“I’m carrying your backpack to school for you,” he answered with a grin, knowing exactly how charming he was being. Without conversing about it or allowing her to weigh in on the pros and cons, Liam reached for her hand and linked his fingers through hers. When she opened her mouth to question his actions, he cut her off. “I know we’re not together, but I feel like pretending this week. Had a really stellar morning, and I’m not ready to burst the bubble yet. That alright?”
“Of course.” Molly swallowed as they entered the massive building. She had never walked down a hallway holding hands with a guy, him carrying her backpack like a beacon of oneness for all to see. The familiar faces she knew around the hospital all greeted her with an air of fleeting interest, seeing her for once as a woman with a life outside work as they walked through the sterile hallways. “Do you know how to get to your mom’s room?”
“Not really. I’ll text Nate. I know you have to go.” He pulled out his phone. “I’ll catch a ride back with my family. Nate and I will see you at home after dinner tonight.” Foregoing any sense of shame at the blatant PDA, Liam drew her close and kissed her briefly, pulling away before he could further distract from her day.
Her heart pounded at the lack of fear he displayed at being seen in public with her. It was all too good to be true. Molly floated away on cloud nine, and went throughout the rest of her day skipping from cloud to cloud, never letting her foot touch the ground.
When she checked her phone for messages at her break, she saw she had a missed text from an unknown number. She sat down at the cafeteria table and took a bite of her apple as she fiddled with her phone.
Pathetic that I had to get your number from my brother. Why does Nate have your cell number? This is Liam. Save my number.
She smiled and typed in, Nate’s my booty call. Speed dial 69. Who is this again?
The response came back within ten seconds. Very funny. How’s your day going?
No one ever asked about her day, except the occasional friendly doctor every now and then. You’re sweet. Normal day over here. She paused, wondering if it would be tactless to ask about his mother. How’s your family?
Truth? A mess. They all expect me to work a miracle cure or something. Mom’s refusing treatment. I get it. I can’t go against that.
Molly frowned. That’s rough. I’m sorry. Anything I can do to help?
Just letting me whine about it helps. Thanks.
Molly looked at the clock on the wall, and for the first time wanted to complain about having to go back to her job. I’m so sorry. I have to get back to work. I won’t have my phone on me, but I’ll check it after my shift.
Sure. Blow me off. Right when I was about to hand over the treasure map to my secret fortune.
Molly giggled softly. I found that after you passed out last night. Where do you think I really am? Swimming in gold coins like Scrooge McDuck.
See you tonight, pirate.
You just want me for my booty. She typed quickly as she shoved the rest of her apple into her mouth. And that’s wench, to you.
Chapter Fourteen
Kyle’s Chauffeur
Molly’s day of translating did not feel like work at all. In fact, she had to fight the smile that gave her away all evening long. Dr. Hamilton commented on it, sobering her quickly through her blush. He was one of the few colleagues at the hospital who called her by her first name. Most of the others’ eyes glossed over her as she interpreted for the patients.
On the way home, she stopped at the grocery store, picking up double the normal amount of food, just to be safe. She had never been more glad to use Kyle’s credit card to pay for it, since technically, they were his guests.
As the day wore on, her ankle began to throb, and she hoped beyond anything that Kyle would be on his best behavior tonight.
As if on cue, her phone rang in her backpack. Her shoulders deflated when she saw the bar’s number on the Caller ID. “Hey, Johnny.”
“Hey, Little Luco. Kyle’s three sheets to the wind already. Want me to call him a cab?”
“No, I’ve got him. Be there in five.” Her bliss bubble burst at the reentry of her normal life. She turned around and headed for the bar, parking in the second row and hobbling to the entrance. Every hour that passed added additional strain on her ankle. It was evening now, and she was ready to sit down.
She walked past the Saturday night crowd that congregated at the bar and noticed Johnny giving the glad eye to a particularly giggly blonde with an obvious eating disorder. He certainly has a type. She leaned past the blonde and spoke loudly over the counter. “Johnny! You said you’d pick up the kids after school today. If you’re not going to make your child support payments, at least pretend to care about the twins. Johnny Junior was crying because you forgot him!”
Johnny threw up his hands in exasperation, casting an apologetic look at the blonde. “We don’t have kids together. She’s just mad at me. And crazy.”
Molly let out a noisy sob. “How can you say that? They look up to you! I just pray Janie doesn’t fall in love with a man who’s anything like her deadbeat father.” In a dramatic fit, she turned and wailed into the blonde’s shoulder. The Barbie lookalike gave Molly a one-armed hug. When the blonde was not looking, Molly tossed Johnny a spiteful middle finger.
“Knock it off, Little Luco. I did my part. I called you about Kyle.”
Molly thanked the Barbie for her kindness and excused herself from the hissy fit the woman was about to throw at Johnny. Bright moments were hard to come by in this bar, but Molly enjoyed the few she created.
There he was, perhaps four sheets to the wind instead of the usual three. Johnny’s estimate had been modest. Kyle was in a booth with Steph and three of the usual lowlifes Kyle labeled as friends. “Hey, Kyle. Time to go.” Molly lifted his jacket from the seat next to him and fished out his keys.
“If it isn’t the party animal,” he greeted her with a round pink nose and lazy smile. He looked like he might fall asleep at any moment. “Aw, good little mute Mollypop, coming to take me home. What a pal! Best adoption ever. A built-in designated driver.” Kyle made to stand, but fell back into the booth with a loud bray.
Steph laughed, looking more than a little tipsy herself. “I’m surprised you’re showing your face in public, kid.” When it registered that Molly’s face was clear of all offensive markings, Steph frowned. “Hey! You washed off my artwork!” She downed another shot and adjusted her bra, drawing the eye of the guy with his arm slung around her. “You’re on Gina’s hit list, you know. Should’ve stayed away from Liam. Was that not clear?” She sipped her beer. “Your little flip trick hurt my back, bitch. Just wait till your new toy goes back to Doctorland.”
Molly did not dignify Steph’s warning with a response. She simply hoisted her brother up, wrapped his arm around her shoulder and did her best to drag him out of the bar, nodding to Johnny on her way out.
“Hold up, Moll. I gotta take a piss.” She leaned Kyle against the wall outside of the bar to catch her breath. No sooner had she pulled her keys out of her purse did Kyle whip his little soldier out of his pants and relieve himself on the unsuspecting brick.
Molly took several steps back, averting her eyes in horror and disgust. Kyle’s aim was not top notch when he was sober and peeing into a toilet. She pulled around the car by the time he was suited back up and waved him forward. He stumbled three times as he closed the distance, and Molly gritting her teeth with every step. Her ankle was sore, and she did not relish the thought of dragging him to the car if he fell.
He slumped into the backseat and lay down across the vinyl. Molly took the turns easy; she did not feel like cleaning up Kyle’s puke tonight. It would be embarrassing enough if she had to lug him into the house with an audience. She prayed Liam and Nate were not home yet.
Chapter Fifteen
Audience
Molly let out a gust of relief when there were no cars parked in the driveway. She pulled into the garage, wondering how
they were going to get Kyle’s car home from the bar.
Hoisting her backpack over her shoulder, she began the arduous task of schlepping Kyle into the house. “Up you go,” she said quietly, tugging on his feet.
Kyle did not respond, other than to let out a belch that interrupted his snoring.
Molly reassessed the situation. She moved to the other side of the car and tried pulling him out by his shoulders. He used to be much lighter when he was in shape. The weight of his beer gut combined with his height was too much for a slight girl with a sprained ankle. She moved toward her goal of the house in millimeters, gritting her teeth through the pain that shot up her leg with every overburdened step. Her thoughts went to her orange grove, which was her happy place. She escaped her reality with daydreams about tilling the land, drinking orange juice and never having to drag Kyle out of the bar or her car ever again.
Kyle opened his eyes and tried to stand, but was unable to locate either his feet or the concrete of the two-car garage. He flailed around like a dolphin out of water, falling backward and crushing Molly on the floor.
Molly cried out in pain. She tried to shove Kyle off of her legs, but he was unconscious, and reverted to his snoring. “Get off of me! Please, Kyle! Wake up!” Each time she shook him, it jolted her leg, causing more pain.
She was in the process of slithering out from under him when the door to the house opened. The only voice she both wished to hear and not hear in that moment called out to her. “Molly? You alright?”
“Liam?” She wanted to cry out of sheer frustration. Of course the one man she wanted to see her as strong and confident was walking in on her pinned to the floor. Of course he would find her on the verge of tears. She sucked her emotion back and kept her voice steady. “Go back inside, Liam. I’ll be there in a minute.” Her car was blocking his view of her, and she was grateful for the obstacle that kept him from seeing her in such a pathetic state.
“Where… Are you on the ground?”
She heard him step toward her and panicked. “No! Liam, I’m fine. I’ll meet you inside in a second.”
He did not listen. No one ever seemed to listen. That was why she stopped talking when she was young. Liam came around the sedan and gasped at the sight of Kyle passed out atop a mortified Molly. “Jeez! Are you alright?” He lifted Kyle’s shoulders up so she could crawl away with her shame.
The movement was too much for Kyle. He made a choking sound Molly was all-too familiar with. “He’s going to puke! Roll him on his side!” she instructed.
No sooner did Liam obey than vomit in every color sprayed out from Kyle onto the concrete. “Ugh!” Liam jumped back from the putrid fountain in disgust.
In that moment of assessing a fair snapshot of Molly’s life, Liam made an executive decision. He scooped Molly and her backpack up from the ground and carried her inside. “Liam, no! I have to bring him in, get the groceries out of the trunk and clean the garage.”
He did not answer her, but barked for Nate. When Nate came bounding down the stairs, he swallowed his lighthearted comment and went to his brother’s side. “What happened?” Nate asked as Liam laid Molly down on the couch.
“Just stay with her for a second. I’ll be back.” He did not hearken to Molly’s pleas for him to let her take care of it as he lifted her keys from her jacket pocket. He stalked into the garage where Nate heard heavy shifting and then a car starting up.
The garage door opened, and a couple minutes later, Liam was back inside, a stormy expression brewing on his face. He shoved the two big brown bags of groceries onto the counter, visibly fuming. “Kyle’s propped up against a garbage bin, so he won’t suffocate on his own vomit. It’s supposed to rain tonight, so that should wash off your car. It’s locked, so Kyle can’t try to take it out tomorrow.” He tucked the keys back in her pocket. “I’ll make sure he cleans up the garage in the morning.”
“Kyle doesn’t do mornings,” Molly argued, not able to look up at his towering form. “Or cleaning.”
“Well, I don’t do slobbering drunk, and I’m bigger. He’ll clean out the garage in the morning.” He turned to Nate. “Did you know Kyle was like this?”
Nate rubbed the back of his neck. “Not the beating on his sister, but the drinking? Yeah. Whenever I come back to visit Mom and Dad, we hang out at the bar. He’s always stone drunk before the night’s out. He’s always ‘in between jobs’. Kinda never grew up. Why we don’t talk much anymore.” Nate turned to Molly. “I’m sorry, Moll. I didn’t know it was this bad for you.”
“It’s fine. I’m fine. I don’t care about any of it. It’s my job to take care of him, and I’m doing it.”
Liam scoffed. “It’s not your job! You’re not his mother. Wake up, Molly! This is a dangerous situation! It’s like you’re purposefully trying to make bad decisions!”
Molly’s glare was not discreet. “Why do you think I’m allowed to live here? This is the right move for my situation, so just lay off. I’m doing my best!”
Nate kicked his brother. “Stop big-brothering her. She’s got enough to deal with without you being a bully.”
“A bully? I’m the only one who’s doing anything to help her! This isn’t worth it, Molly. Be smart! You can’t keep living like this!” His disappointment was clearly displayed on his face, his fists clenched at his sides.
“Calm it down, Li!” Nate growled, pushing himself between Liam and Molly.
“It’s like you’re more than happy being the victim here. Do you think it’s going to get better? That Kyle will ever change?” His jaw was set in anger as his voice rose. “I thought you were strong! I thought you were this genius, but there’s no sense in staying through this. Why are you putting up with him? No escape plan in the world is worth this!”
Nate put his hand to his brother’s chest and pushed him back a few steps. “You’re done.”
Liam softened, only just realizing he was taking out his frustration with Kyle and his birth father on an injured girl. “I didn’t mean it like that. Look, short of a lobotomy, Kyle’s not going to change. This is a bad place for you to be. How can you not see that?” He shook his head, looking down at her with furrowed eyebrows. “I thought you were different. I thought you were more.”
Molly turned on her side and banded her arms around her stomach to keep the emotions inside. She had woken up with such hope, and now she was surrounded by men who either pitied her, yelled at her, or did not care if they threw up on her. Liam kept talking, but she ignored him, her eyes going blank. She escaped in her mind to her orange grove. On her property paradise, she lived in peace. No one yelled at her. No one felt sorry for her. No one knocked her around. She had acres and acres of freedom, and there was no one to take that away from her in her imagination.
“She’s gone,” Nate informed Liam, turning to rub Molly’s arm gently. “I’ve seen her do this. Did you know she didn’t talk in full sentences till she was school-aged?” He smoothed her hair back from her face, wishing his brother had the sense to slow down and see the real problem. “One year someone sabotaged her science fair project. She stopped speaking for like, a month.” He moved the afghan off the end of the couch and covered her with it, sitting down on the floor near her head. “I think it was the ninth grade science fair? That’s when I realized how messed up their family was. They just… They handled the situation all wrong. A lot of yelling at her, threatening, calling her retarded and stuff like that. All while Kyle played video games and ignored the whole thing.” Nate nudged her, in case she was capable of hearing him. “Remember when I came over with the whole Dukes of Hazard box set? We sat on this couch for days and made it through the whole thing.” He chuckled at the memory. “She was so fed up with it, her first words were ‘I can’t take it anymore! Can we please watch something else?’” He grinned at his own genius. “Remember that, Little Luco? See, you think I’m torturing you, but really, I’m brilliant.”
“This is a lot,” Liam commented, sighing at the gargantuan weight bury
ing the woman he had seen set free that very morning. “It’s too much. I gotta… I need some air.” He slapped at his pockets for keys, and then recalled that their sister had dropped them off. “I’m walking home, Nate. Thanks for letting me crash here, Molly. I want to stay, but this? I just can’t. If I do, I’ll murder your brother and lose all respect for you.” He shook his head, rubbing the crease between his eyebrows. “I’m already too involved, and we said we’d keep it casual.”
“You’re a dick, Liam!” Nate called after his brother as he watched him disappear up the stairs to pack his suitcase. “You can’t control a situation, so you bail. Nice to know you haven’t changed!”
Molly tucked her fists tighter around her torso to keep her heartbreak from being known. Inside, she was howling her pain. She barely felt the sting in her ankle compared to the knowledge that she was too much mess for a strong man to handle. She kept her face expressionless as she silently screamed.
Ten minutes later, the front door banged, announcing that Liam had left her. Nate sat on the floor, leaning against the couch. “Don’t listen to Liam, Little Luco. Dealing with Kyle? You’re plenty strong. I kinda wish you’d bail, though. Those bruises worry me.” When Molly didn’t answer, he reached over and covered her foot with his hand. “Until you figure it out, I’m here. Even when I leave after the family stuff is over, I’ll keep in touch. You can write me letters that start with ‘Dear Nathanial, You’re the handsomest man in the world. Everything you do and say is pure poetry.’” He waved his hand in the air and rested it on her foot again, squeezing. “I don’t want to write the script for you, but you get the idea. Molly?” He called her name quietly, but knew before the silence greeted him that she would not answer. “That’s alright. I’m here. I here, even if you’re not.” He held onto her foot as he leaned against the couch, praying that somehow the sun would still rise in the morning.
Unraveling Molly Page 8
