She scooted around the corner into the dining room where the box lay open on the table.
Cookie in hand, Molly’s dark curls bobbed against the exposed pale skin of her shoulder as she turned to Rachel. Rachel, who had reached the room three seconds too late.
Molly lifted her looked-to-be-recently-threaded eyebrows as she bit, her hazel eyes sparkling with the perpetual perkiness that had become her brand.
Rachel made a strangled sound.
“Wha?” Molly asked as a few errant crumbles fell from her lips.
Rachel took a breath as her cell buzzed in her pocket.
“Want some?” Molly asked around the mouthful of carb-laden goodness.
Rachel shook her head, glancing at her cell. A client. She needed to take this.
“Don’t pick that up.” Molly’s eyes turned to slits. “We’ll be even later. Not just cookie late, but client late. You know we can’t be—”
“It’s Cassie.” Rachel stared as the number flashed on the screen.
“Cassie?” Molly asked.
“Client.” Cassie had a tendency to try to do things herself that she really should let Rachel handle. “It’s probably important.”
“It’s after hours,” Molly said, totally correct in that assumption.
Rachel bit at her bottom lip. Molly wasn’t wrong…yet…
“Thatis why you shouldn’t pick it up.” Molly clearly knew better than to reach for the phone, since she and Rachel had been friends forever. But, since they’d been friends forever, Rachel knew Molly’s fingertips must itch to grab the cell and bat it out of reach. Crush it under her tennis shoe. That sort of thing.
“It is after five,” Molly continued. “Wehave a Little League game to get to. Your kids and my kid are expecting us not to be late. And boundaries are important.”
“What ifthe callis important?” Rachel wished she had powers of telepathy so she could reach through the signal and determine if it was something that needed to be dealt with before she picked up and made them both late. Later.
“What’s the likelihood that it’s not something that can wait until tomorrow?” Molly asked, her tone one of soothing comfort that usually worked for getting her way.
Molly had a knack for getting people—everyone—to bend to her will. Sometimes she used the brute force of her personality and sometimes, like now, she used a gentle touch. Molly was diverse in her manipulation techniques like that.
She’d make an excellent mother-in-law someday.
Rachel warred with herself and the decision at hand. If she answered the call, she’d be late, but her client would be happy. If she didn’t answer the call, she’d be only a little late and Molly would be happy.
“My clients hire me because they know I’ll always go above and beyond.” Her heartbeat increased even as she glanced at her friend. The above and beyond thing was right on her business cards. In bold italics.
“True.” Molly continued nibbling the cookie but kept one eye on Rachel and one eye on the phone. She also started toward the door.
“Not answering isnotgoing above and beyond,” Rachel declared.
“Don’t make the boys wait,” Molly said quietly, turning to her friend. Her understanding of the battle going on inside Rachel was abundantly apparent.
And that’s what did it.
The boys.
Her boys.
Rachel wouldn’t let her boys wait.
“I’ll just catch up with Cassie in the car on the way.” Still, Rachel had to force herself not to return the call.
