Take a Breath(70)

He looks at his notebook, then flips it back.

“He wasn’t well yesterday.” I offer.

“I’ve already told Agent Marcos that Tony won’t be in today as he is off sick,” Jake said. “I have told him about what’s happening here so he knows. He will try and be in tomorrow so he can do his part and give a sample.”

I nod and Jake smiles at me.

“Is that everything?” I look to Agent Marcos and he nods. “I guess I better get back to work then.”

I pick myself up and head for the door. I swing around remembering to ask. “Jake, Jessie wants to see you about taking tomorrow off.”

“Ok fine,” he nods. “Just tell her to submit a leave form and I’ll sign it. She can have that day off.”

I smile—happy knowing Jessie will be pleased—and head back to my desk.

I tap Jessie on the shoulder and she swings round. “Guess who’s got tomorrow off?”

“Seriously?” Jessie beams.

“You just have to submit a leave form and he’ll sign it for you.”

She stands up and gives me a big hug excited about the news.

“Thanks, Ana, this is great. I guess having a best friend who is giving it to the boss man every night helps me out a great deal.”

She winks at me and I nudge her.

“So tell me, what did Jake and that agent want in there anyway?”

I pull my hair back behind me and before I’m able to speak Jessie gasps. “Where did you get that?” she asks, eyes bulging.

I notice she’s pointing to my wrist and I smile. “Jake gave it to me last night.”

Her face looks like it’s dropped to the floor.

“Shit, Ana, do you realise how much a watch like that costs? It’s Cartier; they’re worth about $2,500. Did you know that?”

Now it was my turn to be stunned. I had no idea. I thought maybe a few hundred dollars but not that much.

“Ana, you realise what this means don’t you? A man does not buy a woman a watch like that if he wasn’t serious about them. He loves you baby. Looks like you’ve found your one.”

I’m still stunned by what Jessie’s just said. I remain speechless.

“Ana, you bitch, I hate you. Jerry and I are nowhere near where you and Jake are at the moment. This is like, would you like to marry me stuff.”

I quickly manage to find my voice then. “Jessie, no. We haven’t even discussed ‘us’ yet. I don’t even know if you can really call us an ‘us.’ He doesn’t say anything and I don’t want to ever spoil the moments we have together.”

Jessie shakes her head. “Sounds to me like you both feel the same way, but are both afraid to admit it to one another. You and I both saw the way he reacted at the bar last night. It’s like crazy love, he lives and breathes you love. Can’t you see it?”

“Jessie, I don’t know. I just don’t want to spoil it. I’m happy as we are and I don’t want to ruin any time we spend together by using a few choice words.”

Jessie looked exasperated. “Girl, I love you but you can be so pigheaded at times. I don’t know whether to hug you or smack you about the head. And don’t look at me like that. You know it’s true.”

I close my mouth shut and speak no further. I don’t want to argue with her.

“Anyway change the subject, what did the agent want?”

I told her that he basically repeated what he said last night and it’s then that I notice Michael being called into the room for testing.

“Oh, Jessie. I feel so bad about this. It’s all my fault this is happening.”

Jessie grabs my hand. “You can’t think like that, Ana. If everyone here is innocent, they won’t mind, and if they do mind, then they are obviously hiding something.”

I squeeze her hand back. “What would I do without you?”

She flicks her hair away from her face. “I really don’t know to be honest.”

She gives me a cheeky grin—which I return—and we get back to doing some work.

I try my hardest to concentrate on what’s in front of me, but it’s so hard knowing every time someone’s name is called, they probably secretly hate me deep down for being the one to cause all this trouble. Of course everyone must know by now, although no one is saying anything. They have to be given some sort of explanation for why they’re doing this and people around here are not stupid. I try so hard to bury myself in work and block out what is going on around me.

When it gets close to lunch a hand flies in front of my face. I look up and find Michael standing there. I look at him and frown.

“Come with me for a coffee, please.”