Case in point? Damn, his husband was also a couples counselor.
Which meant he knew a helluva lot more about long term happiness than Molly did.
“You will not believe the couple I spliced together out of perfect chemistry,” Peter said on the monitor. “I present to you—”
Chris beat out a drumroll on the edge of his chair.
“Mary and Doug,” Peter announced, moving to welcome the two to what seemed to be an actual movie set.
“They are divorced,” Peter added.
“Not from each other, though,” Chris chimed in. “From other people. This was their first time meeting.”
“And we have pictures,” Peter added, holding up some snaps of the two people. Prints. Actual, honest to God prints.
They oohed and ahhed over the date that actually looked super fun.
They had the sexy banter down. Of course they did. A matchmaker and a couples counselor walk into a contest and they might as well book their kid’s stuntman camp right now.
She slunk back in her chair. There were certain times in a girl’s life when she realized it was time to give up. This was one of those times.
“Damn.” She sat back as the video played and the couple chatted all about the brilliance oftheirmatched couple. It helped that the couple was actually there to add tidbits. They both liked spaghetti carbonara, walks downtown, and making their matchmaker look really freaking good at his job. Hell, he even had a professional sign off on the coupling.
“Well…” Molly lifted her gaze to Agnes.
“What’s your plan?” she asked, earnestly.
“Uh…” Molly glanced to the coffee pot. That was the first part of her plan. The second step was still up for debate. “Probably bow out.”
“But you need money.” Agnes scowled.
“I do. Prize money would be great, but I also realize that this guy—Peter—is going to win.”
Agnes glowered. “What has happened to you?”
“What do you mean?” Nothing had happened to her…that she knew of. She was the same old Molly. Same ol’. Same ol’.
“You used to be so Molly. Now you’re…” She waved a hand up and down.
“I’m still Molly.” Molly gestured to herself. “I’ve always been this level of both awesome and what-the-hell.”
Agnes pursed her lips. “There’s a house two streets over for sale. Came up yesterday.”
Wait. What? Not to say that Molly had been waiting for a house in the neighborhood, but she’d totally been waiting for a house in this neighborhood. She could stay close to Agnes, have her home, and live her happily ever after.
“My house plans may need to take a backseat so Ollie can have his camp and I can fix my car when it decides not to start.” Because according to the mechanic that was going to happen any minute.
The idea of the perfect house dropping onto the market at precisely the time she couldn’t use her down payment? Irony was a fickle asshole.
“What about me?” Agnes asked, pointing to her chest. “I haven’t had time to get Charlie to fall head over heels. Right now he’s just in it for the contest.”
“What?” Molly didn’t buy that for a minute. “Explain to me what you told Charlie on your walk yesterday.”
“That you need money.” Agnes hadn’t stopped glowering. But Molly would not cower under the glower. She was strong. Really, she was.
“Okay,” Molly said.
“I told him if we didthisyou’d getmoney.” Agnes leaned in and said, dangerously soft, “That’s why he agreed.”
