Always You - A Second Chance Romance

Chapter 30

The next morning I got up at my normal time and got dressed. Despite sleeping for twelve hours the previous day, I felt drained. My brain felt alert but my body felt drained. I wanted to chalk it up to just all the heavy lifting the past few days, but I knew it was also emotional. It had been one hell of a week, and with Friday coming up tomorrow I was running out of time to avoid the Nick situation.

As I drove to the hotel to pick up Luke, my mind raced with all the possibilities with Nick coming home the next day. Depending on his attitude when he got home, there were a million different possible results. What seemed most likely though was that our marriage was likely over - and not just because of his actions, but because of mine this week. I was unsure if I could still be mad at him for cheating when I did the same thing.

"You okay?" Luke asked me, tearing me from my thoughts. As I came back to earth and out of my thoughts, I realized we arrived at the office.

"Uh, yeah," I said, turning off the car and suddenly aware I didn't remember him getting in or driving to the office.

"If you say so," he said. We got out of the car and headed into the office, splitting up to get some things done. Luke staged the crates by the roll up door so they could be picked up and shipped today while I checked in with my team. When I returned to the workshop, Luke was seated at the high top table working on his laptop. I set my things down across from him and he glanced up at me.

"What time is your flight tomorrow?" I asked him in a feeble attempt at normal conversation.

"I have to check," he said, turning back to his computer. I nodded as the conversation immediately died. Luke's lips were pressed together tightly while he concentrated on what he was doing. I sighed and opened my laptop to go through some emails. We sat in silence for some time until we were interrupted by the shipping company to pick up the crates. Luke offered to take care of it for me and he stepped out of the workshop.

I stared at the email in front me, my eyes scanning the forecast repeatedly but not registering the numbers I was reading. I had looked at this report every week since I started here, I knew what these numbers and words meant, but I was beyond exhausted. I rubbed my forehead in frustration, trying to summon any energy and will power to go through this report - but none came. After a few more minutes of staring at the spreadsheet, I gave up, closing my laptop. Luke was still dealing with the crates so I decided to get up and grab some coffee.

I made my way through the office and to the kitchen, the office already starting to empty out for the day, and made myself a cup of coffee. As I waited for the machine to finish brewing the new Office Administrator, Whitney, peered in, her blonde curls bouncing.

"Oh, Emily! Maybe you'll know," Whitney said, stepping around the wall of the kitchen.

"What's up?" I asked her.

"I'm still learning names and faces," she said with an awkward laugh. "There's someone here asking for a Luke, but when I looked on the office map there isn't a Luke seated anywhere. Are they new?"

"Uh, kind of," I replied, uncertain why anyone would be asking for Luke. His role was new to the company and hardly anyone knew who he was. "Luke is visiting from our Chicago office this week."

"Oh! That would make sense," Whitney said with another laugh. "Do you know where he is?"

"He was in the back dealing with the shipment that needed to go out," I said. "Why who's looking for him?" I took my coffee cup from the machine, suddenly aware of a slight tremor in my hand. Whitney shrugged uncertainly.

"I forgot to ask her name," Whitney said, her cheeks reddening. "But I can sign her in and walk her back. Thanks for the help!" Whitney turned to head back to the lobby.