Almost a Family

“I’ll bring Sara over later,” he offered quietly. “We can talk then.”

She didn’t wait, didn’t want to think about his persistence that they hash this all out. Right now she had to escape before she made an absolute fool of herself.

*

Molly looked around the house one last time, making sure everything was perfect. The appliances gleamed, the floors shone. Sara’s toys were tucked away in a corner of the living room, stuffed into a yellow tub. A batch of cookies filled the cookie jar on the counter top and fresh sheets were on the beds.

Jason had volunteered to pick up Kim, leaving Molly time to ensure everything was done and dusted. Molly was growing quite used to the homey look Kim used with her decorating, and in the back of her mind even preferred it to her own precise, if somewhat sparse, decor. This house was a home. The furniture might have been mostly secondhand and unmatched, but Kim had a knack for taking nothing and making it look as if it belonged. Handmade accents added to a sense of intimacy. Molly’s condo was a showpiece, no personality. It had all the proper decorations, color coordinated and in the right place… Classy by all standards. It was incredibly perfect and lonely.

It was like living in monochrome and moving into color. And, Molly would admit to herself, her life reflected it.

She ran a hand over the secondhand dining table, following a beam of sunlight on its surface. For years now, she’d told herself that her career was all that mattered. That she didn’t want marriage and a family. She’d avoided home, telling herself she didn’t have the time. Now she knew the real reason why. Home scared her. Being with Sara, seeing how wonderful a daughter she was, how great Kim was at being a mom, being with Jason again, letting old feelings carry her away. The way he cupped his hand around her neck when he kissed her, or melted her with a simple gaze across a snowy hill. It made her want things, things she had already given up and had no right to anymore. Things that were all on the other side of the choice she’d made.

With a sigh, she sat in a chair and stared at her briefcase in the corner. She’d hardly opened it since arriving, and there would be consequences for that. Perhaps now she could play catch up. Thing was, she didn’t want to.

She heard the truck pull up in the driveway and pressed a hand to her stomach, inexplicably nervous. Kim was coming back to her house and Molly wanted desperately for her sister to approve of how she’d kept things. She wanted it to seem like Kim hadn’t even been away. For the first time in six years, the law wasn’t her first priority. Now she wasn’t sure what she wanted. She had no priorities. She felt completely at sea. Without her work, what did she have? Did she have a life? Even her social life in Calgary revolved around clients and events. Then Jason had to make an appearance. Jason, who was doing exactly what he’d said he would, minus the wife and kids. Jason, who was dedicated to his work, but also dedicated to his friends and who still knew how to cut loose and enjoy the simple things, like sledding on a frosty January afternoon. Suddenly things weren’t so black and white. He wasn’t wrong and she wasn’t right. He was all those things he’d been long ago…kind, sexy, smart. Knowing he hadn’t let go of her either made the pull all that much stronger.

Molly covered her face with her hands. She’d managed to avoid the conversation he was determined to have. When he’d brought Sara home on Sunday, she’d faked a migraine so he wouldn’t press. She had no idea what to say to him. Oh, why couldn’t she just stop thinking? It was far too time-consuming and fatiguing.

The door opened and voices jumbled together. Molly rose from her chair

, leaving her thoughts behind as she hurried to the foyer. She pasted on her cheeriest expression. “Welcome home!”

Kim looked up as she moved gingerly, taking off her jacket. Jason hung it up for her while Sara danced around her feet. Molly watched as Kim’s gaze swept over the polished staircase, the tidy living room.

“Gosh, it’s good to be home.”

“It didn’t seem right without you,” Jason said, taking off his own coat then pressing a kiss to Kim’s forehead. “Now you remember what the doctor said. Home but rest. Lots of it.”

“Stop worrying.”

“It’s my job to worry about you. Don’t you know that by now?” he cajoled.

“I’m not going anywhere fast, so you can stand down.” Kim smiled up at Molly. “Good to see you, sis.”

Molly offered a shaky smile. It was obvious that she was no substitute for Kim; Jason had as much as said so. It didn’t seem right without you. Clearly Jason and Kim were closer than Molly had imagined. She recalled the white, strained look on his face as he described Kim’s accident, then Kim’s flushed cheeks later when Molly asked her about their relationship. Her eyes narrowed as her suspicions renewed. But if Jason were now hung up on her sister, he wasn’t the kind of man who would try to seduce her in a laundry room. Or on a snowy hill.

Was he?

If he were as confused as she was, maybe he just would. And she’d be the woman in the middle.

“Molly? You okay?” Kim’s soft voice interrupted, and Molly’s feelings were suddenly overshadowed by the overwhelming relief that her sister was truly okay and back home where she belonged.

Molly waited for the crowd by the door to spread out. “Can I hug you? I don’t want to pop any stitches or anything.”

Kim laughed, winced, then came forward and put her arms around Molly.

Molly closed her eyes. Right now she felt closer to her sister than she had in several years. Kim had been only nineteen when Molly had left for law school. With their mother gone… Molly realized now she’d left Kim all alone to finish growing up. It was high time she made up for some of her decisions. What happened couldn’t end here. She had to continue being involved in her sister’s life, in Sara’s life. It wasn’t fair to any of them otherwise.

“I couldn’t have done this without you,” Kim whispered in her ear. “The house looks great, but what counts is that Sara is happy. She talked about you the whole way home. I’m so glad you came,” she said, stepping back and looking Molly dead in the eye. “I don’t know how to ever repay you.”

Molly sniffled. “No payment necessary. We’re sisters. I should have been here long ago.”

“You’re here now, and that’s what matters.”

Kim squeezed her hands, and they laughed a little with misty eyes.

Molly cleared her throat, smiling shyly. “Hang on. I’ll turn on the coffee maker. We have treats.”