Truly, she’d moved beyond really-screwed-up and well into totally-screwed-up territory.
Gavin didn’t answer his door for her. Which was okay, because maybe he wasn’t home? But he also didn’t answer his phone, either.
She called his office but got sent to his voicemail.
She thought about going down there, but she didn’t want to cross that line between the let-me-apologize ex-girlfriend and the let’s-call-the-cops-on-her version.
Since he wasn’t answering, she texted him saying that she’d very much like him to come to the finalists dinner.
They were announcing the overall winner here tonight. The winner was picked by most popular final vote. Everything Molly had heard since she arrived was that Agnes and Charlie were very much still the frontrunners.
She was very much the frontrunner.
But it didn’t feel as good as it should’ve. Didn’t feel like a win. Not really.
Gavin should be here. She wanted him here.
“Molly?” Oh, yay, it was Cassidy.
Molly glanced over her shoulder to…yup. Cassidy. “Hi.” Molly pulled her purse up on her shoulder.
Cassidy had gone with a blue dress with cute little white flowers stitched up the side.
“It’s like I see you everywhere.” Cassidy pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. “I always think there’s a reason for that, you know? Like maybe we should have coffee sometime. I’m still new here and I’m trying to make friends.”
Coffee? Molly wasn’t sure she could do that.
“I like going for coffee,” Molly said. “And, you know, I know you and Gavin have a history.”
Cassidy nodded. “Ancient history. Right?”
One of the DJs from the radio station swooped in and pressed a kiss to Cassidy’s neck.
“Cass. Who’s this?” he asked.
Uh. That was not a friendly kiss. That was a kiss of someone who knew Cassidy intimately, if Molly was correct. And Molly was correct here, there wasn’t a lot of question.
“This is Molly,” Cassidy said, holding the DJ’s hand and looking up at him like he was her everything. “I told you
about her. She’s seeing that guy I used to know.” That guy she used to know?
“Can I ask something?” Molly said, though she was going to go ahead and ask it anyway. “Where did Gabby’s name come from? I always wonder about that kind of thing.”
“My great-grandmother.” Cassidy looked up at the DJ guy. “Gabriela. She’s just like her, too. The name is very appropriate.”
So, Gabriela was not an ode to Gavin? Molly’s throat got thick. This was…unexpected. She glanced at her glass of Sauvignon Blanc.
“Ah.” She cleared her throat. Took a heavy gulp of wine, grateful she’d snagged a glass from the bar at the restaurant. She’d grabbed it mostly so she’d have something to do with her hands. Something to hold. Now she did more than sip at it for aesthetic purposes, because she’d totally screwed the salami sandwich on this one.
“That’s really nice,” she said, sipping a nice big gulp of not-aesthetic-anymore wine.
“Well, hello there. We came over to scope out the competition,” said Peter, the other guy in the lead, as he slipped right into the conversation with Cassidy.
They did small talk before Cassidy and her DJ boyfriend guy slipped off to do whatever it was they were going to do. Really it wasn’t any of Molly’s business.
“Will we get to meet Gavin tonight?” Peter asked, as though reading her thoughts.
Peter being the real matchmaker in this competition. “I think he’s coming,” Molly said. “He’s just a little
