Chapter 12 An Old Flame? #5
Over to her left, Greg tossed his keys gently onto the tray on the corner table beside the couch.
“Ashley nearly sounds disappointed every time you don’t use perfect British etiquette,” he joked casually, turning toward the dining room, moving toward the wine rack in the kitchen.
No response. Greg stopped at the dining room entrance and glanced back.
Erica was still standing just inside the doorway staring into the corner by the stairway. Not moving. The color had drained slightly from her face. His expression softened immediately as realization hit him. “Oh, no,” he said quietly.
Erica swallowed hard, still staring at the spot on the floor. “I remember exactly where I was standing.” Silence settled over the room.
“Erica?” Greg called as he started back into the living room toward her.
“I thought you’d stay,” she admitted finally, her voice fragile now. “I honestly believed if I forced you to choose… you’d choose me.”
Greg moved over beside her, watching her carefully. Not defensive. Not angry. Just tired and understanding in a way he never could have been a year ago. “I know,” he replied softly, placing his right hand on her left shoulder.
Erica gave a small broken laugh under her breath as moisture gathered in her eyes. “God, I was arrogant,” she admitted through stumbled words.
“No,” Greg answered gently. “You were scared. Your father had put so much pressure on you to forget about me. That’s why we’d decided to have a baby—so he’d finally accept me into his world.
” He tried to turn her gently, away from the spot she was fixated on.
“I thought you knew what was going on.” He let out a frustrated breath. “We barely saved Pimico that weekend.”
“I’m so sorry, Greg. I didn’t see it,” she started to plead when he pulled her into a tight embrace. “I didn’t want to hurt you,,,,I just wanted you all to myself,” she softly sobbed into his shoulder.
“Relax, Erica,” he softly assured her then kissed her cheek lightly.
“You loved me and I loved you. We just missed out opportunities to make the commitment that would have completed each other. I’m sorry that I failed to communicate clearly with you, to show you that everything I was doing with Pimico was for you, for us,” he drew a sharp breath. “It was for our future.”
“Do we still have a future?” she asked in a nearly begging voice.
“I can’t say that we do, Erica. There’s so much that happened after you left, and now I’m going down a different path,” he said as gently as he could, still holding her close to himself.
“If you think that there’s even a remote chance, Greg, I need you to know that I’ve never stopped loving you for one second.” She sobbed softly for a moment then sniffed her nose hard. “I know that you’ve grown since last year, and so have I.”
“I won’t say that there’s absolutely no chance, now,” he paused. “But you have to know this Erica. I nearly proposed to Carry twice.”
“Carry?” she said, very confused. “Not Veronica?”
“Now you see how complicated my life has become, and with everything that just happened at the restaurant, it’s become so complex that I’m not sure what I think or feel right now.
” He broke the embrace, then stepped back.
“Let’s not continue this discussion, for now.
” She looked at him and nodded in defeat.
“We’ll go get that chardonnay and finish talking about Lance Marsden. ”
They moved through the living room and dining room, into the kitchen.
Greg grabbed the glasses and sat them down on the breakfast nook table.
He motioned for Erica to take a seat as he retrieved the chardonnay.
She looked out the bay window at the patio and yard longingly, lost in the memories of barbeques and parties.
Greg poured the glasses, put the cork back in the bottle, then sat down opposite her.
For a moment, neither spoke, not sure how to move forward at this point.
Finally, Erica took a deep breath, let it out slowly, then started going through everything she’d been doing.
She indicated that she’d made her report to Brick and was ready to send the information on to Keith, but didn’t want to risk sending it in an unsecure manner.
She made sure Greg understood that she had the package in the car.
Greg took in all the information, then realized she’d been intervening in protecting the last two prescriptions by locking them within her office safe once they were filled, but leaving duplicates out where they could be tampered with.
“You mean to tell me that you might have hard evidence to nail that little weasel?”
“I’m hopeful. Sargeant Marvin came over to collect the evidence yesterday.
They were going to check for DNA and fingerprints.
” She let out a long breath. “I’m a little scared here Greg,” she confided.
“If they figure out that I’ve caught on—I don’t know what they might do.
I could have just put myself in grave danger. ”
Greg dropped his head to the table. “Erica,” he muttered with his mouth smooshed against the tabletop.
“Yes Greg?” she answered hopefully.
“Why are you putting yourself in harms way?” He lifted up and looked her straight in the eye.
“Because I will love you for the rest of my life; and protect you in any way I can.”