The Chocolatier's Secret (Magnolia Creek, Book 2) (22 page)

‘Hey, I didn’t know you had a tattoo.’ As Molly’s toes sunk into the wet sand she looked across at Ben and spotted the tail of a design peeping out from the sleeve of his T-shirt. He pulled up the sleeve for her to see it fully, the outline of a rose with the slightest shade of red. ‘What’s the significance?’ she asked.

‘My brother Owen started it and then it was a brotherly, solidarity thing. Long story, maybe I’ll tell you someday. You know, as a friend.’

Molly knew she was blushing and kept walking, swishing her feet through the white foam that covered her toes, went away again and then came back for her moments later. ‘Are you close to your brothers?’

‘I am. We’ve had our brotherly ups and downs but it’s great being one of three. What about you and your brother? You said you were close.’

‘We are. Isaac has always been there and he’s one of my best friends. I’ll miss him when he moves out to America.’

‘The world’s a smaller place now.’ Ben grunted as he misjudged the tide’s return and it wet the bottom of his jeans. ‘You’ve got emails, Facebook … all sorts. It’s harder to miss people now.’

‘I don’t know.’ Molly was unconvinced. ‘Sometimes it’s worse, seeing things you miss out on. I can’t even begin to imagine what it’ll be like when Isaac posts photos of his adventures and we can’t nip to the pub and chat about them over a pint.’

‘Well, when you do meet up, now you’re over your fear and everything,’ he joked, ‘it’ll feel like you only saw him the day before. Trust me. I was away for a while and my brother Owen flitted here, there and everywhere until he found a steady girlfriend, and then Tom is knee-deep in fatherhood, but when we all meet up, it’s like we’ve never been apart.’

Molly wondered whether, eventually, it could be like that with Andrew. If – and it was a big if – he decided he wanted to form a relationship, would they be able to pick up where they’d left off? Would this holiday be a good start and enough of a foundation to sustain a relationship over a long distance until they could meet up again?

The fresh air made them hungry, and they made their way to Albert Park village where Molly couldn’t resist ducking into the little bookshop.

‘You should’ve bought something,’ said Ben when they left empty-handed.

‘I can’t. I’ve got a suitcase full, and I don’t want to make it any heavier.’

‘One book won’t hurt.’

Her look told him of course it would. ‘I don’t want to risk going over the baggage limit.’

‘You’ll be an experienced flyer before you know it, and you’ll bring only the bare necessities, allowing for shopping in the country you’re going to.’

They walked on until they came to a café, with silver chairs and tables spilling out onto the wide, curved pavement. Leaves skittered across the footpath, dry and crunchy from the season. ‘I’m starving,’ said Ben, eyes glued to the menu already. ‘Let’s eat and then we’d better get back to the car before the money runs out and I get myself a little souvenir of my own. Parking ticket,’ he explained.

They both ordered the Eggs Benedict, something Molly had only ever tried once at a restaurant in Covent Garden more than a year ago. And now they were sitting, Molly sneaked a look at her phone.

‘Has he texted?’ Ben didn’t miss a thing.

She shook her head, embarrassed he’d seen her checking.

‘Don’t be disappointed. We men don’t like to rush things.’

She pushed the phone back into her bag. He was right. She’d had a while to think this through, all her life in fact. But Andrew had only known about her existence for a matter of weeks. She had no idea what this was like for him. Julia had known about her existence for thirty years and look how she’d reacted.

Molly suddenly had no clue as to how this was going to pan out, and as she tucked into her eggs, she knew it wasn’t only Andrew she had to think about now. There was Ben. He was starting to mean more to her than an online acquaintance, someone to laugh and chat with. He was there for her, helping her through this when they barely knew each other, and there was an undeniable connection.

How would she leave things with him when this holiday came to an end?

*

When they arrived back in Magnolia Creek, Ben pulled up on Main Street and Molly thanked him for taking her away from it all, even if only for the day.

‘It was great to get some headspace,’ said Molly.

‘I told you, the ocean cures all troubles.’

‘I’ll try to remember that.’ She hovered awkwardly beside the car. If Ben was a friend, she’d lean in and kiss him on the cheek right now. If he were a friend she’d give him a hug and tell him she’d see him soon.

‘Are you sure I can’t interest you in a swim over at my place?’ he asked, breaking the silence.

She smiled, wondering whether he was thinking about what she looked like in a swimsuit. She was definitely wondering what he looked like without his T-shirt. ‘Maybe another time. I think I’ll go back to the cottage, lie down a while.’

‘Fair enough.’

‘Are you working again tonight?’

‘Nope. Night off for me.’

She was about to be brave and ask whether he wanted to join her for a takeaway dinner, when she looked up and caught the eye of the blonde woman walking past, a straw basket looped over her arm. Molly froze. She didn’t know whether to raise a hand, smile or completely ignore Gemma, but when Gemma waved and muttered a hello before scurrying across the other side of the road, she didn’t have a chance to do anything except let her mouth fall open.

‘You okay?’ Ben’s gaze followed Gemma and then fell back on Molly.

Before Molly could answer, she looked up to see the next person coming along the pavement.

‘Good afternoon, Molly.’ This time it was Louis, and his words came out quite clearly. ‘You’re looking well. The Australian sun must be doing you good.’

Relieved at his interest in her compared to Gemma’s obvious need to escape her presence, Molly muttered, ‘You’re looking well too.’ She sounded so lame!

Louis shuffled on his way, and Molly was still looking at him when he turned back.

‘And Molly,’ he said. ‘Remember, time is a great healer.’

Ben came to Molly’s side as she watched Louis continue along Main Street. ‘Are you okay?’

She nodded.

‘Do you want to rethink my offer?’ he asked. ‘Not many more swim days now it’s autumn, but I know the heating in the pool has been on all day. Owen’s forever over at my parents doing laps, keeping himself fit. Sickening really.’

She smiled. ‘I’ll run down to the cottage and get my swimsuit.’

Chapter Thirty

Andrew

Andrew’s hands shook as he scrolled down the contacts in his phone until he reached Molly’s name. He’d almost called her the morning after they’d met for the very first time. He’d nearly called her each day after too. And now, upstairs at the café, standing on the veranda outside looking over the mountain ash trees, he finally pressed Call and waited to hear her voice. His mind had been a kaleidoscope of feelings the past few days, mish-mashed from what he knew, from the past, from the present. What could he possibly say to Molly? What could he tell the girl who’d come all this way for answers; answers he wasn’t sure he could give. And hanging in the back of his mind was whether pursuing a relationship with Molly would destroy his marriage to the woman he loved. He felt as though he was facing an impossible choice: Molly or Gemma.

*

‘Thank you for coming.’ Andrew led Molly into the office at the back of the shop. A group of elderly tourists had commandeered the seating area in the café upstairs in the time it had taken Molly to walk from the cottage to his place after his phone call.

‘What’s that?’ He nodded to the bright orange bag she was clutching.

‘I was on my way for a swim.’

He sat on the desk chair, and Molly took the other seat. ‘Anywhere nice?’

‘Ben’s family has a pool.’

‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to ruin your plans.’

She smiled, cautiously. ‘You didn’t. This is more important.’

He moved his desk chair back a little so this didn’t feel like an interrogation or an interview.

‘I’m sorry I didn’t call before today,’ he said.

‘I get it, you know.’ At last she looked at him. ‘This is a big thing. Everyone told me I was playing with fire turning up on your doorstep.’

‘And you didn’t think so?’ He reached for her arm when she stood up as though she was going to leave. ‘I’m sorry, that came out wrong. I didn’t mean I wasn’t happy you’d turned up. I suppose what I was trying to say, or show you, was how determined you are. Julia was the same.’ He added the last comment as though it could explain away a lot of things, but he wasn’t sure whether it did really.

‘I think she still is, given she won’t see me or talk to me.’ Molly relented and sat down again.

‘Julia was sometimes too stubborn for her own good.’ A flicker of guilt passed him by as he remembered an ex-girlfriend, glad Gemma couldn’t hear him even though he had no desire to resurrect the past relationship. ‘One day we’d been out blackberry picking, and we took the quick way home, cutting across a field where there were several horses grazing. One of the horses caught my eye. It was ebony, gleaming beneath the sun, the most impressive horse I’d ever seen.

‘Anyway, I got closer to the animal wanting to feel his coat for myself, but its ears were laid flat, the whites of its eyes showing. It was scared, but Julia thought I was being a wimp. She teased me and insisted she’d stroke the horse first if I wasn’t going to. I kept telling her not to but she went ahead and did it anyway.’

‘So what happened?’

‘The horse turned around and bit her in the stomach.’ He chuckled. ‘I think you could hear the screams all across the village.’

Molly laughed but soon turned serious. ‘I think the worst thing was how unprepared I was. I had this vision of Julia opening her arms to me eventually.’

‘Real life rarely goes the way we plan though, does it?’ he philosophised, aware of his own far from idyllic domestic situation. These days, the cosy world he called home constantly spun on its axis and Molly turning up had only made it spin faster.

‘No, I guess not.’ She held the orange bag on her lap and toyed with the handles. ‘Part of me thought that if I could get on a plane to come and meet you, then no matter what happened, I’d survive it. It kind of made me feel invincible, to be taking control.’

He thought about what she’d said. ‘How do your parents feel about all this? Have you talked to them since you arrived in Australia?’

‘I have, and they’re supportive, if a little worried.’ She’d called her mum late last night and reassured her that everything was fine, she was taking it slow. She’d almost burst into tears the second she heard her mum’s voice, but she’d kept it under control, not wanting to worry them across the miles.

‘How’s Gemma?’ Molly asked.

Her question made him sit up straighter. ‘How does she feel about you, you mean?’ She nodded. ‘To be honest, I really don’t know. You’re not seeing the real Gemma, or at least the Gemma who was here before all of these family issues began.’

‘What’s she really like?’

‘She’s usually able to size people and situations up at a glance, take control, adapt and work out strategies to make everything easier. She’s strong, but struggling to have children has battered her out of shape.’ He smiled awkwardly. ‘Sorry, very bad analogy there. I think everything happening at once has started to take its toll, and finally I see she needs support as much as the rest of us. Trouble is, she’s usually so strong it’s difficult to recognise the early warning signs. She’s been coping with taking Louis to hospital too. Something I could easily rectify if I got over myself.’

She returned his smile, and he briefly saw the fifteen-year-old Julia, scared and unsure. ‘My appearance won’t have helped,’ said Molly.

‘Don’t take it personally. Easier said than done, but in her heart she doesn’t wish for any hurt to come your way.’

‘Do you wish I’d given you more warning? Written first?’

He thought about it for a moment. ‘Actually, no. Sometimes you can overthink a situation, and by doing so you get nowhere.’

They talked some more about Molly’s visit to Albert Park with Ben, but he tried not to pry too much. This was obviously a blossoming romance even though Molly described their relationship as a friendship. He could see it was more by the way she needed to control her smile when she spoke about Ben, the way her eyes were downcast as though thinking about him and talking about him at the same time made it too difficult to do anything else. In this moment, Andrew felt like a father, an overprotective father wondering whether Ben Harrison was good enough for his little girl, and the feeling took him by surprise.

‘You must be pretty angry at Louis,’ Molly noted.

He drew in his breath. ‘That’s putting it mildly.’

‘I saw him this afternoon, and Gemma.’

‘Oh?’

‘Gemma could barely look at me, she crossed the road. I feel so bad this is coming between you.’

Andrew ran a hand through his hair, tugging hard at the roots as though it would help.

‘It must be hard for her to know what to say.’ Molly smiled. ‘Louis spoke to me … he was wearing slippers, in the street.’ She pulled a face.

Andrew laughed. ‘Dad won’t wear something that doesn’t feel comfortable, so he’s been living in a pair of slippers or his runners since his feet are too swollen for shoes.’

Louis shouldn’t have been out walking on his own, and Andrew hoped he’d only gone as far as Main Street and then turned back for home. They weren’t speaking, but his chest still clenched at the thought of his dad walking somewhere, unable to get back to them because he’d taken a turn.

‘He can get really tired,’ Andrew explained. ‘He’s exhausted at times, especially on the same day as the dialysis. He often sleeps it off the second he’s home. But other days he’ll be up and about, determined not to let it get the better of him.’

‘And Gemma takes him to dialysis?’

‘She does. We were sharing until—’

‘Until he told you everything,’ Molly concluded. ‘What about a transplant?’

Her question startled him. ‘There’s a long waiting list.’

‘You know, family members are often a match. There’s always live donation.’

Oh God, how had he got into this conversation? ‘I’m not a match.’ The words were out before he could stop them. This was about him and Molly, father and daughter, not about the wrongs of his father, the secrets and lies he’d kept.

‘I might even be a match,’ said Molly.

‘Oh no, no way.’ She could well be, but he’d never, ever let her do it. ‘Please don’t even entertain the thought, Molly.’

Anxious to escape any talk of transplants, he said, ‘I’m angry at Dad for what he did, but he’s a good man deep down.’ Admitting it out loud was more for Molly’s benefit than his own, but it made him take pause. ‘He knows how wrong he was and he also knows – maybe this wouldn’t have been the case all those years ago – that he can’t push away a member of his own family. I imagine he’d be thinking perhaps he could make amends, through you. He’ll want to get to know you, Molly.’

She seemed pleased at the thought.

They sat in the quiet of the office, the breeze blowing through the open window, the whir of the computer on the desk. The sounds of the chocolaterie seeped through the door – Stephanie calling to Emilio to fill another online order, Emilio asking for packaging for chocolates destined for the shop floor.

Molly put her bag down and scooped her legs up onto the chair, hugging them to her. ‘Tell me more about life in Australia when you were younger. I’m fascinated. It must’ve been so different.’

He told her about the first year in the country, making friends, all the usual schoolyard shenanigans from fighting with other boys to trying a cigarette and hating it. He told her how he’d studied a Hospitality degree in Melbourne and was set to do hotel management, but then during an apprenticeship as a pastry chef at a hotel in the city, his passion for chocolate grew. He’d studied under Louis, working in the family chocolate business, and then he’d met Gemma and decided to go it alone under the banner of Magnolia Creek Chocolaterie.

‘Do you need to get going?’ he asked when he heard her phone bleep.

‘Ben,’ she said. ‘Sorry, I’ll text him to explain where I am.’

When Molly had finished sending her message, Andrew asked her to tell him more about her childhood, more about her life now. She recalled school days: the time she’d taken her guinea pig into school for show and tell and it had died on the table, literally; the childhood scrapes she and Isaac had got into; the time she broke her arm playing leapfrog.

‘I’ll miss Isaac when he moves to America,’ said Molly. ‘Mum and Dad are heartbroken, but they know they have to let him go.’

The room fell silent until Andrew asked. ‘Where do we go from here?’ and instantly regretted it. It sounded like he was taking charge in a business meeting, working out an agenda.

‘I don’t really know. I guess some of it depends on Gemma,’ she said tentatively. ‘I don’t want to come between you. The last thing I want to do is cause trouble. But if she doesn’t want me in your lives, then moving forwards will be difficult, all round.’

‘You’re too understanding.’ He smiled. ‘Julia always said I was too soft, you must get that from me.’

Molly’s phone bleeped again. ‘I’d better be going.’ She hesitated. ‘Thank you for inviting me here today.’

‘I enjoyed it,’ said Andrew, conscious they still weren’t entirely relaxed in one another’s company. There was still a slight awkwardness, unspoken words hovering somewhere in the air, refusing to be caught for now.

*

The chocolaterie was closing, and Andrew switched the tempering machines in the kitchen to standby so the remaining chocolate inside would keep until he switched them all back on in the morning. Outside the sky had turned a gunmetal grey, clouds puffed in the distance and Magnolia Creek was quietening, preparing to say goodbye to another day as the light faded.

‘Gemma?’ Andrew unlocked the front door to the shop when his wife appeared in the doorway and tapped gently on the glass. ‘Is everything okay?’ She was usually at home at this time, tired after a busy day teaching.

She kissed him on the cheek.

‘What’s that for?’

‘Because I haven’t kissed you in nearly a week.’ She followed him out into the kitchen where he rinsed a few moulds and dried them with kitchen towel.

‘It’s understandable,’ he said.

‘Andrew.’ She stilled his hands and he put down the mould and the tissue. ‘I don’t want this to come between us. We’ve got so much going on.’

He smiled, reached a hand up to stroke her cheek. ‘You’re amazing, you know that?’ This was the Gemma he’d fallen in love with. The woman who saw problems as temporary glitches, nothing they couldn’t bounce back from.

She looped her arms around his neck. ‘I know.’

When he grinned, she leant past him and plucked a wonky white chocolate disc from the tub on the top shelf where they kept any rejected chocolates, unsuitable for display. She plucked another and put it in Andrew’s mouth as he pulled her to him.

‘I saw Molly today,’ she said.

‘So did I.’

Gemma pulled back. ‘You did? Did you speak to her?’

He nodded, couldn’t help the smile. ‘We talked for a while.’

‘And?’

‘It went well, really well.’ He told her what they’d talked about, downplaying how awesome it had felt, how elated he still was even though she’d left a while ago.

‘How did you leave things?’ Gemma asked.

‘We’ll talk again. It’s a shame she lives so far away.’ He searched Gemma’s eyes for any indication of whether she would ever be able to accept this new person in their lives. Molly was close to Gemma in age. Only seven years separated them, and Andrew wondered, if Molly were younger, would it have been easier for Gemma to accept Molly as his child?