Drew picked up a box of tissues from the chair beside him and handed it to the woman whom he was speaking with. Her shoulders drooped. She tugged a handful of tissues free and bunched them in her fist. Drew covered the woman’s hand with his. Compassion and understanding were reflected in his eyes and the simple gesture. The woman might be a stranger to Drew, but he’d just told her without words that she wasn’t alone. Molly’s chest tightened. Drew had done that very same thing for her all those years ago.
“Your order is ready.” Brandie set Molly’s large cup of coffee on the counter. “How do you know Drew then?”
“We went to law school together.” Molly unwrapped a straw. She hadn’t expected that seeing Drew again would unwrap so many memories and feelings this quickly.
Brandie lifted her head and considered Molly. “You’re a lawyer too?”
Molly nodded. “Criminal defense.”
Brandie’s smile shimmered in her eyes like the silver jewelry sparkling in her hair. “Then perhaps you can do for Drew what he’s doing for those women.”
“What is that exactly?” Molly asked.
“He’s giving them back their hope,” Brandie said.
Molly wrapped her fingers around her coffee cup. She’d lectured Drew about studying harder. Introduced him to the power of colored notecards to cram for final exams. And discovered his tolerance for spicy foods wasn’t as high as hers.
In exchange, Drew had given Molly balance. Always he’d reminded her to laugh. To pause. To breath. Skills she admitted she’d forgotten in the day-to-day stress and focus of building her career. Though thanks to her rambunctious nine-month-old daughter, those skills had recently been brought back into her life.
But Molly wasn’t in the business of hope. She was in the business of setting things to rights. It made her wish that she could set her own life in balance with as solid steps as she defended her clients.
She stared at Drew. She wanted to set things right for him too. The woman shook his hand, stood and headed toward the order counter.
“What kind of tears are those, Avis?” Brandie greeted the woman.
These four women seeking Drew’s help were not strangers. Not simply café customers either. Not to Brandie. And, Molly suspected, not to Drew.
“Drew says I can protect my child and place her up for a closed adoption without my ex’s consent.” Avis dabbed her fistful of tissues against her red-rimmed eyes. “Drew told me I have rights. I can choose what’s best for me and the baby. My rotten ex doesn’t get to choose for us.”
Molly noted the fading bruises on the woman’s arms and her barely-there baby bump beneath her yoga pants. The tightening in Molly’s chest expanded around her heart. She ached for the woman and her struggle. Becoming a new mom should be exciting, not terrifying. Molly wanted to embrace the woman too—one mother to another.
She also wanted to prove to Drew that he wasn’t alone either.
“Yes. You have a voice, Avis.” Brandie edged around the counter and wrapped Avis in an all-encompassing embrace. “And you have the support of your friends.”
Molly walked to the condiment station, which was wrapped in blue twinkle lights, allowing the pair some privacy to discuss Avis’s custody options. Molly’s gaze shifted around the café, skipping from the vinyl records and book titles to the women waiting at the nearby booths. Two ladies, both well into their pregnancies, sat side by side, their shoulders touching as if supporting each other. Another woman rocked an infant to sleep, her own eyes half-closed. A fifth woman that Molly hadn’t noticed earlier sat huddled inside her oversized hoodie and slipped on a pair of dark sunglasses.
Brandie pressed a tall to-go coffee cup and a paper bag into Avis’s hands, held the door open for the younger woman and then joined Molly. “I thought with all Drew had going on, he’d have canceled tonight.” The café owner shook her head, her voice pensive. “The newspapers sure have not been kind to him.”
And yet there Drew was, offering kindness and support to a group of people in need. Molly hadn’t believed him guilty. Hadn’t even been searching for proof of innocence. But it was here inside the café. Good people like Drew were good to their very cores. She cleared the catch from her voice. “How often is Drew here?”
“Twice a month. Every month.” Brandie checked the honey level in a bear-shaped bottle. “Over the past five years, he hasn’t missed one day.”
She wasn’t surprised. Drew hadn’t missed a day of work in college or missed helping Molly when she’d needed it. “How do people know he’s here?”
“It started with the women living at Penny’s Place.” Brandie opened the cabinet beneath the counter. “Penny runs a home for abused and homeless women. Word seemed to spread from there.”
The door to the café swung open. Another woman stepped inside. She nodded to Brandie, stuffed her hands in her pockets and slid into an empty booth. Her bleak gaze fixed on Drew. Molly asked, “When will he finish this evening?”
Brandie refilled the napkin holder from a box inside the cabinet. “He stays until closing at nine. But most nights it’s later than that.”
Molly checked her watch. She wanted to speak to Drew again, but she had to pick Hazel up from day care. Even more, she wanted to help Drew help himself. She wanted him to have hope.
But she’d seen his wounded pride earlier outside the café. He hadn’t even let her finish her offer. His parents had already reached out to her, already paid her retainer fee. Surely, he wouldn’t refuse his parents’ help. Surely, together with the Harringtons, she could convince Drew to let her handle his case.
Molly thanked Brandie again, promised to return and slipped away to wait for her ride-share car. Inside the car, she dialed her ex and prepared what she would say in her voice-mail message.
An incoming video call interrupted her.
Her ex’s face filled the screen. Derrick Donovan, the man responsible for breaking her heart. And the reason she’d ended her tenure at Loft and Concord and relocated to San Francisco.
She inhaled and accepted the video call. “Derrick, I was about to leave you a voice-mail message.”
Her ex peered into the screen. “Well, Molly, I have to say it would’ve been a surprise to hear from you.”
“There is something else that needs to be said.” Weeks into her pregnancy, Molly had taken the initiative and walked away from Derrick, convinced there was nothing left between them in terms of a relationship.
“Are you regretting your move to the Bay Area?”
“Actually, I only regret not moving sooner.” Then perhaps she’d have reached out to Drew as a colleague and reestablished their friendship quicker. Meaning he might’ve turned to her for help now.
Her ex frowned.
“I’m filing for full custody of Hazel,” Molly continued. Inside the Roasted Vibes Café, she’d been reminded of the importance of legally closing loose ends. She had to remember to thank Drew. “I’ll let you know when you can expect the paperwork to arrive.”
“I see.” Derrick steepled his fingers under his chin as if he were searching for clarity.
Molly narrowed her gaze, trying to scrutinize her ex’s expression. She’d been the one to misunderstand everything during their two-year relationship. To misread Derrick’s vows of love. His promises to put her first. She’d failed to see the truth about him until it was too late. Not a mistake she’d make again. “I’ll have the documents couriered to your office.”
He nodded, but something about his behavior seemed off to her.
“Goodbye, Derrick.” Molly disconnected the call, blanked her phone screen and pushed Derrick out of her thoughts. Molly’s driver pulled the car to the curb outside her daughter’s day care, and she thanked him and got out.
A rainbow and fluffy white clouds had been painted on the windows of the Tiny Sweet Giggles Day Care. A cheerful heart-shaped welcome
sign hung on the door. Inside the entrance, more bright colors covered the walls and the kind staff chatted and laughed. Molly held on to her hope that this pickup would be different than those of the past week.
One of the aides carried Hazel from Lullaby Lane, the under-one room. Tears soaked her daughter’s cheeks and dampened her hair.
Molly’s stomach sank.
Every prior pickup, Hazel had come home in tears. Molly wanted the giggles promised in the day care’s name. She wanted to believe the director’s assurances that Hazel needed more time to adjust.
She wanted to believe she was doing the right thing, leaving Hazel in someone else’s care while she went to work and tried to reestablish her career.
The aide handed Molly the baby carrier that Molly had left at drop-off. Molly attached the baby carrier around her shoulders and waist, then slipped Hazel into the front. With the tears wiped from Hazel’s cheeks and her daughter secure, she thanked the aide and exited.
A series of cable car bells clanged loudly only a block away at the intersection. Molly smiled and kissed the top of Hazel’s head. “I know exactly how to improve our moods.”
Molly headed straight for the cable car. The bells clanged again. Hazel kicked her legs and babbled happily at the world in her front-facing carrier. The cable car had fascinated Hazel from their first day in the city. And now served as a perfect pick-me-up for the pair.
Molly climbed aboard, greeted the conductor and eased onto a bench in the enclosed middle section. Tourists crowded on the benches facing the street and seasoned locals gripped the poles and stood on the running board at the front.
The conductor offered Hazel a spirited greeting and checked Molly’s monthly unlimited ride pass—the one she’d purchased upon arrival in the city. “Where are you two ladies heading this evening?”
Molly tucked her pass into her purse and grinned at the conductor, his wide smile infectious. “Back to our hotel.” And their temporary living quarters.
“You couldn’t have chosen a better way to get there.” The conductor tipped his hat. “Sit back, relax and enjoy the ride.”
Relax. Molly shifted on the smooth wooden bench. She hadn’t had much spare time for that. Her relocation to-do list remained quite full. Even moving into their rental apartment had been delayed due to unforeseen plumbing repairs. Once they were settled though, Molly would relax.
The bells clanged announcing the next stop. Hazel clapped her hand against Molly’s open palm. Joy filled her daughter and her squeal of laughter exploded inside the cable car. The other passengers smiled.
Molly hugged Hazel, wanting to absorb her daughter’s delight. Wanting to enjoy the ride too.
It wasn’t supposed to be like this, Molly thought. Molly, a single parent, alone in a new city. She’d mapped out her life. Created vision boards for every stage of her plan. Implemented it step-by-step like a road map to success. She hadn’t ever pictured birth control failure and a positive pregnancy test.
Or Derrick not loving her like she’d loved him.
Molly should have anticipated something like this happening. Molly should have had a contingency in place. In a courtroom, she strategized every possible outcome and always had contingencies at the ready, just in case.
She had to apply the same tactics to her private life. Hazel was depending on her. Only a viable legal business of her own would give Molly and Hazel the much-needed stability Molly wanted. And finally their very own home like she always imagined for her family.
The cable car crested a steep hill. The bells clanged. Hazel laughed.
Molly’s stomach tilted as the cable car descended the other side of the hill and changed her perspective.
She had to build her practice quickly. Drew Harrington, as her client, would assist her in doing that.
She may have acquired Drew as a client in a roundabout way. But now that Drew was her client, she intended to keep him.
The cable car picked up speed. The rush filled Molly.
And when she won Drew’s case...both Drew and Molly would find their joy again.
CHAPTER THREE
“DREW, WOULD YOU answer the door?” his mother called down from the upstairs master suite. “I’m almost ready.”
Drew opened the door of his parents’ house and gaped. Molly stood under the awning, an open umbrella in one hand. A blond curly haired baby girl in the other.
“Drew.” Molly thrust the baby girl into Drew’s arms.
Drew adjusted the baby, propping her up against his chest. Her eyes widened, revealing her bold blue gaze. Her grin widened, revealing her lack of teeth. She reached forward and smashed the tie of his tuxedo in her tiny fist, tugging it away from his neck. Even that couldn’t quite open his airways or dislodge the surprise stuck in his throat.
Molly McKinney had a child. An adorable baby girl.
“I can’t believe it started raining right when we got here.” Molly closed the umbrella, shook the excess water onto the front porch and faced Drew. “But then it’s been that kind of day.”
Drew cleared his throat and stepped back to allow Molly inside. “What kind of day is that?”
“The kind where the babysitter cancels last minute. The kind where the landlord calls to cancel our lease, citing unrepairable plumbing issues.” Molly unzipped her jacket and slipped it off, revealing a stunning black-and-white evening gown. She added, “You know. The kind of day where nothing goes as expected.”
Drew knew that exact kind of day. He was having it right now. Molly McKinney was a mom, standing in his parents’ foyer, looking ready for her red-carpet debut. He had known Molly as an aspiring wannabe lawyer. Followed her legal career over the years. But now he found himself intrigued by the woman Molly had become. Thinking of what had become of his own life meant he couldn’t afford any distractions though, like the one Molly was presenting.
Suddenly Molly chuckled. The soft sound added warmth to the bare marble foyer and flowed over Drew like a balm. Molly grinned. “And this definitely isn’t how I planned this introduction. Drew, you’re holding my nine-month-old daughter, Hazel.”
Drew peered down at Hazel. “Nice to meet you, baby blue.”
Hazel’s happy babble released a trail of drool down her chin.
Molly wiped a bright pink burp cloth across Hazel’s mouth, mopping up the drool. “Sorry. It’s a teething hazard.”
Drew’s sudden interest in Molly and her daughter could prove a hazard too if he weren’t careful. He eyed Molly over Hazel’s head. “Not that it isn’t nice to see you again or to meet Hazel, but what are you doing here?”
“I invited Molly to join us for the gala. It’s a good place for her to network.” His mother swept into the foyer and touched Hazel under her damp chin. “How is my sweet baby girl?”
His mother acted as if she already knew Hazel. Wariness tapped between Drew’s shoulders. He eased away, closer to Molly. “How did you know Molly was in town?”
“You know I’ve been a fan of hers and followed her career the same as you have over the years.” His mother waved a hand and a trio of silver and diamond bracelets slid toward her elbow. “You finished top of your class thanks to Molly.”
His mom wasn’t wrong. Molly had pushed Drew to achieve more in school than he’d ever thought possible. He’d always wanted to impress Molly. And get her attention. He felt Molly’s gaze on him now. Now, he wanted...
“Molly was such a good influence on you in law school. I contacted her when the district attorney accused you of witness tampering.” His mom played a quick round of peekaboo, earning a squeal from Hazel. “With Molly as your legal counsel, I know she will have an even better influence on you now.”
Legal counsel? Drew’s mouth dropped open. Now his mother had his full attention. “What are you talking about?”
“We can discuss it all later. First, we must get Hazel settl
ed.” His mom spoke to Hazel, lifting her voice into the high-pitched levels of baby-cute. The peekaboo continued.
But his mother had never played baby games; Nancy Harrington played in the political arena, taking down opponents and gathering the support of as many constituents as possible. They were sort of like chess pieces to her. Except, after his brother had gotten married to Sophie Callahan three years ago, and Mayor Nancy had gotten Ella Callahan as a step-granddaughter, his mom had softened considerably. With Sophie expecting twins soon, his mom seemed more determined than ever to embrace her inner grandmother.
At least, that’s what he’d thought up until a moment ago. Turns out his mom had intervened in his case, which meant he had to stop her at all costs.
He’d vowed to protect his family from his own legal trouble. He pushed aside the frustration rolling through him. His voice was dry and flat in comparison to his mother’s. “I think we need to discuss this now.”
“We’re running late for the gala I’m being honored at.” His mother linked her arm with Molly’s and walked down the hallway toward the state-of-the-art kitchen and the newly constructed playroom right next to it. “Hazel has not yet met her babysitter, Evie. And babies always take precedence.”
Hazel reached again for Drew’s tie and crumpled it in her fingers. Drew dipped his chin. Hazel giggled, ruining his attempt at a stern face and scrambling his irritation. He whispered, “Okay, baby blue, you’ve got five minutes to settle in with Ms. Evie. Then the adults have some serious talking to do.”
His mother and Molly glanced back at him. His mom said, “That’s nonsense, Drew. Hazel gets all the time she needs. We will review things when it’s an appropriate time.”
Drew lifted Hazel until they were eye to eye. Drool had covered her chin again and her too-long lashes framed her big searching eyes. “It’s never too early for lessons, baby blue. Here’s the first one. It’s important to always let your mom have the last word.”
“It’s equally important to follow your mom’s advice.” His mom tilted her chin at Drew. “Mothers tend to know best.”
Three Makes a Family--A Clean Romance Page 2