‘As long as I don’t dream about Dr. Perfect, everything’s fine,’ she replies with a grin.
Her boss, right, she met him today after hearing so many rumors about him. ‘What’s he like?’
She exhales slowly. ‘Even more perfect than everyone says.’
As if that would bother her. Of all my roommates, she’s the biggest fighter. ‘You’ve got this.’
‘Quitting isn’t an option anyway,’ she replies and disappears into the kitchen.
I step into my room, rummage in my handbag for the notebook, and sit down at the desk. With a sigh, I open the top drawer, take out the blood pressure monitor, and bare my upper arm.
While I run through my usual checks, my thoughts wander back to the fair. It doesn’t completely distract me, but at least a little.
The readings are fine; I jot them down and close the notebook. My gaze falls on the tiny orchid Olive gave me a few days ago. One leaf has turned brown around the edges.
She’s alive, I hear Jaden’s voice, soft and warm and confident.
For now, wells up in me at once. Still, I get up from the desk chair and walk into the kitchen to get her some water.
Chapter Twenty-Two
JADEN
Ray loads the barbell with two more ten-kilo plates. ‘You sure that’s not too much?’
I lie back down on the bench, take a deep breath and stretch my arms up. ‘It’s worth a try.’
He hands me the bar and I start the exercise. By the third rep my heart is pounding with effort, beads of sweat creeping across my forehead.
‘Well, that’s what you get for partying so much, huh?’ Ray comments in amusement. ‘Your arms have already gotten all skinny, too.’
Yeah, right. ‘Just wait… till it’s… your turn,’ I force out.
The weight really is heavier than usual today, but only because I can’t manage to focus on the workout. Ever since I said goodbye to Nyla last night, she’s been roaming through my thoughts over and over again, smiling wistfully, begging me with her eyes to finally kiss her and shaking her head at the same time. She tells me about binge-watching shows with her roommates and laughs out loud when I claim I got all my medical knowledge from Dr. House.
She’s always with me – she and that longing in her eyes, that pull that comes off her – and I have not the slightest idea how to deal with it.
I press the dumbbell up a sixth time and just barely manage to heave it back into the rack.
Ray’s face appears above me. ‘Oh man, seems like last night’s party got a little too wild again…’
There was no party tonight. After we said goodbye, I went straight home, watched TV and thought about Nyla, then slept and dreamed about Nyla, and then I woke up again and looked forward to seeing her again tomorrow.
But I don’t tell Ray that. He’d just ask why, and I wouldn’t be able to give him an answer. After all, I don’t understand it myself.
And that’s not the only crazy thing I’ve done in the last twelve hours. In the light of the new day I can hardly believe it, but I actually put together a playlist for her. So she’d have something she could enjoy with her new headphones.
Something that will make her smile, even if I’m not with her today.
That’s what I was thinking when I used the contact list in the internal emergency services portal to find her phone number and shared the playlist with her.
‘Jaden?’ My coworker nudges me. ‘Come on, tell me, what happened last night?’
‘It got late,’ I reply evasively, peel myself off the weight bench, and grab my towel.
Calmly, he spreads his towel over the bench. ‘Same here.’
I can hardly believe it. Ray, who’s usually the first one to go home, had a late night? ‘Did you have a hot date?’