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And it wasn’t just Nora’s absence that made the difference. Misha’s personality was more upbeat and being around her was never a hardship.
Gareth, of course, was just happier overall because of his relationship with Aria. Jay was a little jealous, if he was honest with himself. Unlike what Jay had had with Casey, Gareth’s relationship with Aria was healthy. They made each other happy in a way he and Casey had never managed to.
Jay managed to maintain good relationships with his friends and family, so he couldn’t understand why he’d failed so badly with Casey. Obviously, there was something about him that had made it impossible for Casey to commit to him fully.
Yes, their relationship had been unhealthy, but it couldn’t have all been Casey making it that way. He must have played a role of some sort. He just needed to figure out what that had been, so he didn’t repeat it.
Pushing back from his desk, Jay left his office and went to the breakroom. He needed something to drink. Or maybe just a distraction.
Not wanting a second of coffee, he had to settle for something else. The remaining options were kind of limited, unfortunately. Water, soda, or tea. He chose tea and dug through his mom’s stash of herbal and regular tea, settling on a fruity blend. He filled a mug with hot water from the dispenser, then dropped the tea bag into the mug.
While he waited for his tea to steep, Jay rubbed a hand over his head, then threaded his fingers behind his neck and stared up at the ceiling.
The relief he’d felt at finally ending things with Casey had recently given way to questions and self-recriminations. He wanted to be able to move on from Casey and have a healthy relationship like Gareth had with Aria, but he still didn’t know why he’d allowed himself to be continually drawn back into things with Casey, even when his heart wasn’t fully in it.
“Everything okay?”
At the sound of Misha’s voice, Jay dropped his arms and turned to face her, forcing a smile. “Yep. Just grabbing a cup of tea.”
Her gaze narrowed for a moment before she said, “Yeah. I’m here for coffee.”
Stepping to the side, Jay moved his mug down on the counter. “It’s all yours.”
“You prefer tea to coffee?” she asked as she got a mug from the cupboard.
“I try not to drink more than one cup of coffee a day.”
Misha gave a nod, then poured herself a cup from the carafe. “I admire your restraint. I learned to drink far too much of it when I was doing my residency.”
“Gareth is like that, too.” Jay lifted his mug to take a sip.
“Well, I’d better get back to work.” She gave him a sparkling smile. “Just had to get a hit of caffeine.”
He watched Misha go, wondering what types of relationships she’d had. She didn’t seem like the sort of person who would play with a guy’s feelings. But then, he hadn’t thought that about Casey either. Clearly, he wasn’t a great judge of character.
They had a meeting planned for the end of the day, so once five o’clock came and went, Jay gathered up a pen and the notepad where he’d made note of a few things to discuss. There was no one else in the breakroom, so he set his things on the table and went to the fridge to get something to drink. Something that wasn’t coffee.
“Making coffee?” Janessa asked as she came into the room.
“No one ticked me off enough to inflict my coffee on them,” Jay said as he held up the can of soda he’d found in the fridge. He didn’t usually have soda, but he didn’t want more tea, and he hadn’t had a soda in a while. “And who wants coffee this late in the day?”
“Probably Gareth and Misha.” Janessa quickly swapped out filters and went through the motions of preparing a new pot. “And maybe me. I’m making decaf.”
Jay took his drink over to the table and sat down, leaning back in his chair as he stretched out his legs. After a day sitting at his desk, he was ready for some sort of workout.
What he’d really like was a game of basketball. Unfortunately, now that the high school season was over, he didn’t have people to play with unless he made arrangements to use the gym at the high school. He’d done that before. There were guys from the team who’d join him for a game or two, even though they were done with their season.
But that required him to plan ahead in order to reserve the gym and let the boys know, so he’d have to make do with some time at the gym instead.
A few minutes later, Aria appeared, followed by Gareth. “Are you making coffee, Janessa?”
“I am,” she said. “Though it’s the unleaded stuff.”
“At any other time of the day, I’d complain,” Gareth said as he went to the cupboard and pulled out a couple of mugs. “But it’s probably a good idea for now.”
“No coffee for me.” Aria headed for the fridge, then returned to the table with a bottle of water in her hand.
Misha came in just as Gareth was pouring coffee into mugs.
