Page 84 of Love… It's Wild
“Where are you going?”
“Home.”
“You’re leaving?” He shakes his head, as if he just can’t believe it. “Just like you did last time.”
“Last time, you’re the one who said this wasn’t going to work out. This time, it’s me.” I place my laptop in my tote and take the fishbowl box off my desk, the one with Bob swimming around, and carry it through the house.
I walk through the kitchen, through the living room, and out the front door.
Molly and Jesse are on the front steps. Jesse gives me an apologetic look. I place my hand on his and assure him I’m not upset in any way.
“You lied to your parents. You knew this day would most likely come. It’s okay. He might be disappointed, but he loves you.”
“How do you know that?” he asks.
“You only get that upset when you care so much that you don’t know what to do with all the worry you have in your heart.”
He eyes my suitcase. “Then, why are you leaving?”
I blow a rogue hair out of my face as I look at him and then to Molly, who has started to cry. I place my suitcase and tote bag on the ground and the fish on the stair beside her.
I kneel in front of Molly and place my hand on her hair, rubbing down her head. “The month was almost over anyway. I’ll see you both again, I promise. At your uncle Will and aunt Melissa’s. This isn’t good-bye. Okay?”
Molly nods as she sniffles her tears back. Her hands find my neck, and she pulls me down to her in a fierce hug. I can feel her body shaking with how desperately she doesn’t want me to go. I grip her tight and hug her something fierce.
“I love you, Madam Amazing,” she says into my ear, and that’s when it happens.
My well breaks, and I start to cry. While I’ve grown attached to Rob, I also became close to these kids. Both of them.
Jesse places a hand on my back, and I feel his head on my shoulder.
“I love you too,” I whisper to them. “Both of you. Very much. It’s been an honor to be part of your family even if it was for just a little while.”
I stand up, rubbing my tears on the back of my hand. When I look up, Rob is at the top of the stairs, gawking down at us.
I take my fish and hand it to Molly. “Will you do me a favor and take care of Bob for me? I don’t think he’ll make the drive back safely.”
She frowns up at me. “You just don’t want him because you named him after Dad and he’ll remind you too much of him.”
I let out a sad smile at her intuitive assessment of my relationship to the fish.
“Just make sure you don’t overfeed him.”
Molly nods and hugs Bob the fish in her lap. Jesse puts his hand around her and pulls his sister in for a tight hug.
I walk to my car and put my belongings inside. Like I did a month ago, I storm out of the ranch and watch the dust spit up behind my wheels as I leave the one place that actually felt like a home in a long time.
A family.
My fake family for a moment.
To think, for just a brief second, I kind of thought it could become a real one.
CHAPTERTWENTY-FOUR
“I can’t believe you had sex with Rob in a barn,” Melissa gasps in a hushed whisper from her seat at the opposite side of the table.
“It’s not a barn. It’s a shed. But it’s not really a shed. It’s like a giant wooden garage with large doors, where you house equipment and tools and stuff. Ugh … why does this even matter?!” My head falls into my hand.