Page 45 of So Close to You
“And another guy spent twenty minutes talking about leadership while mispronouncing the name of his own CFO,” Seraphina snorts. “This industry is going to hell.”
Nerissa turns her face toward her, clearly amused.
“That’s why you’re the CFO of our clinics.”
Seraphina laughs with a genuine, light, liberating laugh. Nerissa’s expression softens as she hears it, and her fingers tighten around Seraphina’s.
“I’ve missed you,” Nerissa admits. “And I’ve also missed seeing you laugh without looking over your shoulder or beyond the next thing waiting for you.”
Those words pierce her stomach, and Seraphina looks down at their clasped hands.
“I’ve been longing for something like this.”
Together, they walk down to The Rows, where the elevated arcades and illuminated doorways give Chester an almost theatrical air. Then they end up at a bistro tucked away in a stone basement beneath one of the old buildings. There are candles on the tables, background music, and a warm scent of spices fromthe kitchen that envelops Seraphina in something dangerously close to peace.
The waitress leads them to a secluded table next to a brick wall. Nerissa takes off her coat, and Seraphina can’t help letting her gaze wander over the line of her shoulders and the subtle rise and fall of her chest as she breathes.
While they wait for their food, they act as if it were a first date, like a normal couple. Seraphina smiles as they talk about music, and Nerissa confesses that she listens to Arctic Monkeys before going into the operating room.
“That explains a lot…” Seraphina murmurs, sliding her foot under the table until it brushes against Nerissa’s ankle.
“Like what?”
“Like the way you walk down the hallways at the clinic. Sometimes I get the feeling you’d like to pin me against a hallway wall.”
Nerissa lets out a low, dark laugh.
“Maybe…” she replies, taking a sip of her wine. “And I suppose you listen to Ludovico Einaudi when you sign balance sheets.”
“Exactly.”
“My God. I don’t understand why you haven’t confessed this to me before,” Nerissa says. “A professional at work, and a hot woman in bed.”
Seraphina squeezes her thighs together as Nerissa raises her glass as if making a toast before winking at her.
The two women share the risotto and the entrecôte.
“You’re going to have to make it up to me for getting me all worked up like this…”
Seraphina smiles.
“I’ll make it up to you.”
Nerissa exhales slowly, her eyes darkening.
“Damn it, Seph…”
Then the phone vibrates inside Seraphina’s purse, and the sound completely shatters the bubble. It’s a message from Isobel about the barbecue they’re having this weekend, in a parallel life. Her real life.
Seraphina turns off the screen and sets the phone face down. When she looks up, Nerissa is watching her calmly.
“Problems?” she asks.
“Just my neighbor reminding me of something.”
Nerissa nods, and the warmth she was feeling cracks slightly, letting sadness seep in once more. And insecurity.
“Sometimes I still forget that world exists while I’m with you,” Seraphina admits.
