The plants were staring at him and mocking him. Donny looked away from it, but a few seconds later, his gaze moved back to it. He still had no idea who had sent it to HQ and sent along a little love note. No one knew either because the person had paid cash at the flower shop, there were no cameras inside the shop or on the street right around it, and there were so many people that moved up and down that area that Donny had no hope of tracking them all down.

The succulent pot was beautiful, and the types of succulents in there were really pretty. He loved it, but the thing was that he hadn't talked about this succulent collection at all. It had started after Val had left him. He had been using them to try to relieve some of the anger at it all. He had not been happy about any of it. Hell, he had wanted to settle into something that helped him. It had. Talking to them when he took care of them every few days had been enough that he had stopped being an angry asshole. He had already apologized to a lot of people. Deacon included. He hadn't told them why he had been an asshole, but had told them that he was working on it. His personal life didn't need to be fodder for the rumor mill.

Most assumed the plant had come from either someone that Donny had helped recently or was from Val, and she was trying to be mysterious. Of course, that was impossible as she was living with the guy that she had been cheating on, and the divorce was being drawn out by her. Donny hadn't wanted to fight it at first, but then she wanted things she had no right to, and he was going to use the cheating to get what he wanted. He wanted it to be faster, but the courts were slow, even the divorce courts.

It had been months and months, and since the evidence of cheating was in the system, the judge had already ruled that Donny could date as he pleased without it coming back on him during the rest of the proceedings. He hadn't even gone out on a date because he didn't feel like he needed to. He was heart sore. The only bright sides of his life were his job, his plants, and his spin class.

Donny stopped, and he looked at the succulents in the pot again. He laughed and pulled out his phone and snapped a picture of the pot in the sun where it was happiest. He typed out a message to go with the picture. The message with the plants came back to him.

For when you are ready, you'll figure out who I am.

Donny had been confused as hell, but he had gone along with it. Now he knew, and he felt that little stir of affection. He hadn't ever planned on acting on it because of the friendship that he had formed with Molly, and not wanting to be one of those guys. Then there was the whole thing of who her father was. Molly Hicks was someone who was going to make up her own mind on what she wanted, and she would be happy with it. He knew that and was going to have to go along with it. He wasn't going to tell her no. Of all the people he had met and talked to over the last while, she was the only one that he could see himself dating. She seemed to think the same thing.

Molly: Took you long enough.

Donny laughed, and he pressed the button to call her. She answered on the first ring.

"No, seriously, Rocker. You took too long with that."

"I was consumed until I was going through my head of the happy points in my life, and I realized who I talked to about my plans the most. So, sue me. I'm good at my job but not at looking at my own life."

"I know," Molly said, and she sounded a little more somber at that.

"I'm good. Not great, but I'm good. Each day is getting better."

"That's good. I saw that pot and knew you would love it, and I figured that sending it to the station was better than your apartment. That would have gotten you into knowing who sent it a lot faster."

Only a few knew his new address, and that was because he had hosted a night of people from the spin class there to watch the Super Bowl. Molly stopped by for a little bit, but the rest had stayed the whole night.

"Thank you," Donny said.

"You can thank me by taking me on a date when you are ready."

"That could be a little while longer. I'm not...I'm not in a good headspace for it, but I'll talk to my therapist, and we will go from here. Just give me time."

"I'll give you all the time you need, Donny. I'm here for whatever you need as a friend. I want to keep the friendship going. I know how this hurts you. I want you to be happy and healthy."

Donny was glad of that because he needed someone like that in his life after the way things with Val had turned out.

"I'll see you at class," Donny said. He waited for Molly to say her goodbyes, and then he hung up.

Life was looking a little brighter. Having something concrete to work towards was going to help him a lot.

The End