Ben eyes the guy bringing me food and doesn’t leave until he’s watched me pay for it and go back inside. Those Harper boys are protective as hell.
My phone chimes just as I’m sitting down to eat.
Z: I made it. I’ll probably be here for a few days. How’d lunch with Eli go?
Me: Lunch was fine. How are you?
Z: Just fine, huh?
Me: Yep. Just fine. Stop avoiding. How are you?
Z: I’m fine.
Me: Ben came looking for you.
She doesn’t respond immediately, and I’m starting to wonder if she’s going to when my phone goes off.
Z: What’d you tell him?
Me: That I wasn’t telling him anything, that he’d hurt you and I wasn’t helping him fix it.
Z: Good. Keep it that way.
Me: He was really upset.
Z: Good.
Me: You going to tell me what’s going on yet?
Z: Nope. For future reference, he’s not fixing it. He broke it beyond repair.
My heart plummets.
Z: Sara, please don’t ask me about it again. When I’m ready, I promise I will come to you. Right now, I just need time.
Me: I love you. Please text or call me at least once a day so I know you’re okay.
Z: Love you too and I will.
I eat my dinner with a knot in my stomach. If I hadn’t already ordered food, I probably would’ve just skipped it all together. I only make it through about a third of the plate before I wrap up the rest and put it in the fridge.
I’m seriously exhausted from these last couple of days and decide to turn in early. For the first time in a long while, I sleep all night without dreaming of Samuel.
MONDAY BRINGS MY first day at Briarwood and I’m super excited. This past weekend, I went shopping and bought so many cute scrub tops I’m afraid they won’t all fit in my closet. When I worked at the hospital, we always had to wear the color scrubs for the day. Mondays were blue; Tuesdays were green. Boring. Anyways, my clinical coordinator, Tracy, said that a lot of times the kids are distracted by the cool kid-friendly scrubs the nurses wear, and I’m going to take every little tidbit of information from her that I can. I’d only had a short amount of time to chat with her at my hospital orientation last week, but I could tell already I was going to like her.
When I meet the nurse I’ll be training under for the next few months, I almost swallow my tongue. He’s absolutely gorgeous, and the moment he opens his mouth to introduce himself, I know we’ll become fast friends. For the next ten hours, I soak up everything that comes out of Michael’s mouth. The shift flies by, and although I’m exhausted at the end, I’m giddy with excitement for this change in my life.
It will also keep me busy for the next few months, because on top of working my regular shift with Michael, I have classes to take a couple times a week.
AS SOON AS I pull into the driveway, I notice a huge bouquet of lilies in front of my door, and my heart leaps a little. I haven’t heard from Eli since our lunch together, and although I’m not surprised, it hurts a little bit. Are these from him?
I bend down, picking them up in one hand and unlocking the door with the other. Daisy and Diesel make a beeline for the back door. I guess they need to go outside, making me chuckle at their enthusiasm. Placing the flowers on the kitchen bar, I let them out the back door and then just leave it open so they can come back in when they’re ready. Returning to the flowers, I grab the card from the holder.
Congratulations on the new job, Sarbear! Love you big heaps! -B
It brings tears to my eyes that Bryson thought to send me flowers. I love my brother to pieces, and now I feel stupid that I ever even considered the flowers were from Eli.
I remind myself that he basically said, “see ya around,” at the end of our lunch together. I need to stop expecting anything to be from him—texts, calls, random flower arrangements. He’d made his feelings completely clear.
I put water in the flowers and set them in the middle of the kitchen bar. They’re my favorite. Orange lilies. I should’ve known they were from someone in my family. I don’t think anyone but them and maybe Ramzi know how much I love them. I don’t remember my favorite flower ever coming up during my time with Eli.
Since its semi early and I’m still wired from my first day of work, I change out of my scrubs and leash up Daisy and Diesel to take them out for a walk. They’ve been cooped up in the house all day, so they’re definitely feisty and ready to get out of the house. When we hit the dog park a few blocks away, I unleash them and let them run wild. No one else is here, so I plop down in the grass and pull my phone up to text Ramzi since I haven’t heard from her today. She’s done decent with letting me know she’s okay since she’s been gone. I just get random texts: “I’m still alive,” “I miss your face,” and “Ready to come home.”
I shoot her a simple text.
Me: Haven’t heard from you today. You still alive?
She hasn’t been responding to my texts quickly since she’s been away, so I scroll through Facebook while I wait for the dogs to run off some steam and for her to text me back. As I’m scrolling through, a picture catches my eye and I scroll back up. I’m friends with Eli on Facebook, but he’s never on it. Never posts. Ever. As I look at the picture, my heart drops. Destry posted a picture and tagged Eli in it. The girl he was with at The Grove, Eli, and Destry are sitting on the porch I recognize as Eli and Ben’s. They’re sitting at a table, all with beers in their hands, and all laughing happily. This picture is just another reminder that I need to let him go. He’s obviously moving on and I need to learn how to do the same.
After stewing in jealousy for a few minutes, I whistle for the dogs and they take their time coming back to me. Just as I’m leashing them back up, my phone chimes.
Z: I’m heading home in the morning. I’ll drop by and get Daisy around four.
Me: YAY! So excited you’re coming home. I’ll be at work, so I’ll put all her things together on the kitchen bar for you. Dinner tomorrow night?
Z: I need to sleep for about three days. Give me a few days to settle back in and then we’ll do girls’ night in. ☺
Me: Sounds good. Text me when you get back into town so I know you made the trip okay.
Z: K
I am so freaking happy she’s coming home. As the dogs and I walk, I find myself smiling. I have a new job that I love so far, and my best friend is coming home tomorrow. I’m starting feel as though my life is back on track, and it lightens the heaviness I’ve felt weighing on me the last few days.
Just as I round the corner onto my street, I jerk to a stop when I see Eli’s truck in front of my house. What in the hell is he doing here? I stand still for longer than the dogs can take and they start pulling me toward the house. When I get a couple yards away, I see Eli sitting on one of the chairs on the porch, scrolling through his phone with a frown on his face. Diesel spots him, barks loudly, and then jerks the leash out of my hand as he bolts for the porch. Eli looks up just as my feet start moving again, and his face immediately breaks out into a smile. Damn it.
“Hey, beautiful. When did you acquire a second dog?” he asks in a friendly tone while rubbing up and down Diesel’s back.
“Eli, meet Daisy. She’s Ramzi’s actually. I’m dog-sitting,” I respond, trying to keep my voice from shaking. “What are you doing here?”
He regards me for a moment before speaking again. “I just came by to see how your first day of work went.” He reaches down to the table beside the chair he was just sitting in and holds up a bottle of my favorite wine with a ribbon wrapped around it.
“It went great. Thanks for asking,” I reply, trying to unlock the door and keep hold of Daisy, who wants to go after Diesel. I hear Eli laugh before finally grabbing Daisy’s leash from me and pulling her to the side.
“Come on in,” I tell him as I push the door open and the dogs bolt inside for their water bowls.
I rush straight to the back door
and open it, because once they’re done drinking, they’ll run outside.
When I turn around, Eli is staring at the flowers on the counter. I can see him trying to read the card without making it obvious, and it makes me chuckle under my breath. Whatever. His brother posts a picture of them on their porch, boozing it up with some woman I witnessed him showing affection too and he gets nosey about some flowers. It literally makes me roll my eyes.
“Are you staying for a glass or did you just plan to drop it off?” I ask, trying not to sound bitchy but failing miserably.
He cuts his eyes back to me, narrowing them at me slightly. “I’ll stay for one glass as long as B isn’t going to care.”
I snort, which I know is totally attractive, before pulling two wine glasses from the cabinet and attempting to uncork the bottle.
“What’s so funny?” he asks, still looking irritated and glancing back at the flowers.
“You. Why do you care if someone sent me flowers?” I ask with a smirk on my face.
“He loves you big heaps,” he mimics in a childish voice.
“He better,” I reply dryly while I pour his glass half full and hand it to him, watching his face. “It’s my brother. Bryson.”
I watch as his face registers what I’ve said and the anger dissipates. “You enjoy torturing me or something?”
“I don’t know why it’d be torture. We’re just friends, right?” I turn to pour my own glass and fill it to the top. I probably should grab some snacks out of the cabinet or I’ll be drunk by the bottom of this glass.
I make quick work of pulling out some cheese, salami, and crackers, followed by the leftover Thai from last night. I nuke the leftovers and throw it all on the bar with forks and napkins.
“So, tell me about your day.”
Over the next twenty minutes, I tell him about the new job. He seems interested, and at the end, he tells me how proud he is of me. I ask about how school is going and he tells me about a crazy project he’s working on in his Educational Psychology class. Our conversation is easy and laid back and it once again reminds me of how well we work together.
He only drinks a couple of sips of his wine in the time he’s here, and I know it’s because it’s a quick visit.
Less than an hour since he arrived, he congratulates me again on the new job, and I walk him to the front door, where he hugs me quickly and leaves.
WHEN I ARRIVE HOME the next afternoon, Daisy and all her things are gone, and Diesel looks as though he might be depressed. He mopes around all evening, and by the time I’m ready for bed, he’s basically catatonic. I make him get up so he can go outside before we turn in for the night.
Just as I let him back inside, the front door flies open, and Ramzi and Daisy walk through, Ramzi looking irritated as shit.
“What’s wrong,” I shout and rush toward her quickly.
“Daisy is pouting like someone killed her best friend. She’s done nothing but whine since I picked her up. It’s driving me crazy,” she replies, shaking her head.
We watch as Daisy and Diesel hightail it to the back of the house, probably to hide together.
I can’t help but laugh. They’ve been inseparable since Ramzi dropped her off. It only makes sense that they’d miss each other.
“She can stay here if you want to get some rest,” I tell her, taking in the dark circles under her eyes and paleness of her skin. “You okay?”
“Yeah, I just need about a week of sleep,” she mumbles while scrubbing her hands down her face.
I pull her into a hug, squeezing her tightly. “Well, go sleep for a week. I’ve got Daisy.”
She shakes her head, but when the two of them come back in from outside and plop down on the floor in a position resembling spooning, she rolls her eyes and heads for the front door.
“All right. You can stay,” she grumbles as she opens the door. “Thanks, Sara. I’ll call you when I come out of my coma.”
I nod and she’s gone. Grumpy Ramzi is not easy to deal with. She needs her sleep and then we’ll talk.
I watch them nuzzle together and smile at how content they both look. Z and I are going to have to have a conversation about keeping them together as much as possible. It’s painful to watch them apart.
Sounds familiar.
THE NEXT TWO DAYS at work are much like the first day. Michael and I are in synch and I’m able to shadow him easily. He describes everything he’s doing so I understand why he does it. He’s an amazing teacher and fast becoming my favorite person.
At the end of our third day on rotation, as I’m heading out to my car, I hear my name being yelled. When I turn, I catch Michael running toward me.
“Hey, girl. I’m heading down to Grady’s for a drink, you wanna go?” he asks eagerly.
I smile and nod. “Let’s do this.”
Twenty minutes later, we’re seated at the bar, drinks in hand, chatting. I’m so lost in our conversation that I don’t notice the dark shadow that comes over us until I see Michael’s face morph from his happy-go-lucky self to concerned in two seconds flat.
When I turn to see who he’s looking at, I’m met with the glowering face of Elijah Harper.
He nods at Michael before turning his gaze to mine. “Hey, Sara,” he grinds out. “How was work?”
The sheer fact that Eli is green with jealousy makes me smile a little brighter than I probably should.
“Oh, hey, Eli. Work was good. How are you?” I reply cheerfully. He moves his eyes from me to Michael and then back again.
“I’m good,” he fumes. “Introduce me to your friend.” His face is red and I almost laugh at the amount of anger rolling off him. This is the man who told me he didn’t want a relationship. A man who has twice been seen with the same gorgeous woman, seemingly having the time of his life.
“Sorry,” I reply with a smile. “Michael, this is Eli. Eli, this is Michael. He’s an RN at Briarwood with me. He’s training me actually.”
When Eli’s eyes leave mine and shoot to Michael, I glance at Michael to see his reaction to Eli’s death glare. He smiles smugly, reaching his hand out to offer Eli the customary man hand shake.
“Nice to meet you, Eli,” Michael says in a voice that doesn’t sound normal. When I swing my eyes to his face, he quickly glances at me and winks, before returning his attention to Eli.
That sneaky little bastard. He sees Eli’s jealousy and is playing on it.
I watch as Eli’s jaw ticks while he reaches out and grips Michael’s hand harder than necessary. Michael tries to the hide the flinch, but I see it.
The waitress shows back up to see if we need anything else and I laugh when Michael orders a plate of hot wings and another Coors on draft. His first drink was a cosmo and I smirk at him when I realize what he’s doing. He’s playing along.
She looks at him strangely before walking away.
Just as I’m about to ask what he’s doing here, I catch a glimpse of blonde hair coming up behind him. I watch with a horrified expression as she wraps her arms around his waist, causing him to stiffen immediately. When he looks back at the expression of adoration on her face, his posture relaxes and he wraps his arm around her waist, settling it on her hip.
I’m going to puke.
I extend my hand to her politely, trying to keep myself from grabbing the fork off the bar and stabbing her with it.
“Hi, I’m Sara,” I tell her politely, and it takes every ounce of my effort not to look at Eli. I watch as this gorgeous woman looks down at my hand, then back up to my face before she turns her head away from me and ignores me completely.
“Can we go soon?” she says to Eli in the most irritating high-pitched voice I’ve ever heard. He swings his eyes to me as I drop my hand and turn toward the bar, giving them my back. Not his girlfriend, huh?
“It was good to see you again,” Eli mumbles but I don’t respond, and I can tell when they’ve left because Michael lets out a long sigh.
“Ex-boyfriend, huh?” he asks quietly.
“Oooo,” he replies loudly. “I’ve had one of those. His name was Josh and he had a small dick. It did not end well.” And then I can’t help the laugh that rips from my throat as the tears fall from my eyes.
Two hours later, I’m in a cab on my way home, drunk and irritated.
When I get home, Diesel and Daisy are sound asleep and barely register I’ve come in. Just as I climb into bed, my phone chimes.
Eli: How was your date?
I turn my phone off before I can respond with something snarky. I’m not playing this game with him. He’s the one who made the decision to end us. I don’t need to answer to him. I’m done with the games.
I quickly brush my teeth and wash my face before dropping into bed. Sometime later in the night, when I get up to go to the bathroom, I swear I hear the sound of Eli’s truck, but it doesn’t stop and I know it’s my brain playing tricks on me.
WHEN I PEEL MY eyes open, I regret it instantly. It’s so bright and my head is pounding. I can hear Diesel and Daisy doing the pee-pee dance by the back door, so I pry myself out of bed and head to the back door. The moment I open the door and the sun hits my head, I feel like I’m going to puke.
Jesus. How much did I drink last night?
I don’t wait for them to come back and instead just leave the back door open. I make my way into the kitchen to find some ibuprofen and a glass of water. I glance at the clock on the microwave in the kitchen and am shocked when it reads two in the afternoon. No wonder they had to pee so bad.
I make my way to the bathroom, grabbing my phone off the charger as I go and powering it on.
As I brush my teeth, trying not to gag, my phone goes off no less than six times with text alerts. My first instinct is to ignore them because the last thing I remember before going to bed was Eli’s text about my “date.”
I finish up in the bathroom, grab my phone, and head back into the kitchen to check on the dogs. Once I have them fed and situated, I check the texts.
Finding Our Forever: (A Defining Moments Novel) Page 20