Sweet afternoons

Chapter twenty four

The day I spent with Jacob went well, we went out for food and walked around the city for a little while. He was tired from having worked a long shift that had started at midnight, but insisted on continuing to spend time with me rather than going home to sleep.

We seemed to get on well; we had very similar interests. Jacob loved to cook and bake, which meant he was in awe when I told him about my job. I told him about Nate, Alexandria and Nadine. How helpful the three of them were to me from the beginning and how much I'd come to love them like family.

I went on to explain how Nate had supported me throughout my time in Texas, leading Jacob to ask me if Nate was the man I was sharing a room with.

I laughed at that before shaking my head and beginning my story of how I met Andres. The story was long and full of surprises for him. Once I had finished telling it he seemed at a loss for words.

He didn't say a lot about himself during our time together; I respected his quietness and didn't ask too many questions. We still bonded quite strongly, and so when Jacob asked me to exchange phone numbers, I was more than happy to do so.

That's why the following morning, as Andres and I were getting ready to go to the hospital, we were already texting each other. When Andres first saw me texting Jacob he was less than happy, I could tell he was trying not to show it, but to me it was obvious. After a little while of talking about it, Andres soon relaxed, confessing he was just jealous of another man stealing my time.

It was a sweet confession so I forgave him for being annoyed.

"I just want you all to myself," Andres said, wrapping his arms protectively around my waist. I giggled, hitting his arm playfully.

"But your happiness is most important to me, and this young boy seems to make you happy." He paused, clearly considering something in his head. He angled his head down to look at me properly before saying, "Should we invite him to dinner with us tonight?"

I turned in his arms, his chest now pressing against mine. "Really?" I asked excitedly. "You want to meet him?"

He nodded, smiling back down at me. I squealed loudly, holding him tight to my chest.
After thanking Andres I sent a quick message to Jacob.

Lena: Andres wants you to come out to dinner with us, will you? Pleeeease?

It didn't take him too long to reply.

Jacob: I'd love to! Name a time and place and I'll be there!!

Upon seeing his response I text him the details, telling him to meet us at the hospital at 3:30 pm.

I then went to the bathroom to brush my teeth, also changing into a long blue dress that had white straps and white buttons which lined perfectly down the front. Pulling my hair into a tight ponytail, I wrapped a red bandana around my head to push the hair back from my eyes.

The dress had been a gift from Alex and Lucas on my last birthday; it was to encourage me to be more confident in my appearance.

I wanted to show her that her encouragement had been worth something, so I took a photograph of myself in the mirror and sent it to Alex.

She replied quickly with lots of love heart emojis and exclamation marks. Her texts never failed to amuse me.

Searching around for some shoes, I came across a white pair of converse that had faint white floral patterns across the side.

I slipped on some socks, followed by the converse, and left the room to fetch my handbag.

Andres was sat comfortably on the sofa watching the news. A story came on about an investigation into money laundering at a local hospital.