Not Pretending Anymore(40)

“But you had to know I wasn’t going to eat this entire giant cup of M&Ms right now.”

I actually hadn’t thought about that. “I wasn’t suggesting you had to eat them all.”

“I know. I realize that. You didn’t spend more than twenty dollars and sit here separating the colors because I might eat them as a meal.”

I wasn’t following. “Okay…”

“You did it because you knew I was feeling down, and I’d get a kick out of it.”

I shrugged. “So?”

Molly reached over and took my hand. She laced her fingers with mine. “You’re a good friend to me, Declan.”

I knew she’d meant it as a compliment, but her saying I was a friend didn’t sit quite right. Our conversation earlier this evening felt like a lifetime ago now. But my feelings for Molly had changed sometime over the last few weeks. At first I’d thought it was just a natural sexual attraction. I mean, there was no denying she was a beautiful woman. But lately I’d been wanting to spend all of my free time with her, and I’d been questioning the feelings I’d thought I had for Julia.

Of course, this wasn’t the time or place to continue our discussion, but nevertheless, hearing her call me a good friend kinda made my gut feel like it had taken a punch.

Still, I squeezed her hand in mine. “Just doing what you’d do for me, if the shoe was on the other foot.”

She leaned her head on my shoulder. “I would. I absolutely would be here for you.”

***

“Molly?”

I woke to the sound of a man’s voice about 6AM. Opening my eyes, I found the last thing I wanted to see: Dr. Dickalicious standing in the waiting room. Luckily, Molly was out cold. We’d both fallen asleep an hour or two ago. I’d been sitting up, but Molly had spread out across three chairs, and her head rested on my lap. Since the asshole didn’t seem to care that he might wake her, I managed to gently lift her head off me and set it down on the chair so I could get up.

Nodding my head toward the door, I whispered, “Let her sleep. We can talk outside.”

In the hall, I dragged a hand through my hair and stretched my arms over my head. “Her father passed out at a restaurant a few blocks away. She was up all night.”

Dr. Dick planted his hands on his hips. “I just heard. She should have called me.”

Considering the problem wasn’t her father’s vagina, I disagreed. “For what?”

Will’s jaw tightened. “Well, for one thing, I’m a doctor.”

I folded my arms across my chest. “You’re never going to believe this, but this big building? It’s filled with them.”

Will rolled his eyes. “I could have kept her company.”

“I had that covered. You weren’t needed.”

He sighed. “Listen, I’m not going to get into a pissing contest with you. Molly and I have a lot in common. There’s been something brewing between us for years. I realize it probably hurts your ego that we started dating after you started seeing her. But the truth is, she wouldn’t be dating me if you did it for her.”

My hands balled into fists. “Listen, asshole, I don’t like you. But that’s not important right now. What is important is Molly. She’s going through some tough shit. It’s not about who gets to hold her hand, but that someone does. So when she wakes up, don’t go giving her a hard time.”

The sound of the waiting room door creaking open caused both of us to change our focus. At the sight of a groggy Molly, Will immediately stepped around me. “Hey. Daisy told me you were here and what happened to your dad. I just sent a false labor home, so I figured I’d come find you.”

Molly glanced over at me, then back to Will. “His hemoglobin was three when they brought him in.”

Will frowned. “Who’s the attending?”

“Dr. Marks. I don’t know him that well. But he’s been very nice.”

“I golf with him occasionally. I assume they scanned him?”

Molly nodded. “His head because of the fall, and his chest.”

“Why don’t we go talk to Dr. Marks together and then take a walk over to diagnostic imaging? We can pull his scans up and see for ourselves where things stand.”

Molly’s shoulders relaxed. “That would be great, Will.”

While I was happy to hear Molly would have help getting information, I freaking hated the source of that help. But I did my best to hide it.

“Declan, I’m going to go see if we can get any new information, if you don’t mind?”

I shook my head. “Of course not. Do what you need to do. I’ll be right here.”

Will put his hand on Molly’s back, and I suddenly felt like the odd man out.

“Actually, Declan,” he said, “I got it from here. Thank you for keeping Molly company. I’m sure she’ll want to stick around for rounds soon. Since I’m off now, I can drop her at home afterward. You look like you could use some sleep.”

Molly looked over at me and frowned. “He’s right, Dec. Why don’t you go home? I’m going to be here a few more hours, at least, and you’ve been here all night with me.”

I didn’t want to leave, especially not with Dr. Dickalicious trying to pick her up like she was some sort of fumbled ball. But I also realized he could give her access to things I couldn’t. Not to mention, if I made a scene, the only one I’d hurt was Molly.