Page 96 of The Wish

Unsure what to say or do, Alex returns the warm, loving smile coming from Kelly. He knows the receptionist is watching but doesn’t care and gently kisses her on the lips.

‘Hi,’ he finally says.

‘I hope you don’t mind me coming to your office, I was wondering if you would be able to have lunch with me,’ Kelly says softly.

‘Sure, absolutely, is it lunchtime?’ he asks, oblivious to what the time could be.

‘Yes, kind of, as long as I’m not interrupting.’

‘You can interrupt me any time, this is a wonderful surprise.’ Alex turns to the receptionist. ‘Would you tell Steve I’m going out for a bit?’

The receptionist nods and hurries back into the studio, eager to spread the gossip of Alex kissing a girl, oh and he’s taking her to lunch, who knows when he’ll be back?

Alex and Kelly walk a short distance to a nearby café, take a seat outside and quickly look at the menus waiting on the table.

‘How can you be here, aren’t you meant to be at work?’ Alex asks Kelly as he reaches for her hand across the table.

‘Yes, no, my boss told me to take a half day, I’m apparently spending too much time at work.’

‘She’s not wrong, is she?’

‘Well, these last few months, since you and I, well, I’ve gotten better, haven’t I?’

‘Yeah, you have and I’m very happy about that.’

A waitress interrupts and they both order an iced coffee and the same salad sandwich.

Kelly watches the waitress walk away. Alex sees a change sweep over her face. He registers how tightly she is squeezing his hand.

‘Kelly, what is it, what are you not telling me?’

‘It’s Jesse . . .’

‘What about Jesse, we saw her what, three days ago, she was fine.’

‘No, she’s not, Alex, she’s not.’

‘What are you saying? Kelly, please, what’s happened to Jesse?’

‘That’s the thing about Jesse, she’s very good at pretending everything is fine, she wants everyone around her to have a good time, but the bloods don’t lie.’

‘What are you saying?’

‘For the past four weeks Jesse’s tests have shown a decline in her acceptance of the transplant, the transplant from you. I’m sorry, Alex, her body has rejected your bone marrow.’

‘What does it mean? Does she need more? I’ll do it again, I’ll do it right now, Kelly we should go to the hospital and do this now.’

‘Alex, listen to me,’ Kelly says gently. ‘Her body has rejected the transplant, if we did it again, it would be rejected again and we’re not going to put her through that. You gave Jesse and her family the gift of more time together, which they never thought possible. You have to understand just how great a gift that was.’

‘Where is she?’

‘Mandy and Dean brought her back to the ward this morning.’

‘Amy, does Amy know?’

‘Jesse spoke to Amy, Ryan and Luke last night, they are coming to see her this afternoon.’

‘Why didn’t you say something sooner? I would have been there for her.’