Page 31 of 5 Golden Flings

“I wasn’t successful enough fast enough, so you found someone who was.” Once upon a time those words would’ve cut to the bone, but not today.

“Patience never was one of my attributes,” she admitted. Then she looked him in the eye. “Still have a thing for redheads, I see. Who’s the girl? I hear you’re engaged, but I don’t believe it.”

Word spread fast. “Believe it.”

“I hope you have better luck than I did. Leaving you was a mistake, I know that now. Here I am with a husband who was screwing around three months after we were married, a three-year-old, and a baby on the way.”

He wanted to say he was sorry, but the words wouldn’t come. “You could leave him.”

“Can’t. I signed a ridiculously strict prenup.”

Molly grabbed a piece of cake and found a seat at an empty table. She watched Ben and his wife,ex-wife she knew no matter what the woman said, move across the dance floor. It was getting crowded out there, so they moved in and out of view.

His ex was beautiful. She should’ve expected nothing else. Molly considered herself not to be a troll, she cleaned up nicely, but the overall package was not the same. She felt ordinary in comparison.

She was so intent on trying to watch Ben and the ex she didn’t realize Rosie was heading her way until she sat. Just what she needed. Ben’s stalker sitting beside her with her own piece of cake.

It was so unfair. Rosie looked great in slime green! Molly waited for some scathing remark from the young woman, but instead she got, “I owe you an apology. I’ve been a real bitch.”

What was the right response? She went with, “Apology accepted.”

Rosie sighed and took a bite of cake. “It’s just, I had it all planned in my mind. I could see it so clearly. I’d meet Ben, he’d like me, we could spend some time together and maybe, you know.”

Yes, she knew.

“But it was just a fantasy. I don’t know why I got so obsessed! Except, you know, heisBen Crusher.”

Not to her. To Molly he was just Benjy, grown up. A boy she remembered who’d grown into a fine man.

Rosie searched the dance floor. “That’s his ex, isn’t it? Man, she’s gorgeous. Ben must have a thing for redheads. If I’d known… No, I’m not going red for any man. I don’t have the complexion for it.” She scarfed down the last of her cake and stood. “You look a little like her.”

The would-be stalker sashayed off and into the arms of a man who seemed to be waiting for her. Another baseball player, Molly assumed.

You look a little like her.

Did she? Was Ben attracted to her because she reminded him of his ex? Was he so obsessed with the woman that he…

She spotted the couple on the dance floor. Ben grinned. Ah, she knew that smile. Kayla tossed her hair back in a sexy, come-hither way. She hadn’t been forced to wear puke green to thewedding. No, she was stunning in a loose-fitting navy dress. They made a beautiful couple.

No wonder she and Ben had happened so fast. He hadn’t been interested in her at all, it had always been Kayla.

Her track record with men remained perfect. She always managed to see something where there was nothing, to manufacture love when it was nothing more than a trick of the mind. Ben was no different than any of the others. He was a flash in the pan, a temporary love, a hallucination.

It wasn’t real. It had never been real.

She couldn’t get out of this place fast enough.

Ben searched the crowded room for Molly. In that bright green dress she should be easy to find. Since all the other bridesmaids were in the same color, he caught sight of it often. But no Molly. Maybe she’d gone to the restroom, or had stepped out to get some fresh air. She wasn’t fan of parties.

Maybe she was with the bride, in a quiet corner. He saw Tristan, but not Natalie, which made this the perfect time to set a couple of things straight.

Ben made his way to the groom and they shifted to the side so they were as alone as they were going to get.

“I’m sorry,” Ben said in a lowered voice.

Tristan appeared to be confused. He shouldn’t be. “About what?”

“The whole prenup nonsense. It was none of my business, and I was…”

---