No. No, she wasn’t sure. “Maybe I’m getting sick. There are always bugs going around, aren’t there?”
Mark hesitated. “Or maybe you feel this way because you’ve finally worked out that he’s right. You love him.”
“He can’t be right. Think of all the times I tried to make that happen and it didn’t.”
“Maybe this time it has happened because you weren’t trying. Instead of focusing on your feelings, you were focusing on him. On having fun.”
There was a buzzing in her ears.
She still felt dizzy.
She kept thinking of Daniel laughing with someone else. Sharing everything with someone else. The thought didn’t bring her relief. It made her feel sick. It made her feel—
“I’m in love.” She shot to her feet, her heart racing. “You’re right, I’m in love. All these years I’ve thought there was something wrong with me, that there was something missing, and it turns out that the only thing missing was the right man. Daniel.” She broke off as Mark grabbed a handful of tissues and shoved them at her. “What are those for?”
“You’re crying.”
Was she? Yes, she was crying. Her cheeks were wet. How could she be crying when she was happy?
“I love him, Mark.”
“I’m getting that.” Mark handed her more tissues. “It’s great. It’s all good.”
“It’s better than good.” And then she remembered the look on his face as he’d left her apartment. “I have to tell him. I have to tell him.” She grabbed her purse and fumbled for her phone. “I’ve been stupid, so stupid. I have to tell him that he was right and I was wrong.”
She called him, but the call went to voice mail.
“He isn’t answering. Why isn’t he answering? What if he’s alone and miserable somewhere? I’ll call the office.” She paced, thinking. “No, that would embarrass him. I’ll call Fliss.” She did that, but Fliss’s phone went to voice mail, too.
Was she comforting her brother?
Anxiety shot through her. What had she done?
“I’ve messed it up. The first relationship in my life that has truly mattered to me, and I’ve messed it up. I told him to leave. He said all those amazing things to me and I threw them back as if they didn’t mean anything. As if they weren’t important. I told him I didn’t love him. That he was wrong.” Molly grabbed her bag and shot toward the door, knocking over the glass of water.
“Where are you going?”
“I don’t know. To try and find him. I’ll go to his apartment. Then I’ll go to his sisters’ apartment. Someone has to know where he is.” She walked to the door, knocking into the table on the way and sending a few of Mark’s drawings flying.
“Don’t worry, I’ve got this.” Mark rescued them and guided her the rest of the way so that she could reach the door without injury.
Twenty-Two
There was no answer from his apartment, nor from Fliss and Harriet’s.
Frantic, Molly kept calling, wondering why none of them were answering their phones.
She’d keep trying. That was all she could do.
In the meantime she’d do what she always did when she needed to clear her head. She’d go for a walk in the park.
Valentine kept checking on her, glancing over his shoulder and wagging his tail, sensing her anxious mood.
“I’ve made a terrible mess of things,” Molly told him. “And I don’t know how to fix it, but I have to find a way. Even if I’m too late, I have to at least tell him that he was right. I can fall in love! I’m not like my mother! He’s shown me that and even if it doesn’t work out—” She swallowed. It was ironic that finally she’d fallen in love and she’d realized too late.
Was it too late?
There was only one way to find out and that was to talk to him, and that wasn’t proving easy. What if he was screening her calls?