I was just opening up my door when Molly came out of the house. She had a bag over her shoulder and the baby on her hip. Her head was tilted down like she was talking to Rebel, but she hadn’t noticed me. After locking the door behind her, she started down the stairs off the porch, but froze on the last step as she finally saw me standing there.
“Oh,” she mumbled, looking past me at my mom’s car. “I didn’t think you were coming.”
“What?” God, she was pretty. She had her hair braided away from her face, and she was wearing a dress that hit right at her knees and was covered in flowers.
“I thought you’d changed your mind,” she said softly, smiling a little as she shrugged her shoulders.
“What? Why?” I glanced at Rebel, who was pulling at her little purple glasses, and stepped forward just as she’d pulled them off her face. “No, no, baby girl,” I reminded her softly. “You need those to see.” I set them back on her nose, making sure the little arms were set above her ears.
“It’s almost six o’clock, Will,” Molly said, looking at me like she wasn’t sure if she wanted to cry or smile. “You said you’d be here an hour ago.”
My eyes widened. “Shit!” I reached out and pulled the bag off her shoulder, feeling like an asshole. “I musta had the time wrong last night, sugar. Come on, dinner’s ready when we get there.”
I turned and walked back toward the SUV, setting her bag inside.
“Uh, Will?” Molly called, laughter in her voice. “We need to move Reb’s car seat over.”
“Right,” I muttered, rubbing the back of my neck. I was fucking this up. I walked back toward Molly’s car and yanked open the back seat, only to realize that I had no fucking clue how to get the car seat out. The seat belt was lying there, obviously not in use, but the damn car seat wouldn’t budge.
“Hey, William,” Molly said right behind me.
“What?” I snapped, automatically apologizing.
“Here, take Reb,” Molly ordered, pushing me out of the way before setting the little girl in my arms.
I froze as I pulled the baby to my chest, then exhaled loudly as Molly climbed halfway in the car, messing with the seat. Her dress had risen up a few inches in the back, and the loose fabric molded to her ass as she twisted and turned, trying to free Rebel’s seat. My mouth began to water until I was brought back to the present by small fingers sifting through my beard.
“Hey, princess,” I said softly as Rebel continued to pet my beard. “Whatcha doin?”
Rebel didn’t answer, her brown eyes focused on her fingers and my face.
“Got it!” Molly announced as she pulled the seat from the car.
I carried the heavy seat over to my mom’s rig and set it up for Molly so she could buckle it in again.
Goddamn, that view.
I almost forgot that I had Rebel sitting on my forearm when Molly contorted to fit her knee into the car seat as she tightened the little straps connecting it to the seat of the car.
“You have to put your weight on it to get it tight enough,” Molly told me, her voice a little muffled.
“That’s what she said,” I replied automatically, wincing when she laughed and hit her head on the roof of the car.
A couple minutes later, we were headed to my mom and dad’s while Rebel kicked her legs noisily in the back seat.
“We probably should’ve just taken my car,” Molly said with a huff as she tried to straighten up her hair. “It’s a pain in the ass to transfer that seat.”
“We’ll get one for this rig,” I answered without thinking, making Molly freeze.
“I don’t mind moving it—”
“I didn’t mean—” We both spoke at the same time, but neither of us finished our sentences, leaving us in an awkward quiet.
“Thanks for inviting me,” Molly finally said, reaching over to squeeze my arm where it rested on the middle console. “I haven’t seen your mom in years.”
“She’s lookin’ forward to it,” I replied, clearing my throat.
I slid my arm off the console and wrapped my hand around her bare thigh, and just like that—my nerves were gone.
“Oh, my God,” Molly said suddenly. “So last night, I put some blue hair putty shit in Reb’s hair—”
“Why?”
“Because Mel’s little sister was coming over and she has this long, purple mohawk—”
“Didn’t know Mel had a sister.”
“Would you let me finish?” Molly asked, laughing. “So last night I put it in, and I asked Mel’s little sitter to wash it out before bed. But they accidentally fell asleep on the floor in the living room, and I didn’t have the heart to wake Reb for a bath.”
“Sweet mama,” I said quietly, making her smile.