Mollywood (13 page)

Francis got a big bonus from me and was spending his free time shopping for a used car. He’d also begun to pay rent, though I’d told him on numerous occasions that his apartment across the hall from ours was a perk of the job. Things got a little heated when I initially refused to take his money. When I tried to cut the conversation off, he switched tactics and pulled Molly into the argument.

“She’s going to have to quit working for a while, Joe. Even if it’s just for a few months after the babies are born. You need to start putting something away for that eventuality.”

This stopped me in my tracks, and I had no rebuttal. Francis may have lost his way for a while, but he’d always struck me as having uncanny insight. He had a solid foothold on his life again, and who was I to deny him the opportunity to pitch in? The diligent expression he wore as he watched me consider was what actually made me cave. I remembered all too well what it was like to feel like a burden. That dark period of my life was behind me now and I saw just how badly he wanted to put distance between himself and his. So I folded and agreed to let him pay me three hundred dollars a month for rent. Francis cackled at that.

“You can’t get a studio in Austin for that, let alone a remodeled two bedroom.” He tilted his head and opened his mouth to counter. “Maybe I should ask Molly what she—

I cut him off. “It’s my building, not Molly’s. Three hundred dollars or nothing. Take it or leave it.”

Francis was a smooth talker; it’s what I paid him for. But after several years of living on the streets, he had developed excellent survival instincts. He could tell I was a man on the edge and didn’t seem like he was anxious to push me off. It didn’t take an expert like Dr. Greene to see I was about to go insane.

Molly and I had been franticly house hunting nightly for the past three weeks. To say it wasn’t going well was a major understatement. Molly had always been a handful, but trying to agree on a house gave us all new and interesting things to argue about.

At first, Molly approached the subject of moving with extreme caution. I couldn’t blame her. I’d been in the apartment above the shop since Jess and Jack died At first it was because I couldn’t stand to be in the house I’d remodeled for Jess and being surrounded by her things broke my already mangled heart. Then, I discovered that my late wife had been embezzling from me, and selling the place had become a necessity.

Finding out Jessica had been lying to me the entire time we’d been together destroyed what little faith I had left. Robbed blind by my own wife. It had been humiliating and embarrassing, but it also made me mourn for my memories that I now dissected like some sort of amateur archeologist. It would have been better to have had the illusion that I’d lost my soul mate than the certainty that I’d been living a lie.

Then I found out I wasn’t even special in the regard of her treachery. Jess had been a successful C.P.A and she’d “borrowed” money from several of her clients as well to pay off her various gambling debts. When she was no longer around to keep the plates in the air spinning, her scheme collapsed like a house of cards and all I was left with was my building, my truck, the clothes on my back and two marble tombstones in the local cemetery.

When Molly finally gathered the courage to broach the subject, I had been surprised at how ready I was to make the move. It was pretty straightforward. Before Tamryn opened her big fat mouth, I knew we had to find a new place. Even if we’d been on the ground floor, our place wouldn’t have had the space for two children once they were old enough to crawl. Starting my life with Molly invigorated me, and I’d already been thinking hard about our future before we found out about the pregnancy. I knew we had to sort out a few issues, but I’d seen things heading down this path. Now I was beginning to wonder if I’d misread the situation entirely, since she still dismissed the idea of marriage as easily as if I were suggesting we buy leopard print wallpaper.

Finding the right place had proven to be a pain in the ass. I wanted a place that was safe and functional for our new family. Molly wanted a place that felt homey and had mature trees and character. We were butting heads over our wish lists and the joy of the hunt had quickly disappeared.

I could tell that Molly was nearly as nervous about the prospect of homeownership as I was. She mentioned using the money from the sale of her home with her ex to buy a condo or rent a duplex nearby. We were at the doctor’s office waiting for our second OB appointment when she brought this up, which probably saved us from having a huge blowout. The way she phrased this idea made it clear that she meant to do this without me.

“There are a few places that aren’t far away but would work great for two small kids. I think that the money I have in savings would be enough to cover my move in costs.”

“So what? You’re ditching me?” I fumed. She whipped her head in my direction, obviously surprised.

“No.” The word came out slowly, and she looked at me as if I were a madman. “Where the hell did that come from?”

I tried to keep my voice down as the two other women in the waiting room glanced up from their magazines. “First you don’t want to marry me and now you don’t want to live with me anymore. How do you expect me to feel?”

She leaned in close to me and locked her pretty eyes on mine, “Of course I want you to come with me. I hope you want to.”

She put her arm around the back of my chair and rested her head on my shoulder. Her hair smelled like oranges, and I relaxed as I breathed her in. Even with her calming influence it was an effort to get myself under control. My battered emotions were far too sensitive about rejection when it came to Molly. She spoke softly, as if telling me a secret.

“I didn’t want to assume that you’d be ready… you know…to leave your building after everything. Moving on is a
huge
deal, Joe. That’s a lot of change all at once.”

“So is having
children
and we’re doing that together.” My tone softened, but my pulse still raced. Sometimes we were so far apart on our patterns of thinking that she terrified me.

“But it’s not like we planned
that
. We still have some
control
over where we live.” She’d replied, lifting her head from my shoulder to stare me down. She didn’t seem to be challenging me. Her expression reminded me of the one she wore when she was trying to solve the puzzle box I’d made for her for Christmas.

I snapped out of the memory when Dr. Greene slapped his notebook down on the table. He stared at me for a moment and then shook his head.

“I suppose you haven’t asked Molly to join us for a session either.” Dr. Greene’s body language left little doubt that he already suspected my answer.

“No. But I will.” I hadn’t mentioned it yet. I felt like a coward, I’d been dragging my feet about asking. Molly’s moods were volatile and she flew off the handle about something as basic as a bruised banana. I assumed Molly would jump to the conclusion that I thought she needed therapy, and I didn’t want to start yet another fight. Dr. Greene regarded me doubtfully and I put a hand over my heart. “I promise.”

“I hope so.” He replied suspiciously, as he ushered me to the door. “I think both of you would benefit from a little refereed discussion.” Once more I promised to bring Molly to an appointment and slipped out the door.

As I climbed into the truck, I got a text from Molly. Our realtor got us a last minute appointment to see a house that seemed good on paper. She said she’d meet me at the shop and I hurried when I noticed the time.

When I turned onto my block, I spotted Molly’s car parked out in front of Good Wood. As I passed the storefront window, I saw her inside leaning on the counter. I swung the door open and there stood my girl, chatting with Francis’s daughter, Kelly.

“It was okay... but you’re right, it was
no
Salt Lick.” Kelly was saying to Molly in her delicate, high pitched voice.

“You should come over some night and taste my brisket. It’s my daddy’s recipe, but I put my own little spin on it.” Molly replied. She was wearing rolled up denim bibs and her hair was in pig tails. She looked like Mary Ann from Gilligan’s Island if Mary Ann hung out with Kat Von D. As I snuck up on her, Kelly looked in my direction and her amused eyes gave me away. Molly spun and her lips curled in a smile.

“There’s my guy.” She drawled, and I pecked her cheek. My hand automatically went to her belly. She was only fourteen weeks along, though because of the twins, the doctor said she measured closer to eighteen. Her faded bib overalls showed off her bump adorably, and had we been alone, I would have kissed her there.

We’d been to her second appointment two weeks before and Dr. Myers said the blood work and ultrasound looked great. Molly’s relief was palpable. She’d been reading her new mommy books every night and had freaked herself out about “Vanishing Twin Syndrome. Though she admitted one baby would be a hell of a lot easier on us, she was truly worked up about the idea of something happening to one of them. She’d started to freak me out too, so when the ultrasound tech swiveled the screen in our direction, we were both relieved to see both babies alive and well.

“Hey there, little girl. Hello, Kelly.” I put my arm around Molly and nodded to Francis’s daughter. I noticed Mac lurking within listening distance of us. He seemed to be taking forever to select a tool, but I pretended not to notice. It was pretty obvious he was checking Kelly out. She was cute: tanned, brown eyed, and her long hair was nearly black. She was the type he always picked out of a crowded bar. But Kelly wasn’t the bar crowd type, and I didn’t need the workplace drama that would come from razzing him about it.

“Hey, Joe.” Kelly’s high pitched voice made her seem younger than she was. She turned back to Molly. “I’m doing the Howl-O-Ween 5k. My dad said your food truck is going to be there. Maybe I can try your brisket then.”

“Good idea. I’ll figure out a way to work it into a wrap.” I could see the wheels turning behind Molly’s baby blues.

“When’s this 5k?” Mac asked. He directed his question at Kelly. He twirled his screwdriver in a nonchalant, yet showy manner as he approached the counter. Kelly turned her doe eyes in his direction.

“October 18th.” She replied, with a flirty toss of her waist length hair.

I could no longer resist the urge to flip him shit. “Are you gonna run, Mac?”

Mac’s ears turned red, and he folded his tattooed guns across his barreled chest. “Maybe.”

Molly snickered and he shot her a look of reproach.

“What?” He looked serious. “I work out.”

“Curling a beer bottle in the direction of your mouth isn’t going to qualify you for the Boston Marathon.” Molly replied with a small laugh.

“Ha ha,” He replied. “What about you, prego? Are you going to walk it?”

“I would, but I’ll be cooking.” Molly responded, her eyes dancing with amusement. “You might want to cut back on that pack a day habit before you take up jogging. You’ll have a damn heart attack.”

I could tell Mac was biting back some vile comments. “I’ve been down to a quarter of a pack since January. Show’s how much you pay attention.”

“My mistake. You’re a bad ass, Mac. I can’t wait to cheer you on.” Molly grinned.

“Ha ha, Short shit. Challenge accepted.” He replied. Meanwhile, Kelly glanced back and forth at the squabbling siblings. Mac stole a glance at Kelly and she seemed to be doing the same and caught him looking. She smiled sweetly at him. I felt like an intruder in their moment and looked around for Francis. He was nowhere to be seen.

“Molly. We gotta fly.” I murmured, anxious to leave the starry eyed pair alone.

Molly glanced at the time on her phone.

“Oh, shit! See ya later, Kelly! Live strong, Lance!” I huffed in amusement at her as I quickly ushered her out the door. Molly banged on the window and lifted a fist in the spirit of unity to her brother. When Mac flipped her the bird, we both dissolved in laugher.

“He’s fixin’ to piss Francis off, hitting on his daughter like that.” I said as we sped off in the direction of our potential new home.

“She’s a grown ass woman. But she’s way too nice for Mac.” Molly responded, flipping down the visor to check her lipstick in the mirror. “She’s
so
friendly, it’s kinda creepy. I keep waiting for her to pull out a knife and stab somebody.”

Turning down the quiet lane, I gave Molly what I hoped was a comforting smile. The neighborhood was filled with large single family homes interspersed with green lawns and old trees. Tamryn had made a hobby out of finding the best listings and forwarding them to us and our realtor on email. She was pouring stress onto an already difficult situation, but I knew she meant well. Molly would have freaked on me if I told Tamz to stop anyway. It was a delicate situation, balancing Molly’s needs versus what I could handle.

“Suburbia… we’re really going to do the whole white picket fence thing, huh?” Molly unconsciously pulled her sleeve down a bit to cover her tattoos. Giving an inward sigh, I kept my voice calm and level when I spoke.

“You said the last two places were too urban. This one is in an older neighborhood; it’s in a great school district. Let’s just take a look okay? There’s Thomas.” Pulling into an empty spot I waved to our realtor. He’d helped Mac find his house after his split with his ex, and Mac spoke very highly of him. When we called him, Thomas had jumped at the opportunity to help us.

Hopping out of her car, I moved around to get the door and help Molly out. She gave me her patented eye roll, but put a lot of pressure on my arm as she stood up. She shot me an apologetic glance, and taking her hand, I led her down the sidewalk toward Thomas. He shook my hand and gave Molly a chaste hug.

“Hey, you two. Did you have any trouble finding the place?”

“No.” Molly’s tone was overly chipper which wasn’t necessarily a good sign. “But it is kind of out of the way.”

Thomas nodded and pulled out a leather bound notebook.

“Side street, good school, old trees, houses with character. Yes, this should have a lot of things that are on your list.” He gave her a huge smile and gestured us forward.