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Chapter 5
Nate’s hands fisted and released as frustration boiled up in him. He couldn’t concentrate to save his life. Literally, if his life depended on him focusing on the code he was staring at he’d be a dead man walking. Or in this case, a dead man sitting. Since leaving Smiles, there hadn’t been a second that he hadn’t been obsessing about Eliza. He’d had questions when he saw her that he thought would be answered as soon as he got his fingers on his keyboard. But sadly, those answers had only led to more questions.
Once he’d gotten back to the office he quickly learned that she was no longer married to Doug Lipton. They’d completed one of the quickest divorces he’d ever known of. The union had been dissolved in eleven days. There was a paper trail that showed Doug bought her out of her share of their practice and their residential property.
Nate’s first thought had been that once she was offered the position here, she’d wanted to come home but he hadn’t wanted to move so they decided to split up. The problem with that theory was that the date stated on the divorce papers was two days before Dr. Lewis went to the hospital. So either she was a psychic or something else had been the catalyst for the end of their marriage and her involvement in the practice that she’d spent years building.
After spending hours trying to dig up what had sparked such life changing decisions he’d given up. He’d tried to find digital proof of infidelity or some kind of betrayal but his normal avenues were fruitless. Neither party had posted on any social media platforms since before the divorce petition was drawn up. If this was a matter of security, he could easily hack into both of their personal emails, work emails, and even security footage from both their home and office and he had the security clearance to do it but this had nothing to do with security and as tempting as it was, he knew he could never cross that ethical line.
So, instead of continuing to bang his head against the proverbial wall, he’d opted to work. Except he couldn’t. The harder he tried to focus, the more he thought about Eliza.
He placed his hands on the edge of the desk and pushed back, the wheels beneath his chair rolled and he stood up and walked to the window that overlooked the Riverwalk. Watching the moonlight dance off the surface of the water normally centered him and made him feel a sense of calm. Not tonight.
Needing to do something, he returned to his computer and pulled up the security cameras that Elite had positioned on the building so they could see the entire block and street and zoomed in on Smiles. The knowledge that that was where Eliza would be spending her days, just yards away from him, seemed as surreal as it did impossible.
From what Martha had said when Nana was grilling her, Eliza had arrived yesterday. She’d been here for a full day and he’d had no idea, and he’d been able to function just fine. Now, not so much.
This morning had been like any other morning. He’d gone through his morning routine of waking at four thirty, going for a run and grabbing a quick shower before heading to The Daily Grind at the end of the block for coffee. He’d been in the office and at his desk by six a.m. and had been so submerged in his work he hadn’t even heard Darla when she’d tried to tell him that his grandma was trying to reach him.
He knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, he’d never again have a morning like he had this morning. Not with her being here, in Harper’s Crossing. Not with her working two doors away. Not with constant reminders of her.
Obviously, he’d never gotten over the only girl that he’d ever loved, but he’d been able to live his life. He’d been able to emotionally put all of his memories of her in a box, shut it and lock it and bury it deep in his subconscious. But her return had resurrected that box and popped that sucker open. Memories, feelings and desires were springing out of it like a Jack in the Box. He was trying to shove them back in, but it was going about as well as trying to plug up holes in a boat made of Swiss cheese.
One look into Eliza’s eyes had altered the trajectory of his life, just like when she’d first walked into Mr. Hawkin’s science class. Seeing Eliza this morning had changed him and he knew that it was going to be a daily, hourly, maybe even minute-by-minute, second-by-second struggle to return to some semblance of normalcy. But he would have to do it. He needed to work. He needed his life to go on. It couldn’t stop just because his heart and hormones were stuck in the past.
He stared at the photo of a happy couple smiling up at each other adoringly displayed in the glass window of the dental office. They looked so happy. Yes, logically he knew that it was an advertisement and the couple in the stock photo were most likely models and not in a real relationship. But that didn’t stop him from wishing that he could have that.
His phone buzzed on the desk beside him and he saw that he had an incoming message from Bailey. She said that she would be able to make the Masquerade Ball this weekend. He’d totally forgotten about it, or the fact that he’d invited her. As much as he wanted to tell her that he had to work or make any excuse not to go, he knew that it was exactly what he should do. He should see Bailey. It had been months since they’d hooked up. Maybe that would help him with Eliza coming back.
Even as he thought it he knew it wouldn’t work. Nothing could break the spell that Eliza Young had on him. But if he at least attempted to return to his normal life, maybe one day it would lessen. It was his only hope.
