One Night with her Bachelor (12 page)

“I’ll calm down when I’ve killed Cora. And Lily.”

He whistled long and low. “I don’t blame you for Cora, but Lily? Why don’t you wait till you’ve heard her side of the—”

“She shouldn’t have done it.” She rounded on him, poking his chest with every frustrated sentence. “I am
not
pathetic, Gabriel. I am
not
a charity.”

He captured her finger. “Hey. I know that.”

“Yeah? Then why did you build us a ramp? Why become my fairy gas-mother?”

His cheeks colored, as if his blood could acknowledge the truth even if his mouth wouldn’t.

“I am not too
nice
to take care of my son. I’m a Montanan and a single mom. Which of those things makes you think I’m helpless?”

“Mom, people are staring.”

She blinked and looked around. Embarrassment washed over her. “Sorry. I’m…”
So very humiliated.
“We should go. Bye, Gabriel.”

She bundled herself up and shoved her hands in her pockets while Josh struggled to put his winter coat on. He didn’t ask for her help, so she didn’t offer it, even though she had to clench her fists to stop herself. Walking alongside Josh through the crowd, she stopped briefly to thank people along the way, still trying to find Lily. But with every step, she felt the burn of regret. Like cursing, her temper was something she normally had a tight rein on. Apparently she had a lot to learn about the darkness living inside her.

The frigid February air and a violent flurry of snowflakes slapped at her cheeks when she and Josh made their way to the truck. But reality stung far worse.

She’d just lost it with a man who’d been nothing but kind to her. And she had no way to contact him to try to explain why.

The next day she gave in to Josh’s pleas to let him play at his friend Jake’s house. Jake’s mom, Kira, had called a few days earlier to offer a play date, and Molly had been reluctant to let him out of her sight. But she had to listen to her son. So much of his autonomy had been taken from him. As difficult as it was, she would force herself to help him regain as much of it as she could.

She dropped him off, a process that took longer than she’d expected since the streets had been blanketed with snow, the driveway was slick with ice and the house had a porch with stairs. Her boots had slipped and slid all over as she pushed his chair up the driveway, but Kira’s new husband, Casey, rushed out of the house and said, “Let me help!”

Together they got Josh inside, where he, Jake, and their buddy Tyler Saddler immediately launched themselves into a rodeo video game while Molly quietly explained things Kira and Casey needed to know. When she left, she gave him a kiss on the head, but he hastily pushed her away, crying, “Mom, you’ll make me fall!”

Her heart quickened until she realized he was talking about his video-game avatar, which was hanging on to a bunking bronco.

Every step away from him was a challenge, but she got in her truck and drove to Lily’s apartment. She had a lot of questions, and Lily was going to answer them, whether she felt like it or not. Fifteen minutes later, Molly was standing in Lily’s living room, arms crossed, staring Lily down. “I’m not taking your money.”

Lily handed her a letter typed on letterhead from a fancy-looking law firm in Seattle. “Read this before you make any hard and fast decisions.”

Molly scanned the sheet of paper, quickly figuring out it was notifying Lily she’d inherited $10,000 from a man named Luther Pascoe. The name hit Molly like a bucket of freshly melted snow. “Luther. Isn’t he the one…?

“That’s right.”

Oh, God. Lily’s evil stepfather, the reason she’d run away from home as a teenager, had left her the money she’d essentially donated to Molly the night before. Molly rested her hand on Lily’s arm. “Are you all right?”

“I haven’t seen him for years. I’m fine.”

“Good. Because he is—was—an asshole.” Curse words usually felt so wrong. This one felt exactly right. No better word described such a monster.

Her own money troubles fizzled away for a while as she and Lily sat on the couch and talked about why Lily refused to keep the money. Molly’s pride screamed that she couldn’t accept such a huge amount from her friend, especially one who could use the money herself. But deep down she understood why Lily wanted to get rid of it as quickly as she could.

After pouring her heart out, Lily leaned forward and grabbed an envelope with a bunch of numbers scribbled on it. It looked like someone’s math homework.

“What’s this?” Molly asked.

“Guess.”

Molly stared at the numbers. Then she noticed the big one at the bottom, circled and underlined. She gasped. “
No
.”

“That’s the takings from the bachelors, plus the raffle money. And we still need to add in your share of the night’s tips, plus Jason said he’d match that, so it’s probably a lot more than this.”

“It’s too much,” Molly said, hardly able to breathe. “I mean, it’s just… I never imagined we’d raise anything close… I don’t know what to say.”

“No kidding.” Lily grinned.

Tears flooded Molly’s eyes, and most of the numbers blurred—except the most important one: $24,575.

Her beautiful, amazing friend had just changed her life. As angry as she’d been at Lily the night before, she now felt humbled and lucky beyond belief. “What did I ever do to deserve you, Lily Taylor?”

“Get outta here. It’s the other way around. Always has been.”

But Molly knew the truth. She’d never done anything this incredible for a friend. Lily hadn’t just helped her out—she’d changed Molly’s and Josh’s future.

The next few days rushed by as Molly paid off a bunch of bills—including the loan Greg had given her with five percent interest—and began researching wheelchairs for adolescents. Having her ex and other creditors melt away should’ve eased most of her worries, but it coincided with Josh going back to school for the first time since the accident. In Boulder, he’d had a few home-school classes so he wouldn’t fall too far behind, but he hadn’t experienced the rigor of a classroom in a long, long time—and he’d never been very good at it.

By Wednesday, tension jackhammered inside her skull. Josh’s principal, who was also Molly’s boss, had called her into the office to talk about how they could help him adjust, but all Molly had heard was
disruptive attitude.
Her patience snapped when she got him home. “We need to have a talk, young man.”

His shoulders hunched sullenly, and he slouched in his chair, giving her a pathetic look. She shook her finger in reprimand. “Don’t try that with me. I’m your mom and I love you, but I will not let you disrespect me by manipulating me. I won’t let you be disrespectful to Mrs. Slager, either. I know it’s tough sitting in a classroom all day, but you have eight more years of it so you have to get used to it.”

He hung his head, finally taking her seriously. “I hate school.”

“I know. And I can help you to a point, but you have to make some effort yourself, too. If you don’t, you can kiss your Wednesday nights with Aunt Lily goodbye.”

He gasped. “You wouldn’t.”

“You bet I would. School’s important, Josh. Hard but important.”

“Okay, but I can still go to Aunt Lily’s tonight, right?”

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah.” Lily was picking Josh up just before dinner, and Molly desperately needed the alone time. She was going to have a bath, maybe read a book.

Yeah, right.
She was going to sleep.

“You packed everything you need, right?”

“Mom, it’s just dinner and some movies. It’s not like I’m spending the night.”

No, definitely not spending the night. That was out of the question for a long while. Adrenaline pumped through her as she tried to push aside all the things that could go wrong. He could fall out of his chair. Was Lily strong enough to get him back into it? What if she struggled to get him out of the car? Okay, so he could get himself out of cars, but what if she didn’t set the chair’s brake right? What if his chair slid on the ice? What if—

A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts. “Are you sure you want to go? Because we could always invite Lily to stay for dinner here…” She opened the door, fully expecting Lily to be standing on her porch. She was staring at Gabriel’s chest instead.

‡

“G
abriel. Hi.”

The sound of her breathy voice made his blood pump away from his brain and down to his groin. Damn, why did she have to sound so breathless? It made him think of all the other ways he could make her pant his name.

“Hi. Bad time?”

“No! I just, um…” She glanced down at herself, unconsciously rubbing at the paint on her shirt. “I, uh…”

Oh, shit. She’d forgotten their date. He’d been able to think of almost nothing else since Saturday, and she’d completely forgotten. How…
humbling
. He tried not to cringe as he pulled the bouquet of hand-painted, wooden flowers from behind his back. “For you.”

Her eyes widened as she took them. “Did you make these?”

“Yeah.” He’d spent four days getting them just right. Four damn days of thinking about her.

And she’d forgotten their date.

“They’re beautiful. Thank you. Come in.” She stepped aside, and he stomped his boots on the porch to dislodge the icy snow that clung to them. The house’s warmth seeped through his shirt when he took off his heavy jacket and hung it on a coat hook. His cabin was well insulated but had no heating other than the fireplace, so he spent the winter wearing so many layers he moved like Gumby.

She stood there awkwardly as he hung up the coat. “I have to confess something.”

“You forgot I was picking you up tonight.”

The corners of her mouth tugged tight. “How’d you know?”

He brushed the soft skin of her cheek with his thumb, trying to ease her frown. “Because you’re not very good at hiding what you’re thinking.”

“I’m really sorry. I feel awful about it. It’s just been such a hectic week, and it’s only Wednesday and I feel like my brain’s going to explode if I have to deal with one more thing.”

Was he something she had to deal with? He didn’t want the answer, so he didn’t ask the question. “Tell you what. I’m here, I’m hungry and I’d still like to take you out. I understand if you’re not up for it, though. I’d offer to cook for us, but my vegetarian repertoire is limited to toast. So why don’t we go out, have dinner and see if we can make you forget all the things that’re making your brain detonate.”

Her shoulders seemed to relax a little. “Deal. Come in and say hi to Josh. Lily’s going to pick him up soon.”

So she remembered that Lily was coming over but not him. What had she planned to do tonight?

And why did that make him feel so shitty?

He followed her into the living room, where Josh was listening to something through headphones and playing air guitar. Gabriel shot Molly an amused look before waving his hand in front of Josh’s face to get his attention. Josh gave him a grin and slid his headphones off. “Gabriel!”

“Hey buddy. I came to get your mom for our date.”

“Cool. I’m going to Aunt Lily’s and we’re going to eat donuts for dinner and watch PG-13 movies.” Josh slapped his hand over his mouth and gave his mom a horrified glance.

“It’s all right. Lily told me about the movies and she knows which parts to fast forward. And I figured you’d get something like a donut dinner. That’s why I’ve been stuffing you full of broccoli the last couple of days.”

Gabriel chuckled and shook his head in bafflement. He barely knew Lily, but the two women seemed so different he couldn’t figure out the root of their friendship. Something to ask Molly about, since he figured a lot of other topics were too emotional, too stressful.

Lily came and got Josh, and Molly changed her clothes and climbed into Gabriel’s truck. How long had it been since he’d driven around town with a woman who wasn’t his mom or sister? Had to have been before his last tour of duty in Afghanistan. His last tour ever.

He hadn’t noticed before how confined a truck’s cab was, even an extended cab like his. Molly shifted in her seat, and he figured she was as nervous as he was. He just had a hell of a lot more experience and training in how to mask it.

“I heard your sister was in town the other week.”

Gabriel snorted. “People do love to talk, don’t they?”

“Yeah. Mostly when they don’t have enough going on in their own lives. No one said anything bad about Camila—not to me, anyway. Just that she was visiting your mom, and isn’t it nice that she runs a camp for troubled teens.” She smoothed her hand over her knee. “I know it’s a long shot, but maybe you could ask her if she knows of some kind of adventure camp for kids with spinal injuries.”

He shot her a surprised look. “For Josh?”

She nodded. “I don’t think either of us is ready for it yet, but I don’t want his injuries to stifle who he really is.”

A strange, uncomfortable warmth filled his chest. “I can ask.”

“Thanks. I appreciate it.” She twisted to face him, drawing her knee up onto the seat. “Did you always want to join the Air Force?”