Molly Evans turned her phone on as soon as the plane came to a complete stop at the gate. She needed to call a car to pick her up, and she hated waiting. She was a pretty patient person, but this was a pet peeve. The flights from London had been long. The trip to Cannes had been wonderful, good for her career, and the few days in London were exciting, too. But now she wanted her bed and didn't want to wait longer than she needed. Her phone began chirping with messages, voice, and text as soon as it booted completely. Uh oh, she thought. She'd spoken to Kyle and her parents before she left London, so she was pretty sure they were fine. That left Adrian, Natalie, and Julie to worry about. She quickly called her preferred car service and then started listening to her voicemails as she waited for her luggage. There was one from Adrian.
"Hi, Molly. It's me. Adrian. Monk. I hope you're having a good time and you're safe. Please call me as soon as you're home."
There was one from Natalie. "Hey, Molly. It's Natalie! Can't wait to hear about your trip. I have a bit of news. Please call me as soon as you can."
There was one from Julie. "Mol - I think I'm going crazy. You have to call me. As soon as possible. No matter when you get this. You will never believe what Adrian and Mom have done!"
There was a text from TK Stottlemeyer, "U are never going to believe what happened while u were gone. Call me."
A text from Julie, "Plz call asap. I know ur coming home today."
Wow, Molly thought, whatever is happening must be pretty big. She debated which one she should call first and settled on Adrian. He was, after all, practically her stepfather, and he should come before anyone else aside from her own parents.
She dialed as she walked towards the taxi stand where her ride was meeting her, and he picked up on the second ring.
"Molly!" he exclaimed happily. "Welcome back to San Francisco!"
"Hi, Adrian!"
"How was the trip?"
"It was terrific and exhausting! I'm on my way home to get some sleep, but I got messages and texts from everyone under the sun, so I thought I'd better check in. What's up?"
"Well, Natalie and I moved while you were away."
"Moved what?"
"Moved our places of residence."
"Both of you at once?"
"Yes. Economically and for convenience, it made sense." He said as few words as possible to keep from tripping up on the lies. It was not easy.
"So, where did you each go?"
"544 Briarcliff Terrace."
"Okay. What about Natalie?
"544 Briarcliff Terrace."
Molly thought she was probably just over-tired and had heard him wrong. "What did you say?"
"Natalie and I decided to move in together - as friends and roommates- to cut down on our expenses and have a nicer house in a nicer neighborhood so we'd have the convenience of always being near the police station and each other."
Molly sat silently in the back of the town car. Unable to process what Adrian had just told her.
"Molly?"
"Uh-huh."
"Are you there?"
"Um, yeah. I'm just not sure I understand. So you and Natalie are… living in the same house?"
"Yes. Actually, in the house that used to be your mother's and mine. We got it back! We have some big plans for it, too. Wait until you see!" No wonder Julie had sounded so upset and confused, Molly thought. This was confusing.
"Okay. I can't wait." Molly replied cautiously. "I'm almost home. I will call you after I get some sleep, okay?"
"Yes, of course. I will talk to you soon."
Molly hung up and immediately dialed Julie's number; she wasn't that close to home.
"Jules? It's me, Molly."
"Oh, thank God!"
"I just spoke to Adrian."
"So you know.'
"I know, but I don't understand."
"Me either," Julie wailed to her combination friend-big sister. "What the heck are they doing? Thinking?"
"I don't know…but I need some sleep before I try to tackle the two of them."
"I mean, I think we know how they feel, even if they're in denial or whatever they're doing… but now they're roomies? It's just weird."
"I know. To deny your feelings is one thing; putting yourself in this situation every minute of every day is another. Especially Adrian. He just suddenly agreed to change his whole life overnight?"
"That's exactly what I thought. How did he manage?"
"Well, where your mom is concerned, he manages a lot of things he may not usually be able to, but this is a bit much."
"There has to be more they're not saying."
"Well, like I said, I'm going home, getting some rest, then I will investigate."
"Thanks, Mol. I feel like I'm losing my mind a little."
"Well, I may not be a hard news reporter like my birth mother, but I can still dig up a story when I want to. Something smells fishy. Not necessarily in a bad way. But Adrian Monk does not change overnight, and this was pretty sudden."
"I'll say."
"So there's more to this economical, convenience story."
"Definitely. But what is it… that's the question."
"We'll figure it out. But, for now, they seem fine and happy, right?"
"Yeah."
"So let them be happy... and weird. We'll figure it out. I promise."