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“I absolutely do remember you, Molly. And just Noah is fine.” He walked toward a dining room where Julie was setting out plates and silverware, Molly hopping along next to him.
“We met at the pool,” she said, even though he’d told her he remembered her. “Not the big pool, the one smaller kids go in. Loads of small kids go in the big pool too. I keep telling my mom that, but she says my swimming isn’t good enough yet. Are you a good swimmer?”
Okay, a little obsessive on that subject. “I’m a pretty good swimmer,” Noah said, putting the bags of food on the table. Julie gave him a big smile and a look that said she was surprised at her daughter’s response to him. So far.
“Who taught you to swim?” Molly asked.
He was about to say his father, then did a one-eighty, knowing that might lead the conversation somewhere they did not want to go. “My big sister taught me.”
“Really? I don’t have any sisters or brothers.” Molly twisted her lips. “Wish I did.”
Julie shooed him and Molly away. “I’ll get this set up. Why don’t you show Noah what you made today?”
Molly darted out of the room and it seemed Julie wanted him to go as well. The girl raced back to him as he got to the livingroom. “I made this planter vase in my ceramics workshop. Those are ocean waves. And see the ship out in this part?”
“Whoa. That is really good. You are one talented lady,” he said. And he meant it. But being Julie’s daughter, it did not surprise him. “Your mother told me you were a really good artist and I can see that here.”
“Thank you. Do you want to see some other things I made?”
“Okay.” Noah followed Molly around the house as she pointed out things like a ceramic bowl and a framed drawing of a lion. When she started walking into another section of the big house, he said, “Maybe we shouldn’t go into the more private parts of the house without your mom. And I’ll bet she’s got all the food out and ready to eat. Are you hungry?”
“I’m starving,” Molly said, her eyes going wide.
He was right. All the food was set out on the table, and as soon as they got there, everyone dug in. The milkshakes were a hit, but he almost felt guilty when Julie insisted a whining Molly eat some of the salad.
The conversation mostly centered around Molly’s favorite subjects in school and a garden she was making with her mother out back and a kangaroo costume she wore for a school play.
“My mom made the costume,” Molly said. “She told me she used to make stuff when I was a baby. She even used to sell them and had a label she named after her and me. She has a sewing room here, but she never uses it.”
“Didn’t you say a shop in Greenport had a dress you’d made in the window?” Noah asked her.
When Julie nodded, Molly said, “You didn’t tell me that, Mom. How come?”
Julie shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess it slipped my mind.”
Noah knew that was not the answer, and apparently so did her intuitive daughter, who looked at him and said in a very serious tone, “My mom is very shy about the things she makes.She tells me to show everybody anything I do, even when it’s not my best, but she quits on things and thinks they’re no good.”
Out of the mouths of babes, he thought. Meanwhile, Julie’s cheeks had turned pink. So he continued, asking Julie, “Didn’t you say you really liked the owners and they want you to show them more of your work?”
“Actually, the dress shop is one owner,” Julie said, “but her two friends own the place next door. You’d like that shop, Molly. It’s called Bajinx.”
“Bajinx? That sounds like a funny animal.”
“No, it is a combination of the owners’ two names. Bailey and Jinx.”
“Like Julamol!”
“What is Julamol?” Noah asked.
“That’s the name I gave my clothing label, combining Julie and Molly.” Julie tilted her head, looking wistful, and her voice went soft as she said, “Working on that was how I grounded myself after a rough period.”
He nodded, thinking of the days he used to watch Julie sewing with Mariel, and he was not surprised.
“I want to go to Bajinx,” Molly said. “Can we go tomorrow?”
“Not tomorrow, sweetheart, but we’ll get there soon. I promise.”
A little later, as Noah was saying his goodbyes, Molly asked him, “Are you going to be my mom’s boyfriend now? She needs a boyfriend.”
