hadn’t told his father everything that had happened surrounding Sheila, and he didn’t want to get into it right now either. He needed to schedule an appointment once a week with Lucy, he knew that. One session to deal with his feelings surrounding his new job. One session to deal with his mother. One for Molly. One for his dad….
“Okay,” Dad said.
Hunter reached up and took off his cowboy hat, ran his hand through his hair, and reseated his hat. “Dad, I ran into Molly Benson after church today.”
Dad’s eyebrows shot straight up. “You did?”
“Yeah.” Hunter couldn’t help smiling.
“Oh, boy,” Dad said with a chuckle. “I’ve seen that look on your face before.”
“I still like her,” Hunter said. “Is that stupid? I mean, who still likes a girl a decade after she broke up with him?”
Dad shook his head and reeled in the rest of his line. He cast it back out, something contemplative in his expression. “Hunter, you’re twenty-five years old now. If you like that woman, call her and ask her out. Maybe she still likes you too.”
He nodded, a new fire starting in his blood. “She asked me to lunch with her family today.”
“There you go. You know she’s single, and she’s interested.”
“I thought you didn’t like Molly.”
“Hunt.” Dad sighed and met his gaze. “I just didn’t want the two of you to get too wrapped up with each other as kids. You met her when you were eleven. Eleven, Hunter. Jane is going to be eleven this year.”
“I know, Dad.”
“I was worried about you,” he said. “Limiting yourself. Tying yourself to someone when you hadn’t really even explored the world, or your possibilities, or other girls.”
“I’ve kissed a lot of other girls now,” Hunter said.
“Hunter,” his dad admonished, a smile growing on his face. “Really?”
Hunter shrugged. “Uncle Wes told me I should.”
“You’re kidding.” Dad looked like he’d been hit with a brick, the smile disintegrating as fast as it had appeared.
“I wasn’t supposed to tell you that.”
“I’m going to have a talk with Uncle Wes.”
Hunter burst out laughing. “Dad,” he said between the chuckles. “This was before Jane was born. You don’t need to have a talk with him.”
“I’m going to tell his kids to kiss a lot of girls,” Dad said, still not even smiling.
Hunter shook his head. “I better text him and warn him that you’re on the warpath.”
“Oh, I’m not on the warpath.” Dad’s face cracked into a smile then, and when Hunter met his eyes again, they laughed together. Once he sobered, Dad said, “But define ‘a lot’ of girls, Hunt….”
Hunter just smiled, feeling grateful for this moment. For his father, and for the fishing boat that always brought them together. “A lot, Dad.”
“You don’t even know how many,” Dad said, slight disgust in his voice. “You went out a lot the last few years of high school.”
“Almost all of them,” Hunter said. “It was innocent, Dad. I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“You loved Abby, though,” Dad said, turning things serious again.
“Yeah.” Hunter looked out over the water and turned his reel a few times. “Yeah, I did love her.”
“Okay.” Dad took a deep breath and blew it out. “You know what it feels like to fall in love. You know you like Molly. What are you going to do about it?”
“I didn’t get her number or anything,” Hunter said, dropping his eyes to the bottom of the boat. “I didn’t ask her out. I just said I couldn’t come to lunch.” He looked up. “What would you do? Do you know where she works or anything like that?”
“No,” Dad said. “But I know who her father is, and that he’s our pastor.”
A smile filled Hunter’s whole soul, because he could easily get Molly’s number. He just had to call her father to do it.
Chapter 4
Molly had barely set a bowl of cat food on the floor when her phone rang. Gypsy darted between her legs and started eating as if she’d been starved for days. Molly’s other pet, a well-behaved miniature schnauzer, had already been fed, so Gypsy was probably perturbed she’d been attended to second, the spoiled thing.
Her father’s picture sat on the screen, and Molly swiped on the call. “Hey, Daddy.” She’d left the house where she’d grown up an hour ago, after Lyra’s boyfriend had become her fiancé. She’d contained the tears to her car on the drive home, and she’d been dry-eyed for a half-hour now, so her voice was fairly normal.
“Molly, I just got off the phone