Page 105 of The Followers

“Right?” Molly lifted her hand in front of her, imitating a phone. “Love With Your Whole Heart,” she said dramatically. “No Regrets. Live Invincibly.” Then she dropped her hands in her lap. “Such a load of crap.”

Liv turned, shocked. “It wasn’t crap. It helped me see myself differently. It mattered to me, a lot. You matter to me.”

Molly fell silent. “Thanks for saying that. You matter to me, too.”

On the playground, Chloe squealed as she went down the slide, her tangled curls blowing behind her. Liv wondered how Chloe was dealing with all these changes, the loss of her stepsister and stepfather, the police, and media attention. Somehow, Liv knew without a doubt, Molly was handling it perfectly.

“Have you decided what you’re going to do next?” she asked.

“Well, I got offered seven figures to write another book about everything that happened with Scott,” Molly said.

Liv glanced at her, surprised. “You’re going to do that?”

“Of course not,” she said with a sad smile. “But I have savings, and I have other ideas. There’s a huge market for social media consulting.”

It was difficult to imagine Molly without her public persona, but Liv understood.

Chloe ran over, saying she was hungry and needed to go potty.

“I’d better go, too,” Liv said, standing. “Got to catch my flight.”

As Molly stood, she pulled Liv into a hug. Liv closed her eyes and soaked in the feeling. No one had touched her for the past two weeks, and although that had been her life for several years, she didn’t want to go back to it. She had become accustomed to this—to being wanted and welcomed.

“Thank you,” Molly whispered.

“For what?”

“For being my friend.” Molly smiled, and it felt like the sun warming the sky after a cold night. “Promise you’ll keep in touch, okay? You’re the only person I can talk to about all this.”

“I’d love that.” Liv blinked away tears, grateful. “Where do you think you’ll go next?”

Molly had already listed the house for sale—Liv had driven by several times, staring at that sunny yellow door and wondering what was happening inside. She assumed Molly would go back to Denver, or to Wisconsin where her parents lived.

“I might visit a friend up in Alberta.”

“Canada?”

Molly smiled, her single dimple winking. “Near Banff. I hear it’s beautiful there in the autumn.”

Liv navigated her way through the throngs of people in the airport terminal. Flight 3456 to Honolulu. She scanned the crowded area at the gate and sank into a hard vinyl chair with a heavy exhale, plopping her carry-on into the seat next to her. She needed separation from all the happy vacation-goers. Families with toddlers in strollers, couples holding hands and smiling at each other... Liv pulled her attention away from them and took out her phone to read the text messages that had come in while she was getting through security.

From Oliver:

How you holding up?

Fine, I’ll call you after I land.

Just below that, a text from Molly.

Can we FaceTime later? After you get settled. Chloe wants to see Hawaii.

I’d love to

The thought of chatting with Molly and Chloe made her smile, although she wondered, with a pang of sadness, if she would ever see Ella again. The loss of her niece felt like a missing body part. She wasn’t sure she would ever recover.

No messages from Jeremiah. Not that she’d expected any.

The flight attendant announced that boarding would begin in ten minutes. The terminal had filled up. Nearly all the chairs in Liv’s area were occupied except for the one next to her, her carry-on keeping everyone else at bay.

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