The answer to the question that was burning right through his core.
He needed to know if Molly Carmichael felt the same thing he did. Did she feel that heart-racing, lighter than air feeling that threatened to burst through his chest whenever she was around? Did all her thoughts somehow come back to him, the way his did to her?
If she didn’t feel the same, if she only had a passing interest, then Nicholas would go back to Manhattan.
But if Molly Carmichael loved him...
If Molly Carmichael loved him, Nicholas didn’t want to think about it. He didn’t want to get his hopes set that high as he pumped his tired legs right up to Molly’s apartment doorstep.
He pressed on her doorbell, letting it ring and ring and ring.
But there was no answer from the other side.
Either Molly wasn’t home or she didn’t want to see him.
The idea that she might be hiding from him made him feel a little sick to his stomach.
And then, a thought flashed across Nicholas’ mind.
It was Christmas.
Of course, it was Christmas!
Molly wouldn’t be all alone in her apartment today. She’d be with her family, drinking hot chocolate, sitting around the Christmas tree opening presents.
Nicholas took a few seconds to pull up the Christmas Wishes’ employee files on his phone, hoping that fate wouldn't let him down yet. Luke had begun the legwork of making all of the store’s information accessible through an online portal, just requiring Nicholas’ log-in and password.
Nicholas was able to find Molly’s original home address, the one before she’d moved to her apartment in town.
Just being able to locate that information, Nicholas thought, was another in a series of wild coincidences, since there was no valid reason for Molly’s previous home address to still be listed in her employee records.
And yet, there it was.
He put the Carmichaels’ home address into his GPS and began running in the direction his phone advised him to go.
Once he’d arrived at the Carmichael household, exhausted and breathless, Nicholas knocked like a madman on their front door. He waited impatiently, his chest heaving for breath, for someone to respond to his desperate knocks.
“Hello—Oh! Nicholas!” It was Mrs. Carmichael and she offered Nicholas a huge smile. “Merry Christmas. I thought you’d already left town by now.”
“Merry Christmas. Where’s Molly?” Nicholas tried to feign an interest in exchanging holiday greetings, but he couldn’t hold himself back much longer. “Please tell me she’s inside?”
“Oh, not right now,” she told him. “She’s at Hannah’s event- the one for BakeTown.”
“Right.” Nicholas nodded, turning to run away from the door.
But before he could make it very far, Mrs. Carmichael caught his arm. She looked sternly at him, her eyes so similar to Molly's that it made his breath catch. “Nicholas Kerstman, what your intentions are for my daughter?”
“My intentions?” Nicholas struggled to focus on her question, his mind still trying to calculate the fastest route to Sweetness & Light.
“You’ve got that look in your eye, like you’re about to propose,” Mrs. Carmichael informed him. Her face was still stern. “If there’s a ring in your pocket, it’d be better if you came inside and had a chat with her father first.”
“I’m not about to propose...” Nicholas hesitated to complete his thoughts out loud. “But I am about to ask her if she loves me.”
“And what happens if she says yes?”
Nicholas’ face brightened. “Everything. Everything happens if she says yes.”
“Then, I hope everything happens for you, Nicholas. I hope everything happens for you both.” Mrs. Carmichael let go of his arm and smiled fondly at him. “I think you’ll make a good son-in-law, too. You seem to have a good head on your shoulders.”