True Blue - A Second Chance Romance (Complete)

Chapter 25

Emily looked out the window where the rain beat against it in a constant stream of water. There was nothing like working on a dismal Saturday.

The dreary weather outside matched her bleak attitude. She tried to tell herself it was because of all the work she had to catch up on. Her impromptu trip to New York had left her behind on a few too many cases. Combined with the office event on Tuesday night and a few late nights out, she had a lot to catch up on.

But the truth was she was wallowing again. It had been easy to be cheerful and positive in New York, surrounded by friends and new acquaintances. Griffin had been a breath of fresh air. He had insisted on taking her to dinner, refusing to let her eat in the hotel. 

She surprised herself by agreeing and even more so when she enjoyed the evening. Instead of some swanky steakhouse, he took her to a quaint little Italian restaurant where the waiters knew his name and they ordered food not on the menu. It had been wonderful, talking, eating and laughing. He was a born storyteller and had her fascinated throughout the meal.

The next day, they flew back to Washington together. At the retirement party that night, she took it upon herself to introduce Griffin to his new co-workers and give him a tour of the office. He had not been satisfied with the regular places and insisted she show him the hidden secrets of the building. That was how they had ended up on the roof. Time flew by up there and when they climbed the stairs back to the office, the party was well over. Her companion for the evening had insisted on giving her a lift home.

Griffin was so easy to get along with. Everyone enjoyed his company and he had a way of connecting with people instantly. In many ways, he was the polar opposite of Finn. Open, quick to joke, up for anything attitude. 

When he hinted at wanting to go to dinner the next night at a sushi place Emily had mentioned was a favourite of hers, she took the bait and asked him to join her. He flashed a smile with so many teeth, the sun paled in comparison. It had been another entertaining excursion.

Before leaving town somehow, he elicited a vow from her to get together again for dinner the next time she came to New York. Tempting her with a promise of the best cheesecake on the eastern seaboard for dessert. She simply had to be the judge of such a boast.

Then life in Washington returned to normal. Dinner with her family had felt solemn compared to a week of fresh blood and excitement. It brought her thoughts and mood down. When she woke up this morning, Emily decided to come into the office to keep from brooding.

It had not worked out as planned. Her thoughts drifted to Finn. Always Finn. Back in Washington, reminders of him were everywhere now. Worse, she knew Finn was a cab ride away. And for some reason, she felt this pull to go to him.

Instead, she rooted herself to her chair, concentrating on sorting out her office. Visions of him kissing the woman with the ample chest on the dance floor last weekend helped push away any further urges.

To make matters worse, at some point Lance had been rifling through her desk when she was away, searching for a file. In his usual haphazard way, her brother-in-law had no regard for her organizational skills, chucking things everywhere. Not knowing what file went where her assistant had stacked them all in a neat pile. Sighing she turned her attention to the makeshift tower and putting them back in some semblance of order.

She tried to stay on task, but the gnawing feeling in her stomach would not go away. Despite knowing it would come to no good, Emily found herself logging on to the SAAS file server. Very few people at Simpson, Simpson and Waters had access to the military system and Emily had to use Lance's father's credentials. She felt guilty. In the past, she had used it to track Finn's whereabouts, following his missions around the world. It did not provide much in terms of details. Mostly deployment status and location. Last year he had been in the middle east followed by a long stay in Germany.