Page 95 of Worth Loving
He found he was wrong.
Not only with Jonah, but now with a woman.
But Molly was busy and so was he. He wondered if she was putting more into the relationship than him since she came to have lunch with him at least once a week. But could that be love or just companionship? She almost never came to the bar at night and part of him was okay with that.
Not that he worried she’d see him talking with other women, but maybe he didn’t want to see other men talking with her.
Or feel as if he had to entertain her when he was working.
He still had a job to do. He still took his business seriously.
It was part of his identity.
Of who he was.
Yet he hadn’t even hinted at that part of his life and felt like shit he was keeping it from her.
But you know what, she was right. People had money and didn’t need to disclose those things early in a relationship.
Maybe it was a lie he was telling himself.
She’d settled into her “new” life. Not that it was new for him, but she seemed so happy with the way she looked.
But his past few months with Molly definitely made him realize what he was missing in life and that he needed to find a way to get more of it.
And why was it this big secret anyway? Was it because he moved here and didn’t want anyone to know and now he was used to it?
No, it was fear.
He was wealthy.
Stinking rich family wealth on top of it.
She didn’t like people giving judgments on him and now he’d backed himself into a corner.
It’d come up a few times and he could have laughed it off that he wasn’t just a bartender. Just a bar manager.
That he owned the place.
That he was even considering a second location.
But nope. He was so used to keeping to himself that even when he was in love, he couldn’t open up like she’d been doing.
That he’d encouraged her to be the person who makes her the happiest and yet didn’t follow his own damn rules.
He ran a hand over his face, hating that he was so stressed over this.
Even Jonah was now asking why Molly wasn’t over enough.
Or maybe it was last night when his son asked, “Is Molly going to be my mom. I like her and she likes me, right? I don’t have one of them. You always told me to ask you if there was something I wanted.”
Talk about putting the pressure on and not even knowing.
He couldn’t even remember how he had answered Jonah. But whatever it was had been good enough because his son could be stubborn and ask for something twenty times and hadn’t.
He was just getting in his SUV to go to work when his phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket and saw it was his mother calling. He hadn’t spoken to her in six months easily. Hell, he hadn’t even talked to Willow since she’d left after her surprise visit.
He wanted to send it to voicemail but then told himself she didn’t call often and it might be important.
