In addition to the brightly colored walls, Molly had Christmas lights hanging from every corner of her apartment, and although they seemed to be turned off in the daytime, it didn’t take much for Nicholas to imagine their brilliance as they shone on in the night.
He also caught the array of framed photos all lined up on a wide stand in her living room. There were pictures of her growing up, sitting on the porch of what Nicholas assumed was the Carmichaels’ New York home, and pictures of Molly and Hannah as teenagers, hanging out in various parts of town, their mouths filled with braces and their hands formed into candid peace signs.
There was also a whole shelf dedicated to her students. All kinds of mugs, ceramic apples, pictures, cards and various kid-like drawings covered every inch. It was obvious that she was very loved by her students and their parents.
And out of the corner of his eye, Nicholas noticed the stack of teaching-related books, all piled up in a neat corner of Molly’s living room. There were scattered journals and notebooks sticking out between each of the books, and scattered across various tables. Nicholas was amused at Molly’s version of organization. He had a feeling that if he woke her up and asked her to find something specific located in that stack of books, she’d be able to find it within mere seconds.
Nicholas laid Molly down on her apartment’s living room couch, making sure not to wake her. She’d fallen into a deep sleep as soon as they’d gotten onto the sidewalk outside of Hannah’s bakery.
In-between her dreaming, she’d latched onto Nicholas’ neck, making him feel like he was some kind of superhero carrying her out of a burning building with each step through the town’s streets putting her that much closer to safety.
Nicholas laughed at the thought of himself being able to see through things with X-Ray vision or leap over the tallest of buildings. He felt like he could use X-Ray vision as he walked towards Molly’s bedroom, wanting to find a blanket or two to lay over the Head Elf’s sleeping form.
He tried not to stare at her bedroom. It felt like he was sneaking in. It was just as he'd imagined Molly's room would look like, but he still felt strange being in there without her. As much as he wanted to get into her bedroom, he'd wanted her to be there with him.
He smiled, thinking of the backseat of the car last night. He could still feel her smooth skin and gentle warmth. He ached to kiss her again. He ached to have her alone and all to hims
elf.
After the investors, he promised himself. We'll have time then.
When he’d secured a set of pink and purple blankets, he tucked Molly into the couch as if he were tucking her into a bed.
He looked down at his suit, and frowned. The amount of flour on his suit would take hundreds of dollars to rectify, and it was possible that the situation wasn’t salvageable at all, depending on how far down the flour had set into the fabric.
Nicholas then looked back over at Molly, who was peacefully sleeping on her couch, the slightest bit of flour still tangled in her hair. He reached over and smoothed the hair away from her forehead, loving how she felt.
And in that moment, he decided that Molly Carmichael was worth losing a suit, no matter how much it might cost him.
Molly Carmichael was worth so much.
Nicholas gave a tired sigh, and he sat down on the couch beside her for a moment, his head falling back against the couch.
How did he find himself in such an impossible position?
He’d never imagined meeting someone like Molly, not in this kind of town, and not right in the middle of negotiating a sale of his family’s store. And certainly not at Christmas.
This sale was supposed to be simple and smooth, nothing that required too much thought or exertion. At one point, Nicholas even considered that this would be the closest he’d get to any kind of vacation, a few days where his mental energy could be conserved until he got back to his office desk.
Instead, he’d found himself overthinking every day since he’d first arrived, and every bit of it had to do with the girl snoring softly on her couch.
Nicholas sighed again and he brought his hands to rest over his face.
Nicholas knew exactly what he wanted.
He wanted to be with Molly Carmichael. He wanted to be the guy that she rolled her eyes at before grabbing onto his hand, the guy she’d hide behind while binge-watching horror flicks, the guy she’d sometimes complained about to Hannah while they both shared a frosted cinnamon roll, the guy she’d have to re-introduce to her parents as her boyfriend and wait to gauge their first reactions.
But he also wanted his life in New York. He wanted to be respected in Manhattan for his business acumen, he wanted to be able to sit at the same table as his major competitors and broker large deals side-by-side, he wanted Kerstman Enterprises to run almost like a machine, succeeding with or without him at the helm, maybe even have it become something that he could pass down to the next generation of Kerstmans.
And Nicholas, now more than ever, realized that he could not have both.
Of course, a part of him had always know that. He’d always known that he’d have to go back home to New York, back to a place without Molly. He’d always known that their days were numbered since the very first moment that they’d met.
And worst of all, despite all of his experience with fixing businesses and fixing other people’s lives, Nicholas didn’t know how to fix this.
A rare sense of helplessness washed over him, even as his phone vibrated with an incoming series of text messages:
Mom: Good morning, Nicky! Your dad and I decided against coming with you to meet the investors today. We think it’ll be best for all of us if we just let you do your thing. Good luck, son!