by Carol Rose
“You talked to Abby?”
He nodded. “I went there before I came here.”
Gesturing at the wide porch, he said, “You have a lovely home. I’m sure there would be room for Molly here. And that you’d take her in if she came to you.”
Cheryl kept looking at him steadily. “You’re right, we’ve gotten close. And I’m not pausing here.”
“Okay…. That helps. Now where else could she be?” Drake cudgeled his brain for possibilities. Taking a step back on the wide porch as he went through the options. “Wait a minute! The Austin Women’s League Easter Picnic! That’s today! The Saturday before Easter!”
Cheryl moistened her lips, still meeting his gaze. She didn’t say anything.
“Molly’s at the picnic,” he said, thinking fast. “Is that it, Ms. Summers? Is she at the gardens?”
Excitement growing in Drake’s chest, his gaze was glued to Cheryl’s face as he waited for her response.
“Ummm.” She hesitated.
“Of course.” He took a turn, coming back to face Cheryl. “Did she ever get an Easter Bunny for the picnic? You can tell me that, right?”
Cheryl said slowly. “I didn’t promise not to say anything about her bunny issues. I don’t think she ever found a good one, but she got a guy to make do. My cartoon character is doing grandpa duty most of the time and he can’t do the job.”
“She’s at the picnic, though.” Drake thought hard a moment. He wasn’t sure how to work this, but the bunny thing would have been a good option. Too bad she found one. Being a cartoon character didn’t come naturally to him, but if he had to dress up like a rabbit to talk to Molly, he’d do it in a flash.
“You didn’t hear any of this from me,” the woman said deliberately as she turned to open her ornate screen door. “Good luck, Drake.”
* * * * * * * * *
CHAPTER TEN
Driving like a crazy person to the Easter Picnic at the Women’s League garden, Drake wracked his brain, trying to figure out how to approach Molly. It would be a zoo there, he knew. The picnic was a big damn deal, featured in the Austin newspaper society pages.
He’d waited too long before deciding to risk his heart with Molly again, idiot that he was. His timing couldn’t be worse, but this wouldn’t wait. He had to make his pitch work in a major way.
Drake couldn’t imagine his life without her.
Beside him on the seat, his phone buzzed again. Impatiently waiting for a traffic light to change, he glanced at the screen to see it was Mike, his former blog boss, calling again. The man was so shocked and upset yesterday when Drake confessed about the blog. Maybe Mike was calling to chastise him.
That made three calls in the last hour, Drake jumping for his phone each time. None of them had been Molly, but he kept hoping she’d respond to one of his messages.
Not sure how the hell he was going to approach her at the picnic, he kept praying for an idea to hit him. He needed to wow her somehow. To show her how important she was to him. Drake had always seen himself as a guy who clung to his dignity, but that had gone out the window, at this point.
The Austin traffic made his progress maddeningly slow, but he finally turned down the parkway to the gardens. How he could have forgotten today was the Easter Picnic, he didn’t know, but all he could think about was finding Molly and explaining to her exactly why he’d been struggling. Thank God for Cheryl. His desperate attempt to get information from her had led him to remember the Easter Picnic—just about the biggest thing Molly had done.
He was such an idiot not to have thought of it before.
Drake had no question that he loved Molly and wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. He only hoped she still wanted something with him.
She might have been toying with him—having wild sex primarily for the fun of it—but he didn’t think so. Her saying after they had sex the last time that she didn’t just want to mess around but needed the real thing, that gave him hope. He kept kicking himself now for not having jumped at the remark.
He was such a fool. Hell, he should have gone down on his knee right then.
Waiting for several cars to pass so he could turn into the parking lot at Women’s League garden, Drake heard his cell phone ring again just when he saw an opening in the oncoming line of traffic. Grabbing up his phone as he negotiated the turn—it might have been Molly finally calling him back—Drake held it to his ear, watching as several cars went past, he said, “Yes?”
Pleasepleaseplease, be Molly.
“Drake! Thank heavens. Glad I finally got hold of you, son.” Mike’s voice came booming heartily over the connection.
Disappointed, Drake steered his car into the crowded Women’s League parking lot, frowning. When he and his former boss talked at the meeting yesterday, the man hadn’t been near so chipper.
“Boy, have I got good news!”
Drake pulled to a stop, finding an open place in the last row of the lot.
“Yes?” he said absently as he put the car into Park.
“They got the numbers back—House Today?—on the sample video spot you did for them.”
“Okay,” he said slowly, not sure of the significance.
“You hit it out the park, Drake. Blew them away! Apparently viewers are tired of smarty pants know-it-all types telling them how to make home repairs. They liked your regular-joe angle.”
“Okay.” Drake still couldn’t see where this was going. He scanned the parking lot, seeing only a few families straggling toward the entrance to the gardens. The festivities must have already started—and he still had no idea of how to get to Molly.
His former boss was burbling something about the video.
“Mike, I’m kind of busy right now. Can I call you back?”
“Don’t rush off yet.” Mike sounded weirdly excited. “I have great news.”
Drake pulled the car keys out of the ignition. He supposed he could walk boldly into the picnic and sweep Molly into a big kiss right in front of everyone. Despite his emphasis on dignity, he didn’t have any problem with that idea, but this was a job for Molly—a big job—and he didn’t want to jeopardize it for her. After all, there would be kids all around them.
“News? Other than the good figures on the videos? I mean, now that I don’t have the home improvement blog anymore, I don’t see how that helps me any. I mean, it’s nice and all, but—“
“Drake,” Mike said, his voice going hushed and excited at the same time. “They want you to do regular spots for the show. Did you hear me? Regular spots! And the producer even hinted that the network might want to design a show around you! Your own show on the network! I couldn’t be more proud if you were my own son.”
Frowning, Drake dragged his attention back to what Mike was saying. “Ummm. You did tell them about the blog? That I confessed to not having done the projects myself? That I actually had Mo—someone—helping me? Doing the work that I don’t know how to do myself?”
“They wouldn’t care about that, but yes, they know. Didn’t even blink when I mentioned it,” Mike assured him, still speaking in the same charged tones. “And they agreed that we can link the video spots to the blog. It works for them and for us. You know, you can do subjects for the show and we’ll coordinate them with blog entries.”
His brain still buzzing with thoughts of getting to Molly, Drake cradled the phone to his ear. “Mike? You do remember that I’ve been fired. I don’t write the blog anymore.”
“That’s part of why I’m calling. We’d love to have you keep writing the blog. Be as un-expert as you want. In fact, we want you to angle it from a non-expert point of view. We need you back, boy.” His boss sounded almost humble.
“You’ve got to be kidding. Jerome was very clear in that meeting yesterday morning.” Drake had felt good about coming clean, but admitting his deceit hadn’t been fun. He’d expected to be fired and Jerome hadn’t seemed to hesitate in doing so.
Mike chortled into the phone. “That’s part of th
e beauty of this, son. Jerome is totally on board with re-hiring you. As a matter of fact, he wanted to make this call, but he finally agreed that I should do it, as your direct boss.”
“Really? Jerome said that?”
“Son, you don’t get it. The network wants you. They’re talking about building a tv show around you. Of course, Jerome wants you back.”
Drake stared blankly through the windshield. “Good grief. You’re not pulling my leg here? Making a cruel joke?”
“Not at all. Jerome has decided we need to angle your blog toward the bumbling home owner. You know, the regular guy, trying to figure out how to fix things? You’re perfect for this. If we have the television spots and link this to the blog, we could go big time. And if you get your own show, the sky is the limit.”
“Holy crap.” Drake’s heart began to beat faster. He wished he had a ring to propose to Molly. He was employed again!
“We have a lot to discuss,” Mike said. “Can you come over now? I’ll see if Jerome is free now to sit down with us.”
“Umm. Not now, Mike.” Drake stared at the entrance to the Women’s League garden. “I have something I have to do first.”
* * *
As Drake strode across the packed parking lot, he walked past a guy unloading an old VW bug near the front gate. Lost in his head, he imagined Molly’s excitement when he told her about the blog and the House Today spots. If she was still talking to him, of course.
God, she had to accept him. She had to still love him.
Wasn’t that what she meant when she said she wanted more?
Shoving thoughts of the job back, he considered how to best approach her. Kids would be everywhere, dressed in their Sunday best, and a bunch of Women’s League bigwigs, all looking critically at the way things were going.
He thought about the bunny option, wondering about the guy she’d gotten. Cheryl seemed to indicate that he wasn’t the greatest, but that Molly had been desperate. Couldn’t have a Women’s League Easter Picnic without the Easter Bunny.
Sliding through the elegant gates to the garden, Drake reflected that contrary to common thought, desperation didn’t actually make the human brain work any better. He had no idea how to approach this. Striding boldly in and bending her over in a big kiss was out. Striding boldly in and kneeling down on one knee to propose—now that he had a job—was out. He didn’t have an engagement ring handy and that might not have gone over big with her employers.
Bold wasn’t the best option. This was a kid thing after all.
Too damn bad about the bunny.
Drake looked around then, seeing the gaily decorated gazebo, with Molly’s tent headquarters discreetly tucked in the trees. Hmmm. He had damn good memories of that little tent.
Jerking himself out of his erotic thoughts, Drake looked around, trying to decide his best approach. Children occupied the gazebo, busily working on Easter baskets to use for the egg hunt later. White decorated tables sat off to the side, each with a centerpiece and a pastel ribbon bow tied around the back. Linen-covered banquet tables sat off to one side by the decorated tables and he could see wait staff loading these with the luncheon repast.
Children—some holding decorated Easter baskets—and well-dressed adults stood in clusters throughout the gardens. Off to one side was a cordoned area, separated by silky ropes. At a glance, Drake spied several brightly-colored eggs, half hidden in various spots. From what Molly had said, some eggs would be easy to find, so the younger children could gather them, while some would be more challenging for the older kids.
Just beyond the banquet tables, a string quartet played.
From where he stood just inside the gate, Drake could see the entire gardens. He frowned, not seeing anyone in an Easter Bunny suit.
Just then, the gate clanked shut behind him and he looked around. The young guy who’d been standing by the old VW Beetle had come into the gardens. Not looking too happy about it, he wore Molly’s Easter Bunny suit, complete with huge bunny feet, but he carried the bunny head under his arm, despite having come into the garden where kids could see him.
Studying the guy who was to play a role he felt some connection to, Drake noted that this cartoon character guy couldn’t be more than sixteen or seventeen.
He watched as the VW kid made a face before he stuck the bunny head on, clomping past Drake into the gardens.
The bunny kid ambled on down the path, seeming to be heading toward the tables where lunch would be served. Drake had no idea what the plan was or where the Easter Bunny was to set up, but most of the kids stood around in the main garden area off to the left.
Down by the utility tent where he knew she kept her picnic headquarters—and for which he had those very fond memories—Drake spotted Molly talking to several kids and adults.
He just stood there inside the gate, staring at her.
She wore some kind of summery dress, her arms bare and the light catching her short white-blond hair. Drake drank in the sight of her. The last time he’d seen her—two days ago—had been when she barged into his house, tearful and insisting that he needed to come clean about the blog.
Drake loved her for that. For being most concerned with him being able to live with himself. He felt a rush of emotion, a longing to lock her in his arms and never let her go. She had to love him back. He just couldn’t see a life without Molly in it.
Suddenly, it occurred to him that if he could see her, she could see him, standing here on the path, mooning at her. He hadn’t yet come up with an idea on how to approach her, but Drake could envision her marching up the path and pointing out that she had a job to do here and he could hit the road.
He couldn’t stand her turning him away like that.
Stepping back behind a bush, he redoubled his efforts to think of a way to enter into this situation without jeopardizing her doing her job. Too bad she had the kid to be the Easter Bunny. They’d worked pretty well together the one time he’d worn the big bunny feet.
He should have offered to be her Bunny. Drake stood there, looking through the branches of the bush, staring down at her with longing. She was so damned beautiful. He saw her smiling at the grown-ups, kneeling down to talk to the smaller kids, as she pointed toward the gazebo.
Damn, damn, damn. Why hadn’t he jumped into this sooner? Dealt with his own hesitance to be rejected again. Mentally castigating himself for staying shackled to a teenager’s fears, he knew he had to find a way to reach out now. She was knee deep in the picnic, her face smooth and untroubled, wreathed in smiles and happiness.
It was hard to think that she was unhappy inside, but Drake recalled her words to him before she walked half-undressed out of his house that day—her tears as she told him she hadn’t helped him by helping with the blog. Despite her not returning his calls, he had to mean something to her still.
Frowning, he noticed that the kid in the bunny suit was still standing on the far side of the garden by the luncheon tables, now talking to several cute young waitresses—at least, he couldn’t see whether the guy was talking because he had the bunny head on, but Drake couldn’t imagine why a teen boy wouldn’t be hanging around cute girls if he wasn’t talking to them.
A sudden cunning idea came into Drake’s head.
No one knew who was in that rabbit suit. Those girls could have been talking to a fifty year-old guy for all they knew. Molly didn’t know, either, because with the suit on, the person inside was invisible. That was how the plan went, anyway.
If he could just get inside the bunny suit, he could be a better Easter rabbit than the kid was being…and maybe he’d have a chance to talk to Molly without alerting her employers. Now, how could he get the kid’s attention?
Drake shifted behind the bush, exploring his options.
If he skirted around the edges of the open space, he might be able to….
After a few minutes, the Easter bunny teen ambled away from the cute waitresses to circulate through the kids lining up for the Egg Hunt portion of t
he Picnic. Not that he appeared to be interacting with any of them….
Seeing the bunny move to the portion of the garden that wasn’t given over to the Egg Hunt, Drake began shifting his own position. He stayed back, keeping an eye on her and staying out of Molly’s view.
The guy in the bunny suit seemed to amble aimlessly, stopping when a child grabbed at his leg to briefly pat the kid and move on. He didn’t seem to know what to do with himself, not stopping to bend down and let the children hug. Drake mentally willed the bunny to shift closer to where he was hunkered down in the shrubbery. Just a little closer and he could get the guy’s attention.
Given the condition of the kid’s car, Drake thought he might be open to exchanging his bunny suit gig for a little cash.
The egg hunt hadn’t started yet, but most of the kids had moved in that position, lining up closed to where the ribbon gate would be opened.
Drake watched the bunny come closer, feeling himself coiled and ready to spring forward when Molly wasn’t looking. He had to get the kid out of view and find a place to put on the suit himself.
Off to the left, Molly’s small utility tent headquarters sat, near the edge of the garden clearing. Drake held back, his gaze on the bunny as it skirted the group of kids holding decorated baskets.
Most had finished in the gazebo, deserting it to join the pack lining up for the egg hunt.
Just a little further, he mentally urged the bunny. Come a little closer. If the guy continued moving in the same way, he’d be within several feet of where Drake hid. At that moment, a Women’s League official began making some announcements about how the egg hunt would work.
Just then, with everyone’s attention focused in the other direction—and with the bunny within feet of him—Drake pounced. He lunged forward out of his hiding place, grabbing the bunny guy from the back and pulling him backwards into the shrubs, ears flopping forward as he pulled.