Moving On (Ghost Of The Past Book 1)

by Trisha Grace

  She finished up her dinner, and for the first time since she’d been back from North Dakota with Tyler, she went straight to her room.

  She wanted to spend some time with Tyler, but she couldn’t keep her eyes open. Besides, shopping trips with Evelyn were always arduous events; she needed to recharge and prepare herself for it.

  The next day, as she’d suspected, Evelyn was ecstatic that she wanted to go shopping.

  They went from shop to shop, but even after Evelyn was carrying bags of new haul on both hands, she couldn’t find any dress she truly liked.

  Those that Evelyn chose were too revealing for her taste, and she couldn’t find one that would make her look presentable enough for the dinner.

  Stepping out of what was probably the fifteenth changing room, Kate brushed down the midnight-blue dress she had on and tilted to an angle to see how she looked in the mirror.

  “You look great in the dress, and I’m not saying it because I’m getting tired. I’ll tell you if they sucked, but you look great in so many of them,” Evelyn said.

  “I don’t know …”

  “Why are you so nervous about the dinner?”

  “I’m not nervous. I just want to be presentable.”

  “You look more than presentable. You’re slim and tall; you look nice wearing anything.”

  Awkwardly, Kate pulled on the satin material around her chest. “It’s sort of revealing.”

  “No, it’s not. The back isn’t cut that low, and it’s not showing enough cleavage.”

  “We can make some alterations for you; pull the material closer around your chest,” a sales assistant said from behind her.

  “That would be great,” she said before Evelyn could send the sales assistant away.

  Evelyn watched her through the mirror as the sales assistant pulled the satin closer around her chest and pinned it up. “Are you guys getting serious? You’ve been spending a lot of time together.”

  She kept her eyes on the mirror, pretending to concentrate on what the sales assistant was doing, and avoided Evelyn’s watchful eyes.

  “I’ve been bugging you to come shopping with me, but you kept insisting on going back for dinner. Now you’re getting yourself all flustered over a dinner.”

  “It’s a company dinner. I don’t want to disgrace him.”

  “He likes you. He treats you differently,” Evelyn stated as if she had known Tyler for years. “Dan says he’s never seen him so happy. He says that Tyler speaks to you more in a week than to all of them combined throughout the years.”

  “You met Dan again?” she asked, surprised that Evelyn hadn’t mentioned it to her.

  “He asked me out for dinner, and I said yes,” Evelyn said with a shrug. “It’s nothing.”

  When she changed out of the dress, the sales assistant took the dress to make the alterations that Kate wanted.

  She moved to sit beside Evelyn. “He keeps making plans for us. I can’t help but feel that once the year is up, once we go back to our individual lives, all the plans will fall to nothing.”

  “And you’re afraid that it will?”

  “No. I don’t know.”

  “Oh, Kate. If you were in any other situation, I’d tell you to go ahead and have fun. But you guys are stuck together for a year. If things don’t go well—”

  “There’s nothing between us, and there will be nothing between us. The house is way too important to him. I’m not going to mess it up.”

  She wasn’t interested in continuing the conversation, so she stood and went over to the counter to pay for her dress.

  On Friday, Kate stood in the altered dress and sighed.

  She hadn’t brought any of her accessories over to the mansion. Even if she did, nothing would match this dress. She hadn’t been to many formal events and never had the need or want for clunky jewelry.

  She couldn’t believe she had been so muddleheaded.

  She’d taken half a day off work to get her nails and hair done. Her nails glimmered with classy french manicure while her hair was tied up in a loose bun.

  Without her hair over her shoulders, even with her mother’s locket, her neck seemed bare.

  It was too late for her to go out in search for something that would match her dress. This was the best she could do.

  Taking in a deep breath, she stepped out of the room to find Tyler leaning against the wall by her door.

  He was wearing a black suit with a white shirt under the jacket. He had left the top two buttons of his white shirt unbuttoned, and the edge of the sleeve peeked out from his jacket at his wrists.

  His suits were clearly tailor-made, but his structure: the broad shoulders, the lean, muscular chest, and the lanky legs combined to make that simple ensemble perfect.

  “Sorry to keep you waiting,” she said. Her fingers reached over and fiddled with her locket.

  “It’s fine …” His words trailed off as he took in the sight of her in a long satin dress.

  “Do I look all right?” she asked as she saw Tyler giving her a scan.

  “More than all right.”

  She sighed, relieved. “Good, I don’t want to embarrass you.” Then she noticed the black, squarish box he was holding. “What’s that?”

  He followed her eyes to the box in his hand. “Oh, right. I wanted you to have this,” he said as he handed her the box.

  “What is it?”

  “Open it.”

  She did as she was told and gasped when she saw the diamond necklace, earrings, and bracelet. “You didn’t buy this, did you? I can’t accept this. It’s too expensive.”

  “I didn’t spend a cent. It was my mother’s. I remembered she had it, and Marianne said most of her stuff was in the attic, so I just dug it out.”

  “Your mother’s? Then all the more I can’t accept this,” she said and remembered what was in the attic. “You went up to the attic?”

  She never thought he would venture into the attic. Since they moved into the house, not once had he peeked into his parents’ room or taken a step up the stairs to his old bedroom.

  “I went up there for this,” he said, redirecting her attention back to the box.

  “It’s beautiful, and I appreciate the thought, but I can’t take your mother’s jewelry.”

  Tyler took the box from her. With his hand on her arm, he guided her back into the room. Placing the box on the table, he took the necklace and leaned in, hooking it in place behind her neck before removing her locket. “Then just wear it tonight. It isn’t doing any good collecting dust in the attic anyway.”

  She didn’t hear a single word he’d said.

  As he spoke, she angled her face toward him, closed her eyes, and took in his fresh, manly aftershave.

  It was times like these, when it was just the two of them, when he spoke in his serious but gentle voice that she couldn’t stop her heart from racing and herself from wishing that he would kiss her.

  She opened her eyes as he straightened, his cheek nearly grazing hers. His gaze paused on hers for a moment—just a moment—and she forgot how to breathe.

  He turned from her, seemingly unaware of the reaction he had caused her, seemingly unaffected. He laid the locket gently by the box and reached for the bracelet.

  Lifting her hand, Tyler clasped the bracelet around her wrist.

  She stared at the hand holding hers. His hand was so warm.

  “I’m sure my mother would love for you to wear it. They look great on you.”

  She finally took her eyes off Tyler and turned to the mirror.

  The necklace, though diamond studded, wasn’t clunky in anyway. It draped beautifully around her neck and down to the opening of her dress.

  As Tyler reached for the earrings, she took them before he did and put them on.

  The close proximity and his warm touch was making her heart flutter, putting the attic completely out of her mind.

  “Just tonight, then.”

  He grinned, took her hand, and walked down the sta
irs with her.

  “You found them!” Marianne exclaimed when she saw the jewelry on Kate. “They look wonderful on you, dear.”

  She blushed. “Thank you. Do I look okay?”

  “Of course you do. You’ll make Tyler the envy of everyone at the dinner.”

  Laughing, she shook her head. “I wasn’t aiming for that. I just hope I look decent.”

  “I told you, you look better than that,” Tyler said.

  Throughout the whole drive toward Tyler’s office, she couldn’t stop fidgeting. She kept reaching for her locket, only to realize she wasn’t wearing it.

  “Stop worrying.”

  “I’m not worried. Maybe a little nervous.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t go to events like this. I don’t know if I’m dressed right; I don’t know how to behave right.”

  “You look beautiful,” he said, looking into her eyes. “I’ll be right beside you the whole night.”

  She smiled and nodded.

  He always made sure she was well taken care of. Fixing up the security system, riding with her at the ranch in North Dakota, taking her away from the movies that she shouldn’t have been watching in the first place. There was nothing for her to be nervous of.

  Her nerves eased, only to return in double the potency when they stepped into the ballroom.

  The moment Tyler and her entered, all eyes turned to them.

  She froze, clutched onto Tyler’s arm, and inched closer to him.

  “They’re just surprised that I came with someone,” he said.

  “You’ve never brought anyone to your company dinner?”

  Tyler shook his head.

  She scanned the room at all the unfamiliar faces who were blatantly staring at her. Tyler led her into the room, ignoring all the eyes focused on them.

  She didn’t know how he did that. Was he so used to people staring at him that he no longer cared?

  All the attention was making her regret her decision. She didn’t belong to events like this.

  When her eyes finally registered a familiar face, her eyes lit up and she smiled warmly. “Mr. Russell.”

  Tyler stopped as Tim Russell hurried over with a woman by his side.

  “Miss Mitchell, nice to see you again. You look amazing.” Tim smiled politely.

  “Thank you, and you can call me Kate.”

  Tim nodded and introduced the lady next to him. “This is my wife, Adrianna. She works in the company, too.”

  “Hi, Adrianna. You look beautiful.” She turned to look at Tyler, but he continued his silence and merely nodded in acknowledgement of Adrianna. “And this is Mr. Hayes, he works here, too. I’ve no idea why he brought me here only to keep quiet,” she said, a less than subtle hint to Tyler that he wasn’t being sociable.

  Adrianna and Tim laughed nervously.

  “I brought you here so that you can answer questions for me, which you so commonly do,” Tyler replied with a grin.

  She narrowed her eyes while Tim and Adrianna laughed, less nervous this time.

  “Will we be sitting together? It’ll be nice to know someone at the table,” she commented.

  “Yes, I made arrangements for them to be seated at the same table,” Tyler answered as he stepped away from Tim and Adrianna, continuing toward their table.

  She said her temporary goodbyes hastily as she got dragged along.

  “That was mighty rude of you,” she said to Tyler once they were out of earshot.

  “What was?” Tyler asked, appearing to be completely clueless.

  “We should’ve chatted with them, asked them how they were and so forth.”

  “We’re already seeing them at the table later,” he replied matter-of-factly, as though that explained his actions.

  She shook her head, but let the matter drop. Settling onto the chair that Tyler had pulled out for her, she continued. “Aren’t you going to walk around the room and talk to some of your staff?”

  “I never do that.”

  “Really? So what do you normally do at such dinners?” she asked as she leaned her chin against her hand.

  “I show up.”

  She couldn’t help chuckling at his answer. “That’s it? So you brought me here to show up with you?”

  The smile on Tyler’s face faded. “I’m sorry if you’re bored. I’m not used to … I don’t usually—”

  She laid her hand on his arm, stopping him. “I didn’t mean to make you feel bad. I was joking. I don’t mind being here with you. It’s all right with me if you’re the only one I speak to for the rest of the night.”

  His grin returned. “Thank you.”

  “For what?”

  “For being you.” Tyler leaned in, closing the distance between them.

  Again, her heart pounded. She couldn’t move.

  She probably could if she wanted to, but she didn’t want to.

  She closed her eyes as he neared, feeling the warmth of his breath on her lips. But before his lips touched hers, a loud clearing of throat rang through the speakers.

  They woke from their trance and moved apart as all the staff members took their seats.

  She turned her head away from Tyler and took in a deep breath before looking back at him and smiling as though nothing had happened.

  She needed to stop wishing that he would kiss her.

  All around, everyone continued to look at her with what seemed to be part curiosity and part surprise.

  Ignoring all the stares, she smiled warmly at Adrianna who was seated right next to her. But Adrianne seemed fixated on getting the cutleries into the right angle, tweaking them to the left and right, then up and down.

  “Are you all right?” Kate asked softly so that she wouldn’t bring any more attention to herself.

  Adrianna gave a nervous grin and sighed softly. “Yeah, it’s just that everyone seated at this table belongs to the higher management. I feel a little out of sorts here.”

  “You mean you don’t usually sit at this table?”

  Adrianna’s hesitation answered her question.

  “I’m so sorry …” Kate let her words trail off as she turned to Tyler. “Ty, you made Adrianna and Mr. Russell sit at this table just to make me feel comfortable?”

  “I thought you’d prefer a familiar face,” he said slowly, seemingly aware that she wasn’t pleased with his decision.

  “You make them sit with people they don’t know; it isn’t fair to them. They won’t be able to enjoy their dinner.”

  “I’m sorry to interrupt, but it’s all right. We’re fine. Please don’t get upset because of me,” Adrianne said.

  “I’m not upset. I just feel awful that you’re made to sit here because of me,” she replied and shot Tyler a glare.

  “If you want to change your seats, go ahead.”

  Pursing her lips, Kate turned back to Adrianna. “He meant: he’s sorry, too, and thank you for accompanying Kate.”

  Adrianna laughed. “You’re welcome.”

  Tyler shrugged as he usually did.

  “And thank you, Ty. I know you’re trying to make sure that I don’t feel out of place, but please don’t do that again. Like I said, I can just talk to you.”

  As the night progressed, she split herself between Tyler and the Russells. Adrianna had lots of questions for her, and she answered every single one of them.

  When another wave of cold air washed across them, she rubbed her palm against her arm as a chill ran through her.

  A shawl. She knew she’d forgotten to bring something.

  She was sighing at her own absent-mindedness when she felt a warm coat placed over her shoulders. She smiled at Tyler and pulled his coat closer. “Thanks,” she mouthed.

  “So where did the two of you meet?” Adrianna asked.

  She saw Mr. Russell glare at his wife, but she smiled and told him that it was all right. “We met at a funeral.”

  Adrianna’s and Tim’s surprise was unmistakable.

  “Oh …” was Adrianna�
�s reply, then she quickly proceeded to the next question. “How long have you been together?”

  “We … I …” Kate stammered as she tried to structure a proper sentence.

  “A while,” Tyler interjected. His lips curled as she turned to him. “It’s the easiest reply,” he whispered into her ears.

  She had to agree. It would be too long and too strange a story to tell Adrianna about the will and all. So she smiled politely and nodded.

  Tyler listened in while Kate chatted with Adrianna and Tim and answered all the questions that Adrianna had about her.

  He wasn’t paying full attention to the conversation. His mind was still thinking about the almost-kiss he had with Kate.

  She didn’t move away when he’d leaned in, but her reaction after that was baffling. She appeared embarrassed, then pretended as though the moment never occurred.

  Maybe he was being impetuous.

  He sighed softly, putting the thought out of his mind.

  Once dinner was over, everyone moved around, taking part in the various lucky draws and competitions.

  He and Kate were the only ones who remained seated at the table.

  No one was around them, but he could feel the stares and almost hear the gossip going around.

  He knew the ongoing conversations in the room revolved around them.

  Kate must have felt it, too. She reached for her necklace again, only to release it immediately.

  “Are the stares making you uncomfortable? We can leave.” He shouldn’t have lied to her and asked her to come along.

  He’d never stayed longer than an hour at the dinner. There was no way it would’ve dragged over the midnight rule. But since the trip to North Dakota, he’d missed spending time with her away from their usual gang, and the dinner was a perfect excuse and chance to do so.

  “It feels a little awkward.” She gave him a small smile. “But I’m good.”

  Just as she finished her sentence, he noticed the familiar face moving toward their table. He bent close to Kate and said, “Give me a minute. I’ll be right back.” But as he stood, he hesitated. “Will you be all right alone? Should I get Adrianna to accompany you?”

  “I don’t need a babysitter,” she assured. “Go.”