Neera started work on Tuesday morning. Elodie was so excited that Neera had found a job that she’d gone ahead and made a celebration dinner, even though Neera told her it wasn’t necessary. Elodie had invited Scarlet and she couldn’t say no, especially not when she’d never turned down dinner before or a chance to get together with her best friend.
Elodie knew she wasn’t busy because she knew just about exactly what Scarlet’s schedule and routine would be. She couldn’t think of a legitimate excuse, and she didn’t want to disappoint anyone, so she agreed to come.
Now that she was sitting across from Neera at the table in Elodie’s kitchen, she wondered if it was a good idea. Actually, she knew it was a terrible idea. She should have used any excuse she could have to get out of it. What she should have done was say that she had to go to her family’s house for dinner, but she just couldn’t bring herself to lie. It was exactly what she’d never wanted to do with Elodie.
“Are you excited?” Elodie passed a heaping plate of barbequed chicken drums across to Scarlet, but the question was actually for Neera.
Neera was already busy spooning out mashed potatoes and reaching for a bowl of peas, but she took the chicken plate as soon as Scarlet passed it over. Elodie had gone all out, with gravy and fruit salad and a pie for dessert.
“I’m excited enough,” Neera said. “I don’t know. Yes, I’m excited to have a job and to be able to work as a nurse again. I don’t know if excited is the right word when it comes to sick and hurt people coming into the hospital, but I guess, yes, I’m excited to do what I can to help.”
Neera grabbed the gravy boat and poured the rich brown gravy over her mound of mashed potatoes after she’d hollowed out a hole for it. She’d eaten them that way since she was a little kid.
Scarlet’s throat closed up almost violently and she nearly dropped the bowl of peas. “This looks great,” she said, her voice like gravel, while she tried to look Elodie in the eye. She failed and had to go for her chin instead. Elodie didn’t notice.
“I know, I know, I made too much. Don’t tell me we’ll be eating leftovers for days. I already know that. I just was so darn happy when I heard the news that I couldn’t help myself. We haven’t had a dinner as a family in a while and I kept thinking of something else to make or something else you liked.”
Dinner as a family.
Scarlet’s pulse throbbed at her neck. She grabbed her fork and started pushing food around.
“The hospital isn’t that far from the house,” Neera said, breaking the silence that seemed unnatural to Scarlet. Other than smile her way when she’d come in, Neera had been perfectly composed and discreet. Scarlet had no idea how she was keeping it together when it felt like she was fracturing inside. “I should be able to commute no problem. Plus, they give you a parking spot, which is amazing. In San Jose, they didn’t, and you had to either rent one from someone in the neighborhood who was charging crazy prices for their driveway or park a million blocks away and walk.”
Elodie set her fork down and frowned. “You never told me that. That doesn’t sound safe at all.”
Neera grinned at her mom. “It was safe enough, and I never told you because I knew that you’d be worried and you didn’t need one more thing to worry about. Anyway, that’s done, nothing ever happened, and now I have a parking spot, so we don’t have to think about it again.”
Elodie huffed, but said nothing else, and everyone went back to eating.
Scarlet was a little amazed at how Neera anticipated and handled Elodie’s worries. She’d never really thought about how she was doing that before, or the process of it, or that she’d have to do it at all, but obviously, there were many things that Neera wouldn’t share with her mom, along with all the things that she did. She’d been away from home for years before she moved back. Yes, she’d grown up in that time, but it seemed like she’d also become even more adept at reading Elodie’s moods and emotions, maybe because they were further away from each other.
Maybe when Neera said that she could talk to her mom and that Elodie would come around, maybe she was right. Scarlet hadn’t quite given up on talking Neera out of it. They’d hardly said much to each other at work over the past few days, other than work-related stuff. Neera was giving Scarlet space, and Scarlet was desperately clinging to that gap in time before she had to make a decision.
“I’m glad they’re training me on day shifts. Or at least starting me on day shifts. It’s nice to get broken in easy. Nights are the worst. All the crazy stuff and the hard stuff happens at night. People tend to get sicker at night, and somehow they manage to hurt themselves, or each other, so much worse under the cover of darkness. Plus, it’s nice to be on days for two weeks straight. Not that I don’t like working nights, but everyone knows how rough night shift work is.”
“I knew it was rough,” Elodie said as she tore bits of chicken off the bone with her fingers, making a heap on her plate. “But you always said you were fine.”
“I was. Days are just nice, that’s all.” Neera grabbed a drum and bit into it like she was at a medieval feast, nearly growling and then moaning as she bit into the perfectly cooked, perfectly seasoned meat. “Oh wow, Mom. This is amazing.”
“You’re deflecting,” Elodie said, sounding only mildly annoyed.
“Yes, but this chicken. Wow. This is what I’ve been missing all these years. Mom’s chicken.” Neera waved the drum, which was bitten down to the bone in a few spots, around as she looked up at Scarlet. She could feel her face heat up before Neera’s gaze even reached her. “Is this not the best chicken you’ve ever tasted in the whole darn country?”
Scarlet grabbed a piece of her own chicken and took a bite. “The whole world, actually.” At least now she could contemplate her chicken and not the woman across from her or the woman to her left between them.
“Oh, you two. You’re too much.”
Elodie’s phone went off on the kitchen island, only a few feet from where they were eating. They all started, jumping a little in their chairs. Elodie ignored it, but when it rang a second time, she rolled her eyes, pushed back her chair, and got up to switch it off. She paused when she grabbed it, then did something she never did, and answered during dinner.
“Hey,” she said. “Oh. Yeah. Oh wow, I had no idea you guys were putting in overtime today. Sorry, I never looked at the schedule. Yes, that’s rough. I’m actually having dinner but I— okay. I can be there soon. Like twenty minutes, if that’s okay? Alright, bye.”
“What’s going on?” Neera asked when Elodie hung up.
“I didn’t realize that anyone was putting in overtime today, but I guess that on Friday, Marlene scheduled a few people to start on this huge order we have to have done for tomorrow morning. I was perfectly fine getting at it myself when I got in, but I guess Marlene thought it was too much for me, and rather than ask people to come in at five in the morning when I get there, she thought this would be easier. Except that she’s away today and Jan, the only person who has a key besides me, got out of her car and dropped her keys down the storm drain and now they’re all locked out, Marlene is out of town, and they’re calling someone to try and get Jan’s keys back.”
“Oh my gosh.” Neera tactfully tilted her face downwards because grinning about something like that wasn’t appropriate, no matter how comically bad it might be.
“Sorry. I’m going to have to go over there. I might stay for a few hours, actually, and make sure everything is good to go for when I get there tomorrow. I know Marlene was just trying not to ask me to come in because I’m there so early and I have enough on my plate, but I don’t mind putting in a bit of extra time and I know she won't have a problem paying it.”