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** Just another failed attempt to finish a work in progress...**

I should have known she would come here. Molly’s obsession with gourmet confectionary sweets was unabated by her frantic distaste for crowds. These days you wouldn’t think she could overcome such a large convention of people waiting to devour their fifteen dollar truffles, but when given a chance to see him-to be close to something he may or not have touched-was the ultimate. I watched her from a far, like a mosquito watches a bug zapper; never too close but never too far either. Something about her was fascinating to the core.  It was the way Mol had always been I suppose: her attention to detail-even the most minor offset of how the baker twirled his frosting or laced a drizzle caught her eye and drove her completely mad. Molly once told me that if she ever had her own shop again, you would never find such careless mistakes. In her mind desserts were an escape, they were the chocolate covered vacations no New Yorker ever had the time to actually take.

“I didn’t expect to see you here, why didn’t you tell me you were coming Angie? We could have carpooled.”

“Jake! How have you been? I’m sorry you startled me, I...I guess I didn’t know I was coming until I was already here.” Hearing Jake’s voice was like drinking your first ever glass of whiskey. He was always smooth and followed his reputation for being the guy you could turn to, but it still surprised you every time at the boldness of his flavor.

“Well don’t look so happy to see me, you’re going to cause a scene with that smile.”

“I’m sorry, I really am glad to see you again, how have you been? How is the car coming along-is it really carpool ready-or were you just trying to get my attention?”

“My lips are sealed, you’ll just have to come see it for yourself sometime-oh and the sunlight while you’re at it. When was the last time you went out?” A wide grin grew across his face like wildfire. I recognized it immediately as hurt. Before Molly’s last episode, she and Jake were well on their way to a shotgun wedding type of romance, but now, like most things in her life after the episode, Jake was slipping away-or retreating from a battle he knew he couldn’t win. I know you’re not supposed to let work get this involved, but when you are dealing with other people’s lives sometimes it’s hard not to bury your own.

“Ah, I see how you are. Well maybe if you’re really lucky I’ll swing by that junk yard you call a garage and we can settle this once and for all.

“If I’m lucky, maybe? Hmm...sounds like a challenge.” Jake’s stance changed from recovering addict to man on a mission mode instantly. He stuffed his hands in the front of his blue jeans and leaned back on his right foot, raising an eye brow to show how ridiculous I was for implying that I wouldn’t be over at his house within a minute of him asking me to be. I could always avoid him when I wasn’t trying and he wasn’t around, now looking into his deep brown eyes I knew I couldn’t resist. And then it hit me-where’s Molly?! I spun around and frantically searched the room, thousands of people and hundreds of confectionary booths, but no Molly. My mind raced to the possibilities, what if she got into trouble, what if she wasn’t ready to be this close to her past? What if she had another episode-I had to find her and measure her mood. Molly usually dove in and out of sanity rapidly, for hours she could be ok-just a widowed woman looking to rebuild her life again-the next a memory would trigger and it was like he were  right there in front of her, being burned alive or something.

“Hey! Wait up, where are you going?!” Jake grabbed my arm gently-but still firm and caught my eyes for only a second. Long enough for me to tell that it was Molly or him-long enough for me to tell he would never understand.

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“You call yourself a chef?! I’ve never seen such a flat mint soufflé in my entire life! I wouldn’t feed this crap to a starving six year old in Malaysia!”

Molly’s shrill and scrutinizing voice called out into the air like a caged bird. I begin to struggle through the crowd-almost knowing by the time I got there it would be too late. She very rarely spoke, but when she did…

“Excuse me? Just who do you think you are-Julia Childs?!”

“Talent like yours doesn’t qualify you to reference Chef Boyardee, much less Childs! Just wait until Corbin gets a load of this! Ha!”

“Corbin who?!”

“Corbin Bennetto, the…”

“NEVER HEARD OF HIM!”

“A trick like you wouldn’t have the honor!”

“Trick?! I’d like to see you, or any other imaginary chefs do better!”

“Honey this auditorium is full of them-look around! I ought to…”

I toss the lady a twenty, hoping it’s enough to dull the spectacle Molly has created. Hoping she wouldn’t drag security into the picture; hoping my boss wouldn’t find out.

“Molly! Come on lets go, it isn’t worth it ok? Let’s go home-“

“You call that place HOME? Go bother someone else-this bitch looks like a great candidate!”

Molly spins around looking at the crowd in disgust and I have a feeling she isn’t going to be let down easy.

“I’m sorry miss, Molly and I were just leaving.”

“Get your freak on a leash!”

I grab for Molly’s frail arm two seconds too late. She’s on this stranger’s throat in a heartbeat-inaudible words foaming from her mouth threw gritted teeth. All I could make out was a distant threat of what Corbin would do. But Corbin was long gone, and Mol was left to face his after death enemies….by choice.