"And then he literally through up all over the desk! It— It was just amazing. One of my favourite cases," Meghan bellows before pushing a fork full of food in her mouth.

I resist the urge to spit out my wine as I try to stop myself from laughing. Enrique, Meghan and I were sitting around the table and eating for about half an hour now and it has been nothing but pleasant. 

Meghan seems to have more than enough jokes up her sleeves, and each one nearly has me dying with laughter. 

As soon as I think about how wonderful the evening has been so far, I can't help but feel the guilt bubble up my throat when I think about how I had conjured up the image in my head that she was nothing but mean and disagreeable.

But if anything, she was quite the opposite.

I wipe an actual tear from the side of my eye, taking a deep breath before saying, "Well," I start before following it with another chuckle. "That's enough laughter to last me a lifetime."

"Well, I'm glad I could help," Meghan says.

I turn my attention to Enrique when he joins us with a deep rumble, his figure standing from his seat as he begins to grab the empty plates. I quickly stop him, "No, no, let me do it," I insist as I stand.

"Demiah, it's fine," He returns. I quickly swat away his hand.

"I'm serious, you're already late for work and you did most of the cooking," I snatch his plate from him, placing his knife and fork on it.

Meghan laughs at the exchange, "You heard the woman, Enrique. I'll help too."

I find myself smiling in gratitude when Meghan follows my actions and begins packing up the dishes. We both head together to the kitchen.

Almost instantly, we find ourselves engaged in small-talk, a quick routine starting with me doing the washing and Meghan, the drying and placing the dishes in their respective cupboards.

There's a pause in our conversation and so I take this chance to speak.

"So listen," I begin unsurely. "I wanted to... I wanted to thank you. For not—" I stumble over my words, Meghan's hands holding the towel slowing as her eyes penetrate my soul. "I guess for not making me uncomfortable. I was prepared for the reminiscing and the 'just like old times' talk," I chuckle to lighten the atmosphere.

I expect a serious and comforting reply of reassurance, but what she replies with somehow is better, "Ugh, don't worry about it. I can barely remember what happened two days ago, much less reminisce about almost two years ago." She waves off.

The carefree and casual response almost immediately calmed my racing heart. What I expected to be a heart-to-heart was already done and dusted.

To prevent myself from laughing, I reply, "Hm, should I be worried that my lawyer has short-term memory loss?" I joke along.

"You could be," She shrugs her shoulder in a thoughtful manner. "But I'd be more afraid of the fact that she's afraid of public speaking,"

The plate that I'm holding nearly slips from my hand as I throw my head back in laughter.

She joins the laughter, her shoulder bumping mine.

'~~~~|~~~~'

Enrique hastily comes down the stairs, slightly loosening the tight tie from around his neck. He turns to me when I see him, a hand fixing the cufflinks of his long-sleeved dress shirt, "How do I look?"

I tilt my head to the side, excusing myself from conversation with Meghan, "I mean, you always look good, but why do you seem even more attractive today?" I chastise. "Hot date?"

He rolls his eyes, "Ha, ha. Very funny," He holds up his neck almost instinctively when he sees me walking closer to him. I briefly reposition his tie so that it's sitting at the center of his chest. He continues, "As much as I wish I did," He stares at me knowingly, "Today's where Roy and I present our findings and the decision to the board. About the case I was telling you about?"

I squint my eyes, "The board? But I thought the decision was ultimately yours?"

He kisses my cheek as a thank you when I'm finished, turning around to stuff his papers into his briefcase, "Well, it was. But any sane doctor would not perform this surgery. If we do it and it all goes wrong, we're more than liable to be sued, even with a contract in place," He shakes his head.

"Oh," I murmur. "Well, what are you gonna do?" I'm momentarily distracted as I watch Meghan place her phone and folder back into her bag.

"I wish I could tell you but I haven't made a decision yet. Logically, the cons list is much longer but..." He stops as he sighs to rub a hand down his face. "It's whatever, I'll explain it later, sweetheart. Gotta run," Another kiss, but this time on the lips.

I don't even have time to respond before he's gathering his items and beginning to leave.

"I should get going as well too, Demiah. I'm meeting another client."

I sigh depressingly, the thought of being alone seeming lonelier than ever, "Okay well," A sad smile. "It was than a pleasure to meet you," I say. "Did you drive? Why don't you let Enrique drive you back?"

"No, my car's in the shop, busted engine or something," She starts. "And it's fine really, I don't want to make you more late than you already are," She turns to Enrique as she says this.

"Don't be ridiculous, it's on the way," He encourages. "But we need to leave now," He looks at his watch briefly.

Meghan speeds up as we follow Enrique to the door, "I'll call you if I have anything, Demiah. We should meet up again over coffee," She quickly says with a smile.

"Just name the time and place," I'm shouting by now as they're already in the driveway.

"Will do," That accent again.

Enrique waves his hand to me briefly, car keys jingling as he sends a lopsided smile to me, "You'll be here when I'm back, yeah?" He yells.

I just nod, leaning against the doorframe with folded arms and a small smile. And as I watch as Enrique opens the car door for Meghan and allows her to go in before going around the car to his own seat before driving off, something settles in my stomach, and it wasn't the jealousy like I'd expected but rather...

Warmth.

'~~~~|~~~~'

I get up from the alarm I'd set, cursing when I saw that it had already went off twice already and I was nearly twenty minutes late.

It was time for me to get Enrique's father from the nursing home.

If I made my shower quick, I could still make it in time before Julia, one of his nurse's, had to leave. I hum as I step in the shower and turn on the water, immediately sticking my head under the shower curtain, a practice that Enrique's scolded me for on many occasions, especially just after waking up. 

The water immediately saturates my hair before I pause to reach my hand outside the shower curtain to on my phone to check the time again, even though subconsciously, I had a nearly accurate idea, especially as to how I just checked five minutes ago.

I don't know, my brain still wasn't up as yet. Checking, I see that it's already 9:10 at night which means Enrique was barely gone for four hours. 

I suppose four hours would be considered long, but for a doctor— no, Chief of Surgeon like Enrique, it was barely a minute.

I release a long sigh, I felt like I was sleeping for an entire night, only to know it's been four hours. I suppose that's a good thing, but it also means that I have to be aware that Enrique isn't here for longer.

After a few minutes longer, I step out of the shower to dry my skin before proceeding to put on some proper clothes, keeping in mind that it's already late and I don't have to dress up as much.

As soon as I apply an elastic band to my hair to situate it in a ponytail, another bad thing that Enrique says I do, I hear the doorbell ring.

I rush down the stairs and throw open the door without even looking at who's on the other side, turning around to grab my shoes by the door, "Thanks for the ride again, Jenny. I really needed it. Enrique had rented a van but they called earlier to say that they couldn't make it." Finally with both of my shoes on, I turn around just as a voice speaks.

"No problem, love. Rebecca and Justin are with Ryan's mother and the Caden is at a sleepover. And you know Ryan usually works this time, so it's just me in the house," I couldn't help but smile. "Anyway," she comes in and lightly pushes in the door from the outside breeze. She looks up and around the house, "So this is his house, hm?" She seems to nod in approval. "What does he do again?"

I laugh, "He's—" I start but pause when the door blows open loudly due to the wind. I vigorously begin to rub my hands up and down my arms to counteract the chill, "We should go quickly," I start as I step outside to look at the sky which is beginning to darken, "The rain looks like it's about to come."

 Jenny quickly nods her head, "Yeah, come on."

We rush to her large van. Having three children, it was easier than a car with just about 4-5 seats. The large size and ramp it had made it more than easy enough to place a wheelchair inside once the backseats were pushed forward. 

When we get to our respective car doors, I look up to see Jenny pause, her eyes looking up to the sky and her body slightly swaying, "Woah, you okay?" I ask, rounding the car to the driver's side. 

She waves me off, "Yeah, yeah. Ugh, I hate this damn vertigo. When it comes on, I just can't seem to shake it," I nod my head understandably. Jenny had always had bad vertigo from the time I met her, but over the past few months, 0it's gotten a bit worse. 

"Maybe I should drive, yeah?" I rub her back. She quickly nods, and so after walking her over to the passenger side of the van, I quickly get inside the driver's side before driving steadily towards the nursing home. 

'~~~~|~~~~'

"Okay, okay, Eduardo, we're sorry for interrupting you from watching you game," I muse. "You can watch it when we back, yes?"

He grumbles under his breath loudly about how it wouldn't make sense since the best part would already be gone.

I can't help but shake my head in amusement, seeing Jenny from my peripheral holding in a laugh as well, "He's a miserable one, isn't he?" She asks in a joking manner.

"I'm old, not deaf," He finishes his sentence with a curse in Italian as I push him up into the van using the ramp.

I turn back around to face Julia. "He's been very fidgety lately, but luckily his legs seem to be getting better, he can now move them without any pain. You should tell Mr. Romano that carrying him in for a check up on his own volition may be a good idea."

I nod understandably, "Will do, thanks Julia. Enrique asked me to ask if you could get an in-home nurse for Tuesday. We'll both be busy that day, and we don't want to have to bring him back for just a day,"

Before I could finish talk, she's already scribbling down this information on her hand quickly with a pen that emerged from her pocket. 

"I got it covered," She reassures. "I'll see you soon, Mrs. Romano." Before I could reply, she's already rushing to leave after looking at the time. 

"Well actually—" I begin to shout after her but she's already gone. "It's just Demiah," I whisper to myself.

I shake my head at the thoughts that start evading my head, walking swiftly back to Enrique's father and putting a small, "Okay, Pa, let's go," He said nothing, surprisingly, as I shut the door after making sure that he was secure.

"With that, Jenny and I drive off back to Enrique's place. 

It only takes nearly an hour for us to arrive back safely, Jenny helping me to pull Eduardo out from the small confines of the back of the van, "Is my son here?" He asks.

I gently rub his shoulder as I wheel him inside, "No, Pa. He's at work. He should be back before you go to sleep though," He waves me off.

"No, no" His groggily voice speaks. "Let him stay so I can watch some women's yoga," He follows it off with a chuckle way too perverted for an old man like himself.

Jenny sets up her face, but she can't stop the laugh from breaking through, "I did not need to hear that," She muses as she helps me to life the wheel up the chair and into the house.

Enrique had already arranged inside of his house to be wheelchair-friendly, but there was still the matter of him having to add a ramp outside since it was tedious to lift him up the small steps.

I situate him right in front the television, handing him the remote. He can barely see but yet he manages just find to find the channel that he wants to watch.

I shake my head with a tired sigh before I go and meet Jenny in the kitchen, "i just can't with that man. Enrique said that his father always use to tell him that he's more like his mother."

Jenny hums as she takes a sip of his water, "You good to go back? Or do you want me to drive you and then I take an Uber back?" Jenny quickly flips her hand before swallowing the water quickly, "No, no, it's fine, Demiah. It's late, the roads are nearly empty this part of town and I feel much better, but thanks, love." She says.

I squint my eyes at her, taking a seat by the island, "Well, if you say so," 

She follows me in my action from her position standing opposite of me, "Can I stay here a bit? I'm definitely not use to the silence of an empty house," She sighs.

I laugh, "Of course. I can only imagine after hearing three children being noisy all day."

She nods in agreement.

'~~~~|~~~~'

Jenny and I were just in the middle of a conversation about clothes where we heard the door open just an hour after we returned.

"Enrique?" I yell out in the other room to make sure that it was him. I don't see how it couldn't me though.

He peaks his head into the room, and his eyes immediately finds mine, a soft smile almost instantly gracing his features as he walks over to behind me and places a small kiss on my cheek before trailing them down to my neck innocently as he hums.

Well at least it starts innocently before I feel his rough hands begin to snake around my waist, his tongue sticking out against my skin.

Realizing that my eyes had closed on their own record, I snap them over, seeing Jenny staring at my with raised eyebrows as she sips her water, her eyes averting when they meet mine in amusement.

I quickly clear my throat and straighten my back, "W-Wait, Enrique. We have company," I whisper to him as I turn around to face him.

His lips instantly stop on my skin, his eyes snapping up to across the room having just realized another person in our presence.

He straightens his own back, raising a thumb to swipe across his bottom lip before placing his briefcase on the kitchen counter, "My apologies my for manners," as if subconsciously, he raises a hand to rest on the side of my neck, his neck massaging the area that he previously kissed.

He reaches out a hand in Jenny's direction, a permanent smile having now placed on her face, "Enrique Romano, pleasure to meet you," When his eyes stare into the brown orbs of Jenny's own, he pauses, his eyebrows shooting into the air swiftly. 

Jenny places her hand in his, seemingly unfazed, "Jennifer," She introduces, "But everyone really calls me Jenny," She places a hand in his to shake, but when she attempts the action, Enrique's hand is stills in place, still staring at her.

I look at Jenny in question before looking back at Enrique when she shrugs her shoulder in question, "Enrique?" I try.

No response.

I stand and rub his back, "Hey, Enrique," I say more firmly.

He jumps slightly before swallowing, "What— hm?"

I squint my eyebrows at him. What the hell has gotten into him?

I speak, "This— This is Jennifer."

"Oh, yes yes, right," He now shakes her hand, his eyes finally leaving her face.

The awkward silence that settles begins to make me uncomfortable. Apparently Jenny feels it as well before she begins to grab her keys, "Well... it's getting late, I should go. It was nice to meet you."

I spring up from my seat, "Yeah, yeah, call me when you get home, drive safe." I say as I turn as she grabs her phone.

Enrique sends a tight smile her way, "And you," He replies courteously. 

With that, Jenny is gone. 

I turn to face Enrique, "Okay, what the hell was that about?"

'~~~~|~~~~'

.