Had To Be You (Romance/Drama) [COMPLETED]

Chapter 8 - Obvious

The day had gone by slowly for Naomi. She had gone to attend to her work at the clinic and couldn't find in her work the usual sense of security and effortless contentment that she always did. Her mind was absolutely spinning with images and thoughts, all revolving around one specific man. Or, as she thought, the shadow of that man.

Luke felt like a shadow; visible but intangible, and hovering over her with a looming presence as she worked. He was wrapped around her, and she couldn't find any effective distraction to keep her mind off of him for much longer than a few minutes. But God, she had tried to put an end to her thoughts, or at the least, to stifle them. Naomi had made certain that her face was amiable and professionally distant as she attended to her clinic, refusing to let the squabbles of her personal life interfere with her line of work. She owed it to her consultants and clients to be at her very best, with her feet planted firmly on the grounds of the clinic, and nowhere else.

At the present time she was using her lunch hour, eating in solitude a few pita chips and her leftover salmon, with a tall water bottle to accompany her meal with. She knew she would have plenty of leftover time when she finished with her lunch, even after using a good fifteen minutes to let the food settle in her stomach. Naomi would use that leftover time for work, because she didn't think there was any reason for her to let the time go to waste when she could be doing something productive.

At home, she could relax as she wished, and indulge in her idle activities after she tended some more to her garden and baked a fresh batch of cookies to restock her jar with... On a second thought, she wouldn't be idle at all, because she found that movement and work kept her mind fairly busy, and away from him for as long as she could muster. It was a fair exchange, she thought, work for sanity.

The door to the small employees' lounge was opened, and Naomi's attention went to the form of her close friend and employee, Cassie. She was a pretty young woman of Naomi's age, with a slender form and doe-like brown eyes.

"Salmon?" Cassie asked, crinkling her nose as she sniffed the air. Naomi nodded, and Cassie placed her brown paper bag on the table, pulling out a chair to seat herself across from her friend and boss.

"I made it last night. Would you like some?"

Cassie shook her head and smiled in thanks. "I've got some grub here. A good ol' sandwich of ham and cheese. I'm not much for fish."

Naomi's lips curved into a small smile as she remembered Cassie's distaste for seafood. "Sorry."

"No biggie. The smell's alright, it's just the taste that does me over." She made a face, and slipped the contents out of her lunch bag. It was, as she had said, a plain sandwich and a bag of chips with bottled iced-tea.

The iced-tea looked especially beckoning to Naomi at the moment, and she wished she had bought one at the gas station she had stopped by earlier.

"Want some?" Cassie asked, biting into her sandwich.

"Oh, yes. Just a sip," she smiled, unscrewing the cap and helping herself.

"I'll bring you a bottle tomorrow. I have a family pack at home."

"You're an angel."

Cassie chuckled, and then, "Were you alright yesterday?"

Naomi stuck to lying. "Yes, of course. I just needed a day off."

"The boss is the boss," Cassie sang, giving her friend a smile, but then she sobered and placed her sandwich onto a napkin. She looked at Naomi with concern in her eyes, "but you're also my friend, so tell me, what's been bothering you?"

"Sorry?"

Cassie rolled her eyes. "Naomi, something's on your mind. Talk to me about it. I can be a good listener when I want to be," she smiled encouragingly.