Page 8 of Breaking Emily's Rules
“When you didn’t tell anyone where you’d gone? Don’t do this, Molly. It’s not his fault you left.”
I should have paid more attention to the situation at the time, and I still blamed myself for that. I should have seen that Molly was in over her head and going under. But a few of the times I had wanted to come over and help, Molly claimed the baby was sleeping, or the apartment was a mess or any one of many other excuses why they didn’t want company. The times I had managed to make it inside, the small efficiency had looked like a bomb had gone off. Stacks of baby diapers all over the house, clothes strewn in every corner, piles of dirty laundry practically tall enough to be a teepee, other clean clothes folded in the basket, dishes overflowing in the sink.
Molly and Dylan had managed to keep mostly to themselves, and whether it had been intentional or not I had never been sure. Dylan’s mother could barely stand Molly, and the unexpected pregnancy hadn’t helped. But I didn’t fully understand why Molly would have shut her own family out. Unless it had been because of Dylan, who thought Molly had been spoiled by our father for too long.
And true enough, if daddy had one look inside, he would have likely hired Molly a cleaning service. Not how Dylan rolled.
“You needed help, and maybe you didn’t know how to ask for it,” I said now.
“I know you tried, but Dylan always thought we should do it on our own. And of course, he was never around much to help me.”
“There was no shame in either one of you needing help. You’re both so young.” I now wished I’d bulldozed my way in more often. What if Molly had suffered from postpartum depression? Dylan, as a trained EMT, should have seen the signs. But maybe he’d been too close to the situation.
After Molly had gone, I tried for a few months to help Dylan with a colicky and often inconsolable Sierra. Eventually, due to logistics and family ties, most of the babysitting shifted to Violet, Dylan’s mother. Dylan stopped calling, and I, ashamed of my sister and tired of making excuses for her, stayed away.
“Maybe if he’d loved me more. It felt like the only thing we had in common anymore was Sierra. He barely touched me for six months. Do you know what that’s like?”
Molly didn’t want to go there with me right now. Did I know what it was like to have my heart ripped out seam by precious seam?
“Does a broken engagement count?”
Molly didn’t look at me. “I’m sorry, Em.”
“It’s all right.”
But it wasn’t. I had never been engaged before Greg. Greg was reliable, safe, structured. A software engineer. If a girl couldn’t trust a man like Greg, who color-coded his ties, then whom could she trust?
No one.
* * *
Stone
Maybe next timeyou’ll stay home.
The night wasn’t over until a cab service took Thomas Aguirre home, black eye covered with a bag of ice from the bar. But the real cherry on top of this sundae had been when Stone looked for the stacked blonde that had caused him his sore jaw and found her nowhere in sight. Not like she owed him a thing, but a simple kiss would have been nice. Maybe even a short “thanks.”
It usually took a woman at least a month to be this kind of trouble to him.
Now he had a bruised lip and sore jaw, thanks to being temporarily distracted by the way she stared into his eyes with a kind of trust that sent lava-level heat running through him. More to the point, the whole thing was his fault for being stupid enough to follow her outside and become mixed up in drama that was clearly none of his damn business. That should teach him.
Jedd brought out a bag of ice. “It’s a good thing we caught Thomas trying to leave with Molly, ’cause he had no business driving.”
“Yeah. Glad I could be of assistance.” Stone took the ice and placed it in on his jaw since he couldn’t put it on his sore ego. He should have seen that flying fist coming. Six months out of the service, and he’d let his guard down.
“I wish I’d been out here sooner.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“I hope you don’t blame this on Emily. If you blame anyone, it should be Molly. That girl is hell on wheels. Almost forgot she was back in town.” Jedd fell into step beside Stone, as he headed toward his truck.
“My fault. Shouldn’t have followed Emily outside.”
“But you thought she was in trouble?”
Stone didn’t want to be anyone’s hero, or pretend he’d had anything on his mind other than finishing what he’d started with Emily.
“To tell the truth, I didn’t do enough thinking tonight.” He massaged his jaw and managed to crack a smile.
