Learning To Trust Again

They lapsed into silence again and this time it was Rebecca who broke it a few minutes later. Jake continued to intrigue her. He was such an unknown quantity, full of contradiction and complexity, all the more so after he turned up again so unexpectedly. She wanted to find out more about him. She asked ‘so didn’t you have anywhere you needed to be tonight?’

He looked down at her with a serious expression for a minute before he moved his eyes away again. He replied without elaboration, ‘not tonight.’

Rebecca sighed at his answer. It told her nothing. She had hoped he’d tell her something about what he usual did but he didn’t seem like the type to make small talk, he just said what was necessary and was satisfied to be silent the rest of the time. She was thoughtful for a minute then tried a different tack in an attempt to draw him out. ‘Have you lived around here long?’

‘A while’ he said giving her about as much information as his last answer.

Rebecca gave up. In the face of his unrevealing responses, the purpose of which seemed to be to discourage further questions, there wasn’t much else she could do. It was clear he didn’t want her to know anything. She couldn’t help but wonder if he was the same with everyone or whether it was just her. She hoped it wasn’t the latter. Feeling despondent all of a sudden, she sighed again, and they completed the rest of the journey in silence.

On reaching her apartment once more Rebecca turned around after unlocking the door and said ‘thanks for making sure I got home safely again Jake.’

Jake nodded and asked ‘so I suppose you’re not going to take proper precautions again tomorrow night?’

‘Well you saw what it was like tonight’ she pointed out ‘there wasn’t even anybody about.’

‘It doesn’t mean it will be like that tomorrow.’

‘And there’s nothing to say it won’t be’ she said in as reasonable tone. She didn’t want to argue with him again.

Jake sighed. He sounded impatient but he said ‘then I guess I’ll see you outside the hospital again tomorrow night. That will be your last shift finishing at this time, yeah?’

Rebecca was beginning to feel like she was on a rollercoaster. One minute she was up only to have the rugged pulled out from under the next. While on the one hand she was pleased at the thought of seeing him again, on the other hand she was brought down to earth by the fact that his question made it obvious he was not doing it because he wanted to. So her tone was flat as she answered ‘yes after tomorrow, I have a couple of days off and then my shift changes to a day time schedule.

Jake nodded. He said ‘right see you then’ and spinning around he jogged back down the stairs before she could even say goodbye.