Page 82 of Prosecco with My Professor

She startles. “What?”

Tessa gives her a concerned look. “Where were you?”

“Sorry.” Jade shakes her head. “I wasn’t paying attention. What were you saying?”

“Is this about your work?” Sara asks. “Are you doing okay?” Jade’s work is near and dear to her heart, but it has to be tough seeing cancer patients more often when Jade is used to managing a team of scientists and working with data.

“Work is okay.” She bites her lip. “It’s not work related, really. Well, it is, but it isn’t.”

My frown deepens.

“Okay, you better tell us before Emma goes mama-bear on you,” Tessa jokes. “Seriously, what’s going on?”

Jade’s gaze goes unfocused again. “I saw Carlos coming out of his hotel room with a woman.”

Carlos works for the same company Jade does, and they’ve been traveling together. He’s on the marketing side and speaks several languages, so he translates the presentations and questions from patients. They don’t get along very well, and Jade hates having to travel with him.

“I mean, I don’t care if he’s seeing anyone,” she continues. “But it hasn’t come up at all, and isn’t that weird? She was young, too, maybe in her thirties. I’m just surprised, that’s all.”

“Did you ask him about her?” I ask.

“No.” It’s petulant, and then Jade throws back her head. “Argh! Why is he so hard to talk to?”

Jade has always been straightforward, and when she first started her position in Madrid, she asked Carlos out. He said no and then was weird about it.

“If it weren’t for these presentations, everything would be fine. He’s in a different department. We hardly ever saw each other. Why can’t I have a different translator? Why?” She ends on a wail, throwing her head back. She brought up concerns when her boss gave her the assignment, but Carlos was the best for the job—as was Jade.

“Sorry, sweetie,” Tessa says, bending forward to pat her knee. “It’s only temporary.”

The four of us go quiet. Jade’s time in Madrid is almost up. She was the first one to convince us to come here, and now she’ll be the first to leave. It’s been a topic of conversation between us a lot lately.

Tessa and Luc are moving in together in Paris. Sara and Chris plan to eventually move to London full-time. I still have a few months left in my MBA program, and after that, Santo and I will move to Austin.

Our monthly visits will be over. Flying around Europe is a lot easier than flying across an ocean, and we aren’t sure how it’s going to work out. Yearly visits? Who knows.

At least we have one thing to look forward to: Sara and Chris’s wedding, which is happening next year.

“And on that note,” Jade says. “Can we finally go to Monaco?”

That breaks the tension with eye rolls and laughter. We decide that yes, since next month is our last weekend together before Jade moves back, we will finally go to Monaco.

We make plans for the next day, too—things I didn’t do on my last trip here because I was too busy having sex with Santo. We’ll visit the Pontifical Villas and Gardens, go for a swim in Lake Albano, and dine at a restaurant Santo recommended, a gift certificate for it in my wallet as a special treat from him.

For now, though, I sip my Prosecco and sneak a peek at my phone. There’s a selfie from Santo of him on the couch with Zola on his chest with the caption,Miss you.