Page 143 of Letters to Molly (Maysen Jar 2)

Molly hadn’t said a thing about how quickly we were moving. Her mother had called and warned Molly it was too fast. I’d been standing in the kitchen, listening to the call on speaker. Molly’s response? Not fast enough.

This was our first weekend together as a family. The first weekend we didn’t have to think about kid swaps or separate schedules. We were taking the kids on an easy hike, something I hadn’t done since the accident.

But first, I had to make one last change.

I’d told Molly that I needed to stop by Alcott and pick up some things. It wasn’t a lie. I needed to pick up some paperwork—after she signed it.

We reached my office and my heart was nearly beating out of my chest. My hands were clammy. Sweat beaded at my temples because today I was going to ruin my life.

In the best possible way.

“Okay.” I blew out a long breath and stopped in the middle of the room. “We’re not just here to pick something up. First, I need you to sign some papers.”

“What papers?” she asked, her gaze wary.

“I’m selling Alcott.”

She blinked, shook her head, then blinked again. “You’re what?”

“I’m selling Alcott. Since you own ten percent, I need you to sign the buy-sell agreement so I can get it back to my lawyer.”

“What?” She brought her hands to her cheeks as she paced around the room. “You can’t sell Alcott. Why? What? Why? No.”

“It’s gotta go, Molly.”

“But why? You love Alcott. This is your job. Your passion. Think of all the time and energy you’ve put in here. The blood and sweat you’ve put into this place. You can’t just sell it.”

“It’s sold.”

“You already did it? Are you crazy?” she yelled. “To who?”

I chuckled. “About a year ago, this guy from California called me. He’d had a huge landscaping company in Sacramento and had sold it. He moved to Bozeman to retire but turns out, retirement didn’t suit him. He didn’t feel like starting from the ground up, so he asked me if I’d ever sell. At the time, I said hell no. Then things changed. I called him on Monday. We’ve been negotiating the price all week. Landed on one yesterday. Now all I have to do is sign the papers. So do you.”

“But, Finn.” Molly’s eyes flooded with tears. “This . . . this was everything.”

“It was. When we did it together. But Alcott Landscaping hasn’t been Alcott Landscaping for a long time. Since before the div

orce. When you stopped working here, a lot of the heart left. It took me a long time to realize, but I’ve been pouring myself into a glass that’s got a huge hole in the bottom.”

“No, Finn. You can’t give it up.”

I crossed the room and took both of her hands in mine. “I’m gaining more than I’m losing here. The kids, our life, it comes first. Alcott is in good hands.”

“This doesn’t make any sense. Alcott is your dream.”

“My dream was a job where I could work outside doing what I love. But I haven’t planted a tree in the name of Alcott Landscaping in over seven years. I had more fun working on the yard with you than I’ve had here in ages. Being confined to my office, driving by and giving crews orders without actually working with them side by side, that was never my dream. The only time I’ve actually done much work has been loading up trucks in the yard, and look how that went. I nearly died.”

She sighed. “I think we need to talk this through. An impulse decision like this, you’ll regret it.”

“I won’t.”

Molly stepped away and paced the room again. She toyed with the hair ties on her wrist. Today’s were yellow and orange. “What will you do? You’ll go crazy if you sit around at home all day.”

“I’ll find something. I don’t have to decide right away.”

“But your employees. They’ll lose their jobs.”

I shook my head. “This guy wants to keep the existing employees. He wants to be the office guy.”