Page 33 of Someone to Hold

“Am I a total wimp?” She scrunches her perfectly pert nose. “Did you go dress shopping before your wedding?”

“Hardly.” I cough out a laugh. “I’d just packed up my grandparents’ house so I wore one of my grandma’s church dresses. Teddy’s river rat friends felt even more sorry for him when I showed up looking like one of theGolden Girls. But we aren’t talking about the awkward affair that was my wedding. This trip is about you. If it’s not what you want, then it’s not what I want either.”

She chews on her lower lip as she studies the mannequins in the storefront window. “I want to go home. Are you mad?”

“Of course not.” I manage to hug her without losing a crutch or my balance.

“Do you want to grab coffee or something?”

“To be honest, I’d rather head back and log a couple more hours of work before the kids get home from school. I’m so slow getting things done these days.”

She hugs me more tightly. “Please tell me that bywork,you mean drooling after Chase.”

“I don’t drool,” I tell her. Although I might lust a little.

“Come on, Molly,” she says as we climb back in the car. “It’s the perfect setup.”

“Even if I wanted an appointment, Chase has no interest in a meetup with my lady parts.”

She bestows that patented Avah brow arch on me again. “How do you know?”

“He overheard one of the moms make a comment about the two of us at school the other day.” I force a smile, ignoring the weird ache in my chest. “Chase made it clear that he’s in my life because of his debt to the McAllisters.”

“Then he doesn’t deserve to be the broom who sweeps away your coochie cobwebs,” Avah says primly.

I bust out laughing. “No, he doesn’t.”

“We’ll find somebody, especially now that you’re staying in Skylark. It’s a shame all the guys Jon works with are uptight finance tools.”

In my humble opinion, the same could be said about Jon, but I don’t mention that. “I’m fine, Avah. Really. Thank you for sharing more about you.”

She gives me a funny look. “You’re my best friend. All you had to do was ask.”

She’s right. I’ve been complacent in so many areas of my life. I don’t just accept whatever people choose to share—I actively avoid digging deeper so as not to make anyone uncomfortable.

Being a single mother to twins demands a lot, but it’s alsobecome my convenient shield against taking any real risks. I let my grandparents dictate every area of my life after my mom died because I knew I should be grateful they were willing to raise me. Then Teddy agreed to marry me when I got pregnant, but he went through the motions of being a husband without ever truly wanting the role. Linda took us in after he died, and once again I became the grateful recipient of someone else’s reluctant charity, terrified to ask for more than the bare minimum.

I’m so used to being a doormat, I might as well lie down on the interstate and beg people to run over me.

On the drive home, we switch to lighter subjects, both of us needing a bit of levity. By the time we pull into my driveway, we’re laughing about Avah’s horror at the idea of sharing one bathroom with seven-year-old twinsanda dusty cowboy.

I worry I haven’t given Chase enough time for his shower—I did tell him I’d be gone a couple of hours—but when we pull down the driveway, his car is gone.

“Have you been in the Airstream?” Avah asks, her voice almost a whisper.

“He’s not going to overhear you inside the car,” I tell her.

“So have you?” she shouts, causing me to jump.

“Very funny. No, I haven’t.”

“Aren’t you curious how he lives?”

“Not one bit.”

She laughs, nearly a cackle. “Then you must have upgraded the toys in your nightstand drawer, because, damn girl,I’mcurious. You can tell a lot about a man by the way he keeps his house, even if that house is on wheels.”

“What does your house say about Jon?” I ask, genuinely curious. Jon Clark is my best friend’s fiancé, and they’ve lived together for the two years I’ve been in Skylark, but I barely know him.