Page 74 of Sleepless Nights and Hockey Fights

Molly swallows again. I stroke my thumb over the back of her hand. “I, uh, just feel bad.” She smiles, but drops her gaze to stare at the button on my polo shirt. “I can’t stay. Something came up with Matty and I have to go.”

If this were a gameshow, someone would be hammering the buzzer right now, indicating a blatant lie from one of thecontestants. Molly slips her hand out of mine and hooks her thumb over her shoulder.

“I’ve got to go. Thank you for...” She looks around the room behind me, mouth dipping down at the corners. “Everything. I’m sorry.” Then she spins on her heel and walks back to the front door.

After a second of disbelief where I’m frozen to the spot, I follow after her. I barely catch her at the front door, my hand holding her forearm. “Hey. Call me later. I need to know everything’s okay with Matthew.”

She doesn’t turn back or look at me. Just dips her head in agreement and leaves. I watch her go, my insides an absolute mess.

What the fuck just happened?

And why is she lying to me? Blatantly closing me out. Pulling away when I thought everything was so good.

“Fuck!” I slam the door, hands going to my hips. I’m breathing hard and that rush of wind in my ears is enticing me to punch something.

Ashley’s advice runs through my head, and I try to take a deep breath. I take a physical step back. I count to ten. I make my fingers open wide instead of closing into fists. I pace the foyer, up and down, up and down.

I still want to fucking hit something. A huff of laughter explodes out of me. Where’s Richie when I need him? I lift my gaze to the ceiling and growl like an animal.

I don’t understand what’s happening. Plain and simple. I think about calling up Ashley, but we don’t have an appointment today. I could call one of my teammates, but those fuckheads don’t know dick about women. The only ones who do are married and I don’t want to hear about marital bliss when I can’t get my girlfriend to even talk to me. Plus, they’d give me shit for months if I talked about my feelings.

Then I think of one person who knows Molly better than anyone. Someone I don’t really want to talk to, but will, just for the sake of figuring out what’s going on here. I pull my phone out of my back pocket, scroll to the contact I added for emergencies, and hit call before I can talk myself out of it.

He answers right away, the noise level in the background quite high. “Bobby? Everything okay?”

“Hey, Blake. Molly and Matthew are fine.” I blow out a breath. “But I was hoping you’d chat with me anyway.”

There’s a long moment of silence. It’s no secret that Molly’s ex-husband and I aren’t besties. I can’t help feeling jealous that Molly gave so many years of her life to a guy who didn’t give her what she needed in return. Then again, those years together might give him the insight into Molly that I need right now.

“Please, Blake,” I add, not too proud to beg.

He sighs. “This is weird.”

“Yeah, I know. Believe me, I didn’t want to call you, but I’m desperate.”

I hear a door close, and it gets a lot quieter on his end of the line. “Okay, shoot. What’s going on?”

I rub the back of my neck, back to pacing my foyer. My footsteps echo off the naked walls. “I’m in love with Molly and she says she loves me too. I thought things were going good, but she’s been acting distant and won’t tell me why. Is there something I’m doing that makes her unsure of our future? Has she said anything to you?”

Blake’s deep chuckle makes me irritable as fuck. “You gotta understand that Molly’s the most practical human on the planet. She doesn’t fly by the seat of her emotional pants. It’s got to make sense in her head or she won’t budge.”

I’m nodding. “I know. She told me about her parents.”

“Yeah, they’re real pieces of work. She and I fought all the time about finances. There’s a reason I didn’t get to be withmy band full time when we were married. Molly would have freaked if I didn’t have a regular nine-to-five. Being financially stable is very important to her. So is being able to trust someone completely. I fucked that up too.”

“Hope you don’t mind, but she told me what happened there. Congrats to you and Luke, by the way.”

Blake chuckles again. “Thanks. I have to admit, I wasn’t too high on you and Molly together. Seems like an age gap that large might be more than just a number. I can’t speak for Molly, but to me, it seems she needs to know that she’s it for you. If you’re just passing time with her, you should let her go.”

Well, that right there just pissed me off some more. “I’m not passing time with Molly! She’s everything to me. I have plans to ask her to marry me as soon as she looks like she won’t run away when I drop down to one knee.”

There’s silence again. So much so that I pull the phone from my ear and make sure the call didn’t drop.

“Well, hell, I didn’t know you felt that way about her.”

“How could I not? She’s fucking amazing! The best mother. The sweetest partner. A badass realtor. Fuck, she’s way too good for me, but I’m selfish enough to want her anyway.”

Noise in the background swells again. “Shit, I gotta go, Bobby, but for what it’s worth, I’m rooting for you two. Tell her how you feel. Make her believe you mean forever. She deserves that.”

---