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“Yeah … wow.” Years ago, I’d have reminisced in all those foggy-window nights at Brown’s Hill, but those memories don’t hold a flame to what I have with Stassi now. “You’re a nurse here, huh?”
She points to the nametag, with the Maine Medical Center logo on it. “Smart. See? Getting that big degree paid off.”
“Why have I not seen you here before?”
“I just started this week,” she says, putting a flirtatious hand on my arm. “I moved down here from Presque Isle.”
She lives upstate. “What brings you back?”
She tucks a lock of dark hair behind an ear with a row of diamond studs on it. “Oh, so the rumor mill around here still churns, huh? I remember you and I were the subject of their talk quite a few times,” she says with a little smile. “Hudson and I—you remember Hudson, don’t you? Two years ahead of us in high school?”
I shake my head, though I think I do. Big player—football, girls, the works. Typical guy I’d pair Carlina with.
“Well, we separated. I decided to come back here.” She shrugs nonchalantly, in a What are you going to do about it? way. “My parents are still around. And my sister. It takes a village, right? Thank God I only have one kid to raise. It’s the hardest job I’ve ever had. Harder than nursing, that’s for sure.”
I’m completely taken aback since I really hadn’t thought about her until Stassi mentioned her. When I heard she was married and had six kids, it had no effect on my life. But now that I’m staring at her, thinking that if she’s as much of a flirt as she used to be, I’m going to have to fend her off like Cherry, which already feels like a part-time job.
“Just the one?” I ask.
“Yep.” Her lips curl into a slow smile. “Just the one.”
So much for the rumor mill being accurate. I can only imagine the things people have dreamed up about me, but I don’t care enough to give it a second thought.
I checking the time, counting down the hours until I can see my girl again. I can clock out in a minute, but I still have at least twenty minutes of paperwork left.
“Well, it’s been—”
“—what have you been up to? I heard you were in North Carolina after MIT, weren’t you?” She’s clearly not ready for this conversation to be over. Making herself comfortable at my desk she turns my coffee mug and reads the funny saying on it before looking over the photographs posted there, though none of these things are mine, either—this isn’t my station.
“Yeah, sure was,” I say, trying to determine the response that will send her on her way the fastest when I notice Cherry peering into the bank of desks, a wounded look on her face. The vultures are circling like disco lights tonight. “But this opportunity opened up and I grabbed it.”
“You were always an opportunist,” she says with a wink, leaning in closer and lowering her voice. “I know I dated a lot of guys in school, but I just remember … you were the nicest. The most respectful of me. Most of the guys I dated wanted to go all the way, the first date.”
“High school was kind of a blur for me,” I lie so I can avoid having to pay her a compliment that she might take as a sign that I’m interested in rekindling an old flame. Then again, it occurs to me that Carlina was there the night Jonathan drowned. If I ever need someone to go to bat for me, it’d be her.
I need to stay in her good graces—without leading her on.
“Hey. You know what we should do?” she asks. “We should go out sometime. Get a drink. Relive old times. We had so much fun.”
Remembering that I might need her in my back pocket with the whole Jonathan thing, I don’t say yes, but I don’t say no either.
“I’ve got to clock out. Was good seeing you. Sure I’ll see you around.”
Stassi
A couple weeks after the incident at the cemetery, while I’m reading Little Women and going about my business, something amazing happens.
It’s a beautiful day in early June, the windows all open and the crisp breezes fluttering the curtains. Most of my days, when I’m not working, are spent right on this couch in Alec’s apartment, trying to accomplish my New Year’s resolution. I don’t know why, but it feels extra important that I finish reading all of the books I need to—if only to prove to my baby that I can do what I set out to do. I’m almost halfway there, but because I know that the end of the year is going to be busy with other things, I’ve made my new goal the baby’s due date—December 3rd.
