Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 86596 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 433(@200wpm)___ 346(@250wpm)___ 289(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86596 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 433(@200wpm)___ 346(@250wpm)___ 289(@300wpm)
“I’m sure they’re adorable.”
As adorable as she is, though I’m sure they make her seem unapproachable when in reality, she’s not. Makes me wonder if she’s ever had anything happen to her that’s created the wall around her.
I dip my toe in and ask. “Ever had your heart broken?”
She tilts her head in thought. “I wouldn’t say it was broken necessarily, but a few years ago, someone took a shit all over it.”
My mouth falls open at the language.
“Care to explain?”
“Eh.” Molly emits a loud sigh and puts the chip bag on the table in front of us, stalling by taking a long sip of water. “So a year or two ago, I’d gone on this date with a guy, and I could have sworn he was my soul mate.” She looks at me dead in the eye. “I haven’t told anyone this before, so don’t repeat it.”
Who am I going to tell?
I hold up two fingers. “Scout’s honor.”
“We go on this first date, and from the second he turned around, I just knew. We were on that date for five hours, shut the restaurant down, the parking lot was dark, everyone who worked there had gone home except the bartender.” Her next sigh is low and melancholy. “We met again a few days later, then he went out of town, but video chatted me the entire time. I knew at that point that he was the only person I wanted to date; to focus on, right? But I didn’t say it to him, and he hadn’t said it to me.”
“Then what happened?”
“Then…he came back, and I saw him again. And that third night, he cooked me dinner at his place, and we had sex in the living room, and after that, it was… I can’t explain it.”
“That’s it? You went on three dates?”
“Three dates,” she confirms. “And then he completely ghosted me except… a few weeks later, he texted me again. Then he called.”
“Did you see him again?”
“No. He kept putting me off when I’d ask, which was weird because he kept contacting me. He had all this drama with his family and was using that as an excuse, and stupid me, I clung to the idea that I’d see him again because of how magical our first date was.” Molly leans back against the couch cushions as if the weight of the world were on her shoulders. “It took me a long time to date after that—and everyone I went out with, I measured against that first date with Rob. Which wasn’t fair. Then I just kind of gave up because I knew what I was doing wasn’t fair, but I couldn’t stop doing it. I felt broken? In my head, I knew it was fucked up, and he didn’t deserve me, and I’d get so pissed he wouldn’t see me. But when he called or texted, I got filled with hope all over again, and like an idiot, I never blocked him, so it kept happening.”
Damn.
“It was complete mind-fuckery, and I fell for it, which, you know”—she gestures in the air—“was really confusing. Just as I was about to let go, he’d reach out and suck me back in. So I dealt with that for a long time, and here we are.”
I lean back too. “I felt broken for a long time after Laura left me, although she didn’t actually leave me, you know? I wonder if she would have stayed if I hadn’t caught them?”
Molly is quiet for a bit as she considers this. “Maybe she would have strung you along longer, but at some point, she would have broken up with you. She got what she wanted—someone to dote on her and buy her things. And you know what that tells me?”
“What?”
“It wasn’t meant to be. You can’t make someone stay in love with you, and you can’t make someone fall in love with you, and you cannot make someone faithful who’s always looking for the next best thing.”
She’s right, of course, but that doesn’t make it easier.
And seeing Laura pregnant certainly didn’t help.
“The chances that someone is going to ghost me the same way Rob did are very slim. And your next girlfriend is going to be the kind of faithful you’re looking for, I know it.” Molly winks at me.
“How can you be sure?” Why do I sound so pathetically emotional?
“Because you’re a good guy, Eli, and the universe knows it. It will take care of you.”
“But it didn’t take care of me. Laura cheated.”
She scoffs. “Yeah, duh. That’s the universe’s way of taking out the trash. You would have blindly married her otherwise, wouldn’t you? Married someone with a wandering eye. See? It did you a favor.”
She makes a valid point. “So did Rob.”
“Don’t use my own logic against me.” Her feet go up onto the coffee table, and I follow suit, because her house, her rules.