Chapter 105: See You Again
When people described miracles they often spoke along regular lines, things like, it is a miracle that he made it through college, or it was a miracle, his cancer was cured overnight, or it is a miracle that they have a baby after trying for so long. That was what people thought of, when they thought of miracles. But for the longest time, Derek, had anyone asked him, he would have said that there were no such things as miracles. But now he knew better, afterall he had experienced a miracle himself.
His miracle was being able to sleep through the night, and he had experienced the miracle by sleeping next to Emily, but just a few short weeks after showing him that miracles did happen, she was gone, and he had no idea how to bring her back. He had given up on ever seeing her again, and then wonder of wonders, he had found her.
He had left the office late, late enough that every single employee had left except for the night staff, late enough that if anybody else were to see him, they would worry that he had no work life balance. But since he did not have one, Derek would not have been bothered by such an assumption. But leaving late ended up being the one thing that helped him even though he had not known that it would lead to him finding Emily.
He had taken his usual road intent on at least reaching the penthouse at a reasonable hour. His plan for the rest of the night being to just lay in bed and stare at the ceiling. Or maybe he would go up to the roof and swim a few laps on the pool there. But what had ended up happening was that he wound up being blocked by construction halfway there, so Derek had ended up having to look for an alternative route to take. He had done so, grumbling under his breath at having to change his routine, a journey that should have been over in under two minutes, now taking longer.
He had not driven for more than five minutes when he’d had to stop, the road before him blurring. Rather than risk an accident Derek had decided to do something that he mostly avoided because it never brought him anything good.
He had decided to go for a shot of caffeine. Seeing a diner, he had pulled over a block from it. The place had looked safe enough so he had not worried that is car would be stolen while he was away. He had walked the short distance to the diner, not really paying attention to much. He had almost been to the door when he had looked into the diner... and there she was.
He should have been unsure, should have doubted, afterall, the woman’s back was to him. But Derek had worked with Emily for years, he would know her anywhere. She had her hair in a loose ponytail, and was wearing an unflattering purple uniform. Her appearance was far from the professional Emily that he had come to know, but Derek had known that it was her.
Unable to stop himself, he had reached forward. Whether his intent had been to draw her attention, or reach through the glass, Derek’d had no idea, and at that time, it had not mattered, his mind had been stuck in a loop.
Emily, Emily, Emily, Emily... That had been all that he could think about.
He had wanted to walk in and touch her, to confirm that she was real. But he had also wanted to just punch through the glass, rush in, sweep her into his arms, and spirit her away.