Page 53 of Molly's Mr. Wrong
“Good one,” Jim muttered as Finn picked up his beer and went to join his old crew who were enthusiastically signaling the server.
Jim was exaggerating, but the fact of the matter was that they were all older now. More responsible—but he had to admit that the guys weren’t look all that responsibly minded tonight, even though it was Monday.
Maybe tonight was the night to let loose.
* * *
THEREWEREAlot of cars in McElroy’s parking lot for a Monday night. Molly gave a bemused snort as she stopped at the light next to the popular bar. How did people party on Monday night, then go about regular life on Tuesday?
Maybe they held their liquor better than she did.
Good possibility.
The light changed and she was about to pull forward when a truck caught her attention. Finn’s truck. The car behind her blasted its horn and Molly jumped before accelerating. So Finn was one of those Monday-night drinkers. He went to class and then hit the bars, just like a regular college kid. No reason that should bother her.
Nope. None.
She turned onto a side street and headed back to the bar. After parking a few spaces away from Finn’s truck she got out of her car, took a deep breath and headed for the door.
This is dumb. You know it is.
She told herself that she wanted to discuss the Denny matter, but what she really wanted to address was the situation between herself and Finn. Old Molly would have let sleeping dogs lie. New Molly was going to confront, apologize, make peace.
Old Molly wondered if this was really the time and place. New Molly conceded the point, but by that time the door was open and she’d stepped into the bar. All eyes did not swing toward her, but it felt as if they had. Pulling in a breath, Molly lifted her chin and started toward the table at the other side of the room where Finn sat with his back to her.
Someone at his table, a guy who looked vaguely familiar and whom she might have recognized if it hadn’t been for the thick black beard, zeroed in on her, and Finn turned in his chair before she followed her last-minute survival instinct and veered off for the ladies’ room.
A look crossed his face that could only be described as stunned. “I saw your truck,” she said before he could say anything. “I wondered if we could talk for a moment.”
That raised a few eyebrows. All eyes at the table may not have been on her when she walked into the bar, but they were on her now. Her and Finn.
“About class?” he said.
“Yes.”
“Everything’s fine.”
Was that it? Was she dismissed?
It appeared so. She’d known it was a dumb move before she made it. What had she expected? That he’d invite her to sit down with his friends? No. She’d kind of hoped he’d be alone. Probably a bit stupid.
“Glad to hear all is well.” Careless comment.Check.Forced smile.Check.
Molly headed for the bar, where she pulled up a stool as if she drank there regularly. The man next to her smiled and nodded. She smiled back and hung her purse from the hook below the counter. When the bartender approached, she ordered a beer, figuring she didn’t have to finish it, and then toyed with the napkin he placed in front of her before he turned toward the taps. A moment later she felt someone at her shoulder and knew without looking that it was Finn.
“Come here often?” he murmured.
“First time,” she replied. “I wasn’t of drinking age when I left the Eagle Valley.”
“Just thought you’d visit the bar for the first time tonight?”
“I think it’s pretty obvious that I stopped because I saw your truck and I was concerned about you,” she said, still not looking at him.
There was a person on either side of her, so Finn couldn’t move in beside her, and she kept her gaze stubbornly focused straight ahead, on the bartender’s back. He turned and placed a mug of beer in front of her and Molly immediately lifted it to take a big drink. Foam tickled her top lip and she dabbed at it with the back of her hand.
“Why the concern? Because of that douche in class?”
Now swiveled on her stool toward Finn, meeting his unreadable hazel gaze dead-on. “That and what happened at Mike’s.” She thought she was going to apologize again, but she wasn’t. Once was enough.
