Page 28 of Molly's Mr. Wrong
“I don’t understand how setting the bar high is helpful.”
“It gives you something to shoot for.”
“At the expense of my GPA?” His eyebrows rose in an imperious way.
“Apparently so. And Jonas, this is a very good paper. But there’s room for improvement, which is why it’s a B and not an A.”
He frowned at her and waited, as if expecting her to suddenly say, “Just kidding. You can have your A.” When she didn’t, he raised his chin and said, “You should know that my parents donated land to this college.”
“That is very generous of them.” Molly spoke matter-of-factly. “And I’m certain that your parents want you to leave this place with an actual education.”
“They want me to be successful.”
“So do I.”
Jonas opened his mouth, then closed it again. His lips flattened and then he picked the essay up off her desk.
“I’d be happy to go over that with you.”
He pulled in a long breath, as if barely containing his impatience at her obvious stupidity, then abruptly turned and stalked out of the office just as Georgina was coming in.
“Who was that?” Georgina asked as she craned her neck to watch Jonas walk down the hall.
“That is trouble with a three-hundred-dollar backpack.” Molly just hoped her message sank in. She didn’t need trouble at this point in her new career.
“Excuse me?”
“Apparently he’s not used to constructive criticism.”
Georgina made an exaggeratedOwith her mouth. “Guess you’ll be more careful in the future.”
“Guess so,” Molly said. “What’s made you so happy?” Her little sister was practically vibrating with excitement.
“I have a date. With Chase.”
“Big surprise there,” Molly said with a wry smile.
Georgina curled a dark hank of hair around one finger. “I called him.” Her eyes danced. “I figured why wait for him to screw up the courage when I could make the first move. He seemed really happy to hear from me, so...we’re going to coffee on Wednesday, which is the day he gets off work early.”
“Good for you.” He’d seemed like a nice kid, and it was only because her own relationship had blown up so spectacularly that Molly always felt a stab of protective worry for her little sister. And in hindsight she wished she hadn’t so blithely shrugged off her mother’s concerns about Blake.
“I don’t know,” her mother had said, thus putting a pinprick in her bubble of happiness when she’d told her she was not only moving in with Blake—she was buying a house with him. “You two are so opposite.”
She and Blake had been opposites. He’d been outgoing and energized by being around people, while she’d found social events exhausting. She loved quiet weekend mornings, and unless they involved sex, Blake was bored by them. They’d been good together in other ways, though, each bringing strengths to the relationship that the other drew upon. Blake had helped Molly gain confidence, come out of her shell. Molly had helped Blake organize his life and had enjoyed keeping the home fires burning while he was on the road. But ultimately Blake had been Blake and had followed in his father’s footsteps. And as long as he was discreet, he fully assumed that Molly would follow in his mother’s.
It’d killed her when she found out that he was cheating. It was only after he was gone from her life that she started seeing cracks in what had appeared to be a solid foundation and was a bit stunned at how completely she’d turned a blind eye to things she should have been paying attention to.
“Are you coming home for dinner before class?” Georgina asked.
Molly looked at the piles of papers covering her desk and gave her head a slow shake. “I don’t see that happening.”
Georgina knew better than to argue with her. “I’ll have the leftovers in the fridge—just in case you forget to grab a sandwich.”
“Thanks.” Because Molly didn’t feel like eating then. She felt edgy and it was all because of the guy she’d talked into not dropping her class.
* * *
FINNTOLDHIMSELFthat it was no big deal going back after missing two classes, but he felt as if all eyes were on him when he walked into Molly’s classroom—maybe because they were. She was at the front talking to a guy whose name might have been Denny. He’d pay closer attention tonight, try to learn his classmates’ names, because he told himself that if he walked back into this classroom, it was for the long haul. Come hell or high water, As or Fs, he was going to finish this class. So what if he felt stupid about what he didn’t know? That was what this was all about—catching up.
