Letters to Molly (Maysen Jar, #2)(56)

“I need to see them too.” He stretched his good hand over the arm of the wheelchair and cupped my cheek. “And you.”

I gave him a small smile. “We’ll be okay.”

David and Rayna would have done anything to help. The same was true of Poppy and Cole. But none had made the offer to bring Finn into their homes. Why? Because I made the decision to bring him here before they even had the chance.

He was here. At home.

Where we all needed him to be.

I pushed him up the ramp, his chair heavier than I remembered, but not unmanageable. When we reached the porch, I waved to Gavin, who was still standing outside.

He waved back before we disappeared inside.

“Tell Gavin thanks for mowing the lawn,” Finn said.

“I did.”

“No, tell him from me.”

“All right.”

I still felt awful for standing Gavin up for our date. He’d called the night we were supposed to have dinner, but I’d been at the hospital. Finn had just been taken off his sedatives and we’d all been waiting anxiously for him to wake up.

I hadn’t even realized what time it was. What day it was. Hours had blurred together, and when Gavin called, I went to a quiet corner. He asked me where I was. I crumpled into a heap of tears.

I cried hard, finally letting it go. Gavin stayed on the phone the entire time. When I pulled myself together, I told him about Finn’s accident. He listened and promised to be there if I needed help.

He didn’t ask to reschedule our date. I didn’t offer. We both knew there would be no date.

I’d learned something since the accident.

My love for Finn wasn’t going to stop. I could tell myself and others I wasn’t in love with Finn. It was all lies. I’d buried that love deep, shoving it down whenever it threatened to appear, but it was still there.

It had always been there.

Until I figured out how to deal with it, there was no room for another man in my heart.

“Dad.” Max came careening down the stairs as I pushed Finn into the living room. There was a stack of books under his arm. “Check this out.”

“What?” Finn forced the pain and exhaustion from his face. He had been trying his hardest since the accident to hide it from the kids.

“Grandma Deborah gave me all these books yesterday. You have to find Waldo.”

“That was nice of her.”

Max nodded. “Grandma has some of these in her office but some other kid circled all the Waldos already. These ones are different and waaay harder.”

I smiled, pushing Finn next to an end table so Max could set the books down and they could hunt for Waldo together. “I’m going to make some lunch. Max, help out your dad if he needs something.”

Finn gave me a smile before turning his attention to the first page Max had opened. “We’ll be fine.”

Mom had stepped up these past six weeks. She’d never been one to volunteer to babysit, especially when the kids were still in diapers. But when I’d spent my free hours at the hospital, taking shifts with Poppy and David and Rayna so Finn wasn’t alone, Mom had spent more time with the kids than she had in the past few years combined.

I wish I could say it was for Finn. But I knew Mom. She was doing it for me, and at the moment, I’d take it.

I went into the kitchen and found Poppy, Cole and Kali already making lunch. Bread and cold cuts were laid out on the counter. Kali was slicing up a block of cheese. Cole was setting the table for six.

“I was just going to do this. You guys don’t need to make lunch.”

“I’m happy to.” Poppy smiled from where she was assembling sandwiches. “You don’t have to do everything yourself.”

Except for so long, it had been just me. Even before the divorce, I’d done everything in this house. Laundry. Cooking. Cleaning. Yard work. It felt strange to watch other people work, so I got drinks out for everyone.

“We brought over enough clothes from Finn’s for a while, along with his toiletries. But there might be some other stuff he wants.” Cole set a stack of napkins on the table for us. “Just let me know and I’ll bring it over.”

I nodded, grateful I wouldn’t need to go into Finn’s house and search through his home for personal belongings. “Thanks. I’m going to run out to Alcott and pick up his computer and calendar. He’s going to try and work on the laptop a little bit each day and get into the swing of things.”

“Want me to go over?”

“No, I can do it. But thanks.” I glanced over my shoulder. Poppy and Kali were laughing about something by the sink. They were in their own world, and we were far enough away that I could ask Cole the question that had been on my mind often lately. “Is she okay?”

Cole looked at his wife, his eyes softening. “She’s the strongest woman I’ve ever met.”

“Yes, she is.”

“She’s okay. She just got scared.”

“We all did,” I whispered.

“What she needs right now is to help. She needs to be there for Finn. He pulled her through after Jamie died. You both did.”

“I was there, but Finn was the one who got through to her. He was there at rock-bottom.”

“She wants to be there for him. I know you can do this on your own, Molly.” Cole met my gaze, his light-green eyes pleading. “But don’t. Drop a couple of balls for once in your life and let her pick them up. She needs to balance the scales. She needs to have a chance to be there for Finn like he was for her.”