Cole

“Knock, knock.” I don’t wait for an answer as I open Molly’s front door and step inside the condo.

I love everything about this place. It’s so uniquely her. From the exposed brick accent wall and the beams in the ceiling to the cozy nook she created by the fireplace. She’s put her heart and soul into this, making it her own. It looks vastly different from the place Cody, and I helped her move into three and a half years ago.

I also happen to appreciate the fact that she let me help her out with some of the handy work. I enjoyed helping her renovate the place. She enjoyed the reduction in labor costs. Win, win.

“I really regret giving you a spare key,” she protests as she comes waltzing in the living room in a pair of fuzzy pink lounge pants and a skimpy tank top, showing off far too much skin. “Privacy, Cole, something you clearly need to learn more about.”

“I brought Chinese,” I tell her, knowing damn well the power of food persuasion is her weak spot.

“Great. Set mine on the counter and get out. I plan to spend the whole day relaxing before I work tonight.”

“Great. We can relax together.” If Molly thought she was getting rid of me that easily, she’s got another thing coming.

Once a month since she started working for me, we’ve spent a Saturday together, hanging out. Usually with Cody too. It was our way of making sure she knew she had friends around here. Occasionally we could convince her to hang out with all of us, Rhys, Smitty and their wives. Other times, we hung out here watching movies or playing video games and eating crap food.

That was up until I let her kiss me and pushed her away. But I’m not about to let her shut me out completely. “Just two friends, hanging out. Relaxing, and eating Chinese. I even bought you extra egg rolls.”

Molly sighs in defeat. “I hate you.”

“You don’t.” I smile knowing that I’ve won.

“Is Cody coming over too?”

“Nope, he’s out with Nora today.” The mention of my kid brother and his...whatever she is, makes me worry. I’m pretty sure he’s in over his head with Nora, but there’s no telling him that.

“Lovely. Sounds like even Cody is annoyed with you. Remind me to thank him for leaving me to deal with you. Yay me,” Molly says as she grabs her food off the counter and moves to the couch.

I’m sure the last thing she really wants to do is spend the day with me. After two weeks of working for me during the day and spending three nights a week at the club, I’m sure she planned to take full advantage of doing absolutely nothing today. Maybe she’s entitled to that. The problem is, I know if I let her hole up in her condo and avoid me, it’s only going to make both of us more miserable in the end. No matter what, I still need Molly’s friendship in my life, even if we can’t ever be anything more.

I care far too much about this girl to lose her completely.

Following her lead, I take my own food over to the living room area and set it on the coffee table, coming back for drinks for both of us. Then I settle into the opposite end of the couch and dig into my shrimp lo mien while Molly flips through tv channels in silence.

I give her a few minutes before I finally speak up again, “Still mad at me about Cody?” Let’s jump right in and not ignore the elephant in the room. Clear the air and all that. She hasn’t wanted to talk to me in two weeks. That ends now.

Molly stops chewing for a moment then looks at me as she sets her container of food down. “Oh, I’m still mad about Cody. I’m mad about your attitude about the strip club and this hot/cold shit you’re doing with me.”

Now we’re getting somewhere.

“If we’re just friends, or more importantly, if we’re just employee/employer then this needs to stop. No more coming over. No more hanging out. No more being ‘sweet’ to me.”

“Okay, not exactly where I thought we were going to lead off,” I admit. “You do know friends hang out, right? That is what we’ve been doing pretty much since you moved to Tallahassee. Shit, since you moved into this place. Cody and I hang out, here, with you. As friends. It’s our thing.”

“Oh, I realize that.” She waves her fork in the air dramatically. “What I’m saying though, is that stops. For four years, we’ve been friends. You and Cody have damn near sabotaged every date I’ve tried to go on, and you two seem to think I’m a princess to needs to be locked in this ivory tower. Guess what? I’m not. I deserve to have a life. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander and all that stuff.”

“Hey now,” I begin to defend, “we were only protecting you. Those guys were horrible, so we scared them off. You can’t blame us for wanting to keep you safe.”

“Cole, you had Cody show up to one of my dates and tell the guy he was my husband.” She fights back as I try not to laugh. “He threatened to beat the guy up!”

I recall that night very well. Except, she’s got one detail wrong. “That one was not my idea. Cody knew that guy since he was a kid. He was a punk and a woman beater. Cody said he tried to warn you and you wouldn’t listen. I did not tell him to show up and cause a scene. That one he did all on his own.” Admittedly, the whole thing was pretty funny, after the fact. The guy ran from the restaurant like his pants were on fire.

“No, you were just along for the ride, right? You happened to be driving the getaway car?”

“You were going to need a ride home. Cody showed up on his bike, remember?” That and I wasn’t about to miss the show. “And, I’d also like to point out that I did not interfere with your lunch date a few weeks back either. Give me some credit.”

“Doesn’t matter. Like I said. We’re done. You’ve made yourself clear. I’m moving on. I’m not going to have my pseudo-big brothers hanging around. I think it’s best if we go back to the way things were when you first hired me.”

Ouch. Can’t say I didn’t see that coming. “I would like to take one moment to point out that this is pretty much the way things have been since I hired you. You know...friendly.”

She knows I’ve got a point and responds by tossing a throw pillow at my head. “You can go home now.”

“Nah, I think I want to watch the rest of Coyote Ugly first.” I kick my feet up on her coffee table and get comfortable, which only serves to annoy her even more.

Round one goes to me.