Riley was pregnant.
At the expression on Mollie’s face, Riley let out a long, weary sigh. “See, the thing that Sam doesn’t get is that it’s not that I want the chips, it’s that the baby wants the chips. If I try to put an apple down there, I guarantee he or she is going to send it right back up again.”
Mollie let out a happy squealing noise as she wrapped her arms around Riley’s neck in an awkward hug. “You’re having a baby! Congratulations.”
Riley laughed and patted her arm. “I am. It’s early yet, so no one outside of the family knows. And the girls, of course, but they are family.”
Mollie rested a hand on Riley’s stomach. The gesture was probably too familiar for a woman she barely knew, but she couldn’t help it. The thought of a little mini Riley or Sam was just too cute for words.
“How do you feel?” Mollie asked.
Riley shrugged. “Not too bad…yet. Mostly just excited. And, you know, terrified.”
“You’re going to make the best mom.”
Riley smiled. “Says the girl I just met last night.”
“Yeah, well,” Mollie muttered darkly, slumping back in her chair, “I think I’ve aged a decade in the past twenty-four hours.”
“Do you want to tell me what happened?” Riley asked. “If not, it’s okay. You’re welcome to change into comfy clothes and wallow in the guest room as long as you want. There’s a ton of ice cream in the freezer that Sam won’t let me eat.”
“It’s not that I don’t want to talk about it,” Mollie said slowly. “It’s just…I don’t even know what to say.”
“You two seemed so right last night. You couldn’t take your eyes off each other. What happened?”
Mollie pulled the whisky toward her, cupping it between her hands without taking a drink. “He’s moving back to Texas.”
Riley’s eyebrows shot up. “Whoa. Did not see that coming.”
“Yeah. Me neither. Although I keep thinking I should have, you know? There was a time when I knew him better than anyone. And yet somehow, it’s like after we started sleeping together, he became more of a stranger.”
“It works that way sometimes,” Riley said. “Sex complicates things.”
“Why didn’t he just tell me?” Mollie said, more to herself than to Riley. “I would have understood.”
“Would you have?” Riley said with a little smile.
“Maybe. I mean, on one hand, I knew he wasn’t completely over the loss of his football career. But on the other hand, I really thought he was moving forward.”
“That’s why he’s moving back? Football?”
“He got an assistant coaching job on his old team.”
“Ah. Those who can’t play, coach?”
“Apparently.” Mollie rested her elbows on the table and rubbed her temples. “I keep thinking I should have been more understanding. If this is what he wants—”
“What do you want?”
Mollie gave a harsh little laugh. “I don’t know that that matters. For the first time in my life, I did what I wanted. I moved to New York. I made a move on Jackson. Which my sister now knows about, by the way. Went over super well. I did what I wanted, and I’ve never been so miserable.”
“Do you think you would have been happy if you hadn’t? Would you be happy if you were still keeping your feelings all bottled up?”
“At least I wasn’t hurting,” Mollie whispered.
Riley shook her head. “That’s not what I’m asking. Would you have been happy?”
Mollie turned her head and met the other woman’s piercing blue eyes. “I’ve never been so happy as I was the past couple weeks. It felt like my heart was flying.”
“Love can do that.”
“Yeah.” Mollie took a sip of the whisky. “But having that love unreturned feels a bit like crashing and burning.”
“That too.”
Mollie blew out a breath. “I don’t think I can face him. Not after I basically threw my heart at him and he just let it fall to the ground at his feet.”
“You don’t have to,” Riley said, setting a hand on her arm. “Not today, certainly. Not tomorrow. If the man’s too stupid to see what’s right in front of him, maybe it’s better that he slinks off back to Texas. We’ll find you another guy. A better guy.”
Mollie’s eyes watered again. “There is no better guy.”
Riley nudged the tissues toward her with a sigh. “I figured it might be something like that. He’s the one, huh? The only one?”
Mollie nodded and blew her nose.
“Sweetie, I don’t know Jackson. Or you, for that matter. But the man I saw last night, the way he looked at you…I don’t think this is easy for him. I’m sure he wants his old life back, but he wants you too. I really believe that.”
“I know,” Mollie whispered. “It’s just…I wanted him to want me more. More than he wanted Texas, or football.” Or Madison, she added silently.
Not that she believed he was moving back with the intention of reconciling with his ex. But intention might be irrelevant. When Madison wanted something, she got it, whether or not the other person intended to cooperate.