back to the lobby, down the two blocks, and even once she’d reached the safety of her car.
There, she pulled out her phone to call Ingrid. “Should’ve called her to begin with.” Molly hadn’t mentioned Hunter to anyone but Mama, and as far as she knew, no one else knew he and Molly had gone on a quick ice cream date last week.
“Mols,” Ingrid said. “I have five minutes before my lunch is up.”
“Oh, I forgot you had a job.”
“Some of us have to work in the summer, Molly.” Ingrid laughed, and Molly wished it didn’t make her feel worse.
“I know. I’m sorry.”
“Hey, I was just kidding,” Ingrid said, sobering quickly. “What’s wrong?”
Molly pressed her eyes closed and took a moment to calm herself down. She didn’t want to cry on the phone with her sister. “I think I just made a big mistake.”
“I don’t want to rush you, but four minutes.”
“Okay.” Molly told her the situation in a couple of sentences. “I shouldn’t have shown up here, right?”
“I’d love it if a hot guy showed up with homemade bread at my work,” Ingrid said. But Hunter had made fun of her for doing it. He’d joked about having everything but the bread to make a sandwich. Molly pressed her teeth together as her eyes filled with tears.
“That’s because you love bread.”
Ingrid giggled. “Who doesn’t love bread? Maybe he was just shocked.”
“Oh, I think he was shocked all right.” Molly started her car, because it was too hot to sit in it without air blowing. “Plus, I’m not a hot guy, and it’s obvious he doesn’t want to perpetuate a relationship. I should’ve known from the week of silence.” She backed out of her parking spot and tapped the Bluetooth button. “I’m going to lose you for a second.”
The car beeped as it connected the call, and Ingrid was saying, “…see what happens next.
“I think I’ll block his number,” Molly said. “I don’t need to humiliate myself again.”
“Molly, you’ve liked Hunter for so long. Do you really want to block his number?”
She came to a stop so pedestrians could cross in front of her. Oh, how she hated the city. It took forever to get anywhere, and everyone and everything was so loud. “No,” she finally admitted. “I’m pretty sure I just blew it with him, though. I didn’t let him explain anything, and I just walked away.”
“That’s actually not bad,” Ingrid said. “He’ll feel unsettled and like he needs to close this…or reopen it.”
“Maybe.”
“I have to go,” Ingrid said. “I’m sorry, Mols. Want me to bring burgers tonight?”
“And all the fries,” she said, finally turning onto a one-way street that would take her to the freeway that would get her away from the downtown madhouse.
“You got it,” Ingrid said, and she ended the call in the next moment.
She stopped by the grocery store once she’d made it back to Ivory Peaks, because she had an entire afternoon ahead of her, and she needed potato chips to wallow in her humiliation. She got the dill pickle flavored ones, the sour cream and cheddar flavor, and the plain, ridged kind.
No, she wouldn’t eat three bags of potato chips in one day, but the week was young.
Back in her car, she took a moment to open the classifieds again. This time, she didn’t start looking for another dog. She went to the associated dating app, her thumb hovering over the button.
She’d never used a dating app, because her marriage had only ended thirteen months ago. She hadn’t ever wanted to date again, because she didn’t want to explain to anyone that yes, she’d been married before. No, she couldn’t hack it.
She felt damaged on the inside, but on the outside, no one could see the scrapes, dings, dents, and gashes. But once they found out she’d been married and divorced before age twenty-four, they’d know.
Hunter would know.
“This is for the best,” she said to herself. She didn’t tap on the dating app either, and she set her phone in the cup holder and continued toward her house. She’d already taken Saltine for a walk, but she could take him again. She could take a kickboxing class on the fitness channel on her smart TV. Heck, she could take a nap if she wanted to.
Molly turned the corner, and her house came into view, the third one down the street on the right.
A huge gray truck sat in her driveway, and Molly hit the brakes. “Hunter,” whispered from her mouth.