Chapter Fifteen
Looking down at her last patient’s chart, Molly walked out of the examination room and smack into her father as he came around the corner.
“Oh, Dad. Sorry, I wasn’t expecting you.”
He frowned a little, searching her face. “Distracted, Molly?”
“No, why?”
His eyes narrowed. “We had a conference call with the NVA at ten.”
“Shoot! I totally forgot.”
“It wasn’t on your calendar?”
She swallowed, knowing full well that the call with the National Veterinary Association was right there on her desk calendar and on her phone. But at nine thirty, the trainers had had a break and Trace had come over to walk Meatball. He’d been so happy because the dog was being released tonight and…she let out a sigh. Yeah, distracted.
They’d dallied a little longer than necessary on a long walk. She tried not to blush remembering those stolen kisses while Meatball ran around for the first time in a few weeks. The last thing Molly had on her mind was the NVA chapter phone call.
“I was with a patient.” It wasn’t technically a lie.
But Dad’s brow, still dark despite the generous amount of silver in his thick hair, lifted enough to know she was busted. “Can we talk?”
“Sure, in my office.” For a split second, she was twelve again and had forgotten to feed her dog. Why did her growing attraction for Trace feel like she was doing something wrong? Because they hadn’t come clean with the secret? How could they? Pru was still ticked off about Saturday night, when her friend Corinne texted with the news that she and her parents had seen Molly “making out” with that guy in Bushrod Square.
And Molly had yet to tell Trace any details about why Pru had texted ten times, because she knew he’d want everything to stop. She’d let him think it was girl problems. If he even slightly suspected that Pru wasn’t happy about them being together, he’d put the brakes on everything. All the kisses. All the laughing. All the, well, kisses.
And Molly didn’t want any of it to stop.
“So, I guess since I missed the call, I got roped into coordinating next year’s seminar,” she said lightly, slipping around her desk to slide into her chair.
“I’m going to do it,” he said, taking the guest chair. “I suspect you have too much on your plate.”
She eyed her father, still trying to figure out if he was ticked about her missing the call…or had something else on his brain. “That was very nice of you, but I’ll help, I promise.”
“Do you?” he asked.
“Do I…promise?”
“Have too much on your plate?”
“No, not at all,” she assured him. “Everything’s fine.”
“I mean, it’s a lot, Molls. Being a single mother, running two vet offices, having a…social life.”
And that’s where they were going. “All under control, Dad.”
He leaned forward, putting his elbows on the desk, his crystal-blue eyes intent. “You know you can tell me if it’s not.”
“I know.” She waited a beat. “And you know you can come right out with whatever is really on your mind.”
He smiled a little, his strong jaw loosening as if he was relieved. “So how is your social life?”
“Well, it’s fine, thank you very much.” Did she actually have a social life? “I haven’t exactly been a butterfly lately, but I’m going shopping this weekend with my growing group of sisters for Chloe’s bridesmaid dresses. And I was invited to a party for the owner of one of my patients, and oh, I walked in the Puppy Parade on Saturday.”
“I heard.”
She bit back a laugh. “Which version? The ‘they were holding hands,’ or ‘gee, they seem really friendly,’ or ‘Molly Kilcannon was kissing someone in Bushrod Square.’ That one seems to be making the rounds.”
“The one that upset Pru.”
Molly closed her eyes on an exhale. “The last one.” When she looked up at him, Dad was shaking his head slowly. “What? I can’t? I shouldn’t? I’m too young? Too old? He’s not good enough? Which is it?”
Dad’s eyes flashed. “I didn’t say any of those things, and you know it. Nor did I think them,” he added before she could argue. “But Pru made a few comments on Sunday I couldn’t help noticing, and she was looking a little sullen. When I asked her—”
“You asked her?”
He looked hard at her. “You’ve never had a problem with me, or your mother, or your grandmother, talking to Pru about anything at any time.”
“Of course not,” she said quickly. “But why didn’t you ask me?”
“Because you weren’t the one mumbling about her mother embarrassing her when she was loading the dishwasher after dinner on Sunday.”
That was because Annie Kilcannon had never once done anything embarrassing. But Molly was not Annie Kilcannon. “I’m sorry she feels that way.”
He scanned her face, almost as if he was looking for more than she was saying. The truth? An admission? “What?” she asked.
“You need to be honest with her, Molly.”
For a moment, blood drained from her cheeks. “Honest?”
“If you are seeing Trace as more than the owner of a patient, if there’s a…a relationship brewing, you need to include her.”
“In everything?”
“Everything that matters, like your feelings for him. If you know what they are.”
She knew what they were, and they were nothing she wanted to discuss with her father or her daughter. “I like him. Is that a problem?”
He didn’t answer, but held her gaze.
“Dad? Is it a problem?” She heard her voice rise, suddenly aware that she might face more than Pru’s disapproval. She might face her father’s, too.
“I’m not sure.”
She dropped onto her elbows on her desk and huffed out a breath. “Why?”
“Shane really likes him.”
She grinned at him. “I found him first.”
Dad laughed. “Shane likes him as a trainer. Possibly a long-term trainer.”
“Ahh.” Now she caught his drift. “And you think if I start dating him and things go south, he’ll leave Waterford Farm, and I’ll be responsible for us losing a good service dog trainer.”
He gave her that look he used to give her when he would help her solve an algebra problem in eighth grade. That now you get it look that he was so good at.
“Well, I certainly don’t want to get in the way of the training programs, but…” She wet her lips and carefully chose her words. “I’m not going to let that stop me if I decide he’s…”
“He’s what?” Dad asked, his voice tight, like he really cared what she was going to say.
“He’s…special. Different.”
His smile was slow and kind of screamed, I told you so. “More than meets the eye?”
“Yes, Dad. You were…” She narrowed her eyes at him and leaned back, scrutinizing him this time. “Was this an act of the Dogfather?”
“What? Molly, please. That whole matchmaking thing is overblown by all you kids. I have more things on my mind than who you’re dating, believe me.”
“But you came all the way over here to talk to me about it.”
“To talk to you about Pru,” he corrected. “She won’t be embarrassed or upset with you if you include her, talk to her, and are one hundred percent honest with her.”
She sighed. “I really want to be.”
“Then what’s stopping you?”
She looked down, actually considering for one crazy minute the possibility of confiding in her father. But she had no idea how he’d take it. Maybe he’d march out and send Trace away. Maybe he’d insist she tell Pru that very minute. Maybe he’d be…disappointed.
Honestly, that was the possibility that scared her the most.
“Nothing, Dad. I’ll talk to her tonight. I’ll tell her Trace and I are…”
“Are what?”
She smiled at him. “A thing?”
He laughed and pushed up. “Happy to say I don’t even know what that means.”
She leaned forward and snagged his wrist. “Dad, no matter what happens, if Trace is being considered for that job, please don’t let this stop you. He really wants it, and I think he’d be amazing. And what an opportunity for him. I would never want to get in the way of that.”
For a long time, he looked at her, the shadow of his smile deepening.
“What?” she asked, again unable to read the expression.
He shook his head. “Nothing. You reminded me of your mother right then.”
“Thanks. There’s no higher compliment.”
He winked and left the office, and Molly sat at her desk for a good ten minutes, wondering exactly what she was going to tell her daughter about Trace. Something between “I like him” and “he’s your father.”