the text he’d sent Molly a half an hour ago, only a few minutes after she’d left in that dang elevator.
I’m so sorry, Molly. Things have gotten away from me this week. I’d of course love to see you again once I get my life together.
According to his phone, she hadn’t even seen it.
Frustration and feelings of failure filled him, and he looked up from the text she hadn’t seen. He’d met with Lucy on Thursday after work, and that wasn’t the only thing he’d had to do after his long commute to HMC and then back to the farm.
He felt torn in a dozen directions, and tonight, he needed to go out to the farm again to make sure Matt Whettstein and his family had arrived and moved in safely. Dad and Elise and the littles had left for Coral Canyon that morning, and Hunter had spent the entirety of the Sabbath with them.
The weight of the world settled on his shoulders, and while he’d thought of Molly every day for the past week, he hadn’t found ten seconds to text her.
His thumbs flew across the screen, and he typed, That took me ten seconds. I really am sorry. Please call me.
He erased the last sentence, because Molly wouldn’t call him. He wouldn’t if he’d said the things she had to a woman. Even with the messages he’d sent, if he was Molly, he’d just text back.
He’d moved out of the farmhouse on Saturday, and that had been a hard and busy day. He’d spent the beginning of the week looking at the company condos, then apartments and houses in the downtown area. He didn’t want to wait to buy something, because the two-hour commute was terrible, and he’d ended up taking a condo in the building right next to HMC. He could ride an elevator down to the ground level, walk half a block, and take another elevator up to the sixth floor, where his lab was.
He sent the text and leaned his head back against the rest. “I don’t know what else to do,” he said. “Tell me what to do.” He did like Molly—he’d always liked Molly. He remembered keenly the way his heart and mind had screamed at him last Sunday to make sure she didn’t get away from him again.
Yet he hadn’t texted…. “Why didn’t I text her?”
His phone rang, and he straightened. His boss had said he could take the afternoon off, no problem, and Hunter was sure she’d only done so because of his last name. He expected to see Laura’s name on the screen, ready to lecture him for using his family name to get a few hours off.
Instead, Molly’s name sat there.
Stunned, and with his heart pounding and his fingers shaking, he swiped on the call. “Hey,” he said, actually leaning closer to the screen in the middle of his dashboard, though that made no sense. The truck used its speakers when he was connected to a call via Bluetooth.
“You’re taking up my whole driveway,” she said. “I need to be able to get to my garage.”
He swung his attention over his shoulder, and sure enough, her dark blue sedan sat several car lengths down the street. “Sorry,” he said. “I’ll move.”
“Great,” she said, and it sounded like she might hang up.
“Did you get my texts?”
“Just now,” she said, her voice softening.
Hunter didn’t want to move until he knew he could stay. “Do you have a few minutes to talk?”
“I have all day,” she said.
“I just need a few minutes,” he promised, smiling. Hunter flipped his truck into reverse and backed out of her driveway. He eased up next to the curb and glanced at the perfectly baked bread on the seat beside him. He had said thank you when he’d taken it, but he didn’t think Molly had appreciated the teasing.
He picked up the bread and got out of his truck as Molly pulled into her driveway. She went all the way into the garage as Hunter went up her walkway, but he paused before entering her garage.
She got out with a grocery bag and faced him.
“I’m so sorry,” he said, because he knew that an apology could go a long way. He didn’t know how to explain everything that had happened that had kept him silent. “I—there’s been so much going on, and I should’ve called you and told you about it every night.” He just said whatever came into his mind. “Could I do that? Call you