Page 53 of Molly: Part One
“Molly, we didn’t know you were coming,” they both say and give me quick hugs. “Yeah, you know. We weren’t as close to granddad as Ryan, being girls and all but it’s still sad,” Liv answers.
“I know, he’s really upset. He didn’t need this after everything else that has happened this year. Your mum seems pretty upset too but how’s your dad doing?”
Although Ryan’s mum and dad have shown their disapproval of me over the years I actually think they are quiet nice people from the stories I’ve heard so I do always try to give them the benefit of the doubt. Every time I’ve met them in the past though his mum has proved that not to be the case within a few minutes of seeing me.
“Better than we thought, I think he was aware that his dad was getting frail and it wasn’t going to be long. Mum seems to be worse than Dad actually,” Abbi explains. “Molly could you grab the milk out of the fridge please?”
Once everything is on a tray I follow Abbi and Liv to the living room, I hang back by the door again though. I can’t help but feel like I’m intruding on this very private family moment. I watch both Ryan’s sisters comfort him. They are all so close that I feel a wave of jealousy wash over me like I do when I’m at the Morrison’s.
They all chat for a few minutes while Mrs Evans pours tea for everyone. I see the moment she notices there is one to many tea cups then watch as her head snaps in my direction and her lips press in to a hard line. I inwardly groan, here we go.
“What the hell are you doing here? This is a family matter, you’re not welcome here so I suggest you go home.” I feel my eyes pop open and my jaw drops at her words. Well that was worse than I thought it was going to be.
All of a sudden a series of voices break me from my shocked state, “MUM,” “KAREN please,” Mr Evans, Ryan, Abbi and Liv all shout at once and look mortified by her words.
“No, it’s okay. She’s right, that’s why I was hanging back out here. I don’t want to intrude on such a tragic time for you all. Mr Evans I’m so sorry to hear about your dad, from what I’ve heard he was an amazing guy.”
“Thank you Molly. But please call me Dave.”
“Mum, I asked for Molly to be here. She drove because she could tell I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to get myself here safely.”
“I’m very grateful she got you hear safely Ryan, I am. Thank you for driving him here Molly,” she says unconvincingly.
“You’re welcome,” I say with my brightest smile.
“But you can go now. Ryan will be fine, he has his family around him.” She turns and starts sipping her tea like she is already bored of me.
“Mum, I’m sorry but Molly is staying. You either need to accept that or we will be finding ourselves a hotel for the night as I want to be here for Dad and my sisters.”
Mrs Evans looks like she has been slapped across the face. “Fine, but I suggest she keeps herself scarce because this is about family. If she was so concerned about family maybe she should sort her own out.”
“Mother, that is enough. I didn’t come here to fight. I will show Molly up to my room so she can get herself settled.” Thank god, get me out of here.
“Ryan, she is not sleeping in your room with you. Have some respect in my house,” she scolds.
“Mum, Molly is my friend. She will sleep in my bed-”
“Oh no-” she interrupts.
Ryan throws his mum a death look. “As I was saying, she will sleep in my bed and I will sleep on the floor. Unless you would prefer we went to a hotel right now?”
“No, I wantyouhere,” she says making it quiet clear what she really means.
“Come on Molly, let’s get our stuff out the car and you can get settled upstairs.”
A few hours later I’m laid in Ryan’s bed in his childhood room that looks like it hasn’t been touched since the day he moved out. There are posters of old indie bands on the walls, all his sport trophies and medals along with a few photos of friends and family. I love looking at old pictures of him, he has always been good looking but he used to be tall and lanky, his muscles didn’t really come until he was about eighteen. I look down at the floor where Ryan has laid out some bedding for when he comes up later and sigh.
He tried to convince me to come back down but I refused point blank. I’d had enough for one day. I just wanted to curl up in bed. The aches and pains from my earlier activity are getting worse by the minute. So I’m laying here trying to sleep, listening to the rumble of the conversation downstairs whilst being completely covered in the smell of Ryan. Eventually I drift off.
Sometime many hours later I’m aware of Ryan coming in. After he’s stripped out of his clothes he comes over to me, kisses my forehead and thanks me for coming before apologising again for his mum. I feel his hand caress my cheek gently and him kiss my head again before he lies down on his makeshift bed. Once I know he’s down I can’t help the smile that breaks across my face and touch my hand to my cheek where he did a few moments ago.
A few minutes go by as I try to get back to sleep when I suddenly hear a sob fill the room. I open my eyes and look down at Ryan, the moonlight that fills the room allows me to see his back and shoulders shaking. I quickly climb down on to the floor with my pillow, get under his covers and slide myself up behind him. I feel him jump slightly but he relaxes when he realises it’s me. I wrap my arm around his waist and kiss his shoulder before putting my head down next to his. I listen as his sobs eventually fade and his breathing even out telling me he’s drifted off. After an internal battle I decide to stay where I am, just in case he wakes up upset, I want to be here for him.
I spend most of the next day in Ryan’s room working, luckily the IT guy came to the office yesterday morning and networked our laptops so I can get to everything. I do make appearances for breakfast and lunch, everyone is lovely to me apart from Mrs Evans, not that I’m surprised. Throughout the day Ryan comes up to check in on me and brings me drinks. I’ve heard a lot of coming and going downstairs but I keep out of the way unless Ryan begs me to come down.
I’ve spoken to Jax a couple of times this afternoon as he has sent me some final concepts for me to okay for a new clothing boutique in the city. He sounds crazy happy on the phone but I just put it down to the fact I’m pretty miserable having been hauled up in Ryan’s tiny bedroom.
I just put the phone down when Ryan comes in. “Hey, you okay?” I ask. He’s looking a bit dejected.
