Moments In Time

Chapter 2

Elizabeth yawned into her arm as she walked into Zurro's Pet Store, it was her favorite local store and was cheaper than more of the shops in New York and loved everything that they sold for dogs there. They had everything an animal lover could dream of getting for their dog and had a cookie bar that she would occasionally get from as she preferred to feed Ringo the best quality that she could.

Pushing a cart into the Zurro's Elizabeth walked over to the dog food section first as she was running low on Raw Instinct the food she had given to Ringo since he was a puppy. Looking through the 25-pound bags she looked through the different flavors until she found the red bag that had chicken and vegetables in it and picked up the bag and put it in the cart despite the fact it was hard for her to reach. Once it was in the cart Elizabeth walked over to the dog treats.

There was a certain brand of treats and bones that she had always given to Ringo just like his food and since she was on the last bag, she knew that it was time to stock up again and looked through the treats for the ones that he enjoyed most. She then grabbed a bag of chicken strips, beef jerky, chicken fillets, and duck jerky she put them in the cart on top of the dog food and moved on to the bones.

Bones weren't something that she gave Ringo more than once a month but like the refresh her bone supply every six months so they weren't stale or bad when she went to feed them to him. Looking through the bones Elizabeth grabbed a bag of pig ears and peanut butter and cheese flavored bones and threw them in. She quickly ran through the list she had in her head to see if she needed to get anything else for Ringo but knew she had gotten everything she had made this trip for.

Walking to the front to get online her phone buzzed in her pocket and saw that it was from her best friend from college Alexa reminding her that they were going shopping for bridesmaid dresses tomorrow. Elizabeth rolled her eyes, she hated going shopping for dresses with her group of friends from college because every time that got together, she was reminded of how they thought she was an idiot for letting Oliver go.

But they didn't know the whole story of what had happened between them of why Elizabeth had really left him and if she had it her way, she was never going to tell them the truth despite the fact they were her best friends outside of Chelsea. Elizabeth sent a quick reply as the only cashier on stated, "I can help who's next."

Elizabeth pushed her cart up and unloaded it on the counter and the guy asked, "Do you have a membership card?"

Pulling it out of her purse Elizabeth handed the cashier with a nametag with Chase rang it up before he started ringing up all the items she was buying and asked, "How many dogs do you have?"

"Just one an Australian Shepherd named Ringo but I like to only come a once a month if I can help it."

Chase nodded and handed her the bags and as she put it in the cart he said, "Your total is $79.82."

Elizabeth wished she could have groaned but it came with having a dog and wouldn't change it for anything in the world since she loved Ringo more than anything in the world. Paying for everything Elizabeth then made her way back to her car and loaded everything into the backseat of her Jeep Cherokee before she walked over to the Whole Foods that was in the same shopping center.

It was the best food store around in her area and didn't want to have to drive farther when she had already been out all day and just wanted to get home. She had been taking photos of a high school graduation that the school had hired her to do and just wanted to get home. Taking a cart Elizabeth walked into the store and into the produce area and pulled her list out of her purse.

Starting with fruit Elizabeth got Honeycrisp apples, oranges, apricots, bananas, assorted berries, grapes, nectarines, peaches, and pineapple. As she was putting 3 avocados into a bag when heard some saying, "Beth. Hey Beth."

Looking behind her Elizabeth was a little shocked to see Derek shopping here as well and even though they had been friends since they met two months ago, she felt like he could be more. Like he could become something more than Oliver ever was to her.

"Hey there stranger you shop here to?"

Derek replied, "Yeah it's the best place to get all my groceries in my one place so I don't have to go to multiple places. How was Louisiana? Enjoy your trip home?"

"It was fantastic to go back home after a year of being in New York, I love Manhattan but sometimes it's nice to get back to my roots. How's your practice doing?"

The two of them made their way to the fresh vegetables and as Elizabeth got a bunch of asparagus and broccoli crowns, he replied, "It's great. I'm getting more used to the hours but I still miss the rush that working in a hospital gave me but I'll get used to it. Mark wants to get professional photos taken for the website but we are still debating on weather we need to or not. And I haven't forgotten that you are a photographer and if we decide to get them done, you'll be my first call."

Picking out tomatoes and onions she replied, "I better be or I might be a little mad when you know the owner of a photography business."

He laughed, "I won't. Are you busy tonight? I know you're in prime wedding season but I wanted to ask you something in a more private setting."

"I have been pretty busy lately but tonight I am free. Why don't you come over to my apartment tonight and I'll cook dinner for the two of us tonight? I can make you a signature Louisiana dish that I was taught how to make by my grandmother."

Derek looked over her as she started making her way over to the seafood counter and asked, "Is this the grandmother who has voodoo queen blood in her or the one who bought you your camera?"

Laughing, "The one who bought me my camera. She's an amazing person and I think you would love her. She was actually a surgeon until three years ago when she was forced to retire because she was losing vision in her right eye."

"Sounds like she's a great person and yes I'll come over tonight for dinner. There's something I really need to talk to you about."

The way that was worded worried Elizabeth as though she had upset him in some fashion and she didn't want to think that she had upset him as he was pretty much her best friend that she had in New York and wanted to continue that even if she felt more for him. Elizabeth asked, "Everything is okay between us, right?"

There was a degree of insecurity in Elizabeth's voice that was raw almost as though she was afraid, she had done something and it made Derek ache that she would immediately think that something was wrong because of what he had said. He replied, "Everything is fine Beth it's just something I've been meaning to ask you for a while and you went to Louisiana before I could and before that you were busy with different events that people had hired you for. Like today what were you doing before you went shopping?"

"Graduation photos for Manhattan High School."

He smiled at her like he knew that he was going to say that she been taking photos for some event that was coming up soon. In the months that he had known her Derek could tell immediately that she was a hard worker and loved what she did with a passion. He then stated, "See. So, I'll see you when we are both done shopping. And you have to traverse five floors because your elevator is broken at The Dunes and you like on the fifth floor."

"Make fun on me like that and maybe I'll make it extra spicy and see how you do with the heat."

His smile faded, "That would just be mean Beth. And you wouldn't do that to me would you."

"True I wouldn't do that despite the fact that I love spicy food. I blame being from Louisiana. Okay I better finish so I can get home and get cooking. See you in a bit Derek."

XxXMomentsInTimeXxX

Ringo scarfed down his food with the same ferocity that he always did when it was a new bag that Elizabeth had just opened. She had just finished cooking all of the meat for her gumbo and in her blue stockpot was sauteing onion, bell pepper, celery and garlic. Derek had just come over a little while ago and was sitting at her island across from her opening the bottle of pinot grigio that Elizabeth had dug out for the two of them.

The bottle didn't want to open despite the fact Derek had put the corkscrew in with little difficulty and it was giving Elizabeth a bit of a laugh watching him struggle to pop the cork. With the onions slightly browned Elizabeth added to flour to the pot and asked, "Do you need some help over there?"

He looked over from the wine bottle and replied, "No I almost got it Beth. Where do you keep the wine glasses?"

"You see where the wine bottles are under the cabinet?"

Derek's eyes went to where she was pointing and saw where she was talking about, in her apartment kitchen there was an indent for six bottles and Elizabeth had turned into a little wine rack instead of buying one. In the time that he knew Elizabeth he knew that she liked to take her time with wine as it normally took her two months to a bottle by herself. He nodded to her and replied, "They should be in there. The only reason that I have them is my mother insisted that I get them as it's only appropriate that I have a set of wine glasses and when I wouldn't go out and buy them myself, she sent me a set from Louisiana."

Derek laughed at that and when the wine bottle opened with a pop he yelled, "Finally. I told you I had it."

"Sure, you did."

Derek then got up and walked over to the cabinet and pulled out two of the wine glasses that were rose gold and went back to where he had been sitting and poured the two of them a glass and passed Elizabeth, "So this is a recipe that your grandmother taught you?"

"Yeah, my great grandma Lyndy was a professional chef for most of her life starting at a restaurant that nobody gave a damn about and worked her way up to be one of the best chef's in Louisiana. She was even able to make her own recipes for the restaurant because of how enjoyed her cooking was. It probably was a good distraction for her considering her husband, my grandpa Carlos was fighting in a war at the time. I can only imagine the hard time that she was having worrying about him as he fought in such a dangerous situation. I don't think I would have been able to do anything like that without the constant worry them. She taught her daughter Abigail how to cook and in turn she started to teach me all of her recipes when I was old enough to understand so probably when I was about 12 but it saved me in college."

With the rice, chicken stock, and seasoning in the pot after waiting 15 minutes Elizabeth added the shrimp, chicken, and sausage she took a sip of her wine and said, "We are just about ready to eat. All we have to do is let the rice cook for about five more minutes and add salt before we are able to eat it. Which reminds me I need to get the hot sauce out."

Elizabeth opened her fridge and looked on the door for the hot sauce feeling the chill that came from the fridge felt good thanks to the heat for cooking even though her brown hair was pulled back into a claw clip as Derek asked, "What do we need hot sauce for?"

"For some spice. Not everybody likes the heat that it adds but I am a big fan of heat so I add a lot to my bowl but I'll let you choose if you like it. Normally I would get my favorite brand from Louisiana out but so we are going to have to go with Frank's RedHot."

Grabbing the bottle of Frank's RedHot Xtra Hot Derek replied, "Thank you for not burning my mouth off Beth. If you ran out of hot sauce, why didn't you get more while you were in Louisiana?"

"Technically I did I bought a few but I couldn't bring them on the plane with me so my Mom is sending them to me so I should have them in a few weeks. My favorite brand is one called Voodoo Hot Sauce and the level of heat some of them have are out of this world but they are so good."

"It's official you are the hot sauce queen."

Elizabeth laughed at Derek's statement despite the fact she knew that it was true there was very few things that Elizabeth wouldn't eat with hot sauce in fact she preferred hot sauce to ketchup or mustard. She then replied, "And don't forget it."

Derek watched the way her indigo eyes sparkled that matched her olive skin so well as she fished the bay leaves out of the pot and added a bit of salt with her fingers and stirred it with the spoon that she was using and tasted it and said, "It's ready."

Turning off the heat Elizabeth walked over to a drawer and pulled a ladle out and spooned some into both of the bowls that they were going to be using for dinner tonight. Elizabeth then took a seat next to Derek and added the hot sauce to her bowl as Derek poured more wine into both of their glasses.

Ringo placed his head on Elizabeth's lap and let out a soft whimper as though he was letting Elizabeth know that he was there even though he knew that he wasn't allowed to grub for food. Elizabeth put down her wine glass and swallowed what was in her mouth saying, "That's enough of the Ringo you know better. Go to bed."

Ringo gave her a sad look before he sadly walked over to his foamed bed and laid down with a sigh. Elizabeth shook her head at his antics because he could be very dramatic when he wanted to. Derek had just taken a mouthful of the gumbo and was immediately assaulted by the different flavors of the gumbo and found that he loved he cooking even if he thought the hot sauce was a little to hot for his taste but he found that he loved her cooking.

"This is great Beth. Why didn't you become a chef instead of a photographer?"

Elizabeth had the spoon in her mouth and quickly finished before saying, "I enjoy cooking I get it my grandma but it doesn't give me the same joy that photography does. I just can't imagine having a career that doesn't involve taking photos because I love it so much. I guess the easiest way to explain it is that I have a passion for it like you have for being a surgeon. Which reminds me what did you want to talk to me about?"

Derek had nearly forgotten that he hadn't talked to Elizabeth about what he wanted to he had gotten so caught up with just being with Beth and the fact it was so easy to be with her made it feel like they were already together when he hadn't even told her the truth about how he felt about her or knew if she felt the same way about him but he would know tonight. He just hoped that it was the same way that he felt about her. He replied, "Let's finish dinner and then we'll talk about it."

"Okay. Is it serious? Because this is reminding me of the time, I accidentally totaled my moms, car while learning to drive."

"You totaled your mom's car while learning to drive?"

Elizabeth bit her lip before she sheepishly replied, "Yeah. It was my first time driving and I got the pedals confused while pulling into the driveway and crashed into my brother's basketball hop which broke and fell on top of my mother's car. She was pissed off for a while but blamed herself because she had been yelling at me to drive when it happened."

Derek asked, "Were either of you hurt?"

"Just bruised but it could have been so much worse."

"It really could have Beth; you were both really lucky."

Elizabeth smiled at him, "We were but it made me a better drive as I never wanted to go through something like that ever again. And is probably the reason that I bought an older car when I got my first car."

A little while later Derek and Elizabeth were in her kitchen putting away the leftovers and cleaning the pot and dishes that Elizabeth had used that night as well as finishing off the bottle of wine that they had been drinking that night. A part of her was getting anxious for what Derek wanted to talk about and felt like she was going to go crazy if she didn't find out what it was soon.

With the last dish put away Elizabeth leaned against the counter the water on the rim of the sink going through her shirt as she took a sip of wine and said, "Okay I've been patient with waiting for you to tell me what was wrong but now I need to know Derek. What do you want to talk about?"

"Let's sit on your couch and I'll tell you everything."

Elizabeth nodded and followed Derek into the living room and took a seat on her plush couch that had came with her apartment when she had first got it, like most of the furniture that she used except for her mattress which she had bought. Putting her glass on the coffee table she looked at Derek expectantly waiting for him to finally tell her what was going on with him today.

Derek looked into her indigo eyes that you could understand what she was thinking at one glance and saw concern for him and a little fear as though she was afraid of something happening. It was raw and sad almost as though she was afraid of being hurt like he knew she had been hurt in the past. Before he could tell anything, he got as close to Elizabeth as it was possible to be and could hear Ringo growling trying to prevent her from getting hurt by anybody.

"Ringo quiet boy."

Ringo hushed up and the next thing Derek was kissing her. Her lips were soft and tasted like the wine, gumbo, and had a hint of coconut from the lip balm that she was always using because of the hours that she spent in the sun taking photos. Elizabeth didn't respond at first shocked that this was happening but then she did and it just felt right to be kissing Derek. Like this was the person she was meant to be kissing, it made her feel more than kissing Oliver ever had for her. His tongue slid into her mouth and a soft moan came out of Elizabeth.

When the two of them broke apart they were both out of breath and Elizabeth smiled against him as he softly kissed her again and she said, "I really hope that had something to do with what you wanted to talk about."

"It does. I had a plan if you believe it but that's kind of gone out the window now."

Elizabeth smiled at Derek as he ran a finger through her brown hair that had fallen out of the clip that she had in it and Derek put his hand on her cheek to cup it. She put her hand over his and stated, "I like the no plan way of doing things though. It leads to surprises that I find to be enjoyable most of the time."

Derek replied, "Well then I'll just ask you then. Elizabeth, will you go out with me?"

"Yes, I'll go out with you."

A/N: This chapter has gone through four different versions but this is the best one so I hope you like it. Next chapter is going to be the first date between Derek and Elizabeth so that is going to be fun to write. Special thanks to VFBFan and the guest for reviewing this the first chapter and to Lady Isabelle Black and Cpzzzzz for favoriting and to Alexstarlight18, Lady Isabelle Black, and Cpzzzzz for following. I appreciate all the support with the story.