Letters to Molly (Maysen Jar, #2)(57)

I nodded, my throat too tight to speak.

I didn’t want to give up control of the juggling act. I didn’t want to hand over something to Poppy. Truthfully, if I handed over one ball, I was afraid all the others would fall. But I’d risk it for her.

“Lunch is ready,” Kali announced, shouting for Finn and Max as she carried over two plates to the table.

“Thanks for cooking,” I told Poppy as she walked to the table.

“It’s just sandwiches. Technically, no cooking involved.”

“It’s still appreciated.”

“I was thinking of making double of everything I do at home,” she said, setting down the plates and taking a seat as Finn and Max came into the room.

Cole lifted the chair at the head of the table and put it in the corner so Finn could wheel his chair up.

Poppy’s happy face faded when she looked at her brother. She saw what I saw. Finn was struggling. He was going to keep struggling because this road to recovery was going to be long and hard. He was a man who loved to work with his hands and be outside, yet he was confined to that chair.

Once he was out of the wheelchair, there’d be intense physical therapy. He wasn’t going to jump out of that chair and say Ta-da, let’s go plant some trees. The doctors said he might have lasting effects from the accident.

“Anyway,” Poppy cleared her throat. “I was thinking of making double everything I do at home. Then you won’t have to cook.”

I opened my mouth to tell her I could manage but stopped before the automatic response came out. “That would be great.”

This next month would be brutal.

Work at the restaurant was as busy as ever. I couldn’t wait for school to start back up again, because as much as I loved summers with the kids, this summer needed to be over. They were bored and irritable. They’d spent more hours in the hospital than I’d ever wanted.

School was going to be my saving grace. Maybe then I’d tell Poppy she could back off the meals. But if cooking made her feel useful, I’d take it.

Finn thought he’d be able to dive right back into work, but I knew it wasn’t going to be quite so easy. He was going to need a chauffeur to get to job sites and inspect work done. He would need someone to pick up the slack in the office because his energy waned so quickly. That would all fall to me.

And Bridget. As much as I hated her, I was grateful for Bridget’s undying loyalty to Finn. While he’d been at the hospital, she’d taken over everything on his projects, running them along with her own. She’d visited him every other day to keep him apprised of business.

Gerry and the other foremen had stepped up too. They’d come to the hospital once a week to relay progress. They’d kept Finn in the loop, and it had saved Finn’s sanity.

Part of his sanity. We hadn’t let him have his laptop while he’d been in the hospital, worried it would cause him too much stress. But Finn was anxious to know how much had been overlooked in the office. Bridget might have the design side of the business covered, but she didn’t pay the bills or work with vendors.

What he didn’t know was that I’d taken over the office work.

On the mornings his parents took the kids or they were at camp, I spent a few hours at Alcott, relearning the things I had once known inside and out. Then I went back after my workday at the restaurant was over.

I paid the bills. I returned messages from vendors. I turned down prospective clients, putting them on next year’s wait list. I thrust myself back into a world I’d once helped create, enjoying the bittersweet familiarity.

“What’s the plan for the rest of the day?” Kali asked. Her eyes looked longingly outside.

“Nothing.” I shook my head. “We’re just going to relax.”

Well, they could relax. I was going to do some cleaning that hadn’t been done in too long. I was going to unpack some of Finn’s things and make sure he was set up in the guest bedroom. And then I was going to mow the lawn.

But Kali and Max were free.

“Can we ride our bikes?” Max asked.

“Sure.”

The kids shared a smile. Poppy and Cole shared a look filled with silent I love yous. And my eyes turned to Finn.

His were waiting, a smile toying with the corners of his mouth.

Finn. My Finn. Alive.

And for the time being, home.





The improvements Finn had made to the front yard made mowing a dream. But the backyard was a nightmare. Not only did I have the normal embellishments to work around, but I now had piles of dirt and a hole where the fountain had been too. I pushed the mower onto the grass, dreading how long it would take for me to get it done.

Probably two hours. Maybe three. While Gavin had kept it from turning into a jungle, he hadn’t done the edging quite clean enough for my liking.

After lunch, Cole and Poppy left to get their kids from Cole’s parents’ house. Max and Kali had spent the time it had taken me to mow the front yard riding their bikes around the neighborhood. But they’d retreated inside about five minutes ago to play in their rooms.

Max went back to Where’s Waldo? while Kali wanted to tackle the jigsaw puzzle Mom had bought for her.

And Finn was taking a nap.

I’d set him up in the guest bedroom so he had plenty of space. Even though it would be completely sex-free for him to sleep in my bed, I tended to sprawl or cuddle and didn’t want to accidently roll into him in my sleep and risk bumping his broken leg or jostling his hips. So he was in the guest bedroom because it was the only other room on the main floor.