“Thank you,” Molly said. “Is the fire a threat to the campground?”
“Not to the campground, but the air quality has led to a public health advisory for folks to remain inside. Weather reports predict the smoke will continue to blow in for the next couple of days, which will make it even worse. It wouldn’t surprise me if they upgrade the alert and ask visitors to return home.”
Molly thanked the attendant and continued to her site, where the smoke had lowered to the treetops. Her lungs burned as she coughed. There was no way she could stay. She checked her watch. If she left now, she would make it home before nightfall, or she could reach Lemon Grove and set up her tent in the daylight.
She rubbed her eyes. Why Lemon Grove? She could go anywhere. It didn’t have to be Lemon Grove, where she might run into Rick. But if she returned to the campground, she could visit with Hudson again. That was appealing. But where Hudson was, Rick would stop by to pick up his dog. That was not.
Rick would need to understand that the only reason she would interact with him would be to hand over Hudson after his morning visit. It would not be to talk to Rick or to encourage a relationship. Molly would set up boundaries, even if he would be disappointed. Rick wasn’t worth her time. Molly would return to Lemon Grove to get away from the smoke, and that’s all.
There was no reason to overthink it. She needed to leave. It would have been nice to stay and enjoy the lake, but that would be impossible with a wildfire burning nearby. Molly tossed her sleeping bag into the trunk again and began disassembling her tent, this time folding it properly. She would not deal with a mess in Lemon Grove. The rattling around the campground signaled she was not alone in the decision to leave. The smoke had become too much for the vacationers. She now hoped to get packed up and leave before the others blocked the exit as they waited in line to have their fees reimbursed.
With her site packed, she jumped into her car and headed out toward the gate where a line of five cars were already waiting to check out. Molly tapped her steering wheel and stopped. She wasn't in a rush and needed time to think about what she would say if she saw him again. She knew it would only be a matter of time before he’d come by. It would be hard to see him. He had hurt her after she had promised herself she wouldn’t let anyone else hurt her again. As risky as it would be to go back to Lemon Grove, she’d return for Hudson, clean air, and coffee. There was nothing else for her there.
Chapter Twenty-Five
All Rick could think about was Molly. He was thankful for friends like Patsy, who agreed to keep Hudson for the day while he left Lemon Grove to find her. It seemed like the right move at the time, to chase after Molly, but now he wasn't so sure. What would she think when she saw him standing on her doorstep? Or at least on the doorstep of her coffee shop? He checked the waiver she signed when he took her on the hike to Lakewood, and she had only provided her phone number. It would have been better if he had her home address, especially since what he wanted to tell her would be best said in private. He wanted to make his feelings perfectly clear to her and leave no room for doubt in her mind.
He felt the stickiness of sweat against the palm of his hand on the steering wheel. No doubt the rest of him was just as sweaty and he would look like a mess by the time he reached her coffee shop. There would be no time to change, and he never brought another set of clothes with him. Rick hoped she needed a couple of hours alone after she left the Farmers' Market, and after calling her phone multiple times, and leaving several messages to ask her to talk about what happened or if she was coming back, he made the quick decision to rush out the door to search for her. He never should have talked with Valerie for so long. He had no interest in her, and yet, Molly’s countenance changed after Valerie's arrival, and he did nothing about it. It was Valerie who was intent on talking with him and it took time to break free from her, but before he distanced himself, Molly had already left.
All night, he sat on his couch with his phone balanced on his knee. It was only after the phone slid to the hardwood floor that he was startled awake. The first thing he did was check his messages, and found nothing. For hours, he paced around his kitchen, trying to convince himself to eat breakfast to pass the time. He didn’t want to do anything other than talk to Molly. Calling her number again, while his default response, would definitely not win her over, and he convinced himself doing so would scare her off even further. If she needed space, he needed to give her some. It tormented him to think, with each passing minute, Molly drove further and further away.
His panic spurred him to jump into his truck and earned him a speeding ticket an hour outside of Lemon Grove. The officer took little time to review his information. Something about hearing Rick’s confession of love must have affected the man behind the badge. It also didn't hurt that he knew the three officers who patrolled this stretch of highway. A little further away, and Rick doubted his story would have any impact, even though it had done nothing to get him out of receiving the ticket he deserved. The officer did share some encouraging words of wishing him luck in winning Molly back, as though the officer hoped for a fairy tale ending.
Rick pulled into an empty stall down the road from the coffee shop and walked up to the store window. He saw the line of customers waiting in the queue to make their order while others sat at tables and benches positioned around the walls of the store. Behind the counter, two workers, neither of which looked like Molly, rushed to fill customer orders. Rick took a breath and stepped inside.
Soft jazz music played on the speakers above, and the smell of fresh coffee greeted him. Customers were engaged in conversation, creating a layer of mumbled words and cheerful laughter. It was a modern coffee shop with modern art lining the walls and the artist’s information noted on cards below. They displayed mugs and small bags of coffee beans on shelves for customers to purchase. The space was decorated in dark colors of deep blue and the floor was a slate gray tile. It was a stark difference from the rustic decor of Patsy's café.
He stood in line and rubbed his sweat-covered hands against the side of his jeans. Customers came dressed in business attire, from men in suits and ties to women in blouses with coordinated skirts or pants. This was a city crowd. He had left this kind of attire behind for the casual life of jeans and plaid, but if he needed to dress like this again for Molly, he would. She was worth it. He would adapt and live wherever she was, if it meant living in the city, in Lemon Grove, or wherever else their lives took them. He needed to see her and tell her. She just needed to hear him say it.
A woman from behind the counter watched Rick for a moment before turning back to a coffee machine. She might not have meant for him to see her staring, but he had. He stood out in his small town attire, but he couldn't be the only man to walk into the coffee shop looking like he just stepped off a worksite. If the staff here were used to serving the office, white-collar folks, it now puzzled him why Molly even gave him the time of day.
His foot tapped against the ground. Beside him, a man looked down at the floor and back up to Rick with a scowl. Rick glanced down to find a pile of dried mud laying on the floor beside his boots. He turned away. He would not let some stranger at the table beside him, who probably had never worked outside a day in his life, shame him over a little pile of mud.
The line continued forward, and he inched his way closer to the front. The menu listed names of fancy coffee drinks, many of which he had never heard of, or appealed to him. He knew his favorite drink, and that was all he would order, unless Molly one day convinced him to try something new. The workers behind the counter remained the same, and Molly was nowhere to be seen. His legs shook as he considered turning around. It was a bad idea to drive all this way. Molly would hate him for sure for making a scene in the coffee shop and for following her home.
“Can I help you?” asked a young girl behind the counter. She looked old enough to still be in high school.
“Yes. Um…” He should have used his time in the line to make a choice. “Coffee.”
“What kind?”
Rick scratched the back of his head. “Black.” The girl looked at him with a puzzled expression. “Large?” he added. “I'm sorry. I am not from around here. I just want a regular coffee. Whatever you recommend is fine.”
She giggled and pushed a few buttons on the register. “That will be two dollars.”
If Rick had coffee in his mouth, he would have spit it out from the shock. Two dollars for a coffee? Still, it was for Molly and he would do his part to keep her business going. “Is Molly working here today?”
“Molly?” She glanced over her shoulder to the other woman behind the counter, who now appeared to have another reason to stare at him. “No. She's on vacation this week. If you're looking to speak with an owner—”
“No, thank you.” Rick paid for his coffee on the debit machine and stepped to the side. “That's fine. I was just hoping she might be…” He smiled. “Thank you.”
The second woman approached the counter and grabbed a paper cup from the rack. “Where are you from?” she asked with a smile. A pleasant way of saying she knew he wasn't from the city.
“I'm from Lemon Grove,” he said. Not that she would care.
“You must be—” Her cheeks turned a rosy shade of pink as the coffee cup she had been filling overflowed, spilling coffee onto the counter. “Oh dear. Sorry. Please give me a minute to clean this up.”
“Would you be Carla?”
She looked up at him as she wiped the counter clean. “Yes. I am. I overheard you asking about Molly.”
He cleared away a lump in his throat. If anyone would know where Molly was, Carla would. He could be one step closer to knowing where Molly went.
“My name is Rick.” After saying his name, Carla's mouth dropped open. “I was hoping to talk to her about something, but I can't get ahold of her. I figured she might have come here.”
“She's not here,” Carla said, gesturing for him to follow her to the far end of the counter, free from customers’ listening ears. “Molly mentioned the two of you had met. I wasn't expecting to see you come by the coffee shop, though.”
“I wasn't expecting to come here, either. She left the campground the other night, and I haven't been able to reach her since. I was hoping you have talked to her and can at least tell me if she's okay.”
Her friend smiled and slid the coffee on the counter toward him. “She's fine and a little embarrassed.”
“Embarrassed. Why? She did nothing wrong. I mean, she left without giving me a chance to explain—”
“What was there to explain? She had fallen for you and then you paraded this other woman in front of her to make her feel like she wasn't even there.” Carla wiped the cloth over a clean section of the counter. “If she doesn't want to talk to you, then I think you need to do the right thing and leave her alone.”
He lowered his gaze to his hands, now clasped around the paper cup. “Valerie is my ex-fiancée, and I was trying to be polite. It isn't easy to explain. If I tell you everything, perhaps you could talk to Molly for me? Tell her what happened?”
Carla sighed and ran the cloth along the edge of the counter. “I don't know if I should get involved.”
“Molly said you are her best friend, and you opened this place together. She had wanted to talk to you about purchasing the coffee shop in Lemon Grove, and didn't want to upset you when you told her about the shop on 8th that you want.”
“Wait, what shop in Lemon Grove?”
“She never told you?”
“No.” Carla looked over her shoulder at the line of customers. “Can you give me one second?”
Rick nodded and watched Carla whisper into the clerk's ear before disappearing into the back room, emerging with another employee who quickly got to work pouring coffee. Carla poured a coffee for herself and stepped around the counter, gesturing for Rick to follow her to an empty table at the far corner of the store.
“I think it is sweet that you came all this way to look for Molly, but I don't know if what I say will convince her of anything. She seemed really hurt when she called me.”
“I had no intention of hurting her. Things have been complicated, and I can explain it all to her if she'd talk to me.”
“What is so complicated?” Carla rotated her coffee cup on the table. “Your ex-fiancée is still in the picture—”
“She's not.” He tried not to sound defensive, but the words flew out of his mouth and Carla leaned back in her chair. “Sorry. Valerie is the daughter of a man my father does business with. My father has a way of controlling my life and he never agreed with me breaking up with her in the first place.”
“So, why is she back?” Carla kept her eyes fixed on him as she took a sip from her coffee.
Rick shrugged his shoulders and sighed. “She wanted to see if she could get back together with me, I guess. I told her no. Molly is who I want to be with. When I met her, she filled a hole in my life that Valerie never could. Valerie liked nothing about Lemon Grove. It is my home. It is a part of me and what I love. I enjoy being outdoors and being in nature. Valerie likes city living and her father's business. If I were to be with her, I'd have to give up everything to be with her and I never felt strongly enough that it was the right decision. With Molly, it's different. I'd give it all up for her, and yet, I don't think she'd ask it of me. I think we'd find a balance.”
“Balance? You mean, driving back and forth from the city to Lemon Grove?”
“If that's what it took. Yes.”
“We have a coffee shop here. Are you saying she'd give up the coffee shop for you?”
“She wanted to talk to you about expanding the business to Lemon Grove. The opportunity is there, and she loves the area.”
“Molly has always been a nature lover, but I can't see her living in Lemon Grove, though.”
“Why not?”
“Because that would take her away from me and everything we've built here. You've only known her for... a week? Maybe a few days more than a week. She can't throw her life away for someone she just met, even if I encouraged her to give you a shot.”
“I'm glad you did.”
“But you broke her heart.”
Rick shook his head. “Not intentionally. She is who I want to be with. I am not running around with Valerie on the side. If we found that driving back and forth to see each other doesn't work, I promise I'll be the one to take the step to move closer. She deserves that much from me. As much as I'd hate to give up my cabin, Molly's happiness is the most important thing to me. I can be happy anywhere with her. It doesn't have to be in Lemon Grove. Please, help me fix this.”
“So, that’s why…” she said with a breathlessness to her voice.
“That's why what?”
“That's why Molly fell for you.” Carla cleared her throat. “Alright, I'll do my best to help you, but you have to promise me you'll get your father to stop trying to match you up with ex-girlfriends or fiancées or whoever else he has lined up. You can’t hurt Molly again.”
“I will tell him. Will you tell her I was here?”
“Of course. I'm her best friend. We don't keep secrets from each other.” She smiled. “Don't worry, I'll tell her I like you and I think she made a mistake leaving Lemon Grove.”
“Is that the truth?”
Carla shrugged. “It might be.” She laughed and raised her coffee cup in the air, toward Rick. “To Molly's happiness.”
Rick raised his cup and tapped it against Carla’s. “To Molly.”
For the first time in what seemed like forever, his clammy, nervous hands were dry and comfortable. With Carla on his side, he felt like he finally had a chance to fix this. But what to do to get through to his father?
Chapter Twenty-Six
After pulling into Lemon Grove, there was only one thing Molly wanted. Sitting in the parking lot of Patsy's café, she couldn't wait to order a good cup of coffee. She smelled the sweet scent of coffee beans from outside, and was happy to be back in the land o
f convenient coffee. A day away had been long enough, and even though it was later in the afternoon, she would risk being kept awake by caffeine if it meant she could get the good cup of coffee she missed while she was away.
Molly stepped out of her car and walked along the sidewalk, when she heard the familiar clang of metal. By the picnic tables, Hudson rose to his feet at his water dish. Molly froze. If Hudson was at the café... she turned in place, looking for Rick's truck, which was nowhere in sight. Hudson was now at her feet and licking at her fingers dangling at her side.
“Hey, Hudson. How are you?”
He nuzzled against her palm, pushing her hand against his face, encouraging her to stroke his fur. She obliged, bending down to give his cheeks and the top of his head a good scratch.
“Where is he?” she asked. “Did he go for a drive somewhere and leave you behind?”
Hudson's tail beat against the ground, acknowledging her voice. She gave his head a final rub and gestured for Hudson to return to the water dish. Hudson groaned and wandered back to his shady patch of grass, where he flopped to the ground.
Molly checked the sidewalks and parking lot one final time and took a breath before stepping into the coffee shop. The regulars she had seen before, sat in their chairs, deep in conversation. They stopped and stared at her as she walked inside.
“Molly!” Patsy cried out from behind the counter. Her face beamed as she leaned onto the surface. “Rick has been looking everywhere for you.”
“He has?” Molly tried to hide the emotions rising within her. As her heart raced at the thought of Rick searching for her, Molly’s anger fought back, reminding her of his betrayal. He had ignored her at the Farmers' Market, choosing instead to turn his attention to another woman. She had reason to act surprised hearing he was looking for her, and only needed to convince Patsy she wasn't hiding from Rick.
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