It was her.

My heart. It was beating out of my chest.

From where I was parked, I couldn’t make out her facial features. That wasn’t necessary. It was Eden. There was no doubt anymore. It was her, and she was clearly fine.

The empty feeling in my stomach intensified after she disappeared into the restaurant.

Now what?

Do I just go home?

Do I go in there and confront her?

The sensible part of my brain told me to turn around and head straight for the airport. She was alive. Wasn’t that good enough?

For shits and giggles, I decided to check my email from my phone. That’s when I realized I had received a message earlier in the morning that would change the entire course of my day.Ryder,I am so terribly sorry for not responding to your messages and for not being around the past couple of days. I had a family emergency and couldn’t be online. My head wasn’t on straight. I just saw your email and freaked out a little that you were worried about me. I am fine. I can’t apologize enough for not reaching out. There is no excuse. I just lost my way for a bit. Will you be online tonight? I really miss you.EdenI just kept staring at it, now doubting my knee-jerk reaction in coming out here.

I could take this information and run back home with it as if nothing ever happened, or I could take a chance and let her know I was here.

By the way my heart was beating, I knew there was no way I was going home to L.A. without letting her see me. I just needed some time to figure out how I was going to approach this.

If I waited for her to get out of work, I could follow her and see if that provided me with any clues as to what she might be hiding from me. It felt like I needed more information before I just dropped this bomb on her.

I couldn’t risk leaving even to grab lunch, because without the Ellerby’s connection, I had no information to go on. I needed to be able to follow her home.

Four hours later, I was in the middle of a daydream when the sight of her exiting the building lit a fire under my ass.

Jumping up, I turned on the ignition and began driving slowly along the path she was walking.

There were no other cars in sight, and Eden was headed to her destination by foot. My biggest problem would be if she switched to public transportation. Were there buses or trains around here? I needed to keep her within my line of sight or I would lose her.

I followed her for nearly ten minutes. Damn, did she not have a car? Where was she going that she had to walk so far?

She turned a corner, and I continued to keep my distance so she wouldn’t notice a car following her every move.

Eden suddenly stopped in front of a large, brick building. There were a few other people waiting outside.

I parked about a block away from her.

She looked down at her hands, seeming to be examining her fingernails as she casually waited.

Who or what is she waiting for?

My heart was racing now. I had to take off my jacket because I was burning up.

Even though I wanted more time to figure her life out, this seemed like my opportunity. Was it ever going to get easier to reveal myself, to let her know I’d come here without her permission? There she was, only feet away from me. Could I stand to spend the rest of the day watching her like a stalker, only to have to potentially face her later anyway? I’d end up in the same predicament I was in right now.

The answer seemed obvious: rip the Band-Aid off. The problem was finding the strength to move from point A to point B. It seemed like a simple step, but it somehow felt like Eden was miles away. I gave myself a mental kick in the ass and exited my car.

With one foot in front of the other, I moved toward where she was standing. Her back was to me.

As I inched closer, the voice in my head grew louder and louder.

Turn around and go home.

This is a mistake.

Are you fucking insane?

But I couldn’t turn back now.

I stopped a few feet behind her. The handful of people around us were oblivious to my mental anguish. Her hair blew in the breeze, the sunshine bringing out specks of gold in her tresses. It felt surreal to see her in the flesh. She was everything I’d imagined. Eden had a graceful stance and was a bit shorter than I’d previously thought. Her hair had to be almost down to her ass. She was so close that I could smell her.