He gave her a nod. "Yes, of course. I'm sorry to have intruded." He turned and walked away.
Anne yanked the card out of my hand and crumpled it. "No way…"
I looked at her in surprise. "What?"
"I know that look. That's a look that says you're planning to go down to Mexico. I'm not going to let you do it, especially based on something said by a man who is either mercenary or some sort of trafficker."
"If he's a mercenary, maybe he knows Noel," Lane said.
Anne shot her a look. "That's all the more reason not to go." Anne returned her gaze to me. "Look, I get that you like Noel, but what do you really know about him except that he can take care of a baby?"
"I don't know. It could be an adventure." Kate picked up her mojito and took a sip.
Anne rolled her eyes. "Please don't encourage her."
"I'll go with you if you want." Kate looked excited by the prospect.
Anne was right, I wanted to go. If I was going to invest my time…my heart in Noel, I wanted to know what I was getting into.
But going to Mexico wasn’t the right way to learn what I needed to know. I shook my head. "No. Anne is right. I can’t run off to Mexico based on a stranger’s assessment of Noel. If I want answers, I need to get them from Noel."
Lane reached over and patted my arm. "That's right. If you two are going to have a solid relationship, you need to communicate with him. What you learn should be from him."
Kate tilted her head studying me like she was trying to decipher if I was placating Anne and Lane. Finally she shrugged. “You’ll never guess who I tossed out of my place the other night for copping a feel of one of my staff…male staff.”
“Who?” Lane asked.
She named a well-known married actress with a reputation for being squeaky clean. We laughed, and I was grateful to Kate for changing the subject.
When I arrived home that afternoon, I was tired and wanted a nap, but I fought it and immediately went to Noel's house. Nerves had me second-guessing showing up to question him about his past and why a stranger was warning me away from him. But if Noel wasn't willing to tell me his history, what sort of future would we have?
He wasn't home, so I returned to my place, giving in to the fatigue, wondering what sort of ailment I had that was making me nauseous and tired. I hoped it was not contagious. Hopefully it was just stress.
When I woke, I checked on Noel, but he still wasn’t home. Where was he? By the time I went to bed, I was worried he'd had an emergency with Mo. I wanted to call him to see if I could help, but if there had been an emergency, I didn't want to interrupt him.
I woke the next morning and once again found myself over the toilet bowl when there was a knock at my door.
I opened the door to Anne. "God, are you all right?"
"Why are you here so early?" I was tired and my stomach was still acting like it was on a ship in a stormy sea.
Anne stepped into the house. "I just wanted to make sure you didn't do something foolish like run off to Mexico."
I rolled my eyes as I headed to the kitchen for a glass of water.
"Really Harper you don't look well. Are you okay?"
"Just a little stomach bug. It will go away by midmorning." I filled a glass with tap water.
She studied me for a long time.
"What?" Why was she being so exasperating?
"It sounds like this isn't the first time this has happened."
“Just a couple of days. I'm fine. I don't need you checking in on me."
"So, for the last couple days you've woken up sick, but it felt better by midmorning?"