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“Why can’t you just admit that I could be right sometimes?”
“What’s the fun in that?” she chuckled, giving him a sideways look.
“Indeed,” he smiled… and wiped her fork with a napkin, shivering in disgust before he started laughing again with her.
At this moment, there were no cares, no worries, and no frightened souls afraid of what would come next for either of them in the coming weeks or months. It was just two people, twofriends, who were beginning a relationship that neither of them expected.
And it was perfect,Lena sighed happily, taking another bite of the cheesecake.
* * *
Three days later, amidst several visits to the hospital for Jake to see how his friend was doing – there was a definite change hanging over all of them that was easy to see.
Gideon and Chris were struggling, bickering with each other in harsh whispers in darkened corners where they thought no one would hear them. Daphne was eerily silent, and for the vivacious woman who always smiled, laughed, chatted, and volunteered for things?
It was alarming.
Houghton and Jill had taken one or two phone calls in another room, not bothering to hide it, which only served to make the rest of them wonder if they were having a discussion about them, Max Collins’ medical status – or their future here. Every time a call came and Houghton left the room, Jake would clench up, give her a knowing look, and was drowning in his guilt for helping his friend.
It was just a lot going on, almost as if something was coming and none of them knew how to prepare for it, and the unknown was taking a toll on all of them.
The past few nights, she and Jake had hot tea together on the loveseat and watched the news or some game show and talked. It was wonderful, comforting, and felt almost cozy – or so she thought until Jake suddenly choked and began coughing wildly, staring at her in horror.
He jumped up and ran to the sink, coughing desperately and wheezing as she quickly set down her cup, rushing to help him.
“Are you okay? What happened? Is something wrong? Jake?” she blurted out in rapid fire gently rubbing the spot between his shoulder blades as if it would help. “Breathe… slowly.”
He looked at her fearfully.
“What?”
“You’re… gonna kill me,” he rasped painfully, the worry in his eyes made her tense as she felt a ripple of fear race over her. He looked frightened, and that wasn’t a good sign. Nothing seemed to phase the man – except Max’s surgery.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, not holding back as she stared at him warily. “What did you do?”
“Lena, I am so sorry,” he said hoarsely, still trying to clear his passageways and his eyes were bright with concern. “You were supposed to call your sister… three days ago. I forgot. With Max and everything – I don’t have an excuse. I just forgot to tell you that I saw Cajun when Max arrived and…”
“Jake,” she said quietly, moving to hug him. “It’s okay.”
He sagged immediately and hugged her tightly.
“I am so sorry, and I’ll be happy to apologize to anyone…”
“We’ve had a lot going on, and Shelby will understand.”
“I’ll get my jacket,” he offered, backing away. “Just text me when you are done and…”
“Why are you leaving?” she asked curiously, realizing that she actually preferred him to be here – almost as a safety blanket in case the discussion got to be too much, too personal, or she felt defensive.
She loved her sister, but had also basked in her shadow for a very long time. Everyone just loved Dr. Shelby Bow, who delivered babies, had friends everywhere, and was outgoing, whereas she was just ‘strung-out-Lena’ who was a failure, couldn’t be trusted to not be taking some sort of pill, and had done nothing with her life.
“Do you want me to stay?” he asked quietly.
“Please,” she admitted. “I have nothing to hide from her. We are friends, and it would be nice to introduce you to her.”
He hesitated for a moment, looked like he was going to say something, and then just turned away.
“Sure. I’ll stay here while you call her.”
