Molly shrugged. “I’m a big girl now. I can handle it.”
“Yeah. Big city girl and everything. Like Liverpool isn’t city enough for anyone.” There was more bite to Lara’s voice than Molly expected. She shot her friend an inquisitive look. “Sorry. Just miss you, I guess.”
“I miss you too.” Molly gave her an apologetic smile. “Part of me wishes I’d stayed here instead of moving to London.”
“Then move back,” Lara said, as if it were as easy as changing outfits.
“Yes, please, for the love of God, do.” Krissie, Molly’s old boss, appeared behind the desk looking rather frazzled. “I need a day off with someone I can trust in charge.”
“My replacement not up to scratch?” Molly allowed herself a small smile. Nice to know she wasn’t easily replaceable.
“The three replacements we’ve been through in the last six months, you mean,” Krissie replied. “And no. Not a patch on you.”
Molly winced. “Sorry.”
“That’s okay.” Krissie sighed. “I know you had to go and follow your dream or whatever. I just wish your dream had been to take over the events department here or something.”
Huh. The events department. She’d helped out there often enough when they were short handed, and loved the racing around and the way no two days were ever the same. Why hadn’t it occurred to her to ask about working there full time?
“I never even thought of that,” she admitted.
“Of course, personally, I was hoping you’d want my job when I inevitably get promoted to being in charge of everything,” Krissie said, leaning her elbows on the reception desk and resting her chin in her hands. “But events would have worked too. Ah well. Too late now.”
Yes, it was. Because she had her new life in London, and her respectable job that gave her weekends and holidays off, and she couldn’t take the humiliation of another backwards step. Of admitting, once again, that she had no idea where she was going or what she was doing in life.
But even knowing that didn’t stop her asking. “So, hypothetically, if I ever needed to move back to Liverpool in a hurry… there might be a job for me here?”
“No might about it, love. I’d have you back in an instant.” Krissie patted her arm as she headed off back to work. “Think about it, yeah? You’re wasted stuck at some computer all day.”
“Yeah, but at least she doesn’t have to work New Year’s Eve,” Lara called after her, and Molly laughed. She really had missed this place.
Almost as much as she missed Jake.
-
By six o’clock on New Year’s Eve, the office was deserted, except for Jake. He’d figured there was no point rushing his arrival at the Mackenzies’ party, so he might as well get some more work done first. Especially since it looked like work was all he was going to be doing for the foreseeable future.
The receptionist had knocked off at four, and most of the secretaries had taken the day as holiday anyway, so when the lift opened onto his floor Jake knew there was no one out there to greet their visitor. And nobody but him there for them to see.
He had a whole ‘sorry, the office is closed, come back next year,’ speech ready, but when he stepped out into the reception area and saw Glen Mackenzie waiting for him, he realised it was going to be useless. When the man who had taken you in and treated you like a son came visiting, opening hours, schedules and personal preferences went by the wayside.
Especially when you’d seduced the man’s daughter on his own sofa less than a week ago.
“Glen. Philippa send you to check I’m still coming to the party?” It seemed like the most likely scenario. Molly’s mother hadn’t been exactly happy when she’d caught him skipping out in the early hours of Boxing Day – especially since he hadn’t had much of an explanation to help her understand why.
“She doesn’t know I’m here, actually.” Glen’s expression was more serious than Jake had seen it since he and Tim were underage teenagers in trouble for sneaking off to some nightclub. “Can we sit? Might make this easier.”
“Of course.” That didn’t bode well either. Jake ushered him over to the comfortable waiting area of the reception, and let him settle on a bright yellow armchair before he took a seat on the sofa opposite.
“So, um,” Jake started, then trailed off. What was he supposed to say to this man?
“Jake, I think this is going to be less awful for both of us if you just let me talk for a bit. Then afterwards, I’ll go home, and when I see you at the party later we can pretend this never happens. If you still want to come to the party, of course.”
Oh, he really, really didn’t like the sound of this. “Okay.”
“Where to start?” Glen stared at a point somewhere over Jake’s left shoulder. Somehow he got the impression that this wasn’t going to be any easier for Glen than for him. “When you’ve been married a long time, you learn all the little things about each other. You learn to put up with each other’s little quirks and oddities. Like the way Philippa always has to sleep with earplugs in, no matter where we are and how quiet it is. She blames my snoring, but I think she just likes the fact that nothing can wake her up until she’s ready.”
He smiled at Jake like it was a shared joke, but Jake really wasn’t seeing anything funny about this day yet. “Right.”
“And Phil, well she’s learned to put up with the fact that I always have to sleep with the window a little bit open. Always. Even in the dead of winter. Even on Christmas Day.”
Christmas Day. The words froze in the air between them and every muscle in Jake’s body tensed. Philippa and Glen’s bedroom was at the front of the house. Glen’s open window would be right over the front door… right over the step where Jake and Molly had argued that night.
Oh God. If Glen had heard everything, he could probably guess exactly what Jake had done to Molly on that sofa. And, quite honestly, Jake was surprised to still be alive.
“Sir.” Since when had he ever called Glen sir? “I can explain. Well, no, I can’t. I can only apologise—”
“Jake. Let me finish talking.” Glen’s voice was unnaturally calm. It made Jake nervous.
“Okay.”
“My children are grown adults now. They get to choose what they want to do with their lives, whether I approve of it or not. I didn’t want Dory to move to New York with that rat of an ex-fiancé of hers, but it worked out for the best. She’d never have met Lucas if she hadn’t, and she’s happy now.” For one brief second, a misty smile floated across Glen’s face before he added, “And I have a wedding to pay for. But that’s beside the point. I don’t know if moving to Switzerland is going to make Tim happy, but I have to let him try. I didn’t want Molly to move to London, and if I could tell her to stop being so stubborn and making herself miserable and just come home, I would. But I can’t, because she’s an adult now. Even if maybe we don’t always treat her that way.”
Jake looked down at his hands. He was as guilty of that as anyone. Molly had been the baby for so long, it was hard sometimes to remember that she’d ever grown up. To take her decisions seriously. He hadn’t, when this whole mess had started. He’d assumed he needed to be the adult, to put the brakes on things. By the time he’d realised she was old enough to make her own choices, he’d already made them all for her.
Which is why he was standing back this time. Whatever happened next, it had to be up to her.
“The point is, whatever is going on between the two of you is exactly that – between the two of you. And while I might desperately wish you’d chosen to have that discussion somewhere other than under my window, I can’t unhear it now. And it did make one thing clear to me – something I should have said to you a long time ago and haven’t.”
Glen wasn’t staring over his left shoulder anymore. Instead, Molly’s father was looking him straight in the eyes and Jake realised he was holding his breath, waiting for a sentence.
“Jake. You’ve been like a son to me since you were about ten, and I
realise you’ve spent more time in our home than in your own. Whatever happens in your life, you will always be a son to me. And you will always, always be welcome in my house, at Christmas or any other time of the year. You might not need the same kind of support as my other children have over the years – I can’t see you choosing to move in for a start. But if you ever needed to, you could. So don’t run away from us, because we’ll never turn our backs on you.”
How much had Jake needed to hear that? And how had he not known that was what he needed until this moment?
But Glen wasn’t done. “You lost your own parents too young, and it was tragic. I would never presume to take their place. But in my heart, you are my son, and I realised I’d never told you that.”
Jake couldn’t move. Couldn’t respond, couldn’t think, couldn’t do anything except let the words soak in until they felt true. He knew he should say something, acknowledge the moment and the huge gift he’d just been given.
But instead he sat and stared and let the moment happen. And it felt wonderful.
Glen pushed against the arm of the chair and got slowly to his feet. “Been a long holiday this one. And, I should mention, because Philippa will kill me if I don’t – Molly’s been miserable without you. Even if she won’t admit it. ” Jake’s gaze flew up to Glen’s face and found an amused smile there.
“And by the way,” Glen added, already halfway to the lifts. “I have a feeling you’d make an even better son-in-law.”
Chapter 18
“Are you guys ready?” Tim stuck his head through the door, and Molly waved her mascara wand at him.
“Does it look like we’re ready?” Beside her, Dory was jostling for space in front of the mirror, and it was giving Molly flashbacks to her early teen years. Why couldn’t she get ready in her own room, anyway? “Besides, the party doesn’t start for ages, and everything’s ready downstairs. What’s the rush?”
“Not ready for the party,” Tim said, pushing through the door and dropping down to lounge on the spare twin bed. “For this.” He held up a spiral pad and a pen.
“I’m ready.” Dory bounced onto the bed beside him, her make up inexplicably finished and perfect.
“What, exactly, is this?” Molly asked suspiciously.
“It’s time to make our new year’s resolutions,” Dory said with a grin. “Come on.”