Finding Our Forever: (A Defining Moments Novel) (30 page)

“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.

“Nope. Ex we-are-friends-who-have-sex-exclusively-with-each-other,” I reply dryly.

“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.

Eli: How was your date?

Eli: He seemed nice enough.

Eli: Sara?

Those all came within thirty minutes of each other last night, just as I was getting into bed. I still have no desire to respond.

Z: I’m awake!

Z: Lunch today?

Z: Hello?

Those came in about ten this morning. I dial her number and am not surprised when she answers it on the first ring.

“What the hell? I was just about to start scouring the city for you!” she screeches into the phone.

“Sorry. I didn’t get in until late, and by that time, I was drunk, pissed, and ready for bed. I turned my phone off last night and literally just woke up.”

“All right. Let’s address these issues separately, shall we. A: where did you go to get drunk and with who? B: why were you pissed? And C: how come I wasn’t invited?” she says quickly, humor in her voice. I’ve missed her so much.

“Well, you’ve been in sleepy-time coma for the past two days, I was at Grady’s with a co-worker, and lastly, because Eli showed up with his flavor of the week and flaunted her in my face,” I tell her, almost choking on the last part.

She growls out a frustrated sound before she responds. “Why the hell would he do that?”

“Don’t know. Don’t care,” I reply as calmly as possible. “I’m not doing this game with him.”

I recap the visit from him on my first day of work and follow up with the encounter at the bar with Michael.

“So, what’s going on with you now that you’re in the land of the living again?” I ask her quickly, trying to change the subject.

“Still too soon, Sara,” she replies without thought. “Wanna go out with me tonight? Kylie and Nikki want to take me out and make me ‘let my hair down.’ Please come.”

“Sorry, girl. Last night was enough drama for me. I’m staying in and binge watching Netflix. You’re more than welcome to join me if dancing the night away becomes boring.”

She chuckles before responding. “Are you sure you’re okay after last night?”

“I’m fine, Z. I’m more concerned with how you’re doing, although you still haven’t told me anything about what’s going on.”

“Well, if you change your mind, we’re leaving at eight and heading to Saint for dinner and then The Grove for pre-function drinks. Then we’ll be heading over to Xenon’s for dancing after. Come join us if you get bored of Netflix.” It’s not lost on me that she totally blew off my question.

“I’ll keep that in mind. You guys have fun.” I don’t wait for her to respond before I hang up. She’s pissing me off too. I mean, I get that she has things she needs to work out in her own mind and that she’s not ready to share them with me, but it doesn’t hurt any less that my best friend is avoiding telling me what’s going on in her life.

After a cup of coffee and checking e-mails to pass the time, I shower and get ready to do nothing for the rest of the day. I throw my hair in a bun, apply lotion to my face and nothing else, put on a comfy pair of basketball shorts and a T-shirt, and grab my Kindle on the way into the living room. I’m not going anywhere today, might as well be comfy.

I pour myself a big glass of ice water and squeeze a little lemon in it. I’m going to need to do some serious hydrating today. Last night may have sprained my liver.

Just as I’m getting comfortable on the couch, Diesel and Daisy get up and trot to the door, tails wagging. Then I hear it. I listen as the sound draws closer and then gets further away. It makes me angry that for a split second, my pulse skyrocketed because I thought he was here. I really need to stop this. He’s moving on. I need to move on.

The dogs lie down at the door and their tails are no longer wagging. I open my Kindle, lay back on the couch, and am just throwing my feet up on the table when there’s a knock at the front door that sends the dogs into hysterics. I swear they’re going to give me a heart attack.

Setting my Kindle on the table, I’m making my way to the door when I hear him grumbling to himself outside. It makes me snort because he’s not quiet in any sense of the word.

“Dude better not open this door,” he growls. I peek outside and am shocked at what I find.

Eli Harper is standing on my front porch with a bouquet of stargazer lilies in his arms. My stomach flutters as I open the door, holding onto it with my hand so he can’t just barge in.

When he looks up and sees it’s me, his face lights up.

“What are you doing here, Eli?” I ask, trying to keep my face completely closed off. He doesn’t need to know how bad he hurt me last night.

I can see he’s trying to look past me into my living room and it makes me mad. He was obviously familiar with the blonde he was with last night. Double standard bullshit. I pull the door closer to my body so the only opening is where my body is planted.

“Eli,” I scoff. His eyes swing back to mine before he speaks.

“Um, I wanted to apologize for the way I acted last night,” he starts, holding the flowers out to me. I let go of the door handle to take them and Diesel and Daisy barrel through the door after him. Eli drops to his knees and gives them the attention they want. I just stand by, with the door wide open, watching him love on the dogs. I don’t want to love seeing it, but I do.

I turn back into the house, leaving the door open, to put the flowers in some water. When I hear the door shut, I lift my head from the sink to see where he is. He’s walking toward me, but he’s checking the living room for signs of someone else either being here or having been here prior. It makes me laugh out loud, causing him to jerk his head toward me.

“What’s so funny?” he smirks.

“You, Eli Harper. You’re what’s funny. Why are you scouring my house for signs of a sleepover? You of all people know that I’m not a one-night-stand kind of girl, or did you forget that?” I don’t break my eye contact with him. I’m not playing games with him.

“I know that,” he notes, “but you two seemed pretty friendly last night.”