Chapter Two
Elizabeth walked slowly through the main building of the university as she made her towards the welfare office in the human resources department. They had called her the day before to ask her to come in; she had wanted to refuse but the woman at the other end of the phone hadn't even given her a chance to and Julie who had been at home with her when the call had come in had insisted that Elizabeth go to the university.
She had avoided the university since Jack's death and even changed her route so that she didn't have to pass by it on her way to town. But today she had to come back and she couldn't even understand why; all Jack's personal effects had been brought back. She had told Julie as much but her younger sister had threatened to carry her there if necessary and in the end Elizabeth had decided that she would go on her own and even refused Julie's offer to go with her for moral support.
She was so lost in thought that she didn't see the person walking out of the office until she'd bumped into him.
"Sorry," she apologised as strong hands reached out to steady her, "I was a bit distracted."
"It's okay," the person replied, "I was also a bit dis… Elizabeth."
Elizabeth looked up straight into Nathan Grant's eyes. Of course it would be him that she would run into. "Nathan."
"How have you been?" he asked her, looking at her critically. "You look better than the last time I saw you."
"Yes," Elizabeth agreed, forcing a small smile, there was something about him that made her senses become alert. Too alert in fact.
"It's good to see you looking so well," Nathan told her. He was still holding her and he knew that the polite thing would be to step back but somehow he couldn't bring himself to do it.
"Thank you," she replied softly, "and I'm sorry that I never called to thank you for all your help."
"It was nothing," he dismissed it, shrugging.
"It wasn't nothing," Elizabeth assured him, "you cleared out Jack's office and brought back everything, you even managed to find the missing photo from his wallet. That certainly wasn't nothing."
"Well," Nathan looked down, maybe he had tried too hard but he had wanted to make things better for her as much as he could and he had often seen Jack staring at that photo of him and Elizabeth that he'd carried in his wallet. "I was happy to be of help."
"You were," Elizabeth told him sincerely, "you took care of things that I didn't have the strength to take care of, all without being asked and all I did was ignore you for all your efforts."
"Like I said," he swallowed, "I was glad to be of help."
It suddenly occurred to Elizabeth that she was standing with his arms about her and she slowly moved back and was surprised by how cold she instantly felt. "I'm sorry, I'm probably keeping you from some important business."
"No," he shook his head, "nothing important at all."
She took a deep breath. "It was nice seeing you again Nathan."
"You too Elizabeth," he smiled. He wanted to add something about seeing her soon but there was really no reason for them to see each other again. He that thought of going by her place and checking up on her many times over the past few months but they had never really been friends. Elizabeth had been friendly and kind all the times he'd met before Jack's death but his …feelings for her had had him keeping his distance and after Jack's death he had decided that he would let her mourn Jack in peace.
He had known that Elizabeth would come by the university today but he hadn't expected to see her. Okay, he had hoped that he would see her but because he doubted that he would he hadn't really harboured any hope but not only had he seen her but he'd even held her and the feelings that he'd fought hard to ignore had come raging back to the surface.
He took a step aside and watched her enter the room he had just exited.
000
Elizabeth listened as the welfare officer explained why she had been asked to come to the university that day. As per the terms of Jack's employment he was entitled to two types of pension and also that there some other monies from some other schemes that he had been a part of. That money was now available, which is why she had been called to the university to collect it. The welfare officer was pleased to inform Elizabeth that while most of the money would be sent to their joint account where she could access it in about two weeks' time or so, some was ready as cash and Elizabeth could take it with immediately.
"These things usually take a lot longer to process," the welfare officer said, "but you were very lucky, or should I say that Jack chose well."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I shouldn't really be telling you this," the welfare officer lowered her voice, "but it can even take up to five years before these monies are paid out but Jack left Dr. Grant in charge of your accounts and he's nothing if not organized. Not a thing piece of paper was out of place, we really had no choice but to effect the payments."
"Dr. Grant?"
"Yes," the welfare officer beamed. "Nathan Grant, one of the nicest men you'll ever meet, but I guess you know that already, him being Jack's close friend and all. He's been working on it for weeks on end and finally everything was sorted out; he even came by this morning to make sure that you'd find it all in order."
"Nathan?" Elizabeth was unable to say more.
"All employees are asked to have a sort of executor, if you will, who will take care of their affairs when they're no longer here to do it themselves but not everyone is as lucky to have someone like Nathan on their side, so again I must say, Jack chose well."
"Thank you Mrs. Miller," Elizabeth thanked the woman, as she signed and took the money.
Her job as a landscape artist paid her well, when she had works to sell but that hadn't happened for a while now. Not surprisingly, she had lost all interest in her work after Jack's death and before that she had been on maternal leave. Not that she really needed money, she had her trust fund and other money that that her Aunt had left her but it was very thoughtful of Nathan to ensure that she got the money as soon as possible. Very thoughtful indeed.
"You're welcome, Elizabeth," Mrs. Miller replied, "and just between me and you, I would appreciate it if you didn't let Nathan know that you're aware of his role in your getting the money early. He didn't want you to think that he'd overstepped his bounds, and I told him that I didn't see why not as you'd probably just be grateful, but he insisted that he thought that it would be better for you if you didn't know."
"Okay," Elizabeth said, she didn't really understand why Nathan would not want her to know about his involvement. It was probably because he liked to keep himself to himself, and she could appreciate that but she was going to find a way to thank him for all his help.
000
"Delivery for Nathan Grant."
Nathan was staring at his computer screen the next afternoon when he was interrupted by a voice. He looked up and was surprised to see Elizabeth standing in front of him.
"Elizabeth," he said, getting to his feet."
"I figured you hadn't yet had lunch," Elizabeth waved a basket in front of him, "or at least I hope you haven't."
"No."
"Good," Elizabeth handed it to him, "enjoy."
"Only if you join me," Nathan said.
"No, no," Elizabeth refused, "you're probably very busy and I don't want to intrude."
"You won't be intruding," he assured her, and starting clearing a table. He opened the basket and few sandwiches, homemade biscuits and root beer.
"Okay," Elizabeth agreed, and took the chair he offered.
After she'd left the Mrs. Miller's office the day before she'd debated with herself about going immediately to Nathan's office to talk about Jack's pension but she'd decided against it; he didn't want her to know and she didn't want him to know that Mrs. Miller had told her, instead she had decided that she would make him a simple meal as a thank you.
An hour later, Elizabeth was surprised that she was still sitting and talking with Nathan Grant, she hadn't expected that she would have anything in common with him but she hadn't enjoyed herself like that in a while.
As Nathan walked back to his office after walking Elizabeth to her car, he smiled to himself in wonder. Just yesterday he had been resigning himself to the fact that he would probably never see her again but now they had sort of agreed to keep in touch. It wasn't much but it was something.
000