Sure enough, my mom was standing outside the house when I pulled up. She hopped in and gave me a kiss.
“Thanks for doing this, but you really didn’t have to.”
“I want to, Mom.” I nodded at the back seat. “We have an extra friend with us today.”
“Hi, Jade.” My mom turned around to wave, to which Jade gave her a glimpse and then looked back down at her book.
“Why are they having you come back in anyway? You had your test last week.”
“Who knows? He said it was nothing serious. They just need to do a little more bloodwork, that’s all.”
“I don’t like them not telling us on the phone.” I frowned at the road. “It makes me suspicious.”
“Oh, quit worrying so much. I’m sure it’ll be fine. If it was that important, he wouldn’t have waited long to schedule me.”
“Mom, it’s been a whole weekend.”
“Jessie.” My mother groaned. “If you don’t stop, I’m going to get out and walk.”
“No need,” I muttered. “We’re here.”
My heart fluttered out of rhythm as we pulled into the medical center’s parking lot. I hated this place with its clean walls covered in swirling beige and maroon wallpaper. I hated its cheery TV music with its looping tips for healthy living. And I especially hated waiting for almost an hour in the lobby then going back to the little waiting rooms and waiting for yet another half hour before the doctor even showed up.
“Jade,” I unzipped her backpack as we waited for my mom to get checked in at the desk, “would you like your coloring book?”
She shook her head, still studying her picture book as though it contained the secrets of the universe.
“What is that?” I peeked at the cover.LaRissa is The Fairy Princess. It showed a little girl up on a stage in a princess costume with a spotlight shining down on her from above. She was holding a microphone.
My mom sat down next to me with a clipboard. “It’s nice to see you, by the way. I feel like I’ve barely had a sighting of you in the last few weeks.”
“Sorry about that.” I grimaced. “Sam gave me a used copy of a textbook I’ll need for one of my first classes for the master’s program. I’ve been studying.”
“I know.” She sat back against the headrest and sighed a little.
“Okay, what does that mean?”
She kept her eyes on the clipboard. “What does what mean?”
“That sigh.”
“Oh, nothing. I was just…” She sighed again and put the clipboard down. “Okay, you want to know what’s bothering me?”
“I do, or I wouldn’t have asked.” Though I was kind of regretting that now.
“Honey, if you would just slow down for five minutes and talk to someone now and then, you could have a little fun sometimes instead of studying all the time.”
“I talk to people. I went to that teacher’s get-together at the bar.”
“And how much of that did you spend with Madison and whatever random guy she found for you to sit next to?”
I burst out laughing so loudly a few of the other people in the waiting room sent me glances. “Are we that predictable?”
“What about that cute teacher at your work? I’ve seen him eyeing you every time we go to any of your staff functions.”
Because I wasn’t feeling uncool enough already. My mom had to remind me that I took my parents to staff functions because I hadn’t been on a real date since college.
“Sam is the one who gave me the textbook. He thinks it’s important to get this degree.” I smirked slightly. “He got the same master’s as I want, and he’s working on his doctorate.”
