Loving With A Heavy Heart 13 A Third Encounter

It was only after watching her for a moment that Adam realized he was looking at the woman he had already run into twice before. Her black hair was tousled by the wind, and she wore a simple white dress under an open black cotton trench coat.

As he watched he saw as a little boy who had be running down the sidewalk suddenly run into her and fell to the ground. A juice box he had been holding splattered onto her dress.

"Pull over." Adam instructed.

"Yes, sir." David said without question.

Elle had been walking excitedly to the tea house where she was going to meet up with Abby. She seemed to be the only one in the city enjoying the weather. It was gloomy and cold, but that was the perfect weather for a hot cup of tea.

As she walked Elle noticed a young boy running towards her. He was looking behind him while he ran and didn't notice her, and although Elle had noticed him she was startled and reacted too late. He ran into her, spilling the box of juice in his hand onto her.

Elle was overcome by déjà vu.

The boy fell back onto the cement and started crying. His mother came running and helped him up.

"I'm so sorry." She apologized to Elle. "I told you not to run in the street." She then scolded her son. But he was crying still and didn't seem to hear her.

Elle crouched down to meet the little boy's eyes. "Are you alright?" She asked gently.

The little boy nodded while sniffling.

Elle smiled and pinched his chubby cheeks. "Don't cry. If you don't want to fall hold onto your mother's hand well."

"I'm so sorry miss. Your dress." The mother looked at the stain with embarra.s.sment.

"Never mind the dress. It's fine as long as your son is fine."

"Let me reimburse you." The mother insisted.

"It's fine, it's just a plain old dress. I'm in a hurry anyway." Elle said. The mother apologized once more before taking her sons hand and leading him away. Elle waved to the little boy as they walked off. She was still crouched down when she heard a voice behind her.

"Are you a fool?"

She turned around to see Adam Hayes standing behind her.

"I beg your pardon?" She asked in shock.

"You must be a fool to have the same thing happen to you twice." He said.

Elle stared at him in disbelief. Was Adam Hayes teasing her? She wondered incredulously. Then, even more surprisingly, Adam crouched down to examine the stain on her dress.

"Where you going somewhere?" He asked with his brow furrowed.

"Ah, I was just going to meet a friend." She said slowly. Her brain was still trying to process this bizarre interaction.

"Follow me." He said while standing up again.

"Huh?"

"If you keep crouching in the middle of the way a third person is bound to come spill something on you as well." He said sternly.

She still didn't move, Elle just stared at him blankly. Adam reached over, took her hand, and gently pulled her along back to his car.

"Where are you taking me?" She asked.

"It was my fault before. Let me prepare a change of clothes for you this time." Elle opened her mouth to argue, but he interrupted her. "Surely you don't have a change of clothes on you this time. To make matters worse it's a white dress, the stain stands out too much."

"For CEO Adam Hayes a single minute must be worth thousands of dollars. I can't afford to waste your time." She softly.

"You overestimate me."

Elle didn't know what else to say, so she awkwardly followed him as he lead her back.

David sat patiently in the driver's seat. He wasn't sure what Adam had suddenly stopped for, but he didn't question it until he saw his boss return with a young girl whom he ushered into the car. David had to physically stop his jaw from dropping.

"Are you going to sit there or are you going to drive?" Adam asked when he saw his a.s.sistant staring at them.

David sat stiffly in the driver's seat and snapped his head forward, not daring to so much as glance back at them. "Where are we going sir?"

"Continue to the flags.h.i.+p store."

David and Elle both sat in the car awkwardly as they drove off, but Adam seemingly didn't notice.