Molly shrugged. “I’m a big girl now. I can handle it.”
“Yeah. Big city girl and everything. Like Liverpool isn’t city enough for anyone.” There was more bite to Lara’s voice than Molly expected. She shot her friend an inquisitive look. “Sorry. Just miss you, I guess.”
“I miss you too.” Molly gave her an apologetic smile. “Part of me wishes I’d stayed here instead of moving to London.”
“Then move back,” Lara said, as if it were as easy as changing outfits.
“Yes, please, for the love of God, do.” Krissie, Molly’s old boss, appeared behind the desk looking rather frazzled. “I need a day off with someone I can trust in charge.”
“My replacement not up to scratch?” Molly allowed herself a small smile. Nice to know she wasn’t easily replaceable.
“The three replacements we’ve been through in the last six months, you mean,” Krissie replied. “And no. Not a patch on you.”
Molly winced. “Sorry.”
“That’s okay.” Krissie sighed. “I know you had to go and follow your dream or whatever. I just wish your dream had been to take over the events department here or something.”
Huh. The events department. She’d helped out there often enough when they were short handed, and loved the racing around and the way no two days were ever the same. Why hadn’t it occurred to her to ask about working there full time?
“I never even thought of that,” she admitted.
“Of course, personally, I was hoping you’d want my job when I inevitably get promoted to being in charge of everything,” Krissie said, leaning her elbows on the reception desk and resting her chin in her hands. “But events would have worked too. Ah well. Too late now.”
Yes, it was. Because she had her new life in London, and her respectable job that gave her weekends and holidays off, and she couldn’t take the humiliation of another backwards step. Of admitting, once again, that she had no idea where she was going or what she was doing in life.
But even knowing that didn’t stop her asking. “So, hypothetically, if I ever needed to move back to Liverpool in a hurry… there might be a job for me here?”
“No might about it, love. I’d have you back in an instant.” Krissie patted her arm as she headed off back to work. “Think about it, yeah? You’re wasted stuck at some computer all day.”
“Yeah, but at least she doesn’t have to work New Year’s Eve,” Lara called after her, and Molly laughed. She really had missed this place.
Almost as much as she missed Jake.
-
By six o’clock on New Year’s Eve, the office was deserted, except for Jake. He’d figured there was no point rushing his arrival at the Mackenzies’ party, so he might as well get some more work done first. Especially since it looked like work was all he was going to be doing for the foreseeable future.
The receptionist had knocked off at four, and most of the secretaries had taken the day as holiday anyway, so when the lift opened onto his floor Jake knew there was no one out there to greet their visitor. And nobody but him there for them to see.
He had a whole ‘sorry, the office is closed, come back next year,’ speech ready, but when he stepped out into the reception area and saw Glen Mackenzie waiting for him, he realised it was going to be useless. When the man who had taken you in and treated you like a son came visiting, opening hours, schedules and personal preferences went by the wayside.
Especially when you’d seduced the man’s daughter on his own sofa less than a week ago.
“Glen. Philippa send you to check I’m still coming to the party?” It seemed like the most likely scenario. Molly’s mother hadn’t been exactly happy when she’d caught him skipping out in the early hours of Boxing Day – especially since he hadn’t had much of an explanation to help her understand why.
“She doesn’t know I’m here, actually.” Glen’s expression was more serious than Jake had seen it since he and Tim were underage teenagers in trouble for sneaking off to some nightclub. “Can we sit? Might make this easier.”
“Of course.” That didn’t bode well either. Jake ushered him over to the comfortable waiting area of the reception, and let him settle on a bright yellow armchair before he took a seat on the sofa opposite.
“So, um,” Jake started, then trailed off. What was he supposed to say to this man?
“Jake, I think this is going to be less awful for both of us if you just let me talk for a bit. Then afterwards, I’ll go home, and when I see you at the party later we can pretend this never happens. If you still want to come to the party, of course.”
Oh, he really, really didn’t like the sound of this. “Okay.”
“Where to start?” Glen stared at a point somewhere over Jake’s left shoulder. Somehow he got the impression that this wasn’t going to be any easier for Glen than for him. “When you’ve been married a long time, you learn all the little things about each other. You learn to put up with each other’s little quirks and oddities. Like the way Philippa always has to sleep with earplugs in, no matter where we are and how quiet it is. She blames my snoring, but I think she just likes the fact that nothing can wake her up until she’s ready.”
He smiled at Jake like it was a shared joke, but Jake really wasn’t seeing anything funny about this day yet. “Right.”
“And Phil, well she’s learned to put up with the fact that I always have to sleep with the window a little bit open. Always. Even in the dead of winter. Even on Christmas Day.”
Christmas Day. The words froze in the air between them and every muscle in Jake’s body tensed. Philippa and Glen’s bedroom was at the front of the house. Glen’s open window would be right over the front door… right over the step where Jake and Molly had argued that night.
Oh God. If Glen had heard everything, he could probably guess exactly what Jake had done to Molly on that sofa. And, quite honestly, Jake was surprised to still be alive.
“Sir.” Since when had he ever called Glen sir? “I can explain. Well, no, I can’t. I can only apologise—”
“Jake. Let me finish talking.” Glen’s voice was unnaturally calm. It made Jake nervous.
“Okay.”
“My children are grown adults now. They get to choose what they want to do with their lives, whether I approve of it or not. I didn’t want Dory to move to New York with that rat of an ex-fiancé of hers, but it worked out for the best. She’d never have met Lucas if she hadn’t, and she’s happy now.” For one brief second, a misty smile floated across Glen’s face before he added, “And I have a wedding to pay for. But that’s beside the point. I don’t know if moving to Switzerland is going to make Tim happy, but I have to let him try. I didn’t want Molly to move to London, and if I could tell her to stop being so stubborn and making herself miserable and just come home, I would. But I can’t, because she’s an adult now. Even if maybe we don’t always treat her that way.”
Jake looked down at his hands. He was as guilty of that as anyone. Molly had been the baby for so long, it was hard sometimes to remember that she’d ever grown up. To take her decisions seriously. He hadn’t, when this whole mess had started. He’d assumed he needed to be the adult, to put the brakes on things. By the time he’d realised she was old enough to make her own choices, he’d already made them all for her.
Which is why he was standing back this time. Whatever happened next, it had to be up to her.
“The point is, whatever is going on between the two of you is exactly that – between the two of you. And while I might desperately wish you’d chosen to have that discussion somewhere other than under my window, I can’t unhear it now. And it did make one thing clear to me – something I should have said to you a long time ago and haven’t.”
Glen wasn’t staring over his left shoulder anymore. Instead, Molly’s father was looking him straight in the eyes and Jake realised he was holding his breath, waiting for a sentence.
“Jake. You’ve been like a son to me since you were about ten, and I
realise you’ve spent more time in our home than in your own. Whatever happens in your life, you will always be a son to me. And you will always, always be welcome in my house, at Christmas or any other time of the year. You might not need the same kind of support as my other children have over the years – I can’t see you choosing to move in for a start. But if you ever needed to, you could. So don’t run away from us, because we’ll never turn our backs on you.”
How much had Jake needed to hear that? And how had he not known that was what he needed until this moment?
But Glen wasn’t done. “You lost your own parents too young, and it was tragic. I would never presume to take their place. But in my heart, you are my son, and I realised I’d never told you that.”
Jake couldn’t move. Couldn’t respond, couldn’t think, couldn’t do anything except let the words soak in until they felt true. He knew he should say something, acknowledge the moment and the huge gift he’d just been given.
But instead he sat and stared and let the moment happen. And it felt wonderful.
Glen pushed against the arm of the chair and got slowly to his feet. “Been a long holiday this one. And, I should mention, because Philippa will kill me if I don’t – Molly’s been miserable without you. Even if she won’t admit it. ” Jake’s gaze flew up to Glen’s face and found an amused smile there.
“And by the way,” Glen added, already halfway to the lifts. “I have a feeling you’d make an even better son-in-law.”
Chapter 18
“Are you guys ready?” Tim stuck his head through the door, and Molly waved her mascara wand at him.
“Does it look like we’re ready?” Beside her, Dory was jostling for space in front of the mirror, and it was giving Molly flashbacks to her early teen years. Why couldn’t she get ready in her own room, anyway? “Besides, the party doesn’t start for ages, and everything’s ready downstairs. What’s the rush?”
“Not ready for the party,” Tim said, pushing through the door and dropping down to lounge on the spare twin bed. “For this.” He held up a spiral pad and a pen.
“I’m ready.” Dory bounced onto the bed beside him, her make up inexplicably finished and perfect.
“What, exactly, is this?” Molly asked suspiciously.
“It’s time to make our new year’s resolutions,” Dory said with a grin. “Come on.”
Just the thought of it made Molly’s heart clench, and her mind fill with Jake again. Not that that was much of a surprise. Almost everything did.
“I don’t think I’m going to make any this year.” After all, look how badly last year’s had turned out.
“Of course you are. Sit down, Moll.” Tim pointed at the opposite bed and, screwing her mascara wand back into the tube, Molly did as she was told.
How much did Tim know? He’d been strangely… nice to her, since Jake left. Molly had a strong suspicion that Dory might have got to him.
“Okay, I’ll start,” Dory said, taking the pen and notebook from Tim. “This year, I resolve not to become an utter bridezilla, but to plan a brilliant wedding that Lucas and I will remember for the rest of our lives.”
Molly pulled a face. Making resolutions was easy when you had your life all sorted, obviously.
“I’ll believe it when I see it,” Tim said. “The bridezilla bit, I mean. I’m sure you’ll have the rest perfectly in hand as always. Now give that here.”
Resting the notebook on his bent knee, he sucked on the end of the pen as he thought. “I resolve to… what do I resolve to do, Dory?”
Dory rolled her eyes. “I don’t know! Um, make the most of your new life in Switzerland and find a girlfriend?”
“Works for me.” Tim shrugged and wrote it down. “And I resolve to have a dry January. Let my liver recover from all this mulled wine.” He tossed the pad and pen at Molly. “Your turn.”
“I told you. I’m not making any. I’m taking my clean sweep of resolutions from this year and declaring myself done with them.”
“Clean sweep?” Tim asked. “What were your resolutions last year?”
Molly squirmed. “You know. Get a nine to five job. Move to London.”
“Sleep with Jake,” Dory added.
“Dory!” It came out as a squeal. How could she? Just what she didn’t want Tim to know.
Except… Tim was laughing. “Why are you laughing?”
“Because I can’t believe you made sleeping with my best friend an honest to God resolution,” Tim said, between sniggers. “Couldn’t you just get him drunk and drag him to bed like a normal person?”
“I thought… you said…” Molly gave up trying to find the words. He knew what she meant.
“Well, I’m not saying I’m over the moon about it,” Tim said, sobering up. “But Dory tells me it’s not just another one-night stand, at least on his part. She might also have mentioned something about you being a grown up now, but I’m not sure I believe that.”
“You should,” Molly said, absently. Tim had a point. Making sleeping with Jake a resolution? That was childish. Well, adolescent, at least. Figuring out where they went from here; that would be the grown up thing to do.
Even if she just wanted to run away to London and try to pretend nothing ever happened.
“To be honest, I’m more worried about you breaking his delicate little heart,” Tim said. “I mean, you’ve already ruined my plans for spending my last week in Britain in the pub with my best mate. So what I want to know is, what are you going to do about it?”
“I got us into this mess,” Molly said. “So I’ll get us out.” Jake might have ignored her texts last year, and avoided her – which was not the most grown up behaviour either. But she was the one who’d pushed and pushed to get what she wanted, without thinking beyond New Year’s Eve. And here she was, on the brink of a new year, and she still didn’t have a plan for what was going to have next.
Perhaps it was time to make one.
Molly picked up the pen. “I resolve to make decisions based on what’s best for me, my future, and the people I love. Not what I think other people want, or what other people tell me I’m supposed to want.”
“To thine ownself be true,” Dory quoted softly. “Sounds like a plan.”
Molly nodded, and wrote it down. “And I’m starting this resolution a few hours early.”
-
Jake could hear the music long before he knocked on the front door of the Mackenzie’s house. The Waitresses were blaring out of the Tim’s iPod speakers, which he assumed meant that Molly had taken control of the playlist. She had an unholy love for that song.
He took a breath to steel himself for the thought of Molly. Of his last conversation with her on this step. He’d been haunted by her memory for the last five days, and now he had to face her again. He’d done everything he could – given her time and space to think about them and the things he’d said.
Now he had to find out her decision. And he really wasn’t sure he wanted to know.
Glen said she’d been miserable without him, but was that just guilt? And even if she decided she wanted to try a relationship between them, he was under no illusions about the difficulty of maintaining a long distance relationship.
The door opened, revealing Philippa in her best red sequinned frock. “You came! Oh Jake, I’m so pleased. Come in, come in. Everyone is in the front room – Dory and Lucas are opening engagement cards and presents.”
“Right. I brought them something…” He started to hold up the bottle of Prosecco with ribbon around it, but then he spotted Molly standing at the foot of the stairs, her auburn hair loose around her beautiful face.
“I’ll put it to chill,” Philippa said, taking the bottle and disappearing into the kitchen.
“I thought you weren’t coming,” Molly said after a long moment in which they just stared at each other stupidly.
“I said I’d be here,” Jake reminded her. “Besides, I had a visit from your dad. Made it clear I was expected.”
Moll
y winced. “Warning you away from his little girl?”
“No.” Quite the opposite, in fact. Jake stepped closer, wanting to touch her but knowing he couldn’t, not just yet. Not until he knew her decision. “He told me you were an adult, capable of making your own choices.”
“Oh.” Her eyes widened in surprise. “Dory told Tim the same thing.”
“Tim knows?” Because Glen being okay with it was one thing. Tim was a whole other issue.
“He laughed. A lot.” She gave a little half shrug. “I think he’s decided I’m not good enough for you now, instead.”
“Never happen. He’s your big brother. No one will ever be good enough for you.”
“What else did Dad say?” Molly leaned back against the bottom of the banister, her arms folded across her middle. It made the drapey tunic dress thing she was wearing ride up a little, and Jake had to focus on not staring at her legs.
She really did have incredible legs.
“Uh, a few things,” Jake said, trying to get his mind back on track. “That I’d always have a place here, for one. Whatever happens.” Maybe later, or one day, he’d share the whole conversation with her. But tonight, they had more important things to talk about.
“That’s… that’s good.” Molly took a breath, held it, then blew it out again without speaking.
“You’ve made a decision,” Jake guessed. “One you don’t think I’m going to like.”
Molly looked up at him, her pale green eyes looking wider than ever fringed with thick black lashes. “I didn’t make a decision. I made a new resolution.”
Oh good. Because that wasn’t what had got them into this mess in the first place, or anything.
But it was her turn to be the grown up. His turn to listen. So he said, “Tell me.”
-
Molly’s heart was beating too quickly as she stepped closer, as though she had a phone on vibrate inside her ribcage. She wanted to touch him, to feel his solidity under her hands, just to prove to herself that he really had come back. He’d given her a chance to make things right between them.
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