Page 104 of The Last Autograph

Molly sat at the island, lifted the flap, and pulled out a sheet of cream linen paper. She scanned the text with a frown, then stared up at him in disbelief. If this was some kind of joke, she was too tired to get the punchline. “What is this?”

“As it says—a booking for afternoon tea.”

“At The Ritz in London? On Valentine’s Day next year?”

“Yes. Tea for two.”

“But I don’t understand.” She shook her head. “You’ve booked this already? And why would you book it in my name?”

“You have to get in early.” He sat on the stool next to hers. “I want you to come with me.”

Too exhausted to even think straight, she sighed. “What? To London? I can’t do that. You need over five thousand dollars in savings to apply for a UK work visa, and I’m kind of broke at the moment.”

“All our flights and accommodation will be covered by my contract, and the rest is workable.”

“How long have you been planning this?”

“A few weeks.” Jake leaned forward and cupped her face in his hands. “But how much longer do we keep pretending, Molly?”

“Pretending?”

“That we’re not in love with each other.”

“Jake—”

“Because I love you… so very much. I know Jesse hurt you, probably more than you ever acknowledged to anyone, but under the circumstances, don’t you think it’s time you forgave him?”

Molly pressed her lips together and looked up to blink away her tears. “I tried to forgive him at the time but I was too young to allow myself that freedom. But it’s done now.”

“Good.” Jake wrapped her in his arms and kissed her on the forehead. “Because, according to Gloria, you’re desperately in love with me.”

“Is that so?”

“Apparently. And she won’t allow me to correct her if she’s wrong, so I say we go for it. As long as we’re on the same page, we can sort out the details later.”Jake released his grip. “Besides, you want to go, don’t you? To see your cousins and Buckingham Palace and The Ritz? If we don’t do it soon, we’ll be planning an addition to the house and researching private preschools.”

She stared up at him. “Are you serious right now?”

“When am I not? So, yeah, we’d better go next year before life gets in the way. But if you don’t want to go, we can just stay here, eating chocolate éclairs and making babies.”

“Babies?” Molly gazed up at Jake, so striking under the lamp glow. “So you do have a sense of humor after all, Chef Sinclair. Who would have thought?”

He shrugged. “I want what I want. And who can blame me?”

“But you’ve been like a closed book lately.”

“I had stuff to sort through.”

“So why didn’t you want to work with me at SpinWeb?”

“Why do you think?”

She frowned at the absurdity of his question. “Because I’m not the right fit for you?”

He chuckled. It was a sound she loved, but one he kept for special occasions only. “You fit me perfectly fine, but you won’t be here, will you? You’ll be with me in London. So, yeah. That’s the plan. Hopefully, Winston will understand.”

“My contract finishes at the end of the year, so I don’t even know if I’ll still have a job after that.”

“See. It was meant to be. Although I bet he’d love to keep you on.”

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