Chapter 14
Martin
“Good morning, dear Doctor. What brings you here?” Chris greets me from behind the counter at her café, The Red Cherry.
“I’ve got a couple of hours before my shift, so I thought I’d pop in for a quick bite.”
Chris comes over and gives me a hug.
“I’m going to take a break too, so I’ll keep you company. What can I get you?”
“A BLT would be great, thank you.”
“Would you like soup or chips with that?”
“What’s the soup of the day?”
“Vegetable soup.”
“I’ll have the soup.”
Chris asks one of her staff to prepare lunch for us, then gestures towards an empty table.
“So what’s new?” she asks as we sit down.
“Everything’s as usual.”
“Do you have a long shift ahead?”
“Twenty-four hours.”
“Oh, fuck.”
I laugh. I like that Chris has no filter. Talking to her is easy. She’s a wonderful person — sincere and with a big heart. If I could fall in love with a woman, it would be her.
“What about you? How do you feel now that Jamie is back home?”
She smiles a little sadly. “I miss her. It was nice having a baby around the house.”
“You could always think about it, or is your Mr Muscle not that useful?”
“Shut up!”
I shrug. “Does Homo Erectus object?”
Chris can’t help but laugh. “You’re impossible.”
“I am what I am. In all my glory.”
“You’re an idiot. And you need to stop being so mad at Ryan.”
“I’m not mad at O’Connor.”
She raises an eyebrow.
“We just don’t get along.”
“You don’t even try.”
“He doesn’t want me around. He’s threatened by what I’m still trying to understand. All he does is mark his territory. I hope he doesn’t pee on the furniture at home, because that would be embarrassing.”
“See? You’re doing it even now!”
“You’re right, but my life is so boring that I have no choice but to intrude on yours just to have some fun.”
“There are other ways to have fun.”
The girl who works with Chris brings us our lunch. We thank her, and I stir my soup to let it cool while Chris immediately bites into her sandwich.
“I’m starving,” she says through a mouthful of bread.
“I can see that.”
“I didn’t have breakfast this morning.”
“You own a café. How hard can it be to eat something?”
“I only have coffee when I’m at work.”
“Your stomach will be happy.”
“You should worry about your own stomach, Doctor.”
As I lift the first spoonful of soup, my phone vibrates in my pocket. I pull it out with my free hand, but when I see who it is, the spoon slips from my fingers, clattering onto the plate and splashing soup everywhere.
“What is it?” Chris is already leaning in, nosing toward my phone before I’ve the chance to tilt it away.
“It’s work,” I say.
“Well then, it must be something very important,” she says, in that tone she always gets just before the full interrogation starts — lamp in the face, truth serum, the whole lot.
“It can wait.”
“What did the message say?”
“Why do you want to know?”
“Because you’re sweating,” she says. “And your hand is shaking. And because you couldn’t lie if your life depended on it.”
“Anything else?”
“And because the sender said, ‘Captain.’”
Oh, Jesus. Has she got X-ray eyes now as well?
“And there’s only one Captain, right?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“So you went ahead with this… thing.”
“There is no thing.”
“Then why is he messaging you?”
I realise I can’t keep avoiding the subject and that it’s pointless to invent another captain, so I feed her some bullshit.
“He is getting me tickets to a game.”
“What game?”
Oh, fuck. How should I know?
“It’s for a friend.”
Way to go, Martin. Bullshit over bullshit. Now you’ll never get out of this.
“Someone you’re dating?”
Good thing she opted for the sentimental side and not the sporting one.
“Uh-huh.”
“And does this someone like rugby?”
“Yeah.”
“And you asked Jamie?”
I nod.
“Why not Ryan?”
“Because he’s an idiot and he would take the piss out of me.”
At least, that’s true.
“Probably, yeah… And how come you have Jamie’s number?”
Oh, I’m never getting out of this one.
“The other night at your place, I gave him my number, you know, for that stomach problem. He called me to ask for advice about medication, so now I’ve got his number. He asked how he could repay me, and then…”
How much bullshit am I spewing? Am I ever going to remember all of this?
“And he really called you about his problem?”
“So it seems.”
By now, I’m in full-on panic mode.
“Well, Martin. For a guy who can’t say shit, you sure put in a lot of effort this time. You can tell the game is worth it.”
I don’t answer her; it would be pointless. By now, Chris has already set off, circumnavigating the globe in search of the promised land. She won’t stop until her ship docks at the right port.
I read his message again while she eats and talks.
Are you free tonight?
C.
C. Captain.
My Captain.