Page 58 of Still The One

He nods, his lips pressed into a straight regretful line. ‘I have bitten the forbidden fruit, and it has bitten back.’

I chuckle awkwardly. He’s laying it on thick this morning.

‘While I do appreciate you staying in character for this… what on earth are you talking about?’

Suddenly, Adam is twenty-four again. ‘Heard you were taking care of your injured husband.’ He glances at Genevieve who is standing at my side.

When I look at her, she looks away.

‘Ex-husband,’ I correct him, glaring at Gen when she finally makes eye contact.

‘OK,’ she heaves. ‘So I missed one word.’

‘You and I are not meant to be if you’re married. It’s one of the Ten Commandments,’ Adam says, his voice disappointed.

Was he serious all this time? Oops.

‘Or because one of us was never feeling it?’ I suggest, making him frown.

The silence is heavy as we wait for our drinks to be ready.

‘Warn me now. How many people did you miss one word to?’ I ask Gen as we exit the coffee shop with our drinks in hand.

Before she can answer, Dr Sully is walking toward us, a blue Superman surgeon’s cap on his head.

‘Nurse Eve! How’s Foster?’

‘Still alive, thanks to you!’ I chirp, waving a hand back at him like all is OK.

Himasking about Foster, I get. He did the surgery and has been his primary doctor since. Everyone else, that’s gossip, probably spurred on by my bestie. Dang it.

‘I dunno,’ Gen answers my question, sipping her Frappuccino. ‘You know how boring slow moments here can get. I may have mentioned it a time or two, but only because people were asking. It’s not a big deal.’

‘Eve!’ Dale says, spotting me many feet away. ‘Glad to have you back. How’s your husband?’

‘Ex-husband, and he’s doing fine.’

‘Hey,’ Pam, a nurse I’m friends with only at work, stops Gen and me, resting a hand on my shoulder. ‘I’ve been thinking of you. How is he? What’s his name? I didn’t even know you were married!’

‘Ha ha, me neither…’ I shoot Gen another glare. ‘Foster and I are past tense. That said, he’s doing fine.’

Pam frowns, glancing at Gen, the likely source of her misinformation. Genevieve only shrugs, but the coy smile on her face says she’s not sorry at all – she’s enjoying this.

We walk a few more feet only to be stopped again. This time, it's the ER Hispanic beauty, Catalina.

'Evie,' she says with a slight accent. 'Darling, I'm so sorry. How you holding up? Taking care of yourself, yes?' she asks,wrapping me in a big hug. 'Remind me later, I've got a gift certificate for a romantic restaurant Harry and me discovered a few years back. You two will need a date night after this chaos.' When she finally releases me, she does her two-handed duck-beak wave and backs down the hall, turning just in time to make the corner.

Twenty minutes, $100 in donations, one request for an autographed poster (that the young X-ray tech supplied), and one slightly unhinged ‘what if’ daydream about going back in time, and I'm clocked in at my workstation.

'You're back,' Chris, a fellow nurse, greets me. 'How's your little stuntman of a husband? BTW – my invitation to that wedding was rescinded because it "fell through." What's up with that?'

'That weddingdidfall through,' I say.

'Different guy,' Gen tells him.

Chris's jaw drops open, so I turn in my chair not to see it.

'Apparently, chaos is my color now?' I ask, turning to Gen and glaring with an intensity that she can hopefully feel. 'This is not the morning back I was expecting and because you are behind that, no more talking, please,' I instruct, causing her to nurse her drink again.

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