Page 48 of At First Smile
“And all you need is the fiancé,” Trina deadpans, a smirk replacing the scowl on her lovely face. Like us, she’s enjoying the weather by sitting outside on the back porch of the mid-century farmhouse she’d bought last year – pre fiancé.
“Details.” JoJo bats the air with her hand.
Adding to the many differences between my besties is their relationship status. JoJo is always single. Despite bad date after worse date, she remains the eternal optimist about all things love. Trina is a skeptic despite always having a boyfriend. Marriage is just something to tick off on her life itinerary.
“Cael and I have a plan. Once he’s completed his cardio fellowship next year and I have a year as the attending ophthalmologist at the Retinal Foundation, we’ll plan the wedding.”
“Wouldn’t want something likeloveto get in the way of your career,” JoJo quips.
“Exactly.” Trina waves a half-eaten donut in the air. “Marriage isn’t about the fluffy stuff with Cael and me. It’s about partnership. We have very specific career and life goals.”
I kick JoJo beneath the table. I don’t need to see the details in her expression to know a full-on grimace is etched on her face. She almost vibrates with the need to chide Trina for her romantic blasphemy.
I clear my throat. “Speaking of career stuff. I got an email from my boss this morning. He’d like to meet with me first thing tomorrow.”
“Are you fired? Oh god!” JoJo gasps.
“Why do you always think someone is getting fired when their boss asks to see them?” I chuckle.
“An email from your boss to be in their office is the adult equivalent of being called to the principal’s office, which is never good.”
“I was only ever called to the principal’s office for good things. Winning valedictorian when I graduated at sixteen. Being selected for Model United Nations. My almost perfect SAT score. Making it to the final round for a national essay contest.” Trina counts off her many teenage accomplishments on each finger.
“Trina, we’ve discussed being braggy,” JoJo tuts.
“Calling women braggy is a tool of the patriarchy to keep us in a social-construct of appearing modest or dumbed-down, so men feel better about their insecure selves.”
“You found me out.” JoJo raises her hands in surrender. “I’m a patriarchy secret agent.”
I kick JoJo again and mouth,stop.
She chuckles.
“I was just named employee of the quarter, so I’d imagine they’re not firing me.”
“See!” Trina points at me through the screen, as if to reiterate her point that sometimes a brag is okay.
I wave her off. “Jamal has been talking about retiring to spend time with his family. His daughter lives in Chicago and just had a baby. I think he’s ready to retire and may be asking me to step up as interim VP of Voluntary Services.”
While I’m not as goal focused as Trina about my future, I have a plan. With my master’s in health administration, my goal is to ultimately rise to the level of hospital director. During chemo treatments, Aunt Bea would gush to the staff that one day her niece might be their boss. I was both mortified and delighted with her faith in me.
“Pen, this is amazing!” JoJo squeals. “You’d be next in line to be director.”
“If I got the job permanently there’d still be like five layers between me andthatjob.”
“But if something happened to all five of those people?—”
“Don’t plan the assassinations yet, lady. It’s not the presidential line of succession,” Trina guffaws.
“I would never.” JoJo clutches at her chest dramatically. “Well, unless…verbal winky-face emoji.”
Both Trina and I cackle
Not only does JoJo spell out emojis in texts, she verbalizes them in person to describe some of those little facial tics, like a wink, that I often miss. When someone sits this close to me with good lighting, I can catch some, but still miss a lot. Verbal cues are my primary source of the context and subtext communicated by non-verbal gestures and expressions.
“Well, I’m just happy it’s good news. You can’t be fired and have your heart broken in the same week. It’s just rude!” JoJo bites into a vanilla lavender scone.
“She didn’t have her heart broken by the sexy Wayne Gretzky wannabe. It wasonlythirty-five hours. Pen’s not that foolish to fall for someone she barely knows.” The cringe is apparent in Trina’s disdain-filled tone.
