Page 67 of The Last Autograph
Later, she drove down the hill, across town and into her street in silence, that morning-after feeling reminding her of moments from her past. She’d just walked through the front door when she spotted Gloria strolling across the garden toward her place. With a polite smile firmly pasted on her lips,Molly opened the sliding door and stepped out onto the deck. “Good morning.”
“Been for another sleepover with the chef, have you?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact, I have.”
Gloria grinned and held out the package in her hands. “Here. Some courier outfit delivered this yesterday. Thought I’d better grab it in case it rained.”
“Thanks.” Mollychecked the address label. It was the photo book she’d been expecting. “Got time for a quick coffee?”
“Not today, sorry. I’m off to brunch with my book club. We’re trying out that posh new winery on the way to the falls. But I’ll catch up with you tomorrow, yes?”
“Look forward to it.”
As soon as Gloria left, excited to see the finished product, Molly tore open the courier package and removed the book from its bubble wrap. And as she leafed through its pages, reminiscing about her brief time with Jesse Sinclair, she couldn’t get over how happy he looked.
She thought about Jesse less often now. Not only because Jake had asked her not to compare him to his twin but also because their personalities were so very different, it made it easier to separate the two.
Even so, as she recalled old times portrayed in those pages, smiles and tears mingled into one. Because even though Molly would never deny that Jesse had been part of her life, however fleeting, as far as practicalities went, it was time to move on from that fated summer.
26
Jake sat on the sand, the top half of his wetsuit bunched around his waist, eating a sandwich from Todd’s packed lunch and staring out over the bay.
He still wasn’t sure why he hadn’t canceled. He should have been at home with Molly, enjoying their day off as they lazed in front of the fire.
Instead, he’d been in the water, freezing his nuts off as he surfed a swell that, due to its size and ferocity, he really wasn’t comfortable with.
Todd returned from the truck with two apples and dropped onto the sand beside him. He handed one to Jake, who took a bite.
“Want to tell me what’s going on?” Todd asked. “You’re not the best company at the moment, mate.”
Jake breathed deeply. “I guess things are finally catching up with me.”
“Grief. Just when you think you’re getting on top of it, back it comes for another round.”
They sat in silence for a while, eating their apples and watching the other surfers take their turn in the lineup. Jake didn’t like to talk about his feelings much, but Todd had a way of drawing stuff out of him.
“And what about Molly?”
“What about her?”
“You like her, yeah?”
Jake nodded. “I do, but…”
“You feel disloyal to Jesse?”
“Sometimes. I swing between bravado and remorse and can’t seem to settle in between.”
“I get that. But life is for the living, man. I’m not trying to disrespect Jesse’s involvement here, but have you asked her how she felt about him?”
“Yes. She referred to it as an infatuation. But they were young, with no ties, so… Still, it’s not only that. All this stuff with Mum is doing my head in.”
Todd tossed his core into the cooler. “I’ve never known you to let your mother interfere in your love life in the past. Why start now?”
“Believe me, I ask myself that question every other day. She’d pinned a lot of her hopes and dreams on Jesse, and now that he’s gone, she’s lost that. And that’s no reflection on our relationship, but I missed out on that pressure to a certain extent by leaving for Europe when I did.”
“Do you think she’s genuine? Molly, I mean.”
