On his way home, which was only a ten-minute drive – all of the guys lived close to the office for emergencies – he got a call from his best friend and it almost immediately reversed his sour mood.
Dana pushed the speaker on his phone. “Sway, you little shit. It’s about time you returned my calls.”
Dana heard a soft chuckle before Sway spoke. “It was only a couple days, D. I’m just coming off of a thirty-one hour shift. I slept for six hours and then I called your sorry ass.”
“I’m messing with you. I know you practically run the nursing department. It’s all good.”
“Yeah, I practically run it, but I don’t get paid like I do. The chief nurse sits back and lets me handle everything, while she gets the big check.”
“You love it. That’s all you wanna do is take care of people. Since we were kids and you made me and Stanton play doctor all the time. So you could heal us.” Dana laughed along with his friend before it tapered off with a sigh like always. Remembering Sway’s twin brother, Stanton, always left a pang of longing in both their chests. The once notorious trio became a duo when Stanton was killed in college.
“I do love it. I’m just… tired, ya know. There’s so much going on and I can hardly keep up anymore, D.” Sway sighed heavily across the line and Dana could imagine his friend’s dirty-blond eyebrows angled downward with his sad, big, brown puppy dog eyes that always got him his way.
“Sounds like something’s heavy on your mind,” Dana responded.
“And you too,” Sway added.
They knew each other too well. “You too tired for a rendezvous at our spot?”
Sway laughed again. “Will we ever be too tired for Applebee’s?”
“Beers and Bacon Burger!” They both blurted out at the same time, laughing at their usual order.
“Shit, yeah. The triple B.” Dana genuinely smiled for the first time all day. When they were kids the first B had stood for root beer and they couldn’t wait to make it real beer as soon as they got old enough. “I’m down. I’m getting ready to turn onto my street now. I just have to take a quick shit, shower and shave.”
“That’s more information than I needed to know, bro. But okay. I’ll meet you there in an hour.”
“Sounds good, I’ll be— Oh no,” Dana whispered like someone was suddenly in the car with him and could hear his concern.
“What, D? What is it?” Sway asked just as quietly.
“Damnit. Jess is here.” Dana almost had a mind to make a quick U-turn, but his old muscle car was way too loud for that. He was sure she’d already heard him, if not seen him. “She didn’t call or text me she was coming by.”
“Wow. She can do the pop-up thing now? Does she have a key too, D?” Sway asked. Dana could hear the annoyance in his voice. Was everyone tired of Jess, including his best friend? “So, I guess Applebee’s is out.”
Dana frowned. “The hell it is. I’m still coming. I need to talk with you, it’s important.”
“I’ll be at the spot in an hour.” Sway hung up to let Dana take care of his impromptu situation.
Dana pulled into his other designated parking space and killed the engine. Jess was leaning against her pristine white BMW laughing with someone on her cell. She reached into her back seat and pulled out her overnight bag and without a word held it out for Dana to carry for her. When he took it and put it back in her car, she scowled at him and told whoever she was speaking to that she’d call them back later.
“What’s going on, handsome? How was your day?” She smiled and moved into his chest, before cringing and backing away. “Goodness, you need to shower.”
Usually, he’d be annoyed at her distaste, but he was glad she’d backed away, especially when the smell of her strong perfume hit his nose. She had on an expensive-looking, pink ruffled blouse tucked into her size two, pin-striped pencil skirt. Her black high heels with the bright red bottoms clicked across the concrete as she moved back towards his house.
“Jess. I wish you would’ve called. I have to go right back out. I have important plans tonight.”
She swirled around, her long hair landing over her shoulder with flare. Everything she did seemed so rehearsed. With one perfectly arched brow raised, she sauntered back to him. “More important than me?” she purred. “Can’t be.”
Dana hated when she did this. “It has nothing to do with you. A friend needs me.”
“And I don’t? I need you too. So badly.”
She was using her sneaky tactics, but they weren’t working. Dana had a lot on his mind, mainly a big, brooding, ex-Special Warfare officer. “Jess. I’m not going to stand my friend up.”