“Sorry, honey, I meant to help you with your stuff, but my husband called, and I got distracted.” She reached forward, grabbing the bag and water bottle from my hand. “I think Molly wanted to set up on the back patio table since it’s so nice today.”
My history with the Ward family was not typical, considering Molly had been my boss for a handful of years. But as my personal assistant job morphed into the party planning business—starting with Molly’s kids, then all her sisters’ kids, then their friends and friends of friends—it was clear that I couldn’t balance both for very long.
Paige was the one who approached me about investing in an event planning company. I was the face, the person who coordinated all the events, but Molly and Paige were the strategic brains who helped me grow. Without their guidance, I wasn’t sure I would’ve made it in Seattle after Nick and I broke up.
And because I was a de facto member of the family, I was still the one who planned every single big event they celebrated.
Molly came out of the kitchen, a wide smile on her face. “Hi. I haven’t seen you in forever.”
I gave her a look. “I was here three weeks ago.”
Molly sighed. “I know. Forever.”
With a laugh—and without looking at Emmett’s picture on the fridge—I followed her out into the backyard.
“I am very easy to miss. I get it.”
I said the words lightly enough, and Molly laughed because I knew she would. But saying them … in the house where he grew up. It hurt. It hurt more than I expected because it was supposed to get easier. It was supposed to hurt less as time passed, and I was finding the exact opposite to be true.
I’d gone over a month without watching SportsCenter. I turned off the Google alert on his name.
I’d only thought of him once the past week while I was in the shower.
Fine. Twice.
I hated that I still wondered if he did miss me. Or if I’d been fooling myself that I could do one night with him and be able to move on easily. He did what I’d asked of him, and like Greer said, it was the right thing at the time.
But that didn’t make the way I missed him any easier to deal with.
Maybe in a year, I’d be able to think about him without my entire heart flinching. What a very depressing goal to aim for.
“Luna colored a picture for you,” Molly said.
“I will add it to my collection. What are we obsessed with this month?”
Molly narrowed her eyes. “Sparkly superheroes.”
“Ahh,” I said. “Sounds like her.”
“We’ve gone through all the glitter in that art pack you bought her for her birthday.”
“Already?”
“It’s everywhere.” She grinned as she took a seat. “Noah showed up to film for Game Day, and pink glitter was stuck to the back of his neck.”
Paige laughed.
I took a seat next to Molly, pulling binders out of the box and handing one to each of them. Then the bottles of wine that would come after the meeting, because it was our tradition to end a big planning session with a couple of drinks. “Can she come for a sleepover sometime this week? I miss her face.”
“She’d love that.” Molly pulled out her phone. “Just tell me what works for you.”
“I’ll look when we’re done.” The first page of the binder was a list of what we’d need. “Did you get a chance to finalize the menu options?”
Paige nodded. “Isabel isn’t eating dairy right now because she hates joy, but I don’t think we’ll need to adjust much of what we already picked.”