She nodded vigorously. “It’s a thing, look it up!”
“Your dad’s a doctor, so I’m sure you’re right,” I said.
“Yeah, because being related is the same thing as med school,” she agreed.
“Basically, but don’t tell him I told you so.”
She laughed, then winced. “Oh, what if he’s drawing blood in there?”
“Are you a sympathy bleeder too?” I asked.
She rolled her eyes at me. Then she sobered up. “Do you think it will work? All of you getting married?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean...” She glanced around, lowering her voice even further. “What if you all get married and Simon doesn’t fulfill his end of the bargain? Or what if four of you get married and Jude backs out? You’re putting a lot of trust in these guys. Especially someone who swears they’ll never marry or have kids.”
“I trust Jude,” I told her, but I looked down at the speckled white stone of the counter we both leaned on. “He’s my best friend. He wouldn’t do something like that.”
“And Cruz?” she asked. “Gregory told me he was bragging about a threesome he had on last week’s recruiting trip.”
I winced. Sometimes I forgot how the assistants talked. There were no secrets in the Tower.
The door to my office opened, and we turned to see Dr. Martins and Jada approaching. There was a white bandage taped around her arm where he’d drawn blood.
“Everything okay?” I asked the doctor anxiously.
He looked to Jada for her consent, and she said, “Go ahead.”
“It’s looking like a blood sugar episode related to type 2 diabetes,” Dr. Martins said. “I gave Jada some ideas for high-protein breakfasts that should help. But I took blood to run some tests, just in case.”
My shoulders relaxed, proof of just how worried I’d been. “Thanks, Doc.”
He nodded and excused himself, walking past a courier who held two large brown bags stamped with the Golden Café logo.
“Looks like breakfast is here,” Maya said, going to the delivery person. “You two go sit at the table in the office. I’ll bring it in for you.”
Jada and I went back into my office, and I noticed her sweetly scented perfume as she walked by. Upon studying her a little closer, it looked like she was feeling better. There was more richness to her deep brown skin tone now, and her features weren’t so pinched anymore either.
We both tucked into the table as Maya set out plates for us, the same food from our brunch.
Once Maya left, Jada looked at me with surprise in her eyes. “You remembered my order?”
“I remember everything about the date,” I confessed.
“My dress?” she countered with a skeptical arch of her eyebrows.
“Floral,” I said with a smile. “Pretty.”
She suppressed a smile of her own. “My drink order?”
“Vanilla latte with oat milk.”
“Impressive.” She spread a cloth napkin over her lap and then started cutting into the stuffed French toast Maya had set in front of her.
I started eating my own breakfast. All the while, the question was swirling in my mind:Will you marry me?
There was no good way to ask. No good way to even touch the topic when we’d been on one, singular date. But I had to be straightforward with Jada because that was the right thing to do. I wouldn’t let business change me.
