The night shift was finally coming to an end, and Nancy fell asleep sitting on the couch in the residence office. With eyes that couldn’t see, they seemed to have sand poured into them. She tried to make sense of the text message from Jacob that had arrived earlier that night. It was urgent that we talk.
Now she’d have to explain to her fiancé that Nancy had been in the operating room all evening and almost all night. And although the intern’s job in the IQ was not easy for the girl, she liked it. Nancy pressed the call button under the favorite icon and listened to the indifferent beats for a long time.
Obviously, Jacob was sound asleep. She took a deep breath of air and held it in for four seconds. The girl exhaled noisily and stretched.
She loved that wonderful feeling of accomplishment, when a pleasant emotional and physical fatigue sets in after a successful operation, that she still had a couple of hours to sleep before heading home. And then that strange dream came again, of a gloomy hall with high vaults and tapestries hanging on the walls, depicting some strange people. Ancient decorations, a candelabrum with a thousand lit candles, a huge grand piano and a woman in a long antique dress, standing in the center of the room.
Her face pedigree, austere, seemed carved in stone. But it was beautiful. High cheekbones and huge eyes whose colors were impossible to see.
The woman held out her palm to Nancy, on which lay a huge gold ring with a bright green stone. Nancy reached out to touch it. But then the phone rang and the girl’s consciousness was torn from her sleepy captivity.
It was Jacob on the phone. Nancy hastily pressed answer and in a hoarse voice said hello, without saying hello. He informed her that he would be waiting for her in 40 minutes at a cafe near his work, without giving importance to her own feelings of resentment.
The girl quickly threw off her work suit, pulled on her favorite jeans and t-shirt and gathering the rest of her strength, went to meet her beloved windbreaker. She just hastily stuffed it into her backpack, for a real spring was raging outside. Jacob was sitting at the table by the window, staring thoughtfully ahead of him, stirring his espresso.
Hello. Nancy leaned toward him and left a light kiss on his pressed lips. What’s wrong? We need to talk.
Shortly threw the guy without looking her in the eye. The girl sat down across from him and reached for the menu. But he stopped her hand.
I already ordered you a cappuccino. We won’t be here long. The gold watch his parents had given him for his 30th birthday flittered on his hand.
But I could eat. I haven’t had anything in my mouth since yesterday except a couple of apples. Nancy objected, looking questioningly into his favorite face and finding no warmth or tenderness in his expression.
Their gazes finally met. There was a pause, which Jacob interrupted. We cannot be together anymore.
No offense, he declared. I love another girl and I want to be with her. These words came out of the blue.
Nancy tried to comprehend them and could not. Her brain seemed dumbed down at once. Her tongue refused to listen.
Outside the window, people were walking down the street. The May sun was shining. Time stood still here in this quiet little cafe at the beginning of a day that promised to be very, very warm.
And Nancy stared into Jacob’s expressionless face, trying to find some sign of the man who had hugged her goodbye before work only 24 hours before, kissing her passionately in front of everyone. I, I don’t understand. Her voice trembled.
Who is the other girl? Do you know her? Jacob answered calmly, taking a sip of coffee. Let’s not have a scene. OK, no scenes, stupidly repeated Nancy.