322
Flakes of the toasted wheat bread
crumble over the plate's surface as the sandwich is set back down.
Molly
leans against the cushy back of the booth and finishes chewing as she surveys
the nearly empty restaurant.
Now that she's here and eating, she
realizes how little she wants to be here. But she didn't feel like going
home, either, and this is still a much more desirable option than that.
She just wants to wait until it's late enough that she can go back without
having to have the same tired conversations with everyone.
A little stab of guilt strikes her.
She shouldn't be complaining ... Some people have it a lot worse. At least
her family cares enough to keep involved. Sometimes she just wishes she
could turn down the "concern" knob a bit.
Oh, well, a change of scenery is
good anyhow. For the last few weeks, it feels as though she has done nothing
but go to work, go home, go back to work, and go home again. Except for
a visit to see Andy
and Danielle the other day,
she's hardly had a moment
of socializing or leisure time in far too long. Maybe--
Wait, is that ... ?
She nearly mouths the words to herself
as she strains to get a better view of the door. In their roving, her eyes
saw someone come in who must be ... Yeah, it is. She thinks for a mere
instant before getting up to go speak with
Matt Gray.
"Hey," she calls out when she is
just a few feet from him.
He turns immediately. "Molly! Hey!"
"How have you been?"
"Pretty good. How 'bout you?"
"Can't complain," she says, thinking
back to the pondering she was doing a minute ago.
"So what are you doing here?" he
asks.
"I don't know ... Eating, maybe?"
she smiles. "C'mon, why don't you join me?"
"All right," he agrees after what
looks like some initial hesitation. She leads him back to the booth.
"I'm glad I ran into you," he says.
"Only reason I came here was to avoid goin' back to an empty apartment."
"Sounds like the opposite of my problem.
I had no desire to go back to that crowded house just yet."
She catches his eyes dropping a little
bit as he says, "You're lucky to have a family that cares that much."
"Yeah, I know. Sometimes I just let
it overwhelm me ... but you're right, I am lucky." The waitress arrives
to take Matt's order and Molly uses the opportunity to make some more progress
on her sandwich.
"So," she says as the waitress departs,
"I heard about your job. Congratulations."
"Thanks. It was real nice of
your dad to offer it to me."
Molly shakes her head. "You know,
I never took you for the cooking type."
"No one ever does. Just somethin'
I picked up along the way, I guess." He shrugs and begins fiddling with
a sugar packet in anticipation of the coffee that is on its way. "I can't
tell you how happy I am to have this job. I'm liking it a lot better than
the construction stuff. And it gives me a real reason to stay in town,
besides Victoria ..."
The statement trails off, but the intended ending
is not lost on either of them:
Or Sarah.
The waitress returns and leaves Matt's
coffee with him. He adds the sugar, and the clinks of the spoon against
the cup ring in the silence that has fallen over him and Molly.
"I've actually been meaning to get
in touch with you for a while," Molly says finally. "There's something
I've wanted to ask you."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah. I, um ... I was wondering
if Sarah mentioned anything to you about what happened ... at the hospital
..." She is trying not to say too much, but she is aware that she has opened
the can of worms anyway.
Thankfully, a glimmer of familiarity
quickly passes over Matt's face. "Yeah, she did. And I haven't spoken to
her since."
"You haven't?"
"Nah." He raises the coffee cup to
his lips and draws in those steamy first few sips. "It's like I don't even
know what to say to her anymore. She was tryin' to turn that whole thing
around on you, and make me believe that you were the one who did somethin'
wrong ... like I'm some kinda idiot or something."
Molly works through another bite
of the sandwich as she digests the comment. "Well, what about Victoria?
You haven't seen her since then, either?"
"Nope. I know I need to get in touch
eventually, 'cause I wanna see her, but I can't even think about talkin'
to Sarah right now. Thinkin' about it just makes me mad." He places the
coffee cup back down on the table. "I think she really did it this time.
She crossed a line with this little plan of hers and there ain't any going
back now. I'm not even sure if I can trust her anymore."
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