Page 26 of Saved
I had to do something. But what?
***
Needing a friend like Amy, who didn’t strictly use the logical side of the brain, I headed to the club after my shift. I had mentioned Mike to Amy not long before he returned to Georgia, not realizing he’d show up out of the blue. I hoped maybe Amy would be at the club, because Lucy lived with Jason, and he was best friends with Mike. I trusted Lucy, but I knew things could slip. And Amy no longer hung out at The Lounge since she met Val, so my chances were good she’d be there.
When I stepped inside, I was happy to find Amy at the bar with Lucy.
“Jaz! Come sit,” Amy said as she patted the stool next to her.
“Hey ladies. What’s up?” I tossed my bag onto the bar and sat.
“No scrubs?” Lucy asked as she sipped her Blue Moon. She waved to Matt, and he came over.
“Jaz, miss ya around here. What can I get you?” he asked.
“Soda water please. I’m sure you’re doing just fine.” I had come in a few days ago but Shannon was there alone. “No scrubs. Saw patients and sometimes it’s gross. Don’t want to wear that home, or here.”
“So, how’s it going? Are you curing everyone and having sex in the on-call room?” Amy asked as she brushed her long brown hair behind her shoulder.
I let out a nervous laugh. “It’s seriously not like TV.” Lucy was nursing a beer and she and Amy were catching up, so I didn’t want to break it up. My chat would have to wait. “So, where’s Val?”
“Meetings. One of her clients is working on a new album so there’s a lot going on.”
Lucy nodded. “Speaking of a lot going on, I need to find Jason and get going. I have to be at the station early and he promised me a real dinner tonight.”
Although I’d love to catch up with her, a breath of relief passed my lips. Lucy jumped from the stool and hugged Amy then came around to hug me before she went towards Jason’s office.
“So, no sex in the on-call room. Doesn’t sound fun,” Amy said before she took a swig of her Blue Moon.
“Amy, remember when I mentioned the one that got away?”
Her brows shot up and she looked over at me. “So, we’re going to finally talk about the elephant in the room?”
I nodded. “I never expected him to come back. At least not permanently. Maybe not at all. It’s been years and he hasn’t even come to see his parents.”
“Rude.”
I waved her off. “No, they visited him. They enjoyed traveling there.” She looked at me with raised brows again. “Our moms never stopped keeping in touch.” I sipped my drink. “So now he just swoops in. And when everything else was already changing. I was already dealing with not working here anymore and of course, becoming a doctor. Then he shows up.” I threw my hands in the air.
“Well, do you think that’s a good or bad thing?”
Shrugging, I answered. “I don’t know. Part of me wants to just jump in his arms, but then another part of me wants to hide forever.” I sighed. “It was my fault.”
“What was your fault?”
“We didn’t part ways exactly like I said.”
Amy’s brows shot up. “Oh. Did you fall onto someone else’s dick?”
Sitting up straight, I looked at her with wide eyes. “No!”
She raised her palms. “No judgment, just asking. Then what happened?”
“I kept a secret. And when I tried to tell him, I chickened out and broke it off. He tried to contact me so many times and I blew him off. I was scared. And I knew he’d wreck his scholarship. I couldn’t be the one to do that.” Her hand cupped my shoulder. “But what if I was wrong?”
“We can’t change the past. But we can always move forward. Do you want to try to be with him again, though? That was a long time ago. Do you think he’s changed?”
I shook my head. “I think we both grew up, but I haven’t changed much. Most people don’t change their good core values, you know? We just grow up.”
