Page 77 of The Wild Card
She looks … guilty. Like she’s been caught.
I thought I was the only one trying to hide real feelings. But maybe not.
Could Jo be right—does Molly have actual feelings for me too?
“And guess what?” Jo says, looking at Molly.
“What?”
“I decided to give Copernicus the unicorn to my baby sister when she’s born.”
Every head in the room snaps to Pat and Lindy.
“You’re having a girl?” Winnie asks just as Harper says, “You found out what you’re having?”
Lindy sniffs, smiling even as tears shine in her eyes. “Yup.”
“We’re having another girl,” Pat says, looking about as pleased as a man can look. “Come here, Jojo.”
Jo runs across the room, which is now filled with sniffles and a whole new energy, and leaps into Pat’s arms. “You’re going to be the best big sister.”
“I am,” Jo agrees.
And then the room becomes a big group hug. A few people are wiping their eyes, including our old man, who’s grinning while tears stream down his face and his chin wobbles on the screen.
As I’m hugging Pat, I see Molly in a three-way embrace with Winnie and Lindy. She looks thrilled. As though this news really is something important to her too. As though she cares.
As though she belongs here just as much as anyone else does.
When our gazes catch across the room, I realize with a deep and slightly disturbing certainty that I want her to be part of this, part of my family. Part of my life.
For real. And even though we’ve barely just begun the charade of dating, I already know it’s not enough for me.
CHAPTER 16
Molly
“I’ve never seensomeone fill out paperwork with such joy.” Kelvin’s voice startles me, and my signature becomes a random squiggle on the contract I’m signing.
I glance across the table at him. “What?”
He points at my face. “You've been grinning the whole time you’ve been signing.”
Does that mean he’s been watching me this whole time?
He seems to realize how creepy he just sounded and stands quickly. “Um, I’ll go grab some water. Want anything? Coffee? Water? A Coke?”
A little privacy would be great, so I request a coffee, hoping it will take him a few minutes to return. I don’t really care about orneedcoffee, since Collin was waiting for me this morning with a mug and a smile when I got up. The only thing I like more than a cup of coffee in hand first thing is when Collin Graham, shirtless and sleep-rumpled, is handing it to me. A girl could get used to that kind of spoiling.
A girl could also start convincing herself that it wasreal.
Especiallyafter the evening we spent with his family. Even as they were absolutely trying to give us—more Collin than me—a hard time about this fake dating thing, it still felt good to be a part of a family that teases, a family that cares. A family that feels healthy.
Not that mine issoawful, really. I have some great childhood memories with Chase and both of my parents. I’ve tried to pinpoint when my dad got more controlling, and the best I can figure is when Chase was in high school. As for Mom, not speaking up or even supporting Dad’s actions is a passive kind of control in and of itself. She could stand up for me, stand up to him—but she doesn’t. It wasn’t always this way, and I’m not sure when things twisted. The brunt of it fell on my brother until he left, then Dad seemed to double up the efforts with his focus on me.
I don’t blame my brother or anything. His relationship with both of my parents is strained, but Dad wasn’t nearly as controlling with Chase as he is with me. Maybe he thought he’d fix that mistake, tightening like a clamp over me to keep me from running like my brother.
Oh, the irony. I’ve basically followed in his same footsteps.
