It was obviously on Scarlet’s mind as well, because right after Neera was off and she pulled her purse out of her locker and checked her phone, she saw a string of texts.
I keep thinking that we haven’t had a real date. Yes, we’ve done things. Were those dates? I don’t actually know. I think we might have skipped a few steps. I’m not conventional, but I would like to take you out.
I know what time you get off. I know where you work. I may or may not be sitting in the visitor’s parking lot right now, racking up a big ticket because I wanted to be romantic and I thought this would be special.
The visitor’s parking lot on the East side. Is there two?
My car is a black sedan. I think you know that?
Of course, you know that, but not to be confused with all the other black sedans parked here in this massive lot, I’m by pillar 3B, parked between a bright red minivan and a white convertible.
Who puts their top down in JANUARY?????? Maybe it’s broken. Maybe that’s the reason they’re in the hospital, because they drove here like that and froze their nose off…
You do get off at seven, right? Or maybe you’re working overtime and you’re going to find your phone later. That’s okay. I can wait until seven-thirty and if you’re not out by then, no worries. I know things happen. You’re saving lives. That’s incredible. I can change our appointments. Oh, btw, I made us hot appointments at the spa to get massages. I thought that would be nice. And then dinner after? If you want?
Okay, I’m starting to worry that maybe I should have given you some notice and being spontaneous isn’t a good thing.
Neera checked the time on her phone. It was seven-seventeen. The last text had only come through a minute before. She didn’t want Scarlet to leave, so she quickly wrote a response.
Sorry! Shift went a bit late. I’ll be right out!
She stood there in the sta
ff changing room, grinning like a fool for a second before she typed something else.
I like surprises. Spontaneity is good. The only thing better than getting a good surprise is a massage and getting a massage as a surprise is best.
She tucked her phone into her bag, threw on her coat and mitts, and walked out of the hospital, still grinning. She probably looked funny, but what did it matter? She was happy. Not everything was perfect. Her mom still hadn’t made up with Scarlet. Scarlet’s family hadn’t reached out either. Scarlet was having issues finding staff for the store and was putting in long hours mostly by herself, but Neera still had hope.
If everyone was wrong about time healing or that taking it slow was a good thing, she wasn’t sure what she’d do. She’d heard that time might not heal anything, it might just create scabs and scar tissue, and that taking it slow actually never won a race ever, but she wasn’t subscribing to that. She knew one thing and that was that hard work did pay off. She’d seen it over and over again. Since she was a nurse, she’d watched people heal. Time did do wonders for some, and she hoped she and Scarlet were included in that category.
The wind was bracing, so cold that it gave Neera a bran freeze, but she ducked her head down and walked to the parking lot. She saw Scarlet’s car right away, still sandwiched between the van and the convertible.
It had to be broken. No one would have made it anywhere in it. But they also wouldn’t have just put it down when they got to the hospital. Did they wear a helmet? The kind people wore on snowmobiles in the winter? Neera started grinning all over again and she didn’t stop as she slid into the passenger seat of Scarlet’s car, shivering at the change in temperature since the car was running and the heat was pumping.
“Hey.” She bent over and clasped Scarlet’s face in her hands, even though she was wearing knitted mittens, and leaned in to kiss her. Scarlet met her halfway and what was supposed to be a peck on the lips turned into a much more scalding, heated, melt them both into their seats kind of a kiss. “Wow,” Neera panted as she pulled away. “That’s a great start to our first real date.”
“Maybe I shouldn’t have said real date. I did say I wasn’t conventional, didn’t I?”
“You did.” Neera slipped her seatbelt on as Scarlet reversed.
“Can I bring you back for your car after?” Scarlet asked. She drove up to the ticket machine and slipped it in, then sighed at the crazy price. “Goodness sakes, how do people afford to visit anyone here? That’s crazy.”
“I know it is. Parking is bad everywhere. Expensive, I mean.”
Scarlet swiped her credit card in the machine and then the gate lifted, and they were free to go. “At least I get a parking stall. I wasn’t kidding when I said that it was a serious issue in San Jose.”
“It would bankrupt you otherwise.”
“You’ve got that right.”
Scarlet was a good driver, and the late traffic wasn’t an issue for her. She had winter tires on her car and despite the icy sheen on the streets, polished by the wind, they had no issues getting to the spa.
“I can’t say that I’ve ever been for a massage at a spa before. I’ve always gone to like medical places and that was only when I helped one of Stephanie’s friends move in San Jose and I kept having to go up and down stairs all day. I was so sore. I’m used to being on my feet, but apparently five flights of stairs up and down for hours on end will do a number on your calves. The Charlie horses were out of control. The massage hurt more than it felt good, but I could actually walk again. It was basically a magic trick.”
“I’ve never had one for pleasure. Just if I hurt or tweak something too. They have hot stones. And they probably have something that feels good, but isn’t a deep tissue massage. I don’t even know what I’m talking about. I just booked us in for an hour couples thing. We can probably choose.”
She was nervous, Neera realized, and that was entirely adorable. She reached over and took Scarlet’s hand when she parked, bringing it to her lips to kiss her knuckles like in old fashioned movies and romance books.