Kaiya blushed a lot of red.
“Kaiya?” Sadie asked, a sly grin etching her lips.
“Still happening,” Kaiya said, cheeks flushed and bashful. “He’s perfect.”
“Yesssss.” Molly sat tall and flung her victory arms into the air. “That’s fantastic.”
She’d buy them a new blender for their wedding gift. One of the fancy kinds that her newest sponsor made with multiple settings. Yeah, a blender company sponsored a dating show. Apparently, she spoke to their target demographic. Also, she got a free blender out of the deal on top of the usual payment, too.
“I can’t believe you did it again.” Rachel pointed to Molly.
“What can I say? I have a gift with my first dates.” Molly gave a little shoulder shake she hoped looked convincing.
“Dan is…” Kaiya blew a breath out of her cheeks and fell back against her chair. “I’m so grateful because he’s just…” Her cheeks flamed even more red. She fanned herself and blew out a long stream of air.
What did that feel like? It’d been so long since Molly had even remotely felt the “he’s just…” level of red.
Kaiya did the fish thing—opening and closing her mouth and clearly well out of water.
She needed a life raft. Molly knew how that felt.
They were girlfriends, and they didn’t have many secrets from each other—she was pretty sure—but this was still new with Dan, and Kaiya clearly needed a little time to process her feelings. Molly couldn’t understand the feelings, but she understood the need for time. She didn’t mind being the conduit to give Kaiya a break.
“Yeah. Yeah.” Molly gave her friend a look she hoped meant as much to Kaiya as it did to her. “Dan is amazing. We can all agree with that.”
“Oh boy, can we,” Kaiya said, like it wasn’t a big deal. But the look she gave Molly said it all.
She understood.
Molly understood.
It was like a small pinky swear between them.
“I guess everyone’s getting bedroom lucky but me,” she said with a dramatic sigh.
“I’m not.” Gavin’s deep voice came from the general area behind Molly.
Uh.
Oops.
She was pretty sure she turned the same shade of Kaiya red.
Molly was mid-digesting Gavin’s presence as the patio door flung open and the blur of dogs and Kellan blew through right to Rachel.
“Mom,” Kellan yelled, flinging himself at her similarly to how Molly did earlier.
Rachel embraced him while, inside, Brady and Travis did some kind of super involved handshake.
Molly and Sadie and Kaiya all held back and let the family do their thing. Until—
It wasn’t a touch. There was no contact. Yet, even without the chaos of the kids and dogs, she knew.
Gavin had moved right behind her.
Which meant…
Fake showtime.
