Uh-oh. “What was what?” I asked.
“That.” With her free hand, she pointed back and forth between my eyes. “Your crazy expressive eyebrows almost did a back flip, you looked so angry when I asked Sara about her boyfriend.”
Sara finally looked up and smiled at me but answered Valentina first, saving me from having to voice my honest opinion. “Oh, she doesn’t like Brian.”
“Brian?” Valentina asked.
“That’s my boyfriend. Dr. Ramirez here doesn’t approve.”
“What’s wrong with him?” Valentina asked.
“Oh,” Sara saved me again, “she would never say. She’s too good a friend.”
When she refocused on finishing the manicure, I mouthed to Valentina:piece of shit.She nodded with a sad smile.
“How about you, Dr. Ramirez?”
I stiffened. I knew Dr. Medina was probably listening.
“I’m too busy concentrating on my career for that. I’m focused only on you.”
“Uh-huh,” Sara said. Done with her work, she sat back on the chair and crossed her arms. “What about Ramiro?”
Valentina perked up at that. “Who isRamiro?” she asked, rolling the r’s seductively.
“Lord, help me,” I said, looking at the ceiling. “Ramiro is my oldest friend. He and I grew up together, and now he is a mechanic at my dad’s garage. But I absolutely do not see him like that—”
“Butheseesyoulike that,” Sara said.
They were both staring at me now, expectantly.
“Guys, stop. I get enough of that from my dad.”
“Oh yeah,” said Sara. “He’s already planning your wedding.”
I rolled my eyes.
Neither Sara nor I asked Valentina if she had a romantic partner. She never talked about it, and we both intuitively knew it might be a touchy subject for her. Since I’d been her doctor, she’d never had anyone join her at any of her appointments, and no one came to visit when she was admitted overnight. This led me to believe she was alone in the world.
“Well,” said Sara, “I have to get back to it. Let me know if you need anything, Valentina.”
“Guys, thanks for this.” We both nodded and left her room.
It was the absolute girliest thing to do. Neither Sara nor I were girly, and I knew Valentina wasn’t either. Still, somehow, bonding over something as trivial as makeup was soothing to the soul. I knew we all felt lighter than we had yesterday.
I expected to find Dr. Medina at the nurses’ station, watching our little show unfold and poking fun at us, but he wasn’t there, and I sighed with relief. Thank goodness he was probably too busy to listen to us make fools of ourselves. He’d question if I was actually cut out to be a doctor.