Turning Point(17)
“That’s perfect. We go to Aspen a week after that, we’ll be there for two weeks, and you’ll come home a week after we do. Perfect timing. We’ll both be so busy we won’t have time to miss each other while you’re gone.” Maybe he wouldn’t, but Wendy missed him every day she didn’t see him, and the thought that he’d be on a holiday with his wife made her feel sick.
“So you don’t mind?” She wanted him to tell her he’d miss her while she was away, but he hadn’t. He looked happy for her, and congratulated her with the last of the wine. “I can’t wait to hear about it when you get back.” He was at ease and pleased for her, and not worried in the least.
“I’ll text you from there,” she promised and he looked hesitant.
“Make sure you do it during office hours, and don’t get confused with the time difference. You can’t text me in Aspen, Jane will be around all the time.” She wanted to cry as she listened to him. She felt infinitely inconsequential in his life. She was a pastime, a diversion, even though one of long standing. She was the Wednesday night spice in his life, and whether he admitted it to her or not, she could sense that his wife was still the main meal. She never wanted to admit it to herself, but now and then it hit her in the face, and it just had. It didn’t bother Jeff at all that he wasn’t going to see Wendy for a month, and rather than find a way to talk to her while she was gone, he didn’t want her sending texts while he was on vacation with his wife and kids. It was a brutal reminder that Wendy had no role in his life.
Her fears were even greater now that he would detach from her, and get closer to his wife while Wendy was in France. It was an unhealthy relationship for her and always had been. It destroyed her sense of self-worth and she knew it. She didn’t even want to go to Paris now, but she knew that she’d look like a loser to him and her boss if she didn’t go. Her heart was in her socks as he talked to her about Paris, and suggested several restaurants where she should go. All she wanted now was to stay home with him, but he wouldn’t be there anyway, and she would have been miserable if she’d been in San Francisco while he was on a two-week vacation with Jane and their kids in Aspen.
Things had suddenly come clear to her that whether or not Jeff saw her didn’t seem of great importance to him. He enjoyed their Wednesday nights, and her company, but a month without her was no big deal to him, even though it was to her. And yet, whenever she had questioned the relationship and tried to get out of it in the past six years, he had talked her into staying. Was she merely a convenience to him, sex he had to make no effort for? Did he even love her? But even if he did, it felt like a dead end. Six years later, he was still going on vacations with his wife. It was obvious that there was no future in it for her, except as an affair he was having on the side, which was exactly who she’d never wanted to be in his life. She looked at herself in the mirror as she got ready for bed, and asked herself if that was what she wanted, someone who cared so little for her, and offered her no future. Year by year she was giving up the chance to have children. It was a high price to pay for sex every Wednesday night, no matter how handsome, impressive, and successful her lover was.
The next morning Jeff kissed her lightly on the lips before he left, thanked her for a wonderful evening, a good meal, and a great bottle of wine. He ran a hand across her bottom and said he’d see her sometime that week, if he had time to drop by. He knew she’d be waiting for him as she always did. They had one more Wednesday before she left for Paris, and she hated herself for making it so easy for him.
That morning, she told the head of the hospital that she would be going to Paris, to represent Stanford Medical Center’s trauma unit in the exchange, and she walked back to her office with a heavy heart. There was no hiding from the fact of how little she meant to Jeff. The truth cut through her like a knife.
Chapter Five
The four trauma doctors from San Francisco had been told to meet at the Starbucks in the international departure terminal at the airport, after they checked in. They were leaving on a Sunday.
Bill Browning was the first to arrive. He was an early riser and always punctual. He called Alex and Pip on the way to the airport. It was late afternoon for them and they had just come home from playing in the park. They knew he was going to be in Paris for a month, and he was taking the Eurostar to see them that weekend. In five days, he would be with them. He couldn’t wait, and they sounded excited about seeing him too. Their mother had agreed to let him see them for four weekends in a row, and even send them to Paris for one of them, when she and Rupert were going to Spain for a few days. When he left Paris, Bill wouldn’t see them again until the summer, so Athena agreed to accommodate him this time. The war between them was over and had been since she married Rupert, and Bill was a responsible, caring father, so she had no objection to his spending time with the children. It was almost as if their marriage had never happened. They no longer had anything in common, the only link between them was the girls.
He ordered a grande cappuccino, and stood watching for the others. He had looked all of them up on Google and had seen their pictures. Their credentials were impressive, they had all gone to important medical schools, and done their residencies at the best hospitals. They were equally matched in terms of their reputations and skills and where they practiced, at four of the finest medical centers in the Bay Area. There wasn’t a weak link in the group. They were relatively close in age, with Stephanie being the youngest at thirty-five, and Tom Wylie the oldest at forty-three, and Wendy and Bill himself in between. Their profiles didn’t say whether they were married or single, and it didn’t matter to Bill. He noticed that Stephanie was very pretty with long blond hair and big blue eyes. She had a very American appearance, and a bright smile with perfect teeth. She looked like the girl next door, all grown up with a medical degree.