“Excuse me?”
She laughed at the incredulous look on my face. “I could have written some of your admirers back if they were guys. That would be a romantic way to meet.”
“Rom-coms have ruined you,” I said with a smile. But I made a mental note to suggest she spend more time with Molly and Tina. Judging by the interest they show in Harry’s online dating, they’d be happy to help her out.
There have been invites to morning shows too, particularly after Augusta had a sit-down interview on the Today Show that went so badly it became a viral sensation on YouTube. Her children were invited too, without her knowledge, and the whole thing ended up going down like a vintage episode of Jerry Springer. I’ve repelled the attention, but Dad’s taken to it like a duck to water. He loves corresponding with other club leaders, and just yesterday, I gave him my blessing to accept a sit-down chat with a famous talk show host.
Molly still doesn’t believe that I’ll actually back off from the club, and if I’m honest, I’m not sure I believe myself. I guess time will tell.
“Beggars can’t be choosers,” Tina says, referring to the sofa. “We got it super cheap from the thrift store.”
None of them had much furniture. Tina had been living with her brother and Dee, and Harry’s basement apartment had been mostly empty due to a recent breakup that had cost him most of his furniture. Molly, of course, had come home with a bunch of suitcases. No furniture. Since none of them are rolling in money, they’ve pretty much furnished their entire house with secondhand and freecycle furniture.
All the more reason that I’m excited to show Molly my surprise housewarming gift.
Tina helps me get the sofa where she and Molly want it, and then I head back out to the small rental truck full of furniture. Their acquisitions were spread out between a few different places, so Tina’s brother, Dylan, spent half the day yesterday picking it all up. He and Dee would be helping today, but they found out at the last minute that her son Liam’s robotics team made it into a state competition, so they’re all there watching. Dylan begged Tina to shift move-in day—apparently helping people is something the DiVirgilios deem a sacrosanct duty of family—but she refused, not wanting to put off their move-in day by another second (her words).
I’m considering the contents of the truck, and what should come out next, when Jack’s car pulls up. He gets out, then helps his very pregnant wife out of the car. Maisie’s due date is creeping up, and their older sister, Mary, hopes to move not long after the baby’s born. Molly jokes that it’s because Mary likes to micromanage everything, but I can tell she’s eager for all of the O’Shea sisters to be in the same city.
Molly hasn’t spoken again about her plan to get dirt on Glenn. Then again, I noticed her huddled up with Nicole at a drinks outing with our friends last week. I don’t intend to intervene. Like Augusta, he deserves what’s coming to him.
“Sorry we’re late,” Maisie calls out as she waddles over. “I move slower than I used to.”
“You guys haven’t missed anything,” I say. “Harry and I already got the sofa inside.”
We have everything in the house in less than an hour. Jack and I return the truck to the rental place and then pick up the pizza and beer Molly and her roommates ordered from a local shop. By the time we get back, the place is already halfway transformed. Maisie seems to have been bossing people around from the sofa, not that anyone seems to mind. Harry’s set up his turtle Edward’s terrarium, along with the tiny hat rack I made for him at Molly’s insistence. It’s beginning to look like a home.
Dad’s still not here, though, and I check my watch, starting to get worried. My surprise won’t work if he doesn’t show up with it.
“We don’t have a kitchen table yet, obviously,” Molly says, grabbing the pizza boxes from me and setting them on the cluttered kitchen counter. “But we can all sit out back if we want. There’s a low retaining wall.” She lifts a hand to stave off the protest her sister was about to make. “Obviously our one outdoor chair is for the super pregnant lady.”
“Sounds perfect,” I say, pulling her into a side embrace and kissing the top of her head.
“Where’s your dad?” she asks quietly as our friends attack the pizza boxes.
“I was wondering that myself,” I say. “He said he had an appointment at the tea shop to talk to Dottie about supplying the shop with some of his baked goods. I wonder if it ran long.”
“Huh,” Molly says. “I wondered if she’d call him.”
I’m about to ask what she means when I hear Dad’s voice from the front door. “We’re here! Has the party started without us?”
“Us?” I repeat in confusion. Did he bring Ruby? We’d both agreed that it would be better to leave her at home.
I drop my arm from Molly’s shoulders and head out to the living room, stopping in my tracks when I see him just inside the door with Dottie standing next to him, holding an armload of Tupperware containers, each one with a sticky note attached. I catch sight of the one on top: Joy.
“I hope it’s okay that I’m crashing your move-in party,” she says. “I planned to just drop these off, but your father was kind enough to offer me a ride.”
“To save the environment,” Dad says with a wink.
I gape at him. Is he interested in quirky Dottie from the tea shop? It’s a disarming thought, but I can think of worse things.
“Don’t be silly,” Molly gushes in excitement, then runs forward and engulfs Dottie in a hug, plastic containers and all. I hurry over to take them from her, but Dad has already beaten me to it.
“Dottie?” Tina cries out from the doorway to the kitchen, then runs over to join Molly and make it a group hug. It takes Maisie considerably longer to make her way over, but she does, a grin on her face.
“I didn’t mean to crash,” Dottie says when she finally pulls away, “but I made some things that will set the tone for your home.”
Sure enough, it looks like each of the containers I took from her has a note on it. Besides Joy, there’s Empathy and Kindness.
“I really wish we had a kitchen table,” Molly says. “We’re running out of counter space.”
I nod to Dad. That’s our unplanned cue.
“Hey, son, will you come out and look at the truck? I think I heard a squeaky sound in the back.”
“Sure.” I pull Molly into an embrace, then look into her eyes and say, “I’ll be right back.”
She smiles up at me, and I feel like a thousand tiny embers have all burst into life in my chest, filling every part of me with happiness and love. Never in a million years did I ever think I’d feel this way, and I don’t take it for granted for one minute.
“Awww, you guys are disgusting,” Tina teases in a way that suggests she doesn’t mind.
I realize we’ve been smiling like fools at each other for several seconds, but that doesn’t stop me.
“The sooner we do this, the sooner we’ll get back inside,” Dad says on his way out the door, and I give Molly a squeeze and pull away.
“Come on, Dottie,” Tina says as we walk out. “I’ll introduce you to everyone.”