Page 34 of Molly's Mr. Wrong
Buddy started climbing his shirt toward his neck, a sure sign that he was hungry.
“All right, all right.”
The little guy’s eyes were all the way open now and when Finn detached him, Buddy stared at him with his serious baby cat expression. “What shall we have tonight?” Finn asked. “Does milk sound all right?”
He tucked the kitten onto the shoulder of his hoodie, his fingers wrapped loosely around him, then headed into the kitchen where he made the formula with his free hand and filled the bottle. Then he settled into his chair for a feeding. There was something kind of soothing about feeding the kitten, rubbing his belly afterward to make him go, cleaning him up. He’d never thought much about fatherhood before, but he felt like a dad. Hell, hewasa dad. A cat dad.
And Mike was a cat dad, too. Only this was Mike’s second kid. Marcel, the big orange cat who haunted the warehouse, had also been a foundling—a few weeks older than Buddy when he’d been found hiding under a pallet, so he hadn’t required a bottle.
Once Buddy was fed and changed, so to speak, Finn settled him in his warmed box and headed out the side door of his house to the detached garage. The rain had finally stopped and the forecast was bright and clear for the next several days, but the path to the shop was so muddy that he sidestepped it and walked on the grass. He’d left the hood of the truck up in order to discourage mice and other creatures from building nests on the engine block. When Buddy got older, maybe he could take care of the rodent problem. Finn smiled a little. Right now Buddy was barely larger than a rodent.
He walked over to the bench, where he’d started cutting sheet metal to fabricate a gas tank to replace the rusted-out one on the Ford. He liked working by hand, loved the feeling of losing himself in the process as he made a tank or fender or whatever else had caught his fancy. His dad had been something of a legend before the arthritis got so bad that he had to quit. But he could still play golf.
Finn smiled a little as he put on his pop’s old leather apron and then cleaned the glass on the welding hood. He fired up the welder and went to work on the tank, then, when he was done, he attached a couple more bolts and a few odd shapes of scrap sheet metal to Frankie. The freeform monster sculpture was coming along nicely. If he didn’t weigh a zillion tons, he’d put him on the lawn for Halloween.
As he cleaned up his tools, cleared his bench, he thought again of his dad, who’d put in a lot of long hours with Mike at the feed store and had expected Finn to do the same. He’d probably still be there if he hadn’t been forced into retirement and had his mother not insisted that he move south, out of the cold.
He glanced at the old starburst clock his mom had thrown out and his father had rescued. Too late to call now, but he’d call when he got the chance, tell his dad about his latest projects.
* * *
GEORGINA’SCOFFEEDATEgot postponed to Friday, and somehow turned into early dinner. Molly hadn’t caught all the particulars, but Georgina seemed pleased by the turn of events. So on Friday evening, while Georgina dressed for her date in the red knit dress and cute low cowboy boots, Molly climbed into her favorite flannel pants and oversize T-shirt and settled onto the sofa with a pile of grading.
Georgina walked through the living room, her head bent to one side as she put on a dangly earring. She fixed the backing, then shook her head when she saw Molly’s nesting spot. “Why you love your profession is beyond me.”
Molly made a face at her and focused back on the paper she was reading. She really didn’t have to grade at home, but she liked catching up at the end of the week, thereby having a clean slate on Monday as well as having Saturday and Sunday free. Every now and then the plan worked and she actually did have those days free, but most of the time she chose to work even when her grading was done. There was always prep and planning to do. Disappearing into her work had helped save her sanity during the weeks and months following her discovery of Blake’s infidelity, and working all the time had become a habit. Not necessarily a bad one, either.
She’d just finished reading the last paper and had slipped it into the appropriate folder when her phone rang. She didn’t recognize the number, but since Georgina was out and about and may have had phone issues, she answered. At the sound of the deeply masculine hello, she almost hung up again. Except that Blake said quickly, “Don’t hang up, Molly.”
So she didn’t. But she didn’t speak, either.
“Look. I...just wanted to touch base.” And it sounded as if he’d been drinking. Another of his small problems that had grown into a bigger problem during their time together.
“Have you sold the boat? Because I can give you the address where to send the check.” He was never going to sell the boat, even though he pretended he was going to in order to pay her back all of the money he’d borrowed.
“I’m going to another team.”
The curse of the minor leagues. Trades and more trades. Which was why Molly had been glad that he’d been able to stay in Arizona for so long.
“Which one?” She had to ask.
“There are a couple of possibilities. I’ll know in a matter of days.”
“Why are you telling me this, Blake?”
“Because we had the best relationship I ever had.”
“I’m hanging up.” He wanted money. He wanted something. And yes, his relationship with her probably was the best he’d ever had, because she’d been so freakingstupid.
“You’re still my insurance beneficiary.”
“Make your mom your beneficiary. And tell me what you really want before I hang up.”
“Molly... I’ve changed. And there are some things you should know—”
She hung up the phone. Blake wasn’t in love with her. He needed a caretaker. He liked having someone managing his life. They’d broken up over a year ago, and he still couldn’t believe that she wasn’t going to take him back.
Molly would have turned off the phone, except that she never shut off communications when her sister was out, so instead she blocked Blake’s new number and then went into the kitchen for diet cola and whatever else she could find there.
