“Hey, stranger. I’ve been looking for you. That’s some party.”

Molly stood a few feet away, her eyes shining brightly. She wore a yellow cocktail dress with thin straps. It came in at the top of her waist and fell loosely to just above her knee. Quite simply, it was stunning on her.

She held up a hand. “Before we go any further, I have to tell you how pretty you look. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone look prettier.”

A soft smile touched Molly’s lips and her cheeks colored just a hint. “Thank you. I was saving it for a special occasion and tonight felt like the night.”

“Another good decision.”

Molly took the spot next to her at the railing. “I thought by now the party would be winding down, but trust me, no one seems to be going anywhere any time soon. Your brother’s about to start a conga line, I can feel it.”

“Mikey always liked a good time.” Jordan smiled and stared out into the night.

“Hey, look at me.” Molly placed her hand on Jordan’s chin and gently turned her face. “You have the most faraway look. Everything okay?”

She met Molly’s eyes and exhaled. “It feels better now. I’m just enjoying the quiet. The crickets are beginning to chirp. It’s one of my favorite times of night.”

Molly took in their surroundings. “It is pretty beautiful, isn’t it? The emergence of spring. Everything about it seems so promising. So hopeful.”

Jordan studied Molly’s profile. “It would be even more promising if I were able to kiss you. Because that’s what I really want to do right now.”

Molly’s looked at her and her lips parted ever so slightly. When she spoke, her voice was quiet, just between them. “What kind of kiss would it be?”

It didn’t take much thinking. “Soft. The kiss would be soft and slow, like the night around us right now. I would ease my hands into your hair and pull you in even closer against me.” Molly closed her eyes. “I’d feel how warm your skin was and lose myself in how wonderful you taste. And then…there would be no stopping us.”

Molly opened her eyes and held Jordan’s gaze for several long moments as the heat they felt but couldn’t express hung between them. Finally, Molly glanced behind her and then back to Jordan as if an idea were taking root. “Come with me.”

And, of course, she did.

They followed the terrace as it wrapped around the building and stopped at the outside door that led to the adjacent banquet room, empty for the night. Molly tried the handle. “Locked. Stay right here.” Jordan watched her as she disappeared around the corner. It was only a minute or two before she appeared on the other side of the door and let Jordan in. Molly then took her hand and led her silently to the nearby coat closet and Jordan began to understand.

“Okay. So we’re just—”

“Stealing a moment. Exactly.”

“Stealing a sexy moment, you mean.”

“I do.”

Once safely inside the small walk-in closet, Molly flipped the light on and backed herself slowly to the wall, a small smile breaking across her face. “I remember you mentioning something about a kiss?”

Jordan smiled back as she moved to Molly. She leaned in and paused just a breath away from Molly’s incredibly enticing lips. “I think I said it would be soft at first.” She brushed Molly’s lips with hers once, and then deepened the kiss on the second go-round. “I think I also said it would be slow.” She slid her hands from Molly’s face into her hair and pulled her in again. And she kept that promise, luxuriating in the kiss, taking her time with it. Savoring the wonderful experience that kissing Molly inevitably was. She felt so alive when they were together like this, like no other time in her life. It was quite possibly—

There was a gasp from the doorway. She pulled her lips from Molly’s just in time to see her mother place her hand over her heart, her other hand on the open door. Her father stood just over her shoulder. “We were just looking for a quiet place to…” Her mother’s gaze flew from Molly’s face to Jordan’s. “I don’t understand. Would someone please tell me what is happening here?”

And in that horrible moment, she didn’t quite know what the words should be. But Jordan did. She straightened and stepped toward her parents in earnest.

“I know this was probably a surprising sight to walk in on, and I’m so sorry for that.”

But her father wasn’t listening. He was staring intently at Jordan, disappointment written all over his face. “What in the world are you doing?” he whispered harshly. “You’ve pulled some insane stunts in your time, Jordana, but this is too much. You’ve gone too far.”

“We weren’t doing anything wrong, Dad.”

“But weren’t you?” he bit back.

Her mother placed a steadying hand on his arm. “Some things are sacred, Jordan. You of all people should understand how upsetting this is. Cassandra was your sister. Your only sister. Have you no respect for her memory at all? Either of you?” Her mother’s eyes filled with tears, and in that moment, so did Molly’s.

“It’s not Jordan’s fault,” Molly managed.

“I would never have expected this from you, Molly,” her mother said, as if her heart was broken.

“But you would have from me?” Jordan quipped.

“That’s right, we would have,” her father shot back. “You always wanted everything she had and look at you now.”

Molly held up a hand. “Okay. Let’s not say things we’re going to regret later. You’re all family.”

Jordan tilted her head. “Yeah, just some of the members of the family are less impressive than others, right, Dad?”

“Don’t,” Molly murmured to Jordan, placing a hand on her shoulder.

“Let her say it. It’s true,” her father growled. “If you’re looking for another Cassie, Molly, you’re not going to find it in this one here. They’re nothing alike.”

Jordan swallowed the anger, the pain that comment inspired and focused on diffusing things. She made sure her voice was calm and even when she spoke. “As much as I wish to God it wasn’t the case, Cassie’s gone now. And this”—she gestured between herself and Molly—“has nothing to do with her.” But as the conversation shifted to Cassie, Molly noticeably withdrew, her eyes now fixed on the ground.

“How long has this been going on? How long exactly have you been taking advantage of your sister’s—” Her father then held up his hand. “You know what? I don’t want to know the details.” He shook his head slowly and walked away. It was clear he was upset. She could only hope that with time, he would understand.

Jordan turned to her mother. “Mom, I feel like I should apologize, but that doesn’t seem right. Because what I feel for Molly is very real, and I’m not going to stop seeing her because of our past. It’s time for us all to move forward.”

Her mother turned to Molly in question. “Is that how you feel too?”

Molly raised her eyes to her mother-in-law and then turned helplessly to Jordan, her eyes swimming with desperation. She opened her mouth to say something and then closed it again. “I’m sorry,” was all she managed. “To everyone, I’m sorry.”

The words hit Jordan hard. What did that mean, she was sorry? She was backing down. Why was she choosing not to stand up for them? Summer’s words echoed in her ears. You’ll never matter to her the way Cassie did . Self-doubt was a powerful thing and it systematically ate away at Jordan as she stood there.

Her mother nodded solemnly and straightened, raising her hand and letting it drop. “I don’t even know what to say to you two. I should get back to the guests.”

Left alone, Jordan turned to Molly. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” But she’d wrapped her arms around herself almost as if in protection and took a step back. “Do you think you could give me just a minute?”

“Sure. Whatever you need.”

And she left her there, even though it went against every instinct she had.

As Jordan crossed the empty banquet room, her limbs felt heavier as she realized that things were much more precarious than even she had acknowledged. The feelings they’d all just exchanged were so unguarded, so raw. She was still reeling from their effects. It had been a horrible scene back there, and there was nothing she could do to undo it. The worst part had been the haunted look in Molly’s eyes as it all went down. It was an excruciating sight. It tore at her still. And it wasn’t just the look. It was its implication.

“Jordan, wait.”

She turned just in time for Molly to throw her arms around her neck and hold on. She felt the tears against her neck as she wrapped her arms around Molly’s waist and pulled her close. “Why does it have to be this hard?” Molly whispered in a strangled voice.

“It’s going to be okay. You know that, right?” Molly released Jordan.

“I don’t know that it is. I can’t lose them, Jordan. I just can’t. It’s all so much more than I imagined it would be.”

Jordan nodded, because she felt the same way. And would it ever get easier? She was beginning to wonder.

*

It was close to midnight when that marathon of a birthday party finally came to a slow conclusion. As much as Jordan wished the thing would just end, the guests seemed to have other ideas. She’d been tempted to offer the band a thousand dollars to just cut out early and put them all out of their damn misery. Instead, she’d played dutiful daughter, and she and Mikey stayed until the final partygoer eventually trickled out. Throughout it all, she remembered to smile and laugh and play her part with a flourish. She was a Tuscana after all.

It was an act. Inside, she was a mess and amazed that she’d held it together as long as she had.

Molly had stayed as well, but in contrast, spent most of her time busy in the kitchen helping Eden with cleanup. It was a coping mechanism that Jordan recognized easily in Molly.

Escape.

Instead of dealing with problems head-on, it was Molly’s instinct to avoid conflict altogether. She was a pro and she did it better than anyone Jordan had ever encountered.

Her parents had been cordial to her in front of their friends, but there was a veil of tolerance in the way they looked at her that told her they were still wallowing in disappointment at what they’d uncovered. And she felt the effects of that disappointment right in the center of her chest. She’d experienced this kind of rejection from her parents many times in the past, on a smaller scale, but it didn’t soften the blow. Molly, on the other hand, was a different story. She’d never been anything if not loved and adored universally by the Tuscanas. This would be a difficult pill for her to swallow, and for that reason, Jordan was worried.

She caught up with Molly in the parking lot. She carried her heels by their back straps and walked barefoot on the pavement. “You weren’t going to say good-bye.”

Molly turned, just shy of her car. She met Jordan’s eyes and then dropped her gaze to the pavement. “Sorry. I meant to. Just tired. Both mentally and physically.” She wasn’t lying. Everything about her looked exhausted. But there was something else there too, and it tugged unpleasantly at Jordan.

Sadness. Molly looked undeniably sad.

“Do you want me to come by for a little while? We could put on a movie. Forget the world.” It was a Hail Mary attempt and she knew it.

Molly offered a smile. “You’re sweet. But I think I’m ready to call it a night.” Everything important to her seemed to be slipping through her fingers and like some God-awful dream she couldn’t wake up from, there was little she could do to stop it.

“Will you text me and let me know that you got home okay? It’s late.”

She nodded once. “I will do that.”

Jordan leaned in to kiss her good night, but just as their lips met, Molly took a step back, ending the kiss abruptly. She covered by tossing Jordan a reassuring smile.

“’Night, Jordan.”

“Good night.”

But it wasn’t. It was the worst kind of night.

Molly was hurting. She was in distress, and her presence only seemed to make it worse. And she had no clue how to fix it. Except that she was starting to feel like she did.

For everyone.

Everyone except herself, that is.

Chapter Twenty-four

It was raining the next morning as Molly set out for the bakeshop. She decided to walk anyway because she needed to inhale the fresh air, feel the thick, wet drops on her skin. She needed to remind herself that the life she was so excited about just two days prior was still there and waiting for her.

Truth be told, it had shaken her, the way Amalia and Joseph had stumbled upon them the night before. She’d planned on handling the situation with a delicate turn, introducing the concept of her and Jordan a little bit at a time, and now that opportunity was gone. Completely blown.