Chapter Eighteen
I slept in again?How is that possible? Molly is going to be so pissed. I can see it in the headlines now. ‘Pilot murdered by woman in small coastal town on the basis of him showing up late. Charges will be placed pending further investigation.’ But I don’t have any missed calls? Maybe she wasn’t planning on heading out so early this morning? I start the shower and jump in, not waiting for the water to heat up. I hate cold showers, but I think I will hate the repercussions of being late again even more, so that propels me into action. I grab my board shorts and a shirt, throwing them both on before I have even fully dried off, and head out the door. Better not show up shirtless again; that just might make her even angrier.
I pullinto the parking lot, fully expecting to see Molly pacing in front of her door like an angry rhino, steam coming out of her ears, but she isn’t there. Grabbing my phone, I click it open to see that there are zero missed phone calls and no missed text messages. This doesn’t seem right. Her words from the day before replay in my mind, “Well, that is just a shame, Coop, because for the next three weeks, you are going to have to pretend to be a morning person,” jarring me into action.
Something is wrong. A woman like that wouldn”t change her mind. She is way too invested and far too excited about this job to shirk it off and take a day off. I grab my phone, shove it into the pocket of my shorts, and make my way to her door. Lifting my hand, I knock, “Molly, it’s Coop. Are you ready to go?” I put my ear to the door and listen, but no sounds reach my ear. I knock again, louder than before, but still… nothing. Reaching down, I feel under the doormat for the key and snatch it up in my hand. Maybe she hasn’t seen my note and is still asleep? Should I just go back home and wait for her to call?
Sometimes it would be easier for someone to just tell you what to do instead of having to make decisions yourself. But something feels off here. My mind wanders back to yesterday, and pieces begin to click into place as I start checking my thoughts off on my fingers:
Molly didn’t drink enough water
We were in the sun all day
She was sunburned
She didn’t wake-up at all when I moved her
“Gosh freakin’ dang it!” I shout to no one as I shove the key into the lock and turn the knob, shutting the door behind me, the adrenaline of fear kicking in.
“Molly? Are you decent? Can I come in?” I hear little muffled sounds coming from the bedroom, so I slowly set the keys down on the counter and make my way into the room. The bed is empty, so I head around to the other side, wondering if she somehow fell on the floor. I hear another sound coming from the bathroom, and I make my way inside, finding a curled-up Molly on the bathroom floor. Her body is shivering, and she is pale and mumbling things I can’t make out. My heart is pounding as I scoop her up into my arms, and I can smell the bile on her breath as she opens her eyes.
“It’s okay, Molly. It’s Coop. Remember?” I carry her to the bed and sit down with her, cradling her in my arms.
“Coop?” She rasps out before closing her eyes again.
“Open your eyes, Molly. I need you to drink a little bit of water.” My hands start to shake as I hold the water bottle up to her mouth. She opens her eyes and parts her lips, as I trickle a small amount in before she shuts her eyes again.
“Good girl.” I wipe the water from her mouth with my shirt and continue to wake her every few minutes until half of the water in the bottle is gone. Standing from the bed, with Molly in my arms, I lay her back down on the bed before standing.
Heading into the kitchen, I grab a bowl and a dishcloth from the kitchen, after rummaging around to find one, and run it under the cold faucet before returning to Molly’s side. She has a little bit of color in her face now, but her body is still really warm. I place the cloth on her head and set the bowl on the nightstand, just in case she has to throw up again. Everyone has that one throw-up bowl under the sink in the kitchen that is used for these occasions. Well, now this cottage has one too.I grab the television remote before kicking off my shoes and settling down on the bed next to her. Not exactly the day I was expecting to have, but maybe there’s a movie I can watch until she wakes up.
Molly has wokenup several times, and each time I prop her up, make her drink some water, set her back down again, and she is asleep again in seconds. I don’t think she knows what is going on yet, but hopefully after a few more hours of this, she will come to. I have watched six episodes of ‘The Office’ so far, muted and in captions, and just ordered some takeout for lunch from ‘The Roaming Tuk Tuk’, a Thai food place down the street. Hopefully, Molly will want to eat a little bit of tom kha soup when she wakes up. It’s one of my favorites, and I got it low on the heat level, so hopefully her stomach can handle a little bit.
There is a light knock at the door, so I roll out of bed and tiptoe toward the door, grabbing my phone off of the nightstand on that side of the bed.
“Hey, Coop, whatcha doin’ here?” Brooks from The Roaming Tuk Tuk asks. I shush him and step outside, leaving a crack in the door as I pull up Apple Pay. “Boat trouble?” he whispers, trying to peek through the crack of the door as he hands me the bags.
“Don’t worry about it, Brooks. Just helping a friend who isn’t feeling well. I’ll leave you a good tip if you forget that you saw me here.” I grab my bags and turn around, shutting the door before he can ask any more questions. I don’t need people to start talking.
I hurry inside and grab the wooden tray from the counter, setting the containers inside, along with the napkins and utensils, before making my way back to the bed. I open the styrofoam container and close my eyes as the smell hits my nose. Drunken noodles with chicken and tom kha soup are my two most favorite meals on planet Earth. I close my eyes and say a little prayer before digging my fork in. Molly stirs beside me, and I set the container down, ready to help her with whatever she needs.
“Coop?” She rubs the sleep from her eyes and tries to sit up.
“Not too fast, Molly. You have been out for a while.” I help her sit up and hand her the water bottle. She drinks a few sips before her eyebrows fall.
“What happened?” She makes a face as she sniffs herself, her eyes going wide as she scoots away from me.
“It’s okay, Molly. You were on the floor of the bathroom when I found you. I think you may have thrown up last night.” She covers her mouth with her hand.
“Oh my gosh, and you have just been smelling me this whole time? I am so embarrassed.” Her face is flushed red as she brings her legs up to her chest, hugging them to herself.
“How about you try to eat something, and then you can take a shower?” I motion to the soup and noodles on the tray.
“That smells so good. What is it?” She scoots closer and crosses her legs.
“It’s two of my favorites, drunken noodles and tom kha soup.” She looks at me with a question in her eyes, so I explain, “It”s a coconut based soup with chicken and a few vegetables. I got them both low heat so you could eat them if you wanted.” She rubs her hands together and puts her hand out for a spoon. She dips the spoon into the container and brings it to her lips before stopping and lowering it back to the container.
“Wait, I can’t eat out of this.” She motions to the container with the spoon. “I have a nasty throw-up mouth, and it’ll make the soup all contaminated.” She frowns as she looks from the spoon, to the soup, to the container, and back to me. I jump up from the bed and hold up a finger, telling her to wait a second before coming back with her toothbrush and a small amount of toothpaste.
“Here ya go. You can just spit in this bowl, and I can take care of it later.” I hand her the unused throw-up bowl as she takes the toothbrush from my hand.
She brushes her teeth thoroughly and swishes her mouth with water, spitting it into the bowl discreetly, before stretching across the bed to place the bowl and the toothbrush on the nightstand. When she bends toward the nightstand, she gives me a glimpse of her butt on full display, and heat fills my face. Why am I blushing? It’s not like I haven’t checked out a woman”s butt before. I redirect my gaze as she swivels back, and I smile as I hand her the spoon.
She tentatively brings the soup to her mouth, and I watch her face in anticipation of her reaction to the flavor. If she likes this as much as she liked the peanut butter and jelly sandwich yesterday, I just might lose my cool.
“Mmmmm.” Her eyes light up as she slurps the broth, and before I know what is happening, her lips are on my cheek. As quickly as they are there, they are gone. Apparently so am I, because all I can do is watch as she continues to eat my favorite soup. I never knew I could enjoy watching someone eat so much. But I am so here for it.