Page 75 of Pity Present

“Krista!” I say, hoping to sound friendly, but not too friendly.

Addressing Molly, she says, “I’m not sure this is such a good idea.”

Molly takes her arm and pulls her toward the table. “I think it is. There’s something that Blake and I want to tell you both.”

Krista sits down, but not before scooting her chair as far from mine as she can. Thor sits down normally.

I open my mouth to tell them what’s going on, but Molly beats me to the punch. She says, “Blake and I have decided that we’re going to take ourselves out of the dating pool.”

“What, why?” Krista asks. Then she points between us and guesses, “Are you two dating?”

“I knew it!” Thor claps his hands together loudly. “I knew you were into Molly!”

“I was,” I tell him. “I didn’t want to come on too strong right out of the gate.”

“So, you asked me to go hot tubbing with you instead. How flattering.” Krista doesn’t sound the least bit complimented.

“I wanted to make sure I talked to a few women before settling down with Molly here.” I say this like I was choosing a kitten at the animal shelter and not a love interest.

Molly seems to take it that way, too because she kicks me sharply under the table, causing me to cry out in pain. She says, “Blake and I should have never joined you two for breakfast. You seemed like you were having such a nice time …” She lets her insinuation hang in the air—that they should reconnect.

Thor clears his throat somewhat uncomfortably before telling Krista, “I really did enjoy spending time with you.”

“I enjoyed spending time with you, as well.” After a beat, she adds, “I’ve seen you talking to some other women. Have you met anyone special?”

Thor winks at her. “I thought I did but then Blake stole her away from me.”

Raising my hands out in front of me like this is a stick-up, I apologize. “I’m sorry if I messed anything up between the two of you.”

Thor is quick to ask Krista, “What do you say we take off and spend the day together? Maybe go for a hike?”

“That’s sounds very nice, Thor.” Krista pushes her chair back before addressing Molly. “Thank you for inviting me to join you.” Then she turns and stares daggers at me. “Blake.” That’s all.

Once Thor and Krista leave, I tell Molly, “That was fun. Who do you want to set up next?”

She looks around the room like we’re really going to do this, but then she responds, “I haven’t talked to that many people. You’re the one who’s been making the rounds. I think you’re going to have to take the lead.”

The waiter stops by and drops off our food which prompts me to say, “I’ll think about it, but for now I want to enjoy my date with you. How does that sound?”

“So good,” she practically purrs.

Meeting Molly is the last thing I expected when I came here, but I’m not complaining. Playing stupid, I ask her, “Are you talking about me or the pancakes?”

Molly cuts into her pancakes and takes a bite. She releases a groan of appreciation before answering, “Clearly, I’m talking about the pancakes.”

Molly Anders is well on the way to capturing my heart, and I can only hope she feels the same way about me. If this were a fairytale, we’d be nearing the “And they all lived happily-ever-after” portion of the story.

Unfortunately, this isn’t a children’s book and there’s still a big secret between us that needs to be told.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

MOLLY

After Blake and I eat a scrumptious breakfast accompanied with copious flirting, he asks, “How about if we go snowmobiling today?”

“I need to do a little work,” I tell him. “Would you mind if we caught up a bit later?”

“It’s almost noon now,” he says, “so why don’t we just meet at tonight’s dinner at five. Does that give you enough time?”

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