A Heart Healed

The question of whether she wanted to be called his girlfriend or not hadn’t even been brought up.

Marc did know one thing though. He wanted her to be happy. Whether that happiness included him or not was the real question.

He hoped to God that it was the former.

***************

            > Marc: Are you doing anything for your lunch break? Would you like to eat together?

It had been over two hours since he had sent that message and yet there was no response from Naomi. The time on his desk read two o’clock already. Even if she read it, her lunch break was over long ago. Did she eat something?

Marc let out a sigh, glancing down at the report spread out on the desk in front of him. There were various graphs and tables related to this coming year’s budget cuts once again. With the mess in the west coast, Jax was likely going to have to send someone out there to solve the latest bunch of screw ups performed by the record label they owned out there.

With the artists there running around out of control as well as a lack of stricter control over the financial expenditure of the company’s accounting department, Octave may just have to cut them loose or just shut it down and liquidate what assets it had left in order to make back some of the money they had lost.

The only problem with that would be the amount of litigation that would go into it. The effort wasn’t worth the lawyer’s fees, not to mention the time.

Marc massaged his temples, trying to prevent the headache that was building over this mess.

Maybe the solution was to just go there himself and give the executives a hard time. Maybe he could invite Naomi and they just make a weekend of it, head to the beach or something.

Then again, with her schedule, when would they ever get the time off? Especially since she started accepting extra work from that boss of hers. She had claimed that it was all for a good reason in the end and he tried to support Naomi boosting her career as much as she’d like. The only drawback was, of course, the distance. Marc could throw himself into his full schedule again, but what good would that do for his relationship?

He couldn’t expect her to be out more than three times a week to attend the business dinners, press conferences, launch parties, and other corporate events that he used to be dragged to. The women who had usually accompanied the people who were invited to those weren’t even half as busy as she was.

Besides, not even he wanted to keep up with that kind of lifestyle. If he had to choose between a launch party for one of their record label’s artists or a night in with Naomi and her cat, she’d choose her every time. There was a problem, however; the nights just never felt like enough.

Marc pulled out his cellphone, checking if there was anything new. Nothing. He didn’t have anything to do for the next hour, right? Maybe he could stop by the hospital and pay her a visit since it was almost time for the visitor’s rush. He did have someone to see in the hospital after all, even if she wasn’t a patient.

He picked up the receiver of his desk phone, dialing his assistant’s phone. The call picked up in record time with a quick, “Yes, sir,” that he always came to expect from the man.

“Lawrence, hold my calls for an hour and get me a driver. I’m heading out for a little bit.”

The man’s panic could almost be felt through the phone when he heard the sudden “right away” come through before he put the phone down and got to his feet, pocketing his phone and wallet before heading out the door, leaving his work in a mess over his desk. He’d get Lawrence to deal with it later if he didn’t do it when he got back. He wasn’t going to be there for very long after all.

It was a shorter drive to the hospital from his office this time around. His driver seemed to really know the city well enough to use shortcuts that Marc hadn’t even heard of. He didn’t even know that some of the stores and restaurants that they had passed by were even there. Naomi would probably love to go there since she loved new places whenever the two of them went out.

She had also made it a new habit for the two of them to head to these obscure places to make sure that he wasn’t recognized by the press or anyone who paid attention to the news. There were surprisingly a lot more that this place had to offer than he gave it credit for.

Those moments he did get to see her were all learning experiences. He knew where to find some good food in almost every area around his office building as well as something new to see. He had to admit, exploring this city surprised him with something new every day it seemed.

“I won’t be long. Just wait here,” he said to the driver once they had pulled into a parking space a few feet down the road from the main entrance of the hospital. Marc was about to head inside when he saw Naomi stepping out of the doors already next to a man with a cast on his arm, keeping it bent in front of him.

They were talking and laughing happily like he and Naomi usually did. Who was this guy? Was he a patient of hers? A bitter taste built up in his mouth as he watched her share a hug goodbye to the man with a smile. Maybe this was a bad idea. He was starting to become jealous of patients now. After all they got to see her every day.

“Marc?” He heard her call out with an excited wave. She pushed her way through the foot traffic heading past the hospital and head straight for him. Once she finally did reach him, she wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug, brushing her lips against his own. “When did you get here?”

“Just now. I wanted to know if you wanted to join me for lunch. Did you eat something?”

“I’d love to. My phone died so I lost track of time. I’m starving.” She smiled brightly at him, and as her hand slipped into his own, he could have sworn that everything that he had been worried about a few minutes earlier just vanished into thin air.