Page 24 of Bed and Breakup (Dial Delights #15)

Molly

In truth, while I think of Robin as my “ex-wife,” it’s more in spirit than in legal standing.

As I ride in her car to visit the people who are technically still my in-laws, it’s harder than usual to push that fact to the back of my brain.

Neither of us has ever been a fan of paperwork.

Or lawyers. When we got married, I didn’t even consider how messy it would be to divide our home and our business.

Divorce wasn’t the first thing on my mind on our wedding day; I’d assume most happy couples feel the same way.

And when the split happened, I wasn’t going to take responsibility for making it official when breaking up wasn’t even my idea.

If we were too annoyed with each other to talk about what to do with the inn, there was no way we could rally the energy for divorce proceedings.

Ever since we agreed to sell the inn, or since we reached a truce on our ghost and doll antics, or maybe since we kissed at One More Round, it’s been harder to leave our past in the past. Maybe that’s why I offered to go to Little Rock with her.

Even as the words came out of my mouth, I couldn’t believe I was saying them.

Me being around the Lasko family has never ended well.

But I guess I felt bad for Robin, seeing her so bummed at the very idea of going home to her family.

Her parents are far from perfect, but they love her, something I’ve seen plenty of evidence of, even if she can’t recognize it.

I’m actually a little excited to see Gabe, who eventually welcomed me into the family in his own quiet way. And there is cake involved.

“Robin, dear, so glad you could make it,” Mrs. Lasko says when we reach the Laskos’ home.

It’s just as dramatic and impressive as I remember, with three stories of ivy-draped white-painted brick and a grand arched entryway beneath a Juliet balcony, except now it’s decorated with a riot of colorful balloons.

Mrs. Lasko wraps Robin in a hug, and I’m surprised when she turns to me with almost as much enthusiasm.

“Molly. Wonderful to see you and Robin back together. I’ve always thought you had a way of grounding her. ”

“Mom!” Robin interrupts. “We’re not together. Molly’s here as a…friend,” she finishes awkwardly.

“Oh, well.” Mrs. Lasko recovers quickly. “Friends are nice too. Come in, I’ll show you the crystal serving ware I’ve set up for the cakes.”

Robin and I make eye contact, her apologetic, me shrugging it off.

I’m not sure what Robin told her parents about me coming with her, but I’m guessing she was too busy trying to get them off the phone quickly to share many details.

We grab the boxed cakes and follow Mrs. Lasko through the front hall, passing a string quartet and a crowd of decorators with armfuls of balloons.

“They went all out, huh?” I say under my breath to Robin while Mrs. Lasko directs a sound technician to the nearest outlet.

“As if Bradford will even remember his first birthday party,” Robin mutters back.

I look at the elaborate balloon sculpture of a dolphin leaping from waves constructed by the fireplace. “Maybe Bradford won’t, but everyone else will.”

Mrs. Lasko reappears in front of us with Mr. Lasko at her side. “My favorite daughter!” he says to Robin, clapping her on the back so hard I worry she’ll drop the cake in her hands. I’m thrown off when he does the same to me, saying, “And Molly! It’s been too long since we’ve seen your face.”

After brief greetings, Mrs. Lasko waves us toward the kitchen. “The caterers are using the island for setup, but you can use the breakfast nook. We’ve got to figure out where the clowns are. I’ll be right back.”

They leave, and Robin and I get to work moving the cakes to their stands.

They look gorgeous, of course. The small cake has a smooth coating of light blue buttercream and a colorful hot-air balloon piped on top.

The larger cake for serving the crowd has the same base color with a variety of fondant hot-air balloons floating up and around the sides.

Robin pulls out an offset spatula to fix any imperfections as I watch, hands on my hips, fresh out of ways to make myself useful.

“Maybe I should see if your parents’ garbage disposal is still working,” I joke.

“No way,” Robin says as she smooths a bit of frosting at the base of the larger cake. “You’re doing more than enough by keeping me sane.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t know that your parents are thrilled to have me mixing and mingling with their friends.”

“What do you mean?” Robin says sarcastically. “Didn’t my mom just say you keep me grounded?”

“I think that was a polite way of saying I keep you stuck in the mud.”

We hear the sound of an upset child outside the kitchen door, plaintive cries about some kind of bogeyman getting closer. Then a tiny torpedo with blond ringlets and light-up sneakers hurtles across the kitchen and crashes into Robin’s legs.

“Guncle Robbie!” the little girl says, her arms wrapped around Robin’s knees.

“My favorite niece!”

“Guncle?” I say to Robin, raising my eyebrows. Clearly she was wrong when she said last week that Annalise had probably forgotten her.

“I told her to call me that Christmas before last,” Robin says, grabbing the girl under the armpits and hauling her up onto her hip. “And you remembered because you’re a genius, didn’t you, Annalise? Guncle Robbie’s favorite future astronaut?”

“I don’t wanna be an astronaut anymore,” Annalise says, rubbing her face against the soft cotton of Robin’s T-shirt. “I wanna be a zoologist.”

“A zoologist, huh?”

“A person who makes friends with all the animals at the zoo,” Annalise says.

“That sounds cool.” Robin uses her sleeve to wipe away the tears still glistening on Annalise’s cheeks. “What was all that about the bogeyman?”

“The Oogie Boogie,” Annalise says, her eyes widened with fear. “I think he’s here. I saw a creepy bug under the back porch.”

Robin squints thoughtfully. “The Oogie Boogie from The Nightmare Before Christmas ?”

Annalise grips Robin’s arm harder as she nods.

“I heard the Oogie Boogie never leaves Halloween Town,” Robin says confidently.

She sets her niece back on the ground and produces a plastic astronaut figurine from her pocket.

“But just in case, how about I give you this space explorer to keep you safe? She may be tiny, but she’s very tough.

Even the Oogie Boogie is scared of her.”

Annalise squeals with delight as she snatches the toy from Robin’s hand. She runs around the kitchen, holding the astronaut aloft as if it’s zooming through the galaxy, then jets out of the room. “Thanks, Guncle Robbie!” she calls over her shoulder.

My heart has turned from concrete to Jell-O. And I’m not even a kid person. If all the thirsty lesbians in Robin’s DMs saw this, they’d probably break down her door.

Robin is wiping off the edges of the crystal cake stand when her mom returns.

“Hot-air balloons? I said regular balloons were the theme,” Mrs. Lasko says.

I see the tension in Robin’s shoulders, but before she can retort, Gabe appears behind Mrs. Lasko. “Whoa, Robin, you made those?” he says, getting between Robin and their mother for a closer look. “You’re a magician. Heather, come look at these!”

Gabe’s wife, Heather, enters the kitchen with a baby, presumably Bradford, on her hip. “They’re gorgeous!” she says upon seeing the cakes. “Thank you so much, Robin. The smash-cake pictures are going to be adorable.”

We exchange a round of hugs and introduce ourselves to the baby while Mrs. Lasko inspects the cakes, seeming to warm to them after Gabe and Heather’s praise. “What flavor?” she asks.

“The smash cake is vanilla,” Robin says. “The big cake is vanilla and chocolate swirl on the bottom for picky eaters, lemon-pistachio with blackberry filling on top for the more adventurous.”

Mrs. Lasko nods, seemingly satisfied, before being called away by decorators carting even more balloons. All four of the remaining adults seem to relax an inch once she’s out of the room.

“We’re so glad y’all came,” Heather says, bouncing Bradford. I think I’ve only met Heather four times, the first of which was at her wedding to Gabe, but she seems genuine. “Lasko parties are always better with you two here. Especially you, Molly. We’re glad you two have worked some things out.”

“We’re not actually back together,” I rush to say, surprising myself with my apologetic tone. “Romantically, I mean.”

Gabe shrugs. “But you’re here, right? That’s because you’re still family.”

Gabe and Heather have to run off shortly afterward for pictures, and Robin and I busy ourselves greeting an endless parade of Robin’s family members, old neighbors, and acquaintances.

It’s surprising how easily I slip back into being at Robin’s side: making knowing eye contact when someone says something passive-aggressive about Robin’s career, resting an arm across the back of her chair, cooing at the birthday baby when he gets passed our way.

Clinging to each other at this party where we both feel somewhat out of place, it’s like we’re on the same team for the first time in years.

Once we’re well into the party and the Laskos have had a chance to greet all of their guests, I’m surprised when Mr. Lasko calls us over to where they’re holding court in the dining room.

“Molly!” he says as if I’m an old friend, not someone he never saw as good enough for his daughter. “Pull up a chair.”

This time I’m the one making pleading eyes at Robin to not leave me alone, but it turns out I don’t need to; she’s already taking the chair right beside me, placing a fortifying hand on my knee under the table.

“We’re so glad you made it,” Mrs. Lasko says, lifting her champagne flute in my direction.

“It’s always a pleasure to be Robin’s plus-one,” I say.