Almost a Family

Chapter Three

They were both silent on the drive back. Molly had nothing to say; her lips were still tingling from the taste of Jason's mouth on hers. She told herself they were quiet because Sara was sleeping in the back, but she was only fooling herself. She had no idea what to say to Jason at this moment. Her mind was effectively wiped clean. His hands gripped the wheel and he stared out the windshield, never glancing in her direction. His jaw, his beautiful rugged jaw, was set, hard and condemning. She wasn't sure if he was mad at her or at himself, and she didn't really want to find out. It was crystal clear he was angry, and she wasn't up to getting into it.

The kiss had been more, and less, than she'd remembered.

He drove down the hill on Regent Street, then turned down King, heading along the river, dark and black in the January evening. Molly looked around her, first at the cathedral then at the stately old Georgian homes on Waterloo Row and the stretch of shoreline, commonly called "The Green", which was not green at all now, but held an unearthly glow as the streetlights shone on the blanket of snow. When she'd been doing her undergraduate degree, she'd spent a lot of time in this part of town, going for beers at their favorite pub on Thursday nights, grabbing lunch from one of the small restaurants snuggled in between office buildings, or studying on a bench under stately elm trees. Now, driving past it in the winter dark, she felt so far removed from this town and that part of her life that she knew she had come back a stranger.

What must have been going through Jason's mind to make him touch her in such a way? And what equal madness had made her turn into his arms, lifting her face to his like a sunflower to the sun? It solved nothing, didn't change the past or the ways they'd hurt each other. All these years she'd thought they'd made a clean break, but twenty-four hours after her arrival home, and he'd already had his mouth on hers. It had to be simple curiosity-it was the only explanation that made sense.

When Jason pulled into Kim's driveway, Molly said softly, "If you'll take the keys and open the door, I'll get Sara." She was happy now that the little girl was between them, running interference. Having him walk her alone to the door would be too tempting, too frightening.

He held the door open wordlessly. Molly lifted the sleeping girl out of her seat and carried her gently into the house, sliding past Jason without meeting his gaze. Blearily, Sara woke as Molly tried to slide off her boots and winter jacket with as little fuss as possible. "Shh," she whispered. "We're home. Let's get you up to bed."

She looked at Jason as she hefted Sara into her arms again. "I'm putting her to bed. Thanks for the lift. You don't have to stay." Her voice coolly dismissed him.

He shut the door behind him, and she heard his truck start as she got to the top of the stairs. Then it finally dawned on her that he hadn't spoken one single word since leaving the hospital.

*

Jason slipped off his white coat and hung it on the hook on the back of his office door. All day at the clinic he'd seen clients and their pets, ordered lab tests, smiled and joked with his staff. He'd eaten a quick ham sandwich in the kitchenette in the basement, then had taken an hour to run the deposit to the bank and make a drop-off at the lab. An ordinary day.

Every minute of that ten-hour day, he replayed last night's kiss.

What had he been thinking, anyway? Molly wasn't the same Molly he'd fallen in love with as a teenager. He'd known that the minute he'd opened the door to her.

She was a hotshot lawyer now, making scads of money with a high profile oil and gas company. She'd waltzed back home in expensive clothes and an exclusive attitude. She didn't realize she'd become snobby, he was sure of it. But the years away had changed her. She acted like being back east was something to be tolerated. Like it was a little behind in terms of progress and sophistication. When she'd left for bigger and better things, she'd made it clear that Fredericton, that Jason, wasn't good enough for her. She hadn't wanted the life that he'd planned for them.