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Oh, God…am I?
“Wow! That’s…that’s…”
“Lily, I know you’re apprehensive about potentially getting more bad news, but you need to make sure you’re proactive and doing what needs to be done so you can heal and get back to your career. That is what you want, isn’t it?”
“More than anything,” she told him. “I’m just…surgery is scary and there are no guarantees!”
He laughed softly. “You sound so much like your father, and that’s why I’m going to put my foot down with you. I wish I had done it sooner with him and saved him so many years of anger and isolation.”
She’d heard the stories often enough to know exactly what he was referring to, but now was the first time she could actually understand and sympathize with him.
“I know what you’re saying and I appreciate the concern. As soon as I finish my coffee, I promise I’ll go up to the house and make the calls.”
“That’s my girl. Call me and let me know what any of them say and when your appointments are.”
“I will. I promise. Love you!”
“Love you too, and I’ll talk to you later.”
They hung up and Lily sipped her coffee and scrolled through her phone for a bit, but ultimately, she knew she needed to take a shower, get the information on the doctors, and make some calls. There was only so much sitting around she was willing to do. After three months of not dancing and doing physical therapy, she was eager to move on.
“And clearly that means by seeing more doctors,” she mumbled.
With her coffee finished, she slowly made her way around the kitchen—putting the mug in the dishwasher, wiping down the countertop and coffee maker—before going to shower. It was almost an hour later before she forced herself to walk up to her grandparents’ house.
Her heart was racing slightly as she let herself in. It was the first time she’d ever been in the big house all by herself, but she knew her anxiety had ratcheted up a notch because she was finally going to have to speak to a doctor—possibly as early as this afternoon.
“Stop being a baby and just do it.” Walking into the kitchen, she stopped when she didn’t see anything on the island—not a scrap of paper of any kind—and there was nothing on the table either. “Okay, that’s weird.” She walked through the dining room and didn’t find anything and then to the living room where there also wasn’t any paper lying around. “Where in the world would he have put it?”
She was standing at the foot of the stairs and decided to go up and peek around just in case she and Noah were right and the mystery woman was doing the redecorating. But once she got upstairs and looked around, there was literally nothing out of place. Every room looked exactly as it always had.
And now her mind was racing back to who that woman was.
“Focus, Lily!” she reprimanded herself as she walked back down the stairs. “Where is this paper with the information on the doctors?”
On the main floor, she went to her grandfather’s office. His desk was large and had two massive computer monitors, a stack of folders, and a scattering of miscellaneous papers. She moved behind his desk and there, on the top of all the papers, was one with a list of doctor names and phone numbers. She picked it up and scanned it and was about to walk away when another paper caught her eye.
“Your cardiac care and lung cancer,” she read before slowly lowering herself into his chair. She slowly picked up the packet and began reading about lung cancer and its effects on heart conditions. As she read, she flipped to the second page, which was very specific care instructions for…
William Montgomery.
“What the hell?” Her grandfather was sick and he sent his entire family away? Was that what was going on? Panicked, she picked up the papers, including hers, and quickly made her way out of the house and down to the guesthouse.
What was she supposed to do? Call her parents? Her grandmother? Did she really want to freak them out when they were so far away and couldn’t do anything about this? And if he sent them away intentionally, no wonder he was so freaked out by her being there.
“I have to talk to him,” she decided. Grabbing her purse, phone, and keys, she made her way out to her car and drove a little recklessly to the Montgomery offices. Parking was a breeze, and the elevator opened immediately when she pushed the button. The ride up seemed to take forever, but when the doors opened, she was shocked to find Noah standing there.
“Lily? What are you doing here?” he hissed, his annoyance clear.
“Don’t worry, I’m not here to see you. I need to…” But he took her by the hand and led her down the hall to his office, pulling her inside and shutting the door. “What the hell, Noah? I said I wasn’t…”
He had her against the door and kissed her senseless.
Okay, totally not what I was expecting, but…
She kissed him back with reckless abandon. It certainly wasn’t why she was here, but it was actually a pretty spectacular distraction. When he finally lifted his head, she licked her lips and stared up at him. “What in the world?” she whispered.
He swallowed hard as he breathlessly stared down at her. “I’ve gotten nothing done today because I’ve been thinking of you. I had just decided to go and take a walk to clear my head, and there you were.”
