Letters to Molly (Maysen Jar, #2)(65)

Ashley laughed again, snagging my attention, and I clenched my jaw. It wasn’t just her laughter that grated on my nerves. It was the way she purred his name, adding an unnecessary number of ns. And it was how he always laughed back. He always smiled around her.

Of course he did. She was beautiful. She was fit underneath her navy scrub pants and simple white tee. She probably made it to the gym each morning at four. I bet she was the perky one who smiled as she ran or climbed a mountain of never-ending stairs. Her and her sleek brown ponytail.

Whatever. My hair was never going to be sleek and shiny. I was never going to grow the motivation to go to the gym at four in the morning. And I was never going to be okay watching another woman flirt with Finn.

“You did it!” Ashley squealed, clapping and jumping up and down. The ponytail swung wildly.

Finn had just crossed the room using his crutches. Usually it took him longer to go that distance, but he was motivated today. He wanted out of that chair and nothing was going to stop him.

His smile was blinding, so beautiful it stole my air. He flashed it at Ashley and her cheeks flushed.

My heart plummeted. No. Finn and I had built such an easy relationship lately. It had been easy to pretend the past had been forgiven. That he didn’t want to find a new woman for his life, because I was that woman.

But here we were. I had a sinking feeling that I would be stuck with Ashley.

He’d get through this physical therapy and start driving on his own. I bet after a few appointments where his ex-wife wasn’t in the room, he’d ask her out to dinner.

I was going to get stuck with that ponytail as Finn’s new girlfriend.

The happiness I’d felt for Finn seconds ago fell away. Because if it wasn’t Ashley, it would be someone else. I focused on my laptop for a few moments, taking a break from the soon-to-be couple.

“Thank you.” Finn’s deep voice was nothing more than a whisper but it carried across the room. It almost sounded like it was meant for me, not her. I looked up just in time to see Ashley rush to his side and touch his shoulder.

“I’m so proud of you.” Her hand traveled up and down his arm.

I was expecting him to knock her off her feet with another sexy smile. But instead of looking at her, he turned to me.

I got the smile.

“Thank you,” he mouthed.

A single nod was all I managed in response.

“So, um . . .” Ashley muttered. “Let’s go back to the other side. We’ll do some stretches and see how your pelvis is feeling.”

Pelvis. She was always saying pelvis. She always touched his hip when she did.

I hated that Finn didn’t seem to mind.

I concentrated on work, doing my best to block out her giggles. But whenever I looked up from my computer, Finn seemed to be glancing my way.

He probably wanted me to disappear, go get coffee or something. Maybe he was waiting for a moment alone to ask her out.

Unable to focus on the financial projections I’d been working on all week, I shut my laptop and stowed it in my bag. Then I left the room, striding down the long hallway that led outside the physical therapy office.

I sent Finn a text that I was outside before wandering down the sidewalk, the sunshine warm on my shoulders. I found a small garden in front of the building, bordered by a thick cement ledge.

The garden was peaceful. All the plants circled a small rock fountain. The varying shades of the leaves and flowers made a spiral that burst with color. I sat on the ledge, mesmerized by the swirl of yellows fading into oranges and then reds. White flowers on emerald vines wound around the border.

It was a new discovery in an old town that was changing by the minute.

Bozeman wasn’t the quaint Montana town it had been when I’d been a child. It was now one of the fastest-growing cities in the country.

The sunrises over the mountains were too beautiful. The lush, green fields of the valley were too breathtaking. The winters, when the trees were blanketed with snow that glittered beneath the sun, were too majestic.

Everyone wanted to live here.

Except me.

If not for the kids, I would have considered moving after the divorce. But I didn’t want to take them away from Finn. There was no way he’d move away from Alcott.

Bozeman’s growth was part of the reason Alcott had been so successful. In the early years, when Bozeman was expanding faster than laborers could keep up, his services had been in high demand. He could have worked twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week and it still wouldn’t have been enough to keep up.

Maybe that was why I resented Bozeman’s growth so much. Not just because the town I’d loved as a child was gone forever, but because that growth had played a part in ripping my marriage to pieces.

“Hey.”

I jumped at Finn’s voice. “Oh, hey. I didn’t hear you come out.”

“It’s fine. Are you okay?”

I nodded and hopped down from the ledge. “Just thinking.”

“About?”

“Bozeman. None of this was here when I was a kid.” I waved my hand to the new building across the street from a new subdivision and new community park.

“Did you know I did this?” He pointed to the garden where I’d been sitting.

“You did?”

“Yep. Two or three years ago. I can’t remember. The years are blurring together.”