Chapter 11
Jade
Jade closed the door to her treatment room once her last patient of the morning had left.
She updated their record on the computer to reflect the improvement in their right ankle movement.
Someone had actually been doing their physio exercises this past week and might just get some game time next month.
Which meant the patient’s manager would finally stop calling Jade for updates.
She clicked out of the patient’s record and began the process of cleaning the treatment table in preparation for her next patient. She noted that she needed to get another bottle of cleaning spray from the storage room before the end of the week, and an extra box of gloves wouldn’t go amiss either.
Grabbing her keys and phone, she locked her room and headed out to the reception area to find her work husband waiting for her to go to lunch.
“Hey Will, ready to go?” Jade asked as she waved to Becky at the desk.
“Yeah, would you like some sushi today? It’s been weeks since we last had it.” Will suggested.
“It’s been three days, but fine.” Jade laughed and they headed out to her car.
Fifteen minutes later they sat facing each other on a bench at Will’s favorite sushi bar.
The chefs prepared the food in the center of the conveyor belt track, making it easy to see which dish was being loaded next–and hoping nobody else picked it before it got to you.
Jade kept her eye out for the veggie maki.
No matter how often Will tried to convince her otherwise, she just couldn’t get on board with raw fish.
“Urgh, I need to get on to the boss about changing to the summer uniforms, these long sleeves are killing me already,” Will began. “You’re fine where your room is, but I get the sun in my window all day, and no matter what I try to change the thermostat to, I bake.”
Jade spotted the dish she wanted being added to the conveyor belt.
There were four other customers between her and her prize.
The first was busy eating already, the second looked like they were getting ready to leave.
The third reached out but must have felt Jade’s eyes burn a hole in the side of their head as they removed their hand from the clear domed dish moments before lifting it up.
The customer nearest her was too busy on their phone to notice.
She plucked it off and placed it in front of her triumphantly before responding to her friend.
“I think you’re just reaching man-opause. You know, the male version with hot flashes included.” She pursed her lips tightly to avoid laughing, and took great care in examining her first chosen lunch dish in order to delay acknowledging the look on his face.
“Excuse you, I’m only 43!” Will glared at her, “But you and I both know the reason you wear the long sleeves out and about all year round.” He raised his eyebrow as he reached over and collected the next dish to pass their bench. Raw tuna. He was welcome to it.
“Yeah, yeah, I get it. Look, I’ll tell them about my tattoo eventually. You know, when they’re in a really great mood and won’t really care. Like Christmas, or Cleo and Ivy’s wedding, that’s still like, ten months away.”
“Wimp,” Will coughed under his breath.
“Not a wimp, just unwilling to rock the boat for now, like telling my parents that most of my body is artistically designed...and has been for quite a few years now...without their knowledge.” Jade picked up her chopsticks and dipped her cucumber maki into some soy sauce before eating it.
“Anyway, I’m not going over this again. So, let’s turn the tables on you.
Any news on Nathan getting that promotion at work? ”
“It’ll be next week before he hears anything.
He has a presentation to do this Friday, then he has to wait until the weekly team meeting on Tuesday afternoon when it’ll be announced.
Part of me really hopes he gets it; he works so hard and has wanted this for so long.
The extra money would be great, of course.
But is it bad that a tiny little part of me doesn’t want him to get it so that I get to spend the evenings with my husband again for the first time in months? ” Will let out a frustrated sigh.
“No, it’s not bad. You’ve spent months putting him first, and you know that if he gets the promotion and becomes CEO, then he’s going to have even less free time.
At least for the first while until he adjusts to the role.
Either way, you guys will take it all in your stride, you always do.
” Jade reached out and rested her hand over Will’s for reassurance.
“Thanks Jae. I just feel so guilty about that tiny part. I mostly want him to get it. He’s promised me a new car if he does.
” Will added with a grin. “Oh, have you had a chance to think about what week you want to take off this summer? We won’t be going anywhere, so it makes no difference to me when I get off work.
Just so we’re not booking the same week. ”
“I haven’t actually, I’ve kind of had other things on my mind recently,” Jade admitted.
“Ooooh,” Will said with a hint of excitement, “you only admit to things being on your mind when you had a busy weekend. So go on, tell me all about her!”
“You say that like it’s something that happens all the time!” Jade said in mocked shock.
“Play coy all you want; you and I both know how this is going to play out in the end. So, will we just skip all your procrastination and get straight to the details of this week or month’s latest female interest?
” Will scooped up some loose rice from his bowl and ate it while waiting for Jade to update him.
He wasn’t wrong. Jade regularly met women on nights out.
It was no secret that she didn’t stay with the same woman for more than a few dates before moving on.
She just wasn’t the kind of person to be in anything serious; that was more her sister’s area with Ivy.
And her brother’s again, now that he’d met Ivy’s friend and colleague, Toni.
Not to mention even thinking the phrase ‘long term relationship’ typically broke her out in hives. Until now.
“I may have met someone.” Jade placed her chopsticks down, and sat back in her chair, giving Will her full attention before continuing.
“It was three weeks ago now, and I’ve not been able to get her out of my head ever since.
Which, as you so eloquently put it, is new for me to not already be moving on to the next woman who catches my eye. ”
“Huh, can it really be true? Are your womanizing ways coming to an end?” Will asked with a chuckle as he reached for his glass of ice water.
“It’s a little more complicated than that though.” Jade tried to explain. “We met at a bar; we each ditched our friends to spend the evening together -”
“Oh, I bet Emily loved you for doing that to her!” Will added.
Jade smirked, “She forgave me, eventually. Anyway, we spent the evening, and several hours into the next morning, walking around the city just, talking. It was like nothing I’ve ever experienced before.”
Will sat hit chopsticks down and studied Jade closely. His head tilted slightly while his eyes narrowed as he watched her, “She’s different than the others, isn’t she?”
“Yeah, I really think she is.” Jade felt her face scowl, “But I’ll never see her again.”
“Why not?” Will gently encouraged Jade to answer.
“A couple of reasons. Mostly, we didn’t exchange phone numbers.
Or surnames, so I have no way of finding her.
” Jade reached forward and touched the condensation on the side of her glass of ice water.
She watched the water droplets trickle down the edge of her glass before finishing on the small card mat on their bench.
“Yeah, that would make it difficult to find her alright. I’m sorry, Jae,” Will said gently.
Not as sorry as I am!