If can help me find a better title, please tell me, I've struggled with it! Thanks for your interest! Enjoy!
Chapter One
"We've discussed an autumn wedding—No, personally I would rather have something in the late spring or early summer, but autumn is his favorite time of year and he's got me convinced," there was another, longer pause as Lily switched the phone receiver to her other ear and started twirling her hair with her pencil. She leaned back on her chair, exasperated. "September sixteenth."
The late afternoon sun cast long shadows into her office. The golden light reflected off her various trinkets, absorbed by small cardboard boxes and newspaper littered throughout the small space. She glanced up; there was a silhouette in her door. She recognized his shape immediately, his casual stance, leaning against the threshold.
"Okay, I'll tell you what, I'll call you later—I'll be sending out invitations in a couple of months—of course you'll get one! Good bye."
Hanging up the receiver, she sighed and held her head in her hands momentarily.
"You looked stressed out," Bug said, taking his weight off the door and entering the office. His hands were in his pockets.
Lily looked up to him, recovering her smile, "Preparing for a wedding is probably the most stressful thing on the planet."
"You've just got too much on your plate," Bug suggested, looking around the room he insinuated the partially packed belongings scattered around. To Lily, his eyes were always naturally doleful, like a basset hounds', however today, they seemed even more so. "Why Lily?" His voice faltered with more emotion than she expected.
She couldn't ignore the question. She hadn't expected to put in her resignation with no questions asked. A long, uncomfortable pause ensued while she thought of an appropriate way to answer him. When she couldn't think of anything she said, "I just need a change—"
Bug felt abandoned. She needed to get away from everybody at the morgue, including himself.
"I think that the time I've put in here has been the best part of my life, but it can't last forever."
He could feel his heart crush under the weight of her words. He tried to keep his head up and his breath steady and the sting of tears out of his eyes.
"I don't have anything planned yet, but I think after the wedding, I'll go on to work with children."
He couldn't imaginer her starting a family with another man.
The desk separated them but he wanted to take her into his arms and hold her there for eternity. He wanted every piece of her; it was all he ever desired. She was out of reach.
He didn't know what he was going to do without her.
She could see an internal struggle within him. She was aware of the way he felt for her and she could hardly believe she was hurting somebody so completely, so unintentionally.
"Bug, how about we go out for coffee," she suggested, "right now. I need to get out of here for a bit anyway."
Bug seemed to snap out of a trance. His head emerged from the thunder grey clouds and alighted upon her beautiful face. A grin unfolded on him.
"Yes, me too. I'll drive because before we hit the caffeine, I need to make a stop."