A Very Special Delivery

Shoulders jostled, voices buzzed. A teenager put ice down Molly’s back, and she yelped and danced, all to the delight of her tormentors.
    She loved being here. She hated being here. Crazy, mixed-up woman that she was.
    “I’ll get you for that,” she said, glaring in mock anger at the clutch of teenage boys who tried hard to appear innocent.
    “You have admirers,” a rich, purring voice said in her ear.
    Her pulse leaped, warning her long before she looked that the speaker was Ethan. Even his aftershave, woodsy and dark, told on him.
    “Teenagers like to pester. It has nothing to do with admiration.”
    His plate piled high with enough food to last Molly a week, he gestured toward an empty table under a shade tree.
    “Sit with me. Tell me what you’ve been up to.”
    I’d love to.
    “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
    “It’s only a hamburger.”
    She couldn’t stop the smile. “That sounds a lot like, ‘It’s not a date.’”
    His blue eyes danced at the memory. He took her paper plate from her hand. “Get us a soda. Then come and sit. If at any point this feels like a date you can get up and run.”
    She hesitated. Had she come hoping this would happen? Was she that big a fool?
    “Where’s Laney?”
    “With Karen.” Both hands full, he hitched his chin toward the pastor’s wife. “Want to get her?”
    Molly let the suggestion slide. Yes, she desperately wanted to hold Laney, to smell her baby smell and kiss her soft skin. But that was a risk she couldn’t take.
    Just as spending more time with Ethan was a risk she couldn’t take.
    She reached for her plate, took it from him. “We’d better not, Ethan. I’m sorry.”
    Before she could change her mind she walked away, feeling his eyes on her back. Searching the tables for someone comfortable to sit with, she saw Lindsey and her family.
    “Mind if I join you?” she asked.
    Lindsey scooted to one side. “We’d love to have you.”
    Truth be told, her appetite had gone with Ethan, but she threw a leg over the concrete bench and sat. Lindsey’s step-daughter, Jade, beamed her good will. “My mommy’s having a baby.”
    Jesse laughed. “Eat your burger, Butterbean, before I do.” He pretended to reach for the sandwich. Jade squealed and jerked it away in a full body swing.
    “You two kids stop fussing,” Lindsey said, laughing with them.
    Jesse slid an arm around her waist and hugged her close. “Yes, ma’am. We’ll be good.”
    He winked at Jade, and Molly envied the love flowing through the little family.
    She picked at her food, found it flavorless. Around the crowded table, the conversation flowed, but she felt no compunction to participate other than to smile or nod. Try as she might, she couldn’t stop thinking about Ethan.
    From where she sat, she could see the side of
his face. Some girl she didn’t know sat across from him. A bit of jealousy curled in her stomach, so she doused it with root beer and potato chips.
    He leaned back and laughed. Molly watched, mesmerized. On his lap, Laney waved her chubby arms, grabbing at everything within her reach. Ethan efficiently thwarted her attempts to steal his potato chips, handed her a toy instead and kissed the top of her head.
    Molly remembered the strength of those hands and the warmth of his mouth on hers.
    “Why don’t you go over there and sit with them?”
    She jerked to awareness, embarrassed that Lindsey had caught her staring at Ethan like a sick dog.
    “Not a good idea.”
    “Why not?” Lindsey asked. “I thought you two were a couple.”
    “Were. That’s over.”
    “And that’s too bad. He’s a terrific guy.”
    Molly didn’t need anyone to tell her how terrific he was. Pieces of her heart broke loose every time she thought of what might have been.
    She bit into a forkful of potato salad, barely tasting the tangy mustard. The food was good but she’d lost her appetite, even for turtle cake.
    Ethan liked her turtle cake. She wondered if he’d gotten a slice.
    There he was again, in her head. She furtively slanted her eyes in his direction, trying not to draw attention.
    As if he heard her thoughts, Ethan turned and captured her gaze with his.
    She had to stop this nonsense. Now.
    She stood abruptly, garnering curious glances from her table mates. “I think I’ll take a walk.”
    Dumping her half-empty plate in the trash, she started toward the lake a hundred yards downhill from the pavilion. Trash littered the beachfront, an acceptable excuse