The Gravity of Love (18 page)

She kissed his shoulder and hugged him
tight. "That's just fine."

"...So you do forgive me?"

"Of course, Red."

"Great, then let's go get some
pie!" He said with a wink and leaving her arms to hurry in to the kitchen.

_______________________________________________________________________

But the next day, things weren't all happy
and not all had been solved with pie. It was time to deal with those matters
that hadn't been solved on the holiday, thanks to trying to keep it light.

So while Harrison went off to Candice's
house to have what was destined to be quite the lengthy talk, Molly met Ephram
at a coffee house.

Sitting by the window with a coffee cup in
her hands, she finally worked up the nerve to look in to his eyes. "You
think I cheated on you. You hear a rumor that I'm pregnant and you suddenly act
upon it saying I cheated on you. You didn't even tell me. You made stupid
excuses on why you couldn't meet me. What were you planning?"

"You weren't mad at Harrison he's
the one who told me the stupid lie in the first place!"

"This isn't about Harrison! This is
about you and I the difference is very clear. What did you think? I was
sleeping around on you? Who were the candidates in your mind, huh?"

"Molly, calm down, please. It was
stupid of me. I was being overworked and I hadn't been getting much sleep. The
whole thing freaked me out, is all. It was a natural reaction."

"Harrison was trying to sell his
school so he could follow me to wherever I decided to move and raise the baby.
It wasn't a natural reaction for him."

"Why do you compare him with me,
Molls? I'm not Redford. I don't think like him. I don't do everything like him.
So okay, he's great. He's perfect. I'm an ass. What more is there to say?"

She shook her head. "Harrison is far
from perfect. That wasn't what I was trying to say. I'm just trying to get you
to help me understand what the hell is running through your head?"

"I'm not trying to be mean, but come
on here. I screwed up, I know that. But I also know this has little to do with
just my reaction to what happened."

"What do you think I'm doing
then?"

"Comparing me to Harrison. Wondering
why I can't do what he does or say what he says. Trying to figure out why
you're miserable at what you're looking at. Well from what I see, it's pretty
easy to understand."

"Yeah? Then tell me."

"I think you're trying to find someone
just like Harrison...because that's who you're really in love with. Not me.
Him. But you won't admit it because you're scared. Just like I was scared when
I thought you were pregnant."

She shook her head with an angry laughter.
"I am not in love with Harrison Redford. You're just trying to find an out
for my anger. You're trying to make me let you go."

"No. No I'm not. What I just said is
what I believe, Molly."

"And so what is the end result?"
She asked, her lips trembling around the side of her coffee cup.

"I..." he stopped, his whole face
registering in shock as he looked behind her.

At first, she looked confused at him before
looking over her shoulder to see a woman with long blonde hair and a face more
beautiful than an angel's. She looked back at Ephram in disgust. "What,
you're checking out women in my presence now?"

"No..." He whispered in amazement
as the woman walked towards them.

"Ephram Vinick! Oh my God, I can't
believe you're here!" She exclaimed, giving him a quite hug and a kiss on
the check.

Molly sat back, interested and watching
over the edge of her mug.

"Amy...it's great to see you! But I
thought...aren't you supposed to be living in Rome?"

The woman called Amy smiled brilliantly.
Molly couldn't help but compare Candice's smile with this one. Amy's won out
easily. "As it so happens, Rome is quite overrated."

"Now that's surprising." Ephram
remarked, sitting further in the booth as she lowered herself in to side
sitting, facing him full on.

"Not really. You weren't there. I
found myself looking for you but...you were here. I kept hearing you calling me
back so I decided..."

Molly cleared her throat, making it look
like she had gulped down too much coffee.

The two looked at her as if she was the
stranger who just sat down before Ephram came to his senses. "God Molly,
I'm sorry. Amy, this is Molly Radcliffe. Molls, this is Amy Goodwin."

Molly nodded, still looking confused.
"And you are?" She asked, trying to sound polite.

"Ephram's exfiancé."

Molly couldn't hide her surprise this time.
"Uh...oh." Was all she could get out.

"And you?"

"I'm...his girlfriend."

"Oh God, I'm sorry." She
immediately apologized. "I must look dreadful. I didn't mean to
intrude."

She stood up but Ephram caught her wrist,
not willing to let her down. "How about you leave me your phone number?
I'll catch up with you later."

Amy Goodwin smiled again, taking a business
card out of her wallet and placing it in his hand. "I'll talk to you
later. Hopefully soon." She said, then walked away with a hurry.

Ephram watched her walk away and Molly
watched him. He had love in his eyes, not able to mask it.

It wasn't just his eyes that spoke the
truth. It was little things. He slouched, as if the farther Amy walked away,
the more life was sucked out of him. The way his thumb gently brushed the card,
as if it was made of glass.

She shifted in her side of the red booth.
It was an uncomfortable situation to say the least. "How long have you
been trying to get over her?" Molly finally found her voice.

Ephram cleared his throat, looking back at
her. "Oh...I uh..."

Molly shook her head. "The
truth."

He relented, knowing that lying to someone
such as she was not an option. She could see through lies too easily. "A
month before I met you."

"And the story?"

"We were in love. But we had very
different dreams. I settled down here with my restaurant. I felt complete. But
Amy...well she was kind of like you. Not happy here. Wanting more for herself.
Anything. Her dream was to be an artist and travel around. She promised once
all that was out of her system, she'd come home within a few months and she'd
settle down with me. So I called up my cousin Matteo and he helped her out in
France. She started there, then moved to England. But her real passion was
Rome. She called me from her London hotel when she got a job in Italy and told
me she couldn't bring herself to give up her dreams. That she was wrong. That
she was breaking up with me. I loved her like crazy, but when I offered to go
to Rome with her, she refused, knowing that I'd be giving up my dream and she'd
never be able to forgive herself for that. So she just left. I loved her so
much, but all she would say is that if it was meant to be..."

"God would find a way to reunite the
two of you and you'd be together. And then you'd know it was the real thing?"
Molly guessed.

Ephram admitted it with a nod. "She
called me up two weeks before Marty approached me about you. Said that it
wasn't meant to be and to find someone else. That Rome was her true love. So when
Marty suggested her best friend to try and date, I thought it was ideal. I'd
try it out, see if Amy was right about us not being meant to be together."

Molly's hands trembled, trying to steady
her voice. "...And?"

"...And I love you Molly. I love you a
lot. But..."

Molly sat back, willing her emotions down.
Nodding, she looked out the window. "But I'm not Amy Goodwin."

"...Yeah, something like that."

Exactly like that. How strange things could
twist. They'd met to discuss the aftermath of a pregnancy test scare and ended
up discussing about Ephram's true love that wasn't her.

"Molly...I really do I like you.
You've been great and I loved dating you for so long. I value your friendship
so much. I really don't want to lose it. Please, let us still be friends at

least."

And there was the final words the killer
to the relationship. Lets still be friends so it was official they were
through.

Molly's throat restricted to the point
where she couldn't swallow the coffee she was trying to put down. Instead of
speaking, she nodded once more, then stood up from her seat.

"I'm sorry, but I really got to go,
Eph. I...I guess I'll see you around."

He looked worried and regretful.
"Molly, please don't go. Please, let us talk about this. We came to
talk."

"No Ephram. We talked enough. We're
done. I got to go."

Grabbing her leather jacket and shrugging
it on her shoulders, she buttoned it up as she hurriedly walked towards the
door.

_______________________________________________________________________

"So it's over between you two? Just
like that?"

Molly snuggled closer to Harrison as he
held her in comfort. Her favorite blanket was draped over them as they reclined
on the sofa, the tv on low as a back round.

"Yeah, just like that."

"Molls...was it over the pregnancy
test? Did I do this? Honestly now."

Molly shook her head. "No Harrison,
you weren't the cause. He loves another woman."

"And you're okay with that? Because if
you want to blubber all over the place, my shirt is easily transformed in to a
handkerchief. Not to mention what my fists could do to his face..."

Molly giggled. "No, I'm fine.
Because...I am almost okay with it. Ephram and I...we weren't going to last
forever. It was a lot of fun while it lasted, but I think deep down we had
always both known it wouldn't last."

"How did you know that?"

"Our relationship was missing
something. It was missing...connection. That everlasting love. That...I don't
know. That connection that keeps you together. Keeps you missing that person
when they're away and keeps you in love with them over the years. We didn't
have that. But he did with Amy. Ephram is the first person I dated
since..." Molly blushed.

"Well, in a long time. But I couldn't
expect to be that lucky my first boyfriend of my adulthood to be the
One."

"Maybe so. But I've been dating lots
and I still haven't found the One either. So don't feel bad about that I
guess it takes time no matter what your method is. But you will find him one
day, that's for sure."

Sleep started to overcome her eyes.
Grabbing the remote, she made the tv louder. "I love this show." She
muttered, watching through half closed eyelids.

_______________________________________________________________________

"I am so sorry, Molls. If I had
known...I really didn't know about that stuff. I mean, I knew he was engaged
and then he broke up a little over a month before I hooked you two up, but I
didn't know any of the details. He assured me it was completely over."
Marty said, pacing back and forth.

"It's not your fault." Molly
assured. "It's no one's fault. It just happened and now it's over and I'm
okay with that. Really."

"Oh...okay. You just seemed...a little
off. Distracted, you know? I thought it was secretly affecting you even though
Harrison said..."

"Yeah I know. I have been distracted
by something, but it's not that. It's just...Ephram said something to me and it
kind of bugged me...a lot. I didn't let him know at the time. I don't even know
if we finished that discussion or not."

"What did he say?" Marty inquired
with interest.

"He said...he said that I was really
in love with Harrison. But because I refused to admit that and I was scared of
that fact, I was trying to find someone that was just like him. So I compared
Ephram to Harrison and I got frustrated every time Ephram did something not
Harry like. Or something along those lines. I don't know...it was a
ridiculous theory that

I rejected right off the bat."

Marty didn't reply and after a moment,
Molly realized this. Looking over, she saw Marty's head bowed, her hands
clasped together. "The only time I ever see you so quiet is when you are
sleeping. What's wrong, Marts?"

Marty looked up, hesitation flashing in her
face. "I...don't know if you want to really hear what I think on this
subject, Molly. I think it would be best to skip over this one."

"No...what do you mean? Tell me."

Marty sighed. "I think...on this
subject...that Ephram was right."

"What?" Molly shouted in her
surprise. "Please, do explain this to me, seeing that it seems I'm the
only one that doesn't understand this concept!"

"It has always seemed to me that
you've always been in love with Harrison. Ever since I met you. I mean...you've
always had very deep feeling for him. But there is a line between friendship
and love and I think you crossed it long before I met you. I think you'd know
it too, if you'd allow yourself to actually think about it. I've always read it
as that you've always figured you could never have Harrison perhaps because
you were scared to ruin your friendship if something went wrong so you buried
your feelings deep inside where they still burn, only so that you don't see
them as clearly as the rest of us do."