The Mighty Storm (Raura Revised)

Chapter 52

Chapter 52

"It's fine, Laura." She takes my hand patting it with her other. "Everything is in hand here with your column. The important thing at the moment is Ross, and making sure he's okay. We can worry about the bio and everything else later."

I feel the weight lift off my shoulders.

"Have I told you lately how wonderful you are?" I can feel tears forming in my eyes.

"It's been a while." She winks at me.

"Well you are, and I love you lots and lots." I wrap my arms around her, hugging her.

Then the tears start to run from my eyes.

How am I going to cope without her and Simone when I move to LA? And my Mum and Dad for that matter?

I can't even tell Vicky about the move at the moment. I will soon, but dropping this on her is enough for now, I think.

"Oh, my darling girl, don't cry," she says hearing my sniffling, she hugs me tighter.

Thank god I wore waterproof mascara today. Subconsciously, I must have known I would be crying a lot today.

Releasing myself, I get a tissue from my bag, and dry my eyes.

"Sorry," I mumble.

"Don't be sorry. You've had an emotional time of late, a lot of changes in your life. I'd be worried if you weren't crying. Now, do you want something to drink?" she asks, getting to her feet, moving toward her desk.

"Coffee?"

"I was thinking something a little stronger." Her tone is conspiratorial. Then she pulls a bottle of Jim Beam from out of her desk drawer.

"Perfect," I say, a little smile forming on my lips, as Vicky grabs two cups off her shelf.

I leave work a little over an hour later, having spent that time in Vicky's office talking and drinking whiskey.

I feel a little lighter after the chat, and a lot lighter after the whiskey, and now I'm more than ready to see Ross.

Eight hours to go.

As I push out of the glass doors of my building, the cool air hits my skin, and the lightness, kindly provided by Jim Beam, unfortunately, starts to lift.

Taking a right, I turn to head toward the Tube station for home.

"Laura?"

Pausing, I turn around to see Will standing about twenty yards away from me.

He's dressed in blue jeans, a plain white T-shirt, and a black leather jacket. He looks like he hasn't shaved in a while, and I can see the bruising left from his fight with Ross around his eye. I hate that they fought because of me.

He looks different, but still handsome. Just Will. The Will I loved – love.

I feel a sudden pang for him. The intensity of it surprises me.

"Will? What-what are you doing here?" I try to recover myself from the shock of just seeing him here in the street.

"Sorry I just–" he takes a step forward.

"Have you followed me?" I ask.

That sounded really conceited. I wish I could take it back.

"No," he answers softly. "I'd just popped into work to drop something off, and I saw you go into your building. I just ... I wanted to talk to you, so I hung around and waited." He pushes his hands deep in his pockets. "I called you ... left messages but you never called me back."