Page 19 of The Last Autograph
Jake rubbed the back of his neck. The last thing he needed was one of Jesse’s exes throwing her weight around while waiting for her payout. His sigh escaped louder than he’d intended. “Look, it’s been a long day, a long few months, in fact, and I should lock up.”
“Of course.” Molly stood, her posture straight and tense as she shouldered her bag. “Thank you for your time.”
Jake stood as well, slipping his hands into his pockets as he willed himself to calm down. He followed her through to the counter, picked up a business card as an afterthought, and offered it to her. “Here’s my card. If you have any questions, text me.”
Molly hesitated before taking the card, then pushed through the door and out onto the street without so much as a goodbye. And as Jake watched her walk away, tossing his business card into a recycling bin as she passed, he couldn’t fathom why Jesse would shove him and Molly Parker together.
He glanced up at the heavens. “Seriously, Bro? If this is some kind of joke, I’m not laughing.”
That evening, the air was heavy and silent—earthquake weather, some would have called it—and as Jake sat on the deck with a glass of wine and melancholy for company, his thoughts turned to Molly. Her outburst at the end aside, she was gentler than he’d imagined, and for the second time that day, her elegance surfaced. With soft hazel eyes and a fair complexion, she possessed an air of quiet confidence that reminded him of the French. And yet, something about her just didn’t add up.
The ping of a text alert brought him back to the present, but he resisted the urge to check his phone. It was now almost nine, the time he normally silenced his notifications. Anyone who knew him well knew he went to bed early.
However, as he sipped his wine and mellowed along with the evening, he relented and looked anyway.
Molly:Thanks for your time earlier. I’ve added your number to my phone.
Jake wondered how when she’d tossed his card but then remembered Annabelle had mentioned giving Molly his contact details.
Jake:So I see.
Molly:I have a question.
He wanted to say, “Just one,” but…
Jake:Which is?
Molly:You said Jesse was diagnosed the summer he lived in Tulloch Point. Was it before mid-January or after?
Jake held her question aloft for a moment. Was she serious? Why did it matter now? He thought back to that first week in January, eight years earlier. Feeling in his gut that Jesse’s symptoms were serious, he accompanied his twin to the Clifton Falls oncologist’s appointment to lend his support.
With the day hot and humid and City Beach packed with people, they’d sat in the air-conditioned reception area for no more than five minutes before the doctor called them in.
The date: January fifth.
The worst day of Jake’s life, or so he’d thought at the time. In hindsight, he realized it was only the beginning of many more horrendous, grueling days. Days of little sleep, of grief and anger.
Jake:Before.
Molly:Thank you.
Jake waited for her to elaborate, but as he returned to the kitchen and placed his wineglass in the dishwasher, his phone remained silent.
Later, with the moon high and bright in the ether as he searched for sleep, no matter how hard he tried to push all thoughts of her aside, Molly Parker wouldn’t get the hell out of his head.
10
Despite calling into the patisserie twice more during the following week for her now standing order of chocolate éclairs, Molly didn’t see Jake, which, when she thought about it rationally, was a good thing. Because even though he’d treated her with what seemed to be intense annoyance, he’d recently lost his twin, and she couldn’t imagine the impact of such a loss.
In her own way, Molly had grieved for Jesse as well, and now, on a hot and windy afternoon when her world was restless, she drove up the Eastern Pacific Highway, rapping to Jack Harlow on the radio.
As she headed north, Molly reflected on her meeting with Jake. What she’d said—hadn’t said. She should have told him to remove her from the will, that she wasn’t entitled to any money, no matter how insignificant the sum, and to take his judgment and shove it. But at the time, with the same features, expression, and mannerisms as Jesse’s, he’d thrown her off guard.
He and Jesse even spoke alike.
But his twin brother had possessed a charm that Jake didn’t, and as she pulled into a shaded car park, the wordsgrumpy pricklodged in her brain.
When she stepped from the car, eucalyptus trees rustled overhead in the light breeze, their fresh scent reminding her of childhood holidays in Australia, when life was full of sunny days and memory-making adventures.
