A few weeks had passed; Eve had managed to swing onto the evening shift at her job. Often now after work Greg would go straight to her place. She was often still asleep in bed when he came in with his key she gave him.
Even though their schedules still did not completely coincide, they were able to see more of each other than they had been. Greg and Eve both would trade days off with co-workers once in awhile so they could have whole days off together.
By now all of Greg's co-workers knew he had a steady girlfriend, even though no one had met her.
One day Greg had worked overtime and was not getting out until around 1 pm. He had called Eve, who he knew would already be awake and probably doing errands and asked her to meet him for a late lunch. He told her was going to have his co-worker, Nick Stokes with him.
Nick had been asking to meet her, so Greg finally decided to give in and scheduled this.
Eve was actually nervous about meeting one of Greg's co-workers. She had seen them at the crime scene where she first met Greg, but did not talk to any of them. But Greg talked about his work and co-workers a lot, especially Nick and Sara. He had confessed to her that he use to have a thing for Sara but was over her now. She loved how honest he was with her about things.
She managed to beat Greg and Nick to the diner since she had been in the vicinity running some errands. She sat in a booth, having already picked out what she wanted to eat on the menu, waiting for them to arrive.
She first saw Greg's silver Volkswagen pull up. He got out of the car and waited until a black SUV pulled up next to his car. The handsome, dark-haired man she remembered from the crime scene came out of the SUV and walked with Greg to the diner entrance.
Greg gave her his killer smile as he spotted her sitting in the booth. She stood up when they approached. Greg gave her a quick kiss on the lips, and then introduced her to Nick.
Nick smiled genuinely at Eve. "So glad to finally meet the woman that seems to have stolen Greg's heart." Eve felt herself redden.
"Nice to meet you too. Greg talks about his co-workers all of the time."
"Well we all pretty much feel like family since we've worked together for so long and through some tough moments."
"Yes, I can see that." She smiled at Greg.
They all sat and chatted while eating their meals. Eve liked the good-natured Texan. She could see why Greg and him got along so well.
Nick had to leave to get to an appointment. Greg and Eve remained awhile longer sitting and talking.
Eve looked at her watch. "Don't you think you should go home and get some sleep before you start your shift tonight? You look tired." Greg shrugged his shoulders.
"I guess so. I hate that we hardly get to see each other some weeks."
She held his hand across the table. "Yeah, I know it does suck, but we are making the best of it."
He gazed into her beautiful, dark green eyes, wishing he did not feel so tired so he could spend more time with her, but he knew he had to try to go home and get some sleep.
"I suppose I should go home now and attempt a few winks and you can go finish whatever it was you needed to do," he said sluggishly.
"Yes, I don't want to miss my date with John. He gets very upset when I am late," she grinned.
He eyed her suspiciously. "John?" She started laughing at his expression.
"My boss, John Rider. He called a meeting for today before my shift begins and asked me to pick up some stuff for a meeting."
"Ah okay. Teaser!" He smirked at her as he opened the door to exit the diner.
They stood by her car and kissed before she waved and said goodbye to him. He watched as she drove away, and then got into his own car.
He started up his car and was looking out of his front windshield, ready to pull out when he saw him. Aaron James sat in his car, a black Acura, across the way from where Greg was parked.
This time Greg was ticked off. Greg turned off his car and was just getting out to go over and confront Aaron when he sped out of the parking lot. Greg made note of his license plate as he drove off.
Greg got back in his car and just sat there trying to figure out what Aaron's game was. Was he trying to mess with his mind or was he really out for him? Greg wondered how long Aaron had been watching him. It irritated him that his was the second time he saw him when he was out with Eve.
He wanted to go back to work now to just run the license plate number just because he was curious, but knew if he got busted doing it he could get into trouble. He sighed heavily and decided to just go home and try to get some sleep.
He dragged into his shift later on, having hardly slept due to his mind running over what was up with Aaron James. He was not sure if he should mention it to anybody or not. He did not want to sound paranoid, but what if Aaron had something up his sleeves in mind for Greg for revenge? Greg could not shake that feeling.
Greg was in the break room getting some much-needed coffee when Sara and Nick came in. "Hey Greg. I was just telling Sara here I met Eve. I was really impressed with her. You took look great together."
Greg turned around to face them and Nick saw how tired he looked. "Gee, all play and no sleep makes Greg a tired boy," Nick laughed, but Greg did not. He looked serious.
"Can I tell you guys something that you will just keep between us," he asked as he took a seat at the table.
"Girlfriend problems? You two looked happy?" Nick asked with some concern seeing how Greg was now.
"No, no…we are fine. It is something else."
Sara could always tell when something was really bothering Greg. "What is wrong? Did something happen?"
Greg looked around to make sure no one else was listening. "Okay, I never told you guys this but on my last day of the civil trial, Aaron James came up to me while I was in the cafeteria at the courthouse. He sort of threatened me in an indirect way. And then after I won, I swear, he was shooting daggers at me with his eyes. I did not make too much of that. But since then I have twice spotted him watching me, once I was leaving the movies with Eve and he was watching me from a distance and then just after meeting with you today, Nick, at the diner. As I was about to leave, Eve had already left, I saw him in his car across the way from mine staring at me. I decided to try to make an approach to him and the second he saw me get out of my car and walk toward him he took off. Tell me what you guys think? Is he just trying to make me crazy or is he maybe thinking about doing something?"
Sara and Nick looked at each other, both contemplating on what Greg just told them. Sara was the first to speak. "Greg, I think he is just trying to mess with you, make you all nervous about him like you are now. You can't let him get to you. The jury made their decision twice about you not being guilty of anything. He just has to deal with it."
Nick shook his head in agreement with Sara. "Yeah man. I think he is just messing around with your head, maybe hoping you make some stupid move on him then he can file a complaint against you. But I will say if you see him again soon or something, you might want to ask your lawyer about it, if you can file some sort of restraining order against him."
Greg rubbed his hand over his chin, thinking about what they had told him. They were probably right. Aaron James was trying to mess with his head and it was starting to work.
"Okay, thanks you two. I guess you are right. He is getting to me already just when I thought I was done with all that. But if I do see him again, I have to do something, because it could be considered stalking, almost."
Nick nodded his head. "Yeah and you do not want a crazy stalker after you, like I had. So just be cautious but not paranoid, I would say. We'll keep our eyes open too, if we happen to spot him anywhere nearby."
Sara agreed with Nick. "Yeah, let us know if you do see him again too."
Greg nodded. "I will. I do feel better telling you both about it."
"Did you tell Eve about it," Sara asked. Greg looked down and answered. "No, I did not. I just did not want to worry her at all. I figured it would be better than make her paranoid like me."
"Probably a good idea for now." Greg was glad she agreed.
"Thanks again, I appreciate you listening to me. I feel a better now about it. Now if only this coffee gets me through this shift tonight." He grinned at them. He had to put aside his thoughts of Aaron James and focus his mind on his job again. It was going to be a long night.
