“You sure about you and Ms. Parker?”
“Mia and I can’t be together.”
“But you wish you could. You have feelings for her.”
I inhaled a breath, wondering if I could admit out loud to what I’d only thought before. “I’m not sure I ever stopped.”
“She doesn’t feel the same about you?”
“It wouldn’t matter. She’d lose her job.”
“There are other jobs.”
I shrugged, watching my drink as I swirled the glass. “We chose work when it ended, we choose work now.”
She sipped her water. “All that fairy tale stuff is bull shit anyway, don’t you think? Even when you think you have a perfect love, it’s not.”
“You sound like you’re talking from experience.”
She laughed. “Oh yeah, I have experience. That’s why I’ve given up on the idea of love ever after.”
“No wedding in your future?”
“No relationships.”
“None?”
“I can have sex without a relationship, if that’s your concern,” she said.
Wasn’t that what Mia and I had? “I think relationships are possible for some people. My parents are happy, living their best lives. I know Eli and Mia’s parents were happy.”
“And then his wife died. Who wants that sort of heartbreak? Nah, I’m happy with a few good lays to get me by.”
“I do see the wisdom of that.” To be honest, a few weeks ago, she’d have been perfect for me.
“And yet, you’re in love with Ms. Parker.”
I downed my drink. “Doesn’t matter. It was nearly perfect the first time we were together and it didn’t work out. There’s no way it could work now. I have my work. She has hers.”
“Well then. Let me work to make sure you keep yours and don’t lose this suit.”
I wished I still had some of my drink, as I’d have made a toast to that.
26
Mia
I enjoyed spending time with my father, but I wouldn’t deny that I missed seeing Nick. It was stupid, because there was no getting around the fact that my job prevented me from seeing him. So why pine for him? I needed to get him out from under my skin. The easiest way to do that was to keep myself busy. At work, I did that by reviewing contracts, dealing with insurance issues, and of course, working to show that the hospital hadn’t been negligent in Ms. Mason’s care. That was made slightly more difficult when the IT person I hired was able to confirm that Nick ordered the chest x-ray, but the order had gone to pathology and not radiology. That meant there was something with the EMR program, that the IT person worked on, but to be safe I talked with the administration about putting in safeguard follow-ups with emergency patients.
After work, I spent the evening with my father. I’d cook us dinner, and I had him teach me chess, but finally convinced him to switch to ch
eckers, which he still beat me at.
Sometimes Eli would come over and have dinner with us, but with my being there, he could keep the store open longer, and often chose that so he could keep it going now that he had more support.
My father and I had just settled in to watch a nature show about sea turtles when Eli came in.
“You’ll never guess who I saw down at Toscano’s.”