Hotshot and Hospitality by Nora Everly
Chapter 27
Garrett
She was gone. I woke up from one of the best nights of my life to an empty bed. Well, not entirely empty. Stan sat on Molly’s pillow staring plaintively at me, and tucked beneath it with the corner sticking out was a piece of paper. After squinting at the words in the predawn moonlight filtering in through my window, I turned on the lamp to read it.
I had to go home. Landon needs me at the inn. Talk tomorrow. Xoxo
Obviously, the note was utter horseshit. She got spooked. I could hardly blame her; in some ways, this felt like it was going fast. But was it really that fast considering we’d known each other since we were babies?
I didn’t know what to think. I had no real sense of clarity when it came to her, but one thought stuck out like a beacon in the dark—she would most likely smash my heart into a thousand little pieces, and I would smile at her the entire time she did it.
After throwing the covers back, I got up and stretched. I dressed quickly, grabbed my phone, and headed to the kitchen to feed Stan, then get out of here to find Molly.
It was still dark when I pulled into the parking lot of the inn. I didn’t bother checking her house first because I was pretty sure she had gone to her treehouse. No matter what she said about it belonging to Abbie now, everyone knew it was her special spot and always would be.
Following the path around the front of the inn, I crossed through the rose garden to the treehouse only to stop at the bottom of the stairs. I didn’t want to sneak up and startle her like last time. So, I stood there trying to decide what to do. I was about to pull out my phone and text her but her voice calling me from the window upstairs startled me instead. I headed up the stairs, trying to come up with something to say that would convince her to give us a chance.
“I know it’s you, Garrett. I saw you from the window. I am an idiot,” she called out from her perch on the upper bunk bed, legs dangling over the side in such a way that it blasted me right to the past. “I’m an idiot, Garrett. Why can’t I just be normal?” She had said such things off and on for as long as I could remember, usually while she was hiding out exactly where she was right now.
“No, you’re not. You know you’re—” I stopped mid-sentence as I was enveloped by another memory. “Do you remember what I used to say to you? Normal is boring—remember that? You’re not boring, Molly. You’re the most fun person I’ve ever met. You didn’t believe me then. Will you believe it now?” She looked away with a small shake of her head. “Okay, do you remember how after you would finally come down from that bed, we’d pinky swear to be best friends forever?”
“How did you ever put up with me? I didn’t act like a friend when I left you in bed,” she insisted as she hopped down to land in front of me, dressed in a short Catwoman nightie with matching knee-socks. I took in the sight of her mussed-up bed head, irresistible curves, and pretty eyes, and a huge smile split my face as she held out her pinky.
I linked it with mine before hauling her into my arms, hugging her close to my chest while she sagged against me and wrapped her arms around my waist. “In the moment you decided to leave, we weren’t friends. We were something else—somewhere way beyond friends—and it scared you.”
“How can you be so understanding? Why do you get me, when I don’t even get myself? It’s not fair how that’s possible,” she griped.
“I don’t know.” I winked at her. “Years of practice?”
Her shoulders sagged in defeat. “I’ve had years of practice too, and yet I still confuse myself. I feel terrible. What we did was beautiful.” Her eyes shone into mine. “You made me feel special, like I could let go of everything and just be with you, like it was supposed to happen. Then I woke up in the dark. And everything I—"
I tipped her face up to mine with a fingertip beneath her chin. “Next time wake me up.”
“What?” she breathed, like it was a revolutionary idea to just simply talk to me.
“Promise me, Molly. The next time you get scared or freaked out or worried, you won’t leave. You’ll wake me up. Or just tell me about it so we can talk it through, and I can make it better.”
“I think I can do that. I can promise to try,” she agreed with a sheepish smile.
“You used to tell me your fears. All of them, remember? We used to talk about everything. Until, um, until your dad died.”
“Yeah, but it was easier back then when all I was afraid of were imaginary things, like aliens and monsters or the dentist. Once I had real fears, it got harder to talk about them.” Her hands drove into her hair as she spun away from me.
“Are you still afraid of everyone finding out about us? Is that part of what it is?”
“Yeah, it is. Also, I don’t trust myself not to—I don’t know—drive you away like I’ve driven away every other man who’s come into my life. My brothers are the only ones to ever stick around and they’re blood related and we’re all cut from the same drama-filled cloth. Plus, Jordan needs a free babysitter for Abbie sometimes—”
“Your brothers love you. Come lie down with me. It’s so early the sun isn’t even up. Let’s go to sleep and wake up together like we were meant to.” I toed my shoes off, took off my shirt, and kicked my jeans aside before sliding beneath the covers of the full-size bottom bunk. I patted the bed next to me. It was small, but I wanted her close, so that was fine with me. I also needed a couple more hours of sleep and the circles beneath her eyes told me that she did too. She crawled in next to me and I pulled her into my body. “No matter how hard I snore, wake me up if the thought of leaving crosses your mind. Promise me.”
She laughed softly. “You don’t snore. And I promise to talk to you. Can you forgive me for leaving, Garrett?”
“Of course I can. And we can un-date until you’re ready to date-date.”
“It sounds so silly, but I need it, Garrett. I need it to be just us, at least for a little while.”
“I know you do, and I get it. Get some sleep, cutie.” She was afraid of losing my mother, my family, of driving me away. But what she didn’t know—and what I had no idea how to make her see—is that she would never lose me. I’d been hers ever since we were kids and I always would be.
She fell asleep first. I watched her smile, whispered goodnight to her and pressed a kiss to her cheek after her eyelids fluttered shut and did not open.