Mollie + Chester

Chapter Twenty-Three

Pip sat curled up in Toby's lap and Emma sat squirming on mine. We were on the front step of the house watching the blue sky turn orange and writing notes and throwing sticks trying to get them to land in the dirt like javelins in the dimming light.
Ha, my stick is further, I win, I wrote but Toby shook his head.
Best out of three, he said.
I bent over to retrieve my stick and Emma tugged on my ears and hair.
"Emma!" I yelled lifting her off my knee and sitting her on the step between Toby and me. I tossed my stick back into the dirt, watching it as if flew further than before and I poked my tongue out at Toby.
"Mol-lie wins!" Emma yelled clapping her hands. Toby ignored our poked out tongues and stood up on the step, spearing his step so it went further than mine.
Don't cheat! I wrote poking his leg.
It's not cheating, I stayed on the step! Toby answered.
"Cheat, cheat!" Emma yelled and I laughed at her.
"What are you monkeys doing?" Alora asked coming out the front door behind us. She took Emma up into her arms, sitting her on her hip.
Toby signed something to Alora and I spoke at the same time. "Toby is cheating."
"Well, Mum just gave me fifty bucks to take you guys out for ice-cream, she probably wants to get you out of the house since you are all too noisy."
"Ice-cream!" Emma yelled and Alora covered her mouth.
"Don't say it too loud or..."
"Ice-cream!" The twins yelled bolting down the stairs. Toby and I jumped of the stairs out of the way just in time for them to run outside where they would have bowled us over.
"I guess I'm taking Dad's car then," Alora said shaking her head. She took the keys off the hook near the front door and carried Emma to the car. Toby walked next to her signing something to his sister.
"Mollie sit next to me!" Alana yelled tugging on my arm.
"No me!" Sierra yelled trying to push her sister over.
Toby ended up sitting in the middle seat with me and Emma on either side of him. The twins fought in the very back seats, yelling at each other until Alora threatened to leave them on the side of the rode.
I haven't had ice cream since Seth took us in Wycall, I wrote to Toby. He took my hand with his right one and write back to me with his left.
Alora doesn't know about that one in Wycall, he said squeezing my hand.
Maybe we should tell her about it? I said.
Are you sure?
I nodded. We can't keep the mystery ice cream a secret, it's too amazing.
Toby waved in the rear view mirror to his sister then signed something. Alora pulled the car over and typed something into her phone until a GPS came up and a little robot person started reeling directions.
Ten minutes later Alora was pulling into the turning lane under a familiar green sign.
"Wee-call," Sierra read loudly
"It's Why-call stupid," Alana said pulling on her sister's braid.
I was never told exactly where Seth died, but I knew it was somewhere around here. I noticed on the roofs that jutted out over the shop fronts all looked shiny and new as they tried to prevent another tragedy.
The twins pushed each other out of the car and ran inside to the cream shop, letting the wire door slam behind them. Alora helped Emma out and the little girl toddled after them, stretching high to try and reach the door handle.
Toby held my hand tight as we stopped outside the shop, looking at the sign with the missing letters. We didn't write notes to each other to talk, only stood in silence remembering when Seth was here too.
Eventually we went inside, and found Toby's sisters sitting up at the old mismatched table, the melting ice cream dripping all over the place like when Toby and I came months ago.
"Mollie?" Macy said coming out from behind the counter. She looked different, like she had gotten way older since we were last here. I hadn't seen her since Seth's funeral and even then, I only caught a glimpse of her wearing a black dress with her hair down over her face.
"Hi," I said. Toby went over to join his sisters.
"How are you doing?" She asked.
I shrugged.
"Why don't I get you three scoops of mystery ice cream to make you feel better?" She stepped back behind the freezer and began to shape the ice cream into spheres.
"Were you Seth's girlfriend?" I asked making Macy drop the ice cream scoop into the tub. She swore under her breath and fished it out, holding it between two fingers and trying not to get her hands all sticky.
"No I don't think so," she replied. "I asked him to come over a few times but he always said he was baby-sitting you. I even said you could come over and eat all the ice-cream you wanted."
"Seth liked you a lot," I said taking the cone from her.
"Can I tell you a secret?" She asked. "I liked him a lot too."
"Ew, gross!" I yelled poking my tongue out. Macy laughed and handed Toby the ice cream she had been scooping for him before we moved some of the chairs over to the table where the rest of the sisters sat. Another customer came in and Macy continued to serve, the little boy with his father pressing his nose against the glass to see the flavours better. Alana and Sierra stuck their fingers in their ice cream and smooshed on each other's faces and Emma ate hers fast so she could get every drip, not letting the surgery goodness fall on the table or floor. Alora was texting on her phone, slapping away the twins' hands when they tried to flick ice cream on her.
The world had moved on from Seth's death. People who barely knew him simply went back to their everyday lives oblivious to the huge gaping hole in my life that my family and I were constantly in danger of falling into. Every time I tried to get back to normal, do things that I did before Seth died like going to this ice cream shop or going to town meetings and festivals I felt the grief seeping in again, no matter how hard I tried to block it out.
Are you okay? Toby asked. Tears had filled my eyes but I nodded.
But your ice cream, he said and I looked down to find my ice cream had almost completely melted while I had stared off into the distance. Toby took some napkins from the middle of the table and started to dab at the mess on my hands as the tears spilled out and I cried.
"Sad?" Emma said as she stopped licking her ice cream to watch me. I let Toby take the cone from me and I wiped my eyes, holding my head in my hands. The twins stopped fighting and looked at me, not knowing what to do. Their parents had clued them in as to why I cried all the time but they hadn't known Seth so they didn't understand.
Alora lifted Emma off the chair beside me, leaving her beeping phone abandoned on the table and took me onto her knee. I tried to protest saying I was too old but she hugged me, holding me as would hold Emma when she fell and hurt herself.
"Mollie, don't be sad," Alana said finally gaining the courage to speak. She hopped off her own chair and hugged me too, her sister closely following as she didn't want to be left out.
"It's okay, Mollie," Sierra said squeezing my hand.
Emma, who couldn't hug me because I was surrounded by everyone else crawled under the table and popped her little head up like a meerkat, climbing up onto my knee where she could cuddle too. I laughed through my tears at the little girl as she wiped my eyes with her chubby hands and kissed my free hand.
There were not my family, I have barely seen them five times and only met them this year, but here they were trying to make me feel better in the middle of an ice cream shop, not caring that I was covered in melted ice cream.
I watched Toby as he furiously scribbled a note to me then held it up for me to read.
You said you feel alone now. You are not alone.
I smiled as he waved his hand with the crossed fingers.