The owner, Sofia, came over to personally greet their table. Being an avid customer of Movie Madness, Alex was very familiar with her movie tastes. As he was with many people in town. Everywhere Alex went, he recognized customers. He rarely could recall their name, but he could always remember what movies they had rented from him in the past. Sofia’s taste were mostly the older romantic movies, flicks with Barbara Streisand, etc.
“Look who it is?” she said with her thick Italian accent. “Two of my favorite people in the film industry have finally decided to make their way over to visit me. It’s been too long.”
“The film industry!” Alex laughed. “I wish.”
Sofia gave a giddy, Italian smile. “So is this little dinner between you two…a…date?” She pointed back and forth between them and then put two big thumbs up and started to nod in anticipation.
“No, no.” Molly quickly spoke up. “Just a late dinner together. As friends.” There that word was again. This time it stabbed Alex a little deeper. Why did she have to keep using such a cruel word like that one?
“I see. Well, I’m glad you came in.” Sofia nodded. “Gives our kitchen something to do. It has been our slowest Friday night in months. Usually we are booming at this point on Fridays. But tonight, no ma’am. This is unprecedented. That story about the girl…that’s really shaken up the whole town. I’ve lived here for twenty years and never seen a case like this.”
“And even more uncomfortable is the fact that he’s still out there,” Alex said. “They have no suspects.” He looked up at Molly, who glared at him. So did Sofia. “I mean, I’m sure everyone is safe. I’m just saying, it’s an open case.” He stopped himself from digging a deeper hole. “Business next store has actually been kind of busy.”
“Well, that must be nice!” Sofia said with a sarcastic tone. “I kept my girls home today. I’m not sending them to school during all this craziness. I thought about closing today. But I didn’t want to send the wrong message and create a panic. You know?”
“Absolutely,” Alex agreed.
“Well, I’ll get you guys started with some bread and drinks and give you a few minutes to order.” Sofia scurried off and brought some bread and drinks, then disappeared for a bit.
The two sat there silently as they stared at the menu. Finally, Alex spoke up.
“Can I make a confession?”
“Sure.” Molly looked up, setting her menu down.
“This whole…news story,” he began. “I can’t help but…think of it from another perspective. I mean, there’s never been anything like this in our lifetime. Right? It’s unprecedented. And tragic. But this is going to sound horrible. But…” He paused for a second.
Molly waited.
“I’m a little fascinated by the mystery of it.”
He wanted to say more but stopped short. Molly stared at him, unsure of where he was headed with this. He hesitated to continue, as he didn’t want to give away too much of the inner workings of his bizarre mind. But he pushed through and continued.
“I mean, let me explain. I love stories. I love movies. I always have. Even as a young kid, I watched Hitchcock and The Twilight Zone and any mystery I could get my hands on. That’s why I started working at Movie Madness. Because I love movies. That’s why I want to make movies for a living.”
“But this isn’t a movie, Alex,” Molly spoke up, defensive. She pointed at the table. “This is real life. This isn’t just some fiction story with made up characters. This is our town. Our life.”
“Exactly,” Alex continued. “That’s why it’s even more important. A movie has no real stakes to it. Because we turn it off and go back to our lives when it’s done. Even if the bad guy wins in the end. The credits roll and we move on.”
Molly stared down at her water. “This whole town is unsafe until this case is solved, Alex. I don’t see how you can find any excitement in that.”
Alex struggled to respond. He’d obviously come off the wrong way here. And they still didn’t know each other enough to give the benefit of the doubt. Stumbling with the next sentence, he was thankful when Sofia came back to the table with her notepad and a large smile.
“Are we ready to order?” Sofia asked.
The two ordered quickly. Alex then shifted the conversation to a casual discussion about movies and their favorite recurring customers at Movie Madness. Surprisingly, this was something they were able to talk about through the course of the entire meal. Like Alex, Molly always made keen observations of the people she was ringing up. And had a memory just like his to recall their most specific idiosyncrasies.
After a hearty meal over pasta and some lively conversation about upcoming Christmas break plans, Alex set down his fork and jumped back into the discussion about Amy. He just couldn’t contain himself.
“This isn’t just a murder case,” he said. “It’s an unsolved mystery.” Alex leaned forward. “I don’t know what’s going to happen next, Molly.” He paused, looking into her eyes. “But I want to make sure that you are safe.”
Molly nodded as Alex rested his hand on hers. She shook her head as another tear pushed its way out. Dabbing it away with her dinner napkin, she looked down into her lap.
7
More Breaking News
Friday, December 17 - 9:10 P.M.
“I’m sorry if I’m scaring you. I’m actually trying to do the opposite.” He laughed at himself. “I’m just thinking out loud…” Alex nervously rubbed the brim of his glass. He was clearly blowing his one shot with her.
“I know,” Molly said. Smiling. Finally. “Thank you.”
“…are you…scared?” Alex asked.
Molly nodded, quickly. “Yes. Very. Like you said, this is unprecedented. I mean, it’s still surreal. All of it.” She paused and let out a deep breath. “I was just with Amy on Saturday. And now she’s gone. I still can’t believe it.”
“Wait, really?” Alex asked. “You were with her this past Saturday? Isn’t that around when she went missing?”
“Yes.” Molly let out a slow, long breath. “I had coffee with her. In fact, we kind of got into an argument…” Molly stopped herself. Alex waited for her to continue, but she didn’t. “I just…don’t know what to think right now. And I’m not sure what to do.”
“What were you doing together?” Alex asked. She looked up at him, then back at the table. He could tell she didn’t want to talk about it. So he switched subjects.
“Have you talked with your parents about how you are feeling right now? I’m sure they would understand.”
“No. They don’t want to talk about it. They never want to talk about these types of things. All they want to know is if I got into college yet. That’s all every conversation is about these days. If I brought this up, they would say that I can’t let it distract me from my future.”
“Molly…you’re the last person I know that needs to worry about their future.” He smiled, bringing one to her face too. “You’re going to have more options than you’ll know what to do with! If anyone should be giving their kid pressure, it should be my mom.”