Not Quite Enough(80)

Before fall classes. She might not have picked a school to apply to, but she had made the decision to go back once the case was behind her.
“I’ll make a couple of calls.”
“I’ll look forward to hearing from you.” With that, he hung up.
The next hour she started her calls with Walt. She asked if he could rally some of the staff in the next twenty-four hours for a protest, to which he told her he’d do everything on his end. The union was just as eager to move on a protest so Monica put all the wheels in motion making calls to Katie, to Monica’s friends at the fire station, even some friends from nursing school.
When it was all set she called Trent, who had left that morning to join his brothers for a business meeting in Connecticut. It was the second time he’d left her side in the few weeks they’d been a kissing and dating couple. He’d returned the jet he’d flown down from Seattle and needed to stay in the Pacific Northwest long enough to confirm that Frank was the employee who was flying their planes for his own pleasure. After Frank was dismissed, Trent decided it was time to put into place a benefit program in which longtime employees could request certain flight privileges to avoid any issues in the future.
As Trent told her, ever since his parents’ deaths, his brothers had taken up the slack in the company and it was time for him to get back in and ease some of the burden. That meant flying back home for a while.
Monica would have worried about him leaving if he hadn’t told her he was coming back. His life wasn’t in Southern California, however, and she knew that eventually if they wanted to keep seeing each other one of them would have to make a residential change. The thought would have scared the shit out of her a month ago.
Now she found herself searching for masters in nursing programs close to Trent’s company. She wondered if she could trust them as a couple enough to make such a leap.
The couple of nights he planned on being away would help give her the space she needed to think. She already knew that sleeping without him would be difficult and figured she could think then.
Their cuddling, kissing, and not making love hadn’t made her want to be around him less. She knew when she saw him their conversations and time together were going to be about something beyond the physical. The overwhelming desire to talk to him about the protest was a testament to the changes happening within her. It wasn’t often she bothered talking about her problems with the guys she dated. Nothing on a deep level in any account. With Trent, Monica talked about everything. Her dreams, nightmares, future goals, and bucket list achievements.
Share time wasn’t limited to her. Trent told her some of the things he wanted to see happen within the company. Now that he was finished with island living, he wanted to be a larger part of the company. His brothers had carried him for some time. Taking part in the daily decisions was a task he wanted to become a part of again. He was once again putting his life on hold, but this time it was to give their relationship a chance.
At some point, Monica knew she had to take a leap of faith and follow her heart. The leap was from a huge height, however, and the fear of falling made her hesitate.
Her call to Trent went to voice mail, which he returned later that night.
“Hey, California,” he said on the phone, his voice sleepy.
“Did you just get home?”
“I forgot how annoying commercial flights are.”
“Slumming with the rest of us?” Monica joked.
“It’s a pain when I know there’s a better way. Besides, I don’t like someone else driving.”
“Control freak.”
“Look who’s talking.”
She brought him up to date on the protest, told him it would take place in two days right before rush hour. “Katie suggested we blow up a picture I took in Jamaica of me at the clinic, and another one from the ER. Make sure the people in the area know which nurse they’re rallying for. I’ll be at the printer tomorrow and then Katie and I are going to get together with a few of my friends to make the signs.”
“I can change my plans and come back early.” He’d planned on staying home for a few days.
“I’d love for you to be here, but it’s OK. How are your brothers?”
“They’re good. They want to meet you.”
She smiled at that thought. The last woman he’d tried to introduce to his family ended up breaking his heart. “I’d like that.”
“When the hospital drops the case, can I convince you to come here for a visit?”
She curled her feet under her. “You can convince me to visit even if the hospital doesn’t drop the case.”
He hesitated and Monica could hear the smile in his voice. “All right then.”
“All right then,” she repeated. They talked for a while longer, both of them reluctant to hang up. When she heard Trent yawn for the second time she told him she missed him, and that she’d call him the next day.
As she hung up she realized that missing him was simply her way of saying she loved him.
And that made her smile.


The day of the protest started early. Monica and Katie put the finishing touches on the posters and arranged for a last-minute permit to be approved so the protest wouldn’t get them all arrested. Strategically, the protest was scheduled one hour before the end of the business day. If the lawyers of the hospital, and the administration itself, decided to drop the case, they could minimize the damage of the protest by calling a stop to all the attorneys. Goldstein had told her not to expect a call from him until after five. Even if the hospital decided to drop the case as the first picket sign went up, he’d conveniently get the call to Monica after five. “Make ’em bleed,” he’d told her.