never cried so much as she had that day.
Eli tugged her to his side as her parents chatted with his siblings. “I’m proud of you too, and so incredibly thankful that you came into my life.”
She tipped her head up to look at him and sniffled. “Even though I’m just the escort?”
Eli reared back, and Katie snorted from the doorway, having overheard them.
“Not to break up the meeting, but there’s a line at the register,” Katie said.
“I’ve never thought of you as an escort,” Eli said.
Molly giggled, and Katie snorted again. “I know.”
Molly introduced her parents to Katie as Eli left to handle the register. Then Katie excused herself to get back to the cafe.
“Shall I show you the town?” Molly asked.
“That would be delightful,” Ashley said.