Collecting Scars (2 page)

Then, of course, there were the Arnolds. When she had first started in this role at the Reinolds Centre the Arnolds had been some of her first clients.

Mrs Arnold had been told her breast cancer was in remission and she was discharged from the clinic, only requiring 6 monthly check-ups with her local doctor. Unfortunately, at Mrs Arnold’s last check-up her breast cancer was found to have returned and secondary nodes had now been found in her lungs. She was now back under the care of the Reinolds Cancer Care Centre with Asha, once again, coordinating her care.

The Arnolds were a sweet couple in their mid-fifties.  Mr Arnold always seemed very caring and sat with his wife at every appointment holding her hand. He asked a lot more questions than she did and Asha always tried to answer as best she could. He had told her he used to be a police detective, but had given up his job to care for his wife. She supposed that was why he asked so many questions.

Mrs Arnold’s current treatment consisted of several rounds of chemotherapy, anticoagulation as she had previously suffered from a pulmonary embolism, and anti-depressants due to her depression which was no doubt caused through the last few years of battling breast cancer.

Depression was not an uncommon thing amongst the cancer patients Asha cared for and the on-site psychologist was kept very busy, dealing not only with the patients but also the patients’ families. Asha felt Mr Arnold would benefit from visiting with the psychologist, but he would have none of that.

“Psychologists are for pussies,” he had grunted at her when she suggested it.

So she had given him a brochure with some names and some phone helplines should he ever feel he needed someone to lend an ear. There was no point trying to force someone to get help if they were not willing.

Yes, her job could definitely be a challenging one, but she enjoyed it. The staff she worked with were always very supportive, and they worked well together as a team. Not only that, but it gave her a sense of satisfaction to know that even when her patients passed away after a battle with cancer, she had been given the opportunity to make those last months, weeks, or days of their lives somewhat more bearable.

Of course, not all of her patients died, a lot of them were discharged and went on to live their lives, post-cancer treatment. Every one of those patients gave her cause for a little celebration.

Asha dragged herself out of bed and wandered down the hallway to the kitchen. She flicked on the light and grabbed a bottle of cold water from the fridge. As she shuffled back down the hallway she heard giggling coming from Joanie's room. Obviously, she had not come home alone from her evening out.

Back in bed, she drifted back off to sleep, only to be jolted awake again when her alarm sounded at six am. She grunted as she slammed the snooze button on the bedside alarm, she never had been a morning person.

***

“Good morning Asha.”

“Morning Gemma,” Asha called in reply to the Reinolds Centre receptionist as she wandered through the front doors of her work.

“Going out tonight?” She often went out on Friday night.

“Yeah I think the girls want to check out the band that’s playing at a new club tonight, what’s it called? Ex’s something or other,” Asha laughed a little, she really should pay more attention. “What about you?”

“Not sure yet, I might pop in sometime during the night and check them out too. I can't be out too late though, I’ve got my friend’s wedding tomorrow.”

“Oh, that came around fast hey?”

“Sure did,” Gemma sighed.

***

Friday dragged. Asha made several phone calls to follow-up for patients who were still waiting for appointments with various allied health providers. She felt she had spent more of her day waiting on hold than getting any work done. When five o'clock finally came around, she was so happy to be actually getting out on time.

Once back home, Asha found Clare was already at the house with Joanie. They were riffling through Joanie's wardrobe trying to decide what to wear out for the evening.

“Come on Asha, let's get you prettied up.” Joanie was excited to be going out. She had been going on about this band for a while.

“Oh I'll just throw on some jeans, I'll be fine,” she sighed. She was not really in the mood to be getting dressed up.

Asha had always felt like an ugly duckling. She was tall at five feet seven inches and thin, with very little curves. She always thought of herself as gangly. The one feature she felt she had going for her was her long hair. It was dark, almost black, and thick. She found it much easier to handle if she kept it braided, especially for work. She had large round brown eyes and long thick eyelashes that her friends all swooned over. Asha could not see what the big deal was. But she never did need to use mascara, which she guessed was a good thing. Her face was long and angular with a smallish nose and pointed chin. All of which made her feel odd. Especially growing up amongst a primarily Scandinavian European demographic, where everyone seemed to be blonde and blue eyed. She was often teased by the other kids feeling as she did not fit in.

“Aw c'mon Asha, we're getting dressed up...you’ll look hot in a mini-dress. And you never know, you might just pick yourself up a man.” Joanie wiggled her eyebrows at her.

“I don't know Joanie, I haven't got legs like yours,” she sighed.

“Oh rubbish, you're gorgeous!”

“Whatever,” Asha laughed. “How about I wear some black jeans, with a tight top and my new knee high boots?”

“Really? You're not going to let us dress you up are you?” Joanie sighed.

“It's cold out,” Asha cried.

“So?” Joanie was laughing now. “All in the name of fashion my dear, and besides, we'll have a few drinks and a dance and we'll soon warm up.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Asha shrugged. She loved her carefree attitude to life.

Later that evening, they approached the bar, where a young good looking barman was serving drinks. He gave the girls a huge smile, full of beautiful white, straight teeth.

“Good evening ladies,” the barman said in a slow deep drawl.

“Hi Xavier,” Joanie smiled back. “How have you been?”

“Keeping busy, trying to stay out of trouble, you know how is. So JoJo...who are your friends?”

“This,” she pointed to the girl on her left, “is my friend Clare.  She works with me at the childcare centre and this...” Asha felt an arm come swinging around her neck, “is my beautiful housemate Asha.”

“Well, it’s nice to meet you both ladies.” Xavier gave Asha a wink and flashed that award winning smile again. “What can I get you all to drink?”

The girls all ordered their drinks and made their way to a vacant table to the left of the stage. It was eight o'clock and the club was starting to fill, soon the band would come on and by then the place would be full of sweaty bodies.

Asha enjoyed these nights out with the girls. They had a few regular pubs and clubs that they visited and often caught up with a regular group of girls and guys that they knew from over the years, either through work or just going out. This was the first time at this place, but looking around, she thought she might like it here. It had a big open area, with a long bar and a stage in the middle opposite the bar. The dance floor was between the bar and stage with lots of seating on either side. Along the side wall at the opposite end of the entrance were long lush velvet curtains, with comfortable looking couches lined along the front.

Not to mention, the barman was pretty cute too. She looked over at the bar eyeing the man who had served them. He was tall, with short, scruffy dark blond hair, and a killer smile.

Some of their friends came through the door, Asha waved to them to let them know they were there and they walked over to join them at their table. Joanie had a few school friends she caught up with regularly, but Asha had not gone to school locally. She had moved to the city when she left home at seventeen. Things had not been good at home as she had never got along well with her mother. When she won a scholarship to attend university in the city, she jumped at the opportunity to move out.

The band “Midnight Connections” came on around eight-thirty and soon had the place rocking. Joanie had been right, it did not take long before she was warmed up. She got up and danced to several songs before heading to the bar for another round of drinks.

“Same again gorgeous?” Xavier asked.

Asha blushed ever so slightly, it had been a while since a good looking man had flirted with her.

“Yes please,” she smiled back at him, all the while thinking he probably flirts with all the girls.

Xavier returned a few minutes later with the round of drinks.  As money was exchanged, so were a few smiles and a wink in Asha’s direction.  Asha meandered her way through the crowd towards the table she shared with their group of friends. It was fast filling with empty glasses and bottles.

As the night wore on, she saw less and less of her friends as they went off to other clubs or headed off home for the evening. She spotted Joanie in the corner with some guy who had introduced himself earlier as Pat or Pete, she could not quite remember. Nor did she really care too much. Joanie had a tendency to pick up different men each time they went out. So remembering this one's name was hardly important as she would likely not see him again. It was not the kind of thing Asha did, but she figured it wasn't any of her business. If that is what Joanie wanted to do, that was up to her.

Asha started to yawn, tiredness was creeping up on her so she glanced at the time on her phone. It was nearing one in the morning. The club would be closing soon, so she wandered off to the bathroom. Her intention was to drag Joanie away when she got back so they could grab a cab home together. It had been a long week and she felt she had had enough to drink. Surely Joanie must be feeling the same. After all, it must be hard work looking after toddlers all day.

Wandering out of the bathroom not five minutes later, she looked around and could not see her friend. Joanie and Clare both seemed to have gone. She looked around feeling perplexed. It was not like Joanie to leave without at least letting her know.

“Asha,” she turned to the sound of her name being called by a deep male voice. Xavier was walking toward her. “Joanie has just now left with Pete, she asked I would make sure you got home safely.”

“Is that right is it?” Asha fumed. Great friend she was. That was always the golden rule, not to leave without your friends.

“Oh well okay then,” she pouted putting her hand on her hip. “I'll just call a cab for myself, we were going to share.” She started reaching into her purse for her phone.

“No need for that,” Xavier smiled down at her, his green eyes shining and that smile, it was mesmerising, she could look at that all day. “I'm about to knock off. I can give you a lift home, you don't live far away.”

“Ah..ah,” Asha stammered, suddenly feeling nervous. How did this stunning, perfect stranger know where she lived?  “No, no its okay, I mean, I can call a cab.”

“Don't be silly,” Xavier laughed softly. “Joanie is an old friend of mine and she asked me to make sure I got you home safe, so get you home safe I will. Now come on.” He said reaching an arm around her shoulders and shuffling her towards the back of the bar where he called out his goodbyes to his co-workers before ushering Asha out the back door.

Once outside in the back parking lot, Asha was suddenly nervous once more. It was dark and she could only see two cars parked nearby.

“Which car is yours?” she asked.

Xavier chuckled quietly. “I’m on the bike, hope you don't mind riding. It might be a little chilly but you can have my jacket.” Before Asha knew what was happening, he was slipping his leather jacket onto her bare arms and holding out a helmet for her.

“Um hang on, just wait a minute,” Asha said backing up. “No one said anything about getting on a death trap with someone I don't even know! What even is this?” her voice was rising without her intention and she knew she was sounding panicked.

Now he was really laughing.

“And what’s so funny about that?” Asha demanded, bringing her hand to her hip again.

“You sound just like my mum,” Xavier laughed shaking his head “death trap seriously,” he muttered to himself.

Asha folded her arms across her chest. “I appreciate you trying to be the knight in shining armour here, but I'd sooner catch a cab,” she started pulling his jacket back down her arms, immediately feeling the cold air hitting her skin once more.

“Oh come on, lighten up...live a little. Life's too short don't you know?”

“I do know just how short life is and I don’t want to make it any shorter by running around town on the back of a motorbike with someone I don't even know.”

She handed him back his jacket, wished him a good night, turned on her heel and started off into the darkness.

“Ok suit yourself,” Xavier called after her.

As she walked, she fished around in her handbag for her phone to call a cab. Staring at the screen, she couldn't believe it. Damn, why did the battery always go flat when you needed it most?  It was a long walk home and it was late, dark and cold. 'Live a little' Xavier had said. 'Life’s too short' well didn’t she know that. In her line of work? Dealing with death on a daily basis? She knew only too well that life could be cut short when people had a lot of living still to do.

Slowly she turned around and started back across the club car park. Xavier stood leaning against his bike, arms folded across his broad chest. In the shadows, she could see he was tall with broad shoulders, he looked like he was quite muscular, and the dim lights from the club shone in his green eyes.

As she approached he looked at her amused.

“Change your mind Ashy-girl?”

Asha cringed, she hated people calling her that.

“My phone is flat, I ah...I wondered if maybe you could give me a lift?

Xavier showed those pearly whites again. “It would be my pleasure. Here...” he said, again slipping his jacket over her shoulders before popping the helmet onto her head and tightening the strap under her chin.