Jess would have never talked to her senior attending this way when she was a resident, but then, she’d never been so stupid as to enter a workplace relationship, especially with someone higher in the hierarchy. She usually was all for maintaining a healthy distance from her colleagues since most of them annoyed her. Meeting Diana privately had been one step, but should she take the next? She glanced at Dr. Barnes to judge her stance on this and met a gaze that contained the same mixture of puzzlement and annoyance she was feeling.
But why not? Jess grinned. “I wouldn’t call it alpha routine, but okay.” She walked over to the desk and offered her hand. “Jess.”
“Emily.” The other woman rose and shook her hand with an even grip. “What can I do for you both?”
“I’ve found the perfect solution for our blackberry problem. Her friend needs a lot of them, and I offered the beach house for the weekend.”
Emily blinked twice and looked from Jess to Diana. She held the gaze of her partner for a moment before she nodded and smiled at Jess. “That’s a great idea. I’d hate for them all to go to waste, and we can’t find a free moment to drive up there.” She walked around the desk to open a locker, removed a set of keys from her bag, and separated one from the rest. “Here’s the key. We have tons of sheets and towels at the house and some nonperishable food, coffee, wine. Help yourselves to anything you want. When we decided to keep the place, we’d planned to open it for friends, but everyone is working these days. It’s a shame to have such a beautiful house when no one gets to use it.”
Jess grinned and put the key in her pocket. This was the longest not strictly work-related statement she’d ever heard from Emily. She was obviously as uncomfortable as Jess was with Diana’s let’s-all-be-friends approach but was working hard to overcome it. “Thank you.”
Emily stopped fiddling with the rest of the keys and looked up. “You’re welcome. Really.”
“And when you’re back and we have survived the next month, let’s meet for dinner or something. You could bring Lena too.” Diana took Emily’s hand while she talked in the casual way couples did without conscious thought.
Jess had never been a touchy-feely person, but she had to admit it looked kind of nice. “I can’t answer for Lena, but I’ll tell her. Dinner is a great idea, and it’ll be on me. As a thank you.” And the idea of sharing dinner with Lena and another couple sounded nice too. Wait, not another couple, just a couple and a pair of friends.
She’d better leave before they planted any more of these mushy thoughts in her head.
Chapter Fourteen
“What are you doing here?” Although lacking any malice, Jess’s gentle teasing still pushed the wrong button today.
Tears burned in Lena’s eyes before she could prevent them. She jumped up from the bench between the garage and the main house and pressed half of the mail into Jess’s hands. “For your mother.” Then she strode as fast as she could without running toward the garden house.
“Hey, Lena.” Jess was next to her in a few seconds. “What’s happened?”
Shaking her head, Lena looked down and walked on. “Nothing.”
“Okay,” Jess said doubtfully, keeping pace with her. “I wanted to thank you.”
“What for?”
“Your mental tai chi trick helped me find some calm when I sorely needed it.”
“I’m glad for you.” Lena attempted a smile but failed miserably. “I don’t think tai chi will pay my bills or… Never mind.”
“Bad news? Can I help?” Jess pointed to the crumpled letters Lena still clutched in her fist.
“I don’t want your money.” Borrowing money from someone to repay a loan was a vicious circle.
“Maybe I can help you find another solution. Or at least listen to you complain about it. God knows you’ve listened to too many of my problems already.” The care in Jess’s voice almost broke her will.
How long had it been since she’d shared her burden with someone? Even as a teenager, she’d often kept her own counsel; she hadn’t wanted to burden her grandma, and her mother hadn’t cared enough to ask.
“One letter is about a loan. I think I can handle that if I pick up some extra massage work in the evenings.”
“More work? Don’t you earn enough money with all the double shifts at the café?”
Lena held up the letters. Creases marred both, but her attempt to smooth them proved futile. “Obviously not. At minimum wage it takes ages to pay anything back.”
“Oh. I hadn’t thought of that.”
“I guess you haven’t had to work for minimum wage.”
“No, you’re right. I’m sorry.”
“Nothing to be sorry about. You had the brains and the opportunity and got the right education. I chose to support my fucked-up mother instead of going to college, and now she’s writing to me from prison, demanding even more money.” Oh shit. Had she just said that out loud? She swallowed. By the raw burning in her throat, she must have screamed it. Shit, shit, shit.
“Prison?” Jess whispered the word as if it was some dirty secret.
Yeah, she had said it. Lena squared her shoulders and met Jess’s gaze. If she had to face Jess’s disdain, she would do it head on. “Yes. My mother is in prison for theft and fraud.”
“I’m so sorry for you. That must be hard.” Jess lightly squeezed her arm. Her hand lingered, and Lena soaked up the warmth like a freezing person who had stumbled in from a snowstorm.
Disarmed, Lena didn’t know how to answer. She had been prepared for contempt, for rejection, for being shunned out of this new life she’d started. Not for the compassion softening Jess’s expression. She nodded, and tears welled up again. No one had ever acknowledged it was difficult for her
