Molly ignored the texts from Archie that she received Saturday morning during the Farmer’s Market. She just texted him, “Sorry—busy day” while she was at the baseball game, sitting in lawn chairs in the shade between May and Scott. He asked twice via text if she wanted to “grab dinner” with him, but she didn’t respond. Admittedly, she spent some time texting with Claudia about her worry about Shannon and the found earring when she should have been cheering on Noah. She also told her friend about the negative pregnancy test, and Claudia commiserated with her.
Also during the game, Molly texted Shannon, asking if her boss had liked the coneflowers. There was only so much she could think of to say to Shannon. Still no response. Maybe Shannon had just misplaced her phone.
Noah’s team won the game and were all going out for ice cream to celebrate.
When she and Scott were getting in his car, she got another text from Archie and muttered under her breath, “So persistent!” This time, he even asked if Scott wanted to go, too.
“Who’s persistent?” Scott asked.
“Oh, Archie. He’s still in town and keeps asking if I want to go to dinner.” Scott snorted. “I haven’t really responded, and I do not want to have dinner with him. Like, at all. But he asked if you wanted to go this time. Persistent!”
“Oh, I’m invited?” Scott perked up, interested. “Where did he want to go to dinner? What about sushi?”
“Scott! Why would we go out to dinner with him? He’s unbearably talkative.”
“But I can always go for sushi.”
“He didn’t actually say sushi. We could really just go on our own!” she told him, exasperated.
“So you’ve mentioned that this guy is being flirty? Can’t do that with me there. If he does, I promise, I’ll hit him.” Molly rolled her eyes and Scott laughed, confirming that he was not serious about the physical violence. “But you said that he’s also being secretive while being so chatty-chatty. You want to get some answers about those boots and where he was when Trevor went missing, right?”
“I do,” Molly said thoughtfully. “But do you really want to go out to dinner with Archie?”
“Seems that I should meet the guy,” Scott said, straightening his shoulders. “Set him straight. Find out about the boots. We can work together to figure it out. I don’t really want to hang out with him all night. Dinner seems like the perfect place to talk.”
“Scott, there’s really nothing he actually did to flirt with me. He just gave me a weird vibe in person compared to over email. You don’t need to say anything to him. I can take care of myself, and I do not want to have dinner with him. You really don’t need to threaten him.” She buckled her seatbelt and felt like the conversation was over.
Scott didn’t let the conversation die, though. “You know I wouldn’t actually ever hit him. And I won’t say anything. I’ll set him straight with my eyes. I’ll put my arm around you and make too much eye contact. Like, an uncomfortable amount of eye contact. It’s guy code. He’ll understand without words.”
Molly laughed. “Oh, my goodness! You are so ridiculous!”
“Right? That’s why you love me.” And Scott buckled his seatbelt and started the car.
“I do. I really do love you, Scotty. But I don’t want to eat dinner with Archie.”
“We can go to the quick sushi place. And I can be a steamroller. I’ll be a steamroller talker.” Scott made a slicing motion with his hand and a noise with his mouth that Molly assumed he thought was a steamroller. She didn’t understand how the slicing motion had anything to do with a steamroller but let it pass.
“Scott …” Molly said, not even sure how to respond, but he rambled on, adamant.
“I just don’t like the weird vibe. I’ve always felt uncomfortable about him. You know that. I just want to meet him and show off that we’re happy and he has no right to flirt with you, even if he’s not. And talk about his boots.”
Molly threw up her hands. “Fine. We’ll meet him for sushi.” She knew that if she didn’t agree, Scott wouldn’t let it go for the rest of the weekend.
So once again, Molly caved to Scott’s stomach. Maybe his heart too. She texted Archie back to say that they would meet up at a Japanese place in downtown Cleveland at 7:00 p.m. At least then the text barrage would stop. For that alone, she felt a bit relieved.
“Before we go home, I really want to stop by Shannon’s house again. I’m worried about her,” Molly said.
“Yeah. Okay,” Scott agreed. “It is kinda weird that she hasn’t responded at all. Let’s see what we can see.”
Molly was thankful that Scott wasn’t blowing off her concern for Shannon like May was. They pulled onto Shannon’s street and saw Shannon’s white SUV pulling out of her driveway.
“There she is! There she is!” Molly shouted, and grabbed Scott’s shoulder, shaking it.
“Hey now! Don’t distract the driver,” Scott said. “Seems she’s not missing. That’s reassuring.”
“Yeah, just ignoring me, as usual.” Molly stared at her cousin in the SUV as they passed by. “With a ponytail and that hot pink workout shirt, it looks like she’s going to the gym.”
“Well, that mystery is solved, at least. Still no answer on if it’s her earring, though.”
“I’m just relieved to know that whatever happened to Trevor didn’t happen to Shannon too.” Molly blew out a deep breath and patted Scott’s shoulder where she’d shaken it. “Thanks for helping me figure out that she’s okay.”
“I’ve always got your back, Molly. You know that.”
And so Molly was eating out for the third time in as many days and a second time with Archie, even though she had promised herself she wouldn’t see him again during his visit to Ohio. This time, though, she had Scott, who would help even out Archie’s tendency to take over any conversation.
She and Scott arrived early, and a waiter seated them at a table where they could watch the sushi chefs, the itamae, do their delicate job of crafting, rolling, and cutting sushi. After ordering drinks, Scott visited the sushi chefs to ask for recommendations and watch them work. Molly felt much more comfortable at this restaurant than she had the previous day at Greensward. She knew the place and the menu. Also, she came prepared with a second layer to combat too cold summer air-conditioning. Scott could fill some of the voids of idle conversation, and they were unified in trying to ask about Archie’s boots.
Molly was glad that Scott also felt suspicious of her editor. It was just so uncanny that he arrived at the same time as the police after Brooks had raised the alarm about Trevor. She thought about mentioning this oddity to Joe, but she had nothing of substance to tell him. Some muddy boots and an inconveniently timed entry weren’t much to go on. At least with Shannon’s earring, there was physical evidence. Plus, Archie was sort of her boss. She certainly didn’t want to get on his bad side. But if he’d done something to Trevor, he needed to be brought to justice. She considered again why she wanted to sort out this mystery. She didn’t know who to voice her concerns to, and they just didn’t seem to be big enough concerns to bother anyone with them. But she felt responsible for the sweet hiker, and she would do what she could to see if Archie or Shannon had anything to do with his disappearance.
As Scott was returning to their table, Molly texted Claudia about the dinner with Archie and their plans to talk with him about his muddy boots. Claudia wished her good luck and yummy sushi.
“So, listen,” Scott said as he sat down. “I think we need a plan of attack. I’m not here to be Archie’s friend. I’m glad you do these articles for his magazine. It brings the shop some notoriety, and it’s cool work. Some extra money in the winter when the shop is mostly closed in January and February. But I don’t like that he’s so friendly. I’m not here to become his chum.”
“Sure, I know,” Molly told him, wondering where he was going with this little speech. She shifted in her seat.
“I’m here to meet this guy who’s hitting on my wife. Stand up for her.” Molly started to interject, but he continued. Or, perhaps, steamrolled her. “I know you can stand on your own. But I’m here to be proof of life—proof that you’re not available. We’re happily married. There’s no reason you’d fall into his arms.” Scott paused and nodded his head for emphasis as he continued. “And I’m here to talk about Trevor.”
“Right. Me too.” Molly sat up a little straighter. “I already said I wouldn’t want to be around this guy a second time this weekend, if not for Trevor.”
“Right. So I think I should be the jerk. I’ll steamroll him like I said, and I’m not going to go out of my way to be polite. You ask nicely. I’ll be more direct where you just—aren’t.” Molly started to interrupt him again. “You’re too nice to people you don’t know well. Or most people, really. I know you. So I’ll be the bad cop, and you can be the good cop. You stay on his good side so you don’t get fired. I don’t care what he thinks about me when this dinner is over.”
Molly wanted to respond, but just as Scott finished his sentence, they saw the hostess guiding Archie across the restaurant to their table. He was wearing his hiking boots.