Page 75 of Molly's Mr. Wrong
She thought not. She was twenty-nine. She’d learned a few lessons the hard way and was trying to keep her sister from doing the same.
Damn, but she hoped they broke up first.
Molly took another big drink of coffee and set the cup aside.
Ten-to-one that, when push came to shove with Finn, she’d play things safe. Finn would get bored being just a friend and she’d be left with hot sexy dreams.
Molly wrinkled her nose and got back to her feet. Why did a perfectly sane solution to the Finn situation seem so...unsatisfying?
But at least it gave her something to think about other than entitled Jonas Simon and the ways in which he could impact her job.
* * *
FINNWASGETTINGseriously concerned about Mike. He was a rock when Elaine was around, but when she wasn’t there, he sank into silence, staring off into space as if he’d already lost her. Even Buddy couldn’t snap him out of it—but he came closer than Finn.
“You need to come to work,” Finn told him. “Or come to the shop with me. Help me with the truck.”
“I’m fine.”
And surly. Very unlike himself. Even though the outlook for Elaine was cautiously optimistic, Mike couldn’t bring himself to believe the worst was not going to happen again. Even Jolie, who’d once had a similar experience with loss, couldn’t get through to him.
“We should let him be,” she said when she and Dylan met Finn at McElroy’s late Thursday afternoon. She took a sip of her iced tea. Dylan studied the table and Finn debated going to math that evening. He was ahead in that class and could probably get away with skipping and staying with Mike. Unlike Jolie, he didn’t think his grandfather should be alone.
Dylan caught his eye. “I’ll hang with Mike tonight.”
“I think we should let him be,” Jolie repeated as she set her glass down.
“He shouldn’t be alone.”
“Why not?” Jolie asked.
“He gets morose,” Dylan said.
“Maybe we should ask him if he wants company,” Finn suggested.
“I’ll do that,” Dylan said. “When I hang with him tonight.”
Finn pushed his chair back. “I’ve got to run home and get my stuff for math class.”
His English classes that week had been...awkward. He could think of no other word. He’d stopped by Molly’s office after class on Monday and she’d been friendly yet somehow distant. Not in the same self-protective way she’d been before, but...distant. Thoughtful. And he didn’t think it concerned him, so as Jolie had suggested with Mike, he let her be. Wednesday, she’d left the building almost as soon as class was over, leaving him to wonder what the hell was going on. And if he should ask or back off.
He wasn’t going to back off—not until she gave him a direct order.
He was falling for a woman who didn’t want to be fallen for. A woman he could have had if he hadn’t been such a dickhead back in the day. Now some guy had hurt her, screwed with her life—and he’d like to meet the guy, whoever he was. All he needed was a few minutes... He could do some damage in that amount of time. Not that it would do Molly any good, but it might cheer her up a little.
The math class released early, so Finn headed by Mike’s house on his way home. Dylan’s truck was no longer there, so Finn gave a quick knock and let himself in. Mike looked up with a deep frown.
“This has got to stop.”
“Yeah. I agree.”
“No. You guys have got to stop. Give me space. Give me my time.”
Finn blinked at him. “We’re worried about you.”
“You are suffocating me. Let me work through this. Yeah. I’m sad. I’m going to stay sad until I get some time to process, and I’m not getting that with you guys smothering me.”
Finn held up a hand and took a backward step. “We thought...”
