Luke was cooped up in the library working on something he had termed to be a problematic project.
The sounds of a back door opening made me turn around.
Penelope stood in the doorway. Paul must have let her in on his way out. She looked amazing in a skintight pantsuit. I felt my stomach clench. Like it did every time I saw her.
Molly’s face lit up and she looked over at me questioningly.
“Go on to your mom. I’ll take care of Bean,” I told her with an encouraging smile.
But she didn’t go towards her mother. Instead, she stood staring at the house.
Penelope walked towards us. She had a frown on her face and stepped along carefully as if the grass might destroy her shoes. “My girl,” she cried and opened her arms to Molly.
Molly went to her mom and stood inside the circle of her arms. “Do you want to meet my puppy?” she asked.
“Oh, no!” Penelope cried. “I hate the smell of dogs.”
Molly’s face fell.
What was wrong with this woman? Couldn’t she see how important the animal was to Molly?
“I have a better idea. Why don’t we go to the park? We could ask your dad to go with us?”
Molly nodded but the light had already gone from her eyes.
“Where’s Mr. Meyers?” she asked without bothering with niceties.
“He’s in the library,” I said in an equally unbothered tone.
She patted her hair. “Well, I’ll just say hello to your dad and then we can go. Do you want to take me?” She smiled at Molly.
Hand in hand, they walked towards the house.
I swallowed the lump in my throat.
Bean made mournful noises, lay on the ground, and buried his face between his front paws.
I went to him and patted his head. “She’ll be back, Bean,” I murmured.
As I usually did in the hours when Molly was with her mother, I went up to my room to work on my designs. My notebook was already more than half-filled with designs and I was excited about the new styles I’d come up with. I had no concrete plan of what I wanted to do with them when the notebook filled up.
I just enjoyed the creative process. With time, things would fall into place.
I plopped down on my bed, grabbed my notebook, and was soon lost in my work until I heard Luke call my name. I ran to the top of the stairs and looked down.
Penelope, Luke and Molly stood in the hallway.
I swallowed heavily. They looked like a real family.
“We’re going out for a spot of shopping,” Penelope said cheerfully.
“Okay,” I said, coming down the stairs slowly.
Molly dropped her parents’ hands and flew up the stairs to me. Meeting me halfway, she wrapped her little hands around my waist.
I kissed the top of her head. “See you later, sweetheart.”
“Can you come with us?” Molly asked.
We all froze.
Then I smiled at her. “No, sweetie. I’ve got things to do. But you go ahead with your dad and mom. I’ll be right here when you get back, okay?
“Let’s go,” Penelope said tightly.
I watched them walk down the hallway to the door.
Luke glanced back at me.
His stare was blank and I couldn’t read any emotion in his eyes at all. I shivered and when the door shut, I slipped back into my room.
I tried to capture my earlier concentration, but failed. I kept thinking of Luke’s expressionless eyes. What had he been thinking? Was he regretting what we had? Penelope was a beautiful woman and she was Molly’s mom.
She had broken his heart, but human beings had a big capacity for forgiveness. Maybe he would try again for Molly’s sake. I folded my legs and wrapped my hands around my knees. If Luke and Penelope managed to salvage their relationship, they would have no use for me.
From what I had gathered, Penelope had taken care of Molly herself when she and Luke had been married. I’d be out of a job, but that wasn’t the issue. I had my own plans for the future which included taking some classes and looking for a part time job with a designer.
I was willing to take on a low paying job just to have the exposure of working in my dream industry.
No, losing the job was not the issue. It was losing Molly and Luke. They had become important to me and I couldn’t fathom life without them.
I pictured Luke walking into the dining room to join us for breakfast, as he did every morning, his hair ruffled from forking his fingers through it.
The way he turned his gaze to me after greeting Molly, his eyes dropping to my mouth and I’d know he was thinking about kissing me. How he made impromptu visits to the playroom to check on us, and when Molly was distracted, he would kiss the back of my neck.
Restlessness came over me. I needed to talk to someone, or I would go crazy. I reached for my phone on the bedside table and called Ruby.
“Hi stranger,” Ruby greeted in her cheerful voice.
“Hi you,” I replied.
“What’s going on? You sound down.”
I explained to her about the way Penelope had inserted herself back into not only Molly’s life, but also Luke’s.
“Whoa, that’s not good at all. She wants him back.”
Dismay came over me. Ruby had just confirmed what I didn’t want to believe, but knew was true. Penelope’s real mission in coming back was to win Luke’s heart. And she had went about it the right way, too. Through Molly. There was no way I could compete with the mother of his baby. Not to mention her looks.
“She said she came back to get to know Molly again,” I said weakly.
Ruby made a dismissive noise. “Don’t be fooled. She’s after Luke. A woman who leaves her child for a man doesn’t just develop a conscience. She misses the life she had with him. I mean, she was a fool to leave in the
