True Blue - A Second Chance Romance (Complete)

Chapter 2

It's not every day the man who stole your heart walks back into your life. This was that day for Emily Montgomery. It didn't happen with fanfare or flourish, there was no grand announcement or breaking news. 

Rather, she was sitting in her office, on a dreary weekday, researching details for an upcoming case her boss had dropped on her desk earlier. Upon reviewing a list of witnesses to be called to testify she found his name. 

Captain Finn Wainwright.

Right there in black and white.

At that moment, all the air seemed to be sucked out of the room.  Emily found it difficult to breathe.

It wasn't like it was the first time she had seen his name since that fateful summer. But before, she had been actively seeking it out. Over the last 8 years, Emily had spent many a wine-soaked evening, scouring the internet for any scrap of news about Finn.

Her Finn. 

Emily was able to pick him out of his Naval Academy graduation class photo, standing tall above his other classmates. Then there were a few candid snaps posted by his friends, his unruly dark hair and brilliant smile teasing her. An old Facebook account hadn't been updated in years yet she could describe in detail each dated picture she had looked at them so often.

It had taken some real investigative skills to track his advancement up through the ranks of the military. But soon even that trail dried up. What lacked was anything relating to Captain Wainwright's personal life. For that, she had to fill in using her own imagination. 

She had one final source but it was risky to access and it only gave minimal details like his location. Tracking him as he moved around the world, stationed in exotic places, but never staying in one spot for very long. He rarely came back to the United States and to her knowledge, he had never returned to Washington DC.

Until now. 

For the first time, she knew where Finn would be and when. Her heart skipped a beat.

Only last night she had found herself spilling part of her story, their story to her new friend, Ali. Trying to help the other woman not make the same mistake she had. Telling her it was impossible to fix things with Finn. But now...

Speaking his name out loud on the phone last night after years of silence was a relief. It had sounded foreign on her tongue, like a language she hadn't spoken in ages. But it felt right. Why shouldn't she talk about him?

No one around her ever mentioned him. At first, they acted like it was taboo to speak the name of the man who walked out of her life without so much as a goodbye. After a while, he seemed to fade from the memory of those around her.

He hadn't faded to her. Emily often found herself remarking on how Finn would love this or she should remember to tell him that. As if he was simply on vacation and due to return.

But it had been eight long years without him. Some moments it felt like it was only yesterday Finn had held her hand. Waking in the morning after dreaming of him it took a few minutes for reality to set in. For the familiar ache to settle back into her heart after a few hours of reprieve.

Finn would be in the city, called as a witness for this case.  The case her firm was working on.  He would most likely be coming to her offices to be interviewed, prepped. He might even be in the building right now. 

Looking at her reflection in the computer screen, Emily pushed a lock of her unruly auburn hair behind her ear. Said hair was pulled back in its usual work-appropriate bun. Looking down at her black pantsuit, Emily wished she had worn something more flattering today.  Would Finn think she had changed much?  She wasn't a teenager anymore. 

Emily reached up and touched the charm hanging on a chain around her neck. This could be her chance. Her chance to understand why he had left.  Her chance for answers.  Her chance to get Finn back.

There was a very real possibility, after all these years, Emily would be face to face with the only man she had ever loved. The only man she thought she could ever love.

Suddenly her office was hot and stuffy.  She needed to get out of there, away from her stagnant life, to breathe fresh air.  She grabbed her purse and ran for the hallway leading to the exit as memories of his face flashed before her, wavering between utter devotion and utter devastation.