"I have the utmost confidence in… what's your first name?" Jordan asked.
"Amy."
"Can I call you that?"
"Yes." Amy looked up at her. "You may not want to watch this part."
"I want to watch," Edison said.
"No," Jordan and Amy said in unison. They looked at each other and laughed.
"I promise I won't move and I won't throw up or anything," Edison whined.
"Okay," Amy relented, "but don't hover. And stand behind her, not me."
Edison gleefully took up position behind Jordan and watched over her shoulder.
"Story time, Amy," Jordan said. "Distract me with the tale of why you became a doctor."
As Amy stitched she gave her stock answer, "I became a doctor because the human body has always fascinated me."
"It fascinates me, too," Edison said.
"You're only interested in certain parts," Jordan said.
Edison giggled.
“So, Jordan, what do you do?” Amy asked.
“She’s a writer. She writes children’s books. And illustrates them, too,” Edison answered for her. Edison leaned in closer. "Is that stringy white-looking thing the tendon? Amazing. You can sew it together like that? Wow."
"I can't listen to a play-by-play with color commentary," Jordan said.
"Will that black thread be in her hand forever?"
Amy shook her head. "It'll dissolve over time."
"Amazing."
"You can help her with changing the dressing, I hope?" Amy asked Edison.
"I'd love to!" Edison said a bit too enthusiastically.
"You're putting her in charge of the nursing? It was all her fault this happened in the first place," Jordan said.
"Well, in that case," Amy said, "she has to work off that karmic debt. Or in her next life she'll have to do it all over again."
"Hmmm… I'm not sure I want a doctor who believes in reincarnation. Somehow it seems to go against the entire reason for making this life last," Jordan reasoned.
"I want to be your nurse! You know how much I love looking at wounds and stuff," Edison said. "Maybe I can get one of those sexy nurse outfits. With the little apron and feather duster."
"You're thinking of a French maid costume," Jordan said.
"Oh," Edison said. "You're right. What do nurses wear?"
"Scrubs," Amy said. "They're not very sexy either." Turning her attention back to Jordan, she said, "I'll write you a script for Vicodin. Enough to get you through a week."
"Don't bother. She won't take them," Edison said.
"You know," Jordan said sarcastically to Edison, "it's truly amazing that I could conduct my life before you came along."
Amy had trouble keeping up with these two. They were like Ab Fab but without the accents. "You two sound like an old married couple.”
"We're not married," Jordan said. "In fact, after this, we may not even be friends."
Edison laughed. "She doesn't really mean that."
Amy was still not sure what their relationship was, so she cast her fishing line out even further by asking, "So, you two aren't a couple?"
Edison answered, "Nope. We tried the girlfriend thing, but she said I was too bossy which is true, so now I’m her roommate. It really was for the best. We wouldn't have lasted. I would've punched every girl who gave her the sex eye and would probably be serving time right now."
"The sex eye?" Amy asked.
"You know," Edison explained, "when a girl looks at you like I-Really-Want-to-Get-Nasty-With-You without the preliminaries."
"Preliminaries?"
"Yeah," Edison said. "The part where you do dinner or drinks and show each other pictures of your fur kids and tell cute stories about your cat where you personify him with dialogue. You speak in a high voice like you imagine a cat would.” Edison demonstrated in a squeaky voice, “My name is Mittens and my owners torture me. They dine on fresh kill whilst they make me eat dried tasteless cereal. They dangle things in front of me and yank it away.” She continues in her own voice, “Then you make sure that you each have a frequent mover card for U-Haul." Edison paused dramatically. "Then you get nasty."
Jordan chuckled. "Not necessarily in that order."
"Oh," Amy said. "What if you don't have a cat?"
Edison's eyes widened. She put her hands on the sides of her face like the kid in the Home Alone posters. "Surely, you jest!"
Jordan said, "Every lesbian has a cat."
"Really?" Amy asked. "Is that like an unwritten rule?"
"No, it's written down," Edison said. "It's in the rule book."
Amy laughed as she dressed Jordan's hand. "Okay, now about the Vicodin. Sure you won't change your mind? It's going to hurt plenty when the shots wear off."
Jordan said, "No drugs for me. I prefer a nice glass of Pinot Gris and a couple of Aleve."
"She's got a wine cellar in her house," Edison explained. "The place is enormous. An old four-story Victorian or three-story with an attic, which makes it a four-story. We’re restoring it to its original grandeur only better."
"Tell me you didn't fall out of the fourth story window," Amy said.
"I didn't fall out of the fourth story window," Jordan said with a straight face.
"She did, too," Edison said.
Amy shook her head. "Unbelievable. It's a miracle you don't have any broken bones."
Jordan said, "I know how to fall. You ever hear of those stories about babies falling from ten story buildings and not getting anything but a couple of bruises? It's because they go limp. That's the secret. Just go limp and bounce.”
Amy smiled.
Jordan smiled.
Edison frowned.
Amy turned her back to the two and scooped extra gauze and tape into a baggie. Jordan quickly motioned for Edison to leave. Edison opened the door, but before she could walk away, Amy stopped her by saying, "Edison?"
Edison turned. Amy handed her the bandage supplies. "That's enough for a couple of days. You should go by a drugstore and stock up on more."
Edison nodded. "Thanks, Doc." Edison looked at Jordan and spoke stiffly like a really bad soap opera actor, "I'll just go get the car and bring it around to the entrance, Jordan. You shouldn't be walking on that… hand." She left.
"So," Jordan said, standing. "I guess that's it then."
Amy said, "I'd like to see you again."
"I'd like to see you again, too," Jordan said.
"What I meant was I'd like to see your hand. In two weeks. I can take the stitches out then."
"Oh." Jordan blushed. "Of course that's what you meant. But, you know, wherever my hand goes, so do I. So you'll probably see me again, too."
Amy smiled. "That would be expected. Here's my card. You can call during work hours to make an appointment, okay? Or call anytime. It doesn't have to be during work hours. For the appointment."
"Okay then, it's a date. I mean it's not really a date. I know that. But it is a date. Of sorts."
Amy laughed. "I know what you meant."
"Okay. I'll call then. I mean tomorrow. Whenever. I'll call." Jordan headed for the door before she embarrassed herself further. She was halfway out the door before she turned back around. "So, you never said… Do you have a cat?"
"Not yet," Amy smiled, "But I'm thinking about getting one."
Jordan grinned and turned to go, but at that moment, Jeremy rounded the corner and they smacked into each other.
He took his time looking Jordan up and down before muttering, "Excuse me."
Jordan smiled awkwardly at him, waved goodbye to Amy with her bandaged hand – which looked more like she was erasing a chalkboard than waving – and headed down the hallway.
Jeremy turned to Amy, waggled his eyebrows a la Groucho Marx and said, "I think she likes me, don't you?"
"What're you still doing here? I thought you were leaving."
He pooched out his lower lip in a bad imitation of a pouty child. "If I didn't know better I'd think you didn't want me around."