Brayden, Melissa - How Sweet It Is

Her parents had been cordial to her in front of their friends, but there was a veil of tolerance in the way they looked at her that told her they were still wallowing in disappointment at what they’d uncovered. And she felt the effects of that disappointment right in the center of her chest. She’d experienced this kind of rejection from her parents many times in the past, on a smaller scale, but it didn’t soften the blow. Molly, on the other hand, was a different story. She’d never been anything if not loved and adored universally by the Tuscanas. This would be a difficult pill for her to swallow, and for that reason, Jordan was worried.

She caught up with Molly in the parking lot. She carried her heels by their back straps and walked barefoot on the pavement. “You weren’t going to say good-bye.”

Molly turned, just shy of her car. She met Jordan’s eyes and then dropped her gaze to the pavement. “Sorry. I meant to. Just tired. Both mentally and physically.” She wasn’t lying. Everything about her looked exhausted. But there was something else there too, and it tugged unpleasantly at Jordan.

Sadness. Molly looked undeniably sad.

“Do you want me to come by for a little while? We could put on a movie. Forget the world.” It was a Hail Mary attempt and she knew it.

Molly offered a smile. “You’re sweet. But I think I’m ready to call it a night.” Everything important to her seemed to be slipping through her fingers and like some God-awful dream she couldn’t wake up from, there was little she could do to stop it.

“Will you text me and let me know that you got home okay? It’s late.”

She nodded once. “I will do that.”

Jordan leaned in to kiss her good night, but just as their lips met, Molly took a step back, ending the kiss abruptly. She covered by tossing Jordan a reassuring smile.

“’Night, Jordan.”

“Good night.”

But it wasn’t. It was the worst kind of night.

Molly was hurting. She was in distress, and her presence only seemed to make it worse. And she had no clue how to fix it. Except that she was starting to feel like she did.

For everyone.

Everyone except herself, that is.

Chapter Twenty-four

It was raining the next morning as Molly set out for the bakeshop. She decided to walk anyway because she needed to inhale the fresh air, feel the thick, wet drops on her skin. She needed to remind herself that the life she was so excited about just two days prior was still there and waiting for her.

Truth be told, it had shaken her, the way Amalia and Joseph had stumbled upon them the night before. She’d planned on handling the situation with a delicate turn, introducing the concept of her and Jordan a little bit at a time, and now that opportunity was gone. Completely blown.

But something else had shifted also.

She’d seen the situation through their eyes and what she was doing with Jordan was a big deal. Was she exactly ready for that and everything that came with it? She nodded. She was. She knew she was, so why was she now sidestepping what was the best thing that had happened to her in a long time? She amended that. Maybe ever.

She was running again. And she hated herself for it.

Sunday mornings at Flour Child brought in pretty steady traffic. It was one of their better days of the week as far as foot traffic went. They’d sold several dozen trays of buttery croissants, and more muffins than she could remember. They were completely out of the orange raspberry coffee cake, but Louise was at work in the back trying to make up for it. If they could keep this kind of business going in the middle of the week as well, the shop would be in much better shape financially. It was those before-work runs to Starbucks that were the difference. In contrast, the leisurely Sunday morning pace invited family and friends to luxuriate a bit more, and that meant a trip to Flour Child.

She smiled widely as she handed Mrs. Dumphey her change, sliding the pink box across the counter to her. “Enjoy your breakfast.”

“Thanks, Molly. See you next weekend.” And there it was. Another indicator. She blew out a breath. In just a few more days, her financial woes would at least be temporarily quelled and she could focus on revamping the shop. With the check from Grant, she could settle her bills and maybe even have enough left over for an espresso machine, a concept she’d been tossing around in her head for a little while now.

Quaint little bakeshop or not, she needed to keep up with the big boys, and that meant fancy coffee drinks in large cups. It was time to jump into the twenty-first century and win back some of those weekday customers.

“You’re lost in thought.”

She raised her gaze to find Jordan smiling back at her from across the cash register. And there was that crazy mixture of feelings again. Happiness to see her. There was always that. And the undeniable guilt that the happiness brought with it, stronger now, so much sharper after the events of the night before. She didn’t know quite how to reconcile the two.

“Sorry, just thinking through some things. What can I get for you?”

“Uh…” She surveyed the display case, perhaps caught off guard by the business like question. “Just coffee, I guess. I’m not really hungry.”

“Coming right up.” Jordan reached into her back pocket for cash. “Stop. You don’t pay for things here, remember?”

“Right.” She put the money away.

But Molly understood the gesture. Because somehow, nothing felt certain anymore. Norms that once flowed easily now felt shaky and suspect right along with everything else.

She’d known it wouldn’t be just be the two of them in some secret romance forever, and now reality was very much present and accounted for. The world at large now intruded upon what had been just theirs, and they had to find a way through it. They could do that, right? She wished she had more confidence.

She handed Jordan the coffee.

“Thanks. I know you’re working, but is there a chance we can talk for a few minutes? I can come back if now isn’t good.”

Molly tossed a glance over her shoulder. “Uh, let me just grab Louise to mind the counter.”

The sun broke through the clouds as they emerged from the bakeshop and naturally veered in the direction of the park. Jordan sipped her coffee as they walked. “I was worried about you last night when you left. You seemed, I don’t know, shaken up.”

Molly nodded, her eyes tracing the cracks in the sidewalk as they walked. “I don’t know how to explain what happened when your parents opened that door. It was like I had been working this very tricky puzzle, you know?” She looked up at Jordan. “And just as I had the pieces close to being where I wanted them, they were somehow tossed into the air and landed in a heap all around me.” She sighed. “I can’t believe I’m talking to you in analogies, but I want you to understand how it felt when they said those things. About us. When the people most important to me in the world accused us of—”

“You felt guilty. It made you question everything between us all over again.”

Molly nodded, once again in awe of how Jordan just understood. As always, she just got it.

Jordan didn’t look at her when she asked her next question. “And now? Are you still questioning now?”

They were at the entrance to the park when Molly grabbed Jordan’s hand and tugged her to a stop. “I don’t want to be. When you’re here right in front of me like this, I feel like it’s you and me against the world and we can do this. But—” Her eyes filled with tears and she turned away. “There’s a lot to sort through.”

Jordan’s gaze never wavered. There were very few times when she was unable to tell what Jordan was thinking, but this was definitely one of those times.