Page 20 of Molly

I nod and follow her to the couch, Molly playing on my mind. I’ll give her a minute to cool off. I know enough to know that you don’t poke an angry mumma bear.

9

MOLLY

“You’re just looking for a reason to end things with him, Molly,” Evie yells from across the room, passing a customer her takeaway cup.

It’s been two days since I left Ryan’s. I reply to his messages but keep my answers super short.

“I am not! You should have seen the way they hugged. Ugh. And the stupid look on her face when she first saw him. It was like he hung the fucking stars in the sky. And the way she winked at me when she said she’d keep him company. Ew. Why would I want to put myself in the middle of that? Hard pass,” I call back as I hand Emma her unpeeled banana.

Penny and I are sitting with Em at a table while Evie buzzes around like the little worker bee she is, even though we’ve got our weekend staff here to help. Alex and Izzy are new, but they’re great. It doesn’t hurt that Alex is also drool-worthy. He’s super sweet, wears black-rimmed glasses and reminds me of Seth Cohen, except he’s a total gym junkie, so he’s ripped. He’s got a thing for Penny, but she doesn’t see it.

“Molly, are you even listening?” Penny snaps.

“Sorry, what?” I turn my attention back to her.

She rolls her eyes. “I said, why bother? Let him have that skank. We’ll find you a new man if you want one. Hey! Evie could set you up with someone from her page. Easy.”

“I don’t want to online date, Penny,” I reply, narrowing my eyes at her.

Evie comes and sits down next to me, tea towel in hand. “Molly, if he says they’re just friends, why doubt him, babe?”

I cringe. “Please, don’t ever call me that again.” I fake a shiver. I hate that he uses that word. First with the girl at the shop and then with Jess.Ugh.

She rolls her eyes and flicks the towel at me. “Stop being so dramatic. Get your man, girl. You like him, and he likes you. You’ve been on three dates, and you already opened up about your childhoodandEmma’s dad. That means something. Give him a chance. What do you have to lose?”

I huff. “Oh, I don’t know, my dignity?”

They both laugh and wave off my comment.

Penny takes a sip of her chai latte and sets it back down. “Look, he’s probably not fucking her.”

I roll my eyes again. “Good pep talk, Pen.”

Evie bangs her hand down on the table, making me jump. “Enough. Pull up your big girl panties and message him. Everyone comes with a little baggage girl, especially single, thirty-three-year-old men. A girlfriendis pretty low on the scale of what he could have been dragging around with him.”

I look at Penny, and she shrugs and picks her mug back up.

“Fine, but when this blows up in my face, I blame you.” I point at Evie.

“Noted,” she says with a wink as she stands up and heads for the front counter.

I turn to my daughter. “What do you think, Em?”

She looks up at me and claps her hands. “I’m hungwy.”

Penny and I both laugh, and I hand her the rest of my ham and cheese sandwich. “Fanks, Mumma,” she says, shoving it in her mouth, making her cheeks puff out.

I grab my phone off the table and type out a message.

ME: Want to come by tomorrow for lunch?

A second later, my phone vibrates.

RYAN: Absolutely. I’ll be there.

If this ends badly, I’m totally firing Evie.

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