Bidding Wars (Love Strikes)(28)

As she entered her foyer, where the stairs were, she heard a truck coming down her driveway. She paused and looked to see who it was. It was a flower truck. The delivery guy climbed out, opened the back door, and pulled out a vase of the most gorgeous and colorful flowers she’d ever seen. He greeted her as he climbed her steps.

“Are you Molly Harper?”

“I am.”

“These are for you.” He handed the vase to her.

Molly thanked him. She closed her front door and carried the flowers to the kitchen and set them down on her counter. Her guess was that Diane sent them. Pulling the card off, she opened it and read.





Congratulations on your new home. Enjoy your first night.

-Luke





She reread the card several times before pressing it against her heart. She had hoped to get the place unpacked and set up before calling Luke and begging him to give her another chance. It was going to be hard to stick to her plan. Especially knowing he wasn’t living too far from her now. He had to drive by her house each day on his way home.

And she knew she’d find herself watching.





Chapter Twenty-One





Luke sat in traffic, his jaw clenched. A part of him wanted to rip the steering wheel off just to see if it would make him feel slightly better. But he knew that wasn’t the answer—Molly was.

Each day as he drove by her home, it had been quiet. No movement at all. In fact, it was almost as though it was still a vacant house for sale—but he knew differently. He couldn’t quite understand why she hadn’t called and at least thanked him for the flowers.

Each time he noticed a new box on the front porch, his blood boiled.

That morning, he’d spotted a green trashcan sitting on the curb for pickup. He’d almost stopped and gotten out to check if the flowers he’d sent were in there. It seemed like Molly’s life was moving forward and, for some reason, he wasn’t a part of it. Why was she doing this?

“Can we visit Nurse Molly? You said she moved in.” Sammy leaned toward his dad from the back of the truck.

“We can’t just stop by without an invitation.”

“I bet she wouldn’t care.”

He wasn’t sure at this point if she would care or not, but he had to stick to his guns—even if he cheated with flowers. He’d left it up to Molly to make the next move, and she seemed to be taking her sweet time.

“I could fake being sick and we could visit her at work.”

Luke grinned. It wasn’t a bad idea, but he couldn’t let his five-year-old think lying was OK. “It’s never a good idea to tell a story. You’re asking to get sick if you do that.”

“Aw, Dad, I want to see Molly. I like her, and she smells really good.”

Luke laughed. “What does she smell like?”

“Kinda like a flower. Isn’t that how girls are supposed to smell?”

Luke supposed. Some smelled fruity, others spicy. It all depended on the woman, he supposed. But he did agree; Molly often smelled like a flower.

“If I can’t fake being sick, let’s at least stop by. Please, Dad.”

Luke sighed. Between his heart and his son, it looked as though they were about to take a pit stop by Molly’s work to see if she was there. After they pulled into the parking lot, he turned to his son. “There is no guarantee she’s here.”

“Then we’ll stop by her house.”

Luke smiled. His son was determined—more determined than he was.

Luke took Sammy’s hand, and they walked across the parking lot and inside. He was nervous. What if Molly didn’t want to see him? Or she got mad because she felt as though he were getting pushy. This had been a mistake. Why had he let his five-year-old talk him into this?

“Luke, what are you doing here?” Kim glanced at Sammy from behind her desk. “Don’t tell me Sammy is sick again.”

“No, he isn’t. Though he thought about faking it just to get in here.”

She laughed. “Honey, you can visit when you’re well. In fact, it’s nice to see healthy kids. We don’t see them too often here.”

“I imagine not.”

She handed Sammy a lollipop and then turned her attention to Luke. “Want one?”

He smiled. “I’m good.”

She handed him one anyway. “You’re never too big for a sucker. Let me guess, you’ve come by to see Molly.”

“Yes, we have,” Sammy said.

“Well, I hate to tell you both, but she’s not here. We don’t expect her back for a few days. Bless her heart, on top of moving, she seems to have caught a nasty bug.”

“She’s sick?” Luke furrowed his brow.

“Yup. She said it started a week ago and she assumed it was nerves, but now she isn’t keeping anything down. She thought it would get better after everything settled down, but it seems to have gotten worse. The poor girl.”

Luke gulped. That didn’t sound good at all. “I’m sorry to hear this.”

“I think Sandy’s going by tonight to check on her. Call tomorrow if you want and we’ll give you an update.”

“Thanks, I will. Bye, Kim.” He took his son’s hand.

“Bye, handsome little guy.” Kim waved at Sammy.

Once Sammy was buckled and Luke was in the driver’s seat, he let out a loud sigh. It pained him to know Molly was sick. What in the world could she have caught that would make her sick for so many days? Did she need to go to the doctors? Something didn’t sound right at all.

“Are we going to stop by her house now, Dad? Remember, I said if she wasn’t here we could go by her house.”

“I remember, but she isn’t feeling well. It’s best if you stay away. I’ll check on her tomorrow when you’re at school.”

That seemed to satisfy his son. Taking a deep breath, he started the drive home.



* * *





This was not how her new life was supposed to start. Molly grabbed a cold washcloth and laid it over her forehead. She’d once again attempted to eat breakfast, and not even thirty minutes later it came back up. Several kids had been in the clinic last week with this horrible stomach bug. Most of the staff had been wearing face masks, but those didn’t always stop the germs. Whatever this bug was, it was brutal. She was to the point that all she could keep down was unsalted crackers and warm tea. She was beginning to feel weak, and knew she needed to get one of the doctors at the clinic to check her out and make sure she wasn’t getting dehydrated. More liquids were going out than coming in. She had promised Sandy last night that if she woke up feeling like death again, she would call her to take her in.

It looked like she was going to be making that call. She just didn’t get it. Before she moved in, she’d been feeling queasy and assumed it had to do with everything going on. But now, it was as though she had a fully-fledged stomach bug. Typically in the afternoons she began to feel normal again and then, wham, it hit again. She’d never experienced anything like this before.

She flipped through the channels on her TV. Right now she had an antenna hooked up until she had the time to call the cable company. The choices were limited, so she settled for one of the morning news shows.

Her eyelids began to feel heavy and, much like the past few mornings, she drifted back off to sleep.

“Molly, are you in there?”

Rolling onto her back, she rubbed her eyes.

“Molly!”

Pulling herself into a sitting position, she realized someone was pounding on her door. She got up, pulled her robe tightly closed around her, and went to see who was here. Just as she opened the door, a wave of nausea swept through her. Placing her hand over her mouth, she took off for the half bath downstairs.

“Oh God.” She leaned her head on the cool toilet.

“Molly.” Luke stood behind her. “Sweetheart, are you OK?”

She didn’t have the strength to answer him.

“Have you been to the doctors?”

She shook her head.

“Can I take you?”

She nodded, though getting off this floor and away from the toilet was the last thing she wanted to do. She needed a few moments to get some strength back. “Give me a minute.”

“OK, I’m going upstairs to your room to get you some clothes to put on. I’ve opened a Gatorade for you, and I’m leaving it right here on the floor within your reach.” Luke set a bottle down near her.

Once he left and she could hear the squeak of the stairs, she grabbed the drink he’d brought. Taking long sips, she hoped this would give her strength to make it up the stairs to get dressed. She really needed a shower, but she was feeling way too weak at the moment.

Luke returned quickly and helped her to the living room.