I Wish You Were Mine (Oxford #2)(77)

“Oh, honey,” Riley cooed, coming up beside her and ushering her toward the kitchen table. “Come. Sit.”

She did as she was told before lifting the whisky to her lips and taking a small sip. It burned in the best way possible. She liked the burn. Needed it.

She lifted her head to tell Sam she liked it, but he’d disappeared, only to reappear with a box of tissues a moment later.

He set it in front of her, resting a big hand on her shoulder for a moment. It was a kind touch—a comforting gesture.

And all she needed for the tears to start coming in earnest.

She put her hands over her face, too torn up to be embarrassed at sobbing in front of people she barely knew.

Riley made soothing noises, along with frequent comments along the lines of “Men are the worst.”

When Mollie pulled her hands away from her face long enough to grab a tissue, she saw Sam wrestling the chips away from Riley, replacing them with an apple before quietly leaving the room.

Riley threw the apple after him and didn’t even flinch at the dull thud of it hitting a wall somewhere.

“That was organic, Riley!” Sam’s voice called.

Mollie choked out a messy, watery laugh. “You’re sure he’s not a health food guy?”

“He didn’t used to be,” Riley grumbled, staring longingly at the barely touched whisky in front of Mollie. Mollie nudged it toward her, but Riley merely shook her head with a long sigh.

Mollie frowned in confusion. Then her eyes went wide as she put the pieces together: Riley saying no to a drink she obviously wanted, Sam’s determination to get Riley to eat better…

Riley was pregnant.

At the expression on Mollie’s face, Riley let out a long, weary sigh. “See, the thing that Sam doesn’t get is that it’s not that I want the chips, it’s that the baby wants the chips. If I try to put an apple down there, I guarantee he or she is going to send it right back up again.”

Mollie let out a happy squealing noise as she wrapped her arms around Riley’s neck in an awkward hug. “You’re having a baby! Congratulations.”

Riley laughed and patted her arm. “I am. It’s early yet, so no one outside of the family knows. And the girls, of course, but they are family.”

Mollie rested a hand on Riley’s stomach. The gesture was probably too familiar for a woman she barely knew, but she couldn’t help it. The thought of a little mini Riley or Sam was just too cute for words.

“How do you feel?” Mollie asked.

Riley shrugged. “Not too bad…yet. Mostly just excited. And, you know, terrified.”

“You’re going to make the best mom.”

Riley smiled. “Says the girl I just met last night.”

“Yeah, well,” Mollie muttered darkly, slumping back in her chair, “I think I’ve aged a decade in the past twenty-four hours.”

“Do you want to tell me what happened?” Riley asked. “If not, it’s okay. You’re welcome to change into comfy clothes and wallow in the guest room as long as you want. There’s a ton of ice cream in the freezer that Sam won’t let me eat.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to talk about it,” Mollie said slowly. “It’s just…I don’t even know what to say.”

“You two seemed so right last night. You couldn’t take your eyes off each other. What happened?”

Mollie pulled the whisky toward her, cupping it between her hands without taking a drink. “He’s moving back to Texas.”

Riley’s eyebrows shot up. “Whoa. Did not see that coming.”

“Yeah. Me neither. Although I keep thinking I should have, you know? There was a time when I knew him better than anyone. And yet somehow, it’s like after we started sleeping together, he became more of a stranger.”

“It works that way sometimes,” Riley said. “Sex complicates things.”

“Why didn’t he just tell me?” Mollie said, more to herself than to Riley. “I would have understood.”

“Would you have?” Riley said with a little smile.

“Maybe. I mean, on one hand, I knew he wasn’t completely over the loss of his football career. But on the other hand, I really thought he was moving forward.”

“That’s why he’s moving back? Football?”

“He got an assistant coaching job on his old team.”

“Ah. Those who can’t play, coach?”

“Apparently.” Mollie rested her elbows on the table and rubbed her temples. “I keep thinking I should have been more understanding. If this is what he wants—”

“What do you want?”

Mollie gave a harsh little laugh. “I don’t know that that matters. For the first time in my life, I did what I wanted. I moved to New York. I made a move on Jackson. Which my sister now knows about, by the way. Went over super well. I did what I wanted, and I’ve never been so miserable.”

“Do you think you would have been happy if you hadn’t? Would you be happy if you were still keeping your feelings all bottled up?”

“At least I wasn’t hurting,” Mollie whispered.

Riley shook her head. “That’s not what I’m asking. Would you have been happy?”

Mollie turned her head and met the other woman’s piercing blue eyes. “I’ve never been so happy as I was the past couple weeks. It felt like my heart was flying.”