Had lunch with Jadyn today. The former stranger. I got there first. Half twelve means half twelve. Found a table near the window and put my waistcoat on the chair opposite. Her spot.
I stood to greet her when she arrived at 12:39.
“Before you ask,” she said, sitting down immediately, “I forgot your plant.”
“I wasn’t going to ask,” I said. It wasn’t the start I’d been hoping for.
“You were looking at my hands.”
Fair. She said she’d forgotten to bring it because she’d been away for the weekend and only got back late last night.
“It’s still alive, though,” she assured.
“He’s tougher than he looks.”
“I know. He told me.”
That lightened the mood a little. Wonder where she went. And who with. Could’ve been family. Friends. Somewhere by herself. She seems like someone who’d go away by herself.
“Right, lunch! What are we having?” I asked. She picked the same ham and mature Cheddar sandwich as last time. I asked if she was going to examine all of them again.
“You have to,” she said. “Some of them have too much mayonnaise on one side.”
“The bastards. That’s awful.”
She held up one of the rejects. “Look. Uneven.”
She was right.
I went for the pastrami. I offered to get them both, but Jadyn insisted on paying for her own. I liked that. Grabbed a couple of bags of crisps for us to share instead.
Back at the table, we discussed sandwich construction properly. Jadyn believes cheese should always sit under the wettest ingredient because it protects the bread. Sensible. She likes ham, mustard, mature Cheddar, red onion, and a small amount of rocket.
She doesn’t like pickle, which was disappointing, but nobody’s perfect. I asked the obvious next question.
“What do you put on a fry-up?”
She stopped chewing. “Is this an interview?”
“It’s more of a breakfast compatibility assessment.”
“Are you planning on having breakfast with me? Beans. Lots of beans.”
I put my sandwich down. “On the plate? Loose?”
She laughed. “What do you mean, loose?”
“Not contained.”
“They’re beans, Jolon. Not radioactive waste.”
I explained the benefits of a ramekin. She disagreed with almost everything I said, although she accepted that bean juice touching toast too early could become a problem.
We talked about work after that. She’s helping with a project on the nineteenth floor for a few months, which explains why she keeps appearing in different places like an expensive ghost. She said she likes the actual work but hates all the meetings around it.
Finally, something we agreed on.
Jadyn wants to do something more creative eventually. Not sure what yet. Something where she can finish a day and point at an actual thing she made rather than a PowerPoint deck. She told me she once had to redo an entire presentation because somebody senior decided the circles on one slide looked “too aggressive”.
“What colour were they?” I asked.
“Red.”
“I can see that.” I nodded.
She kicked me under the table. I think. Could’ve been the table leg. We somehow got onto school next. She was good at art and terrible at maths. I told her I was good at most things but deliberately underperformed because I didn’t agree with the teaching methods.
“You deliberately flunked it?”
“I rejected the framework.”
“Did you pass anything?”
“I accidentally did alright at Philosophy.”
There was a gentleness to it all. No awkward silences. I’d say something, Jadyn would laugh. Then she’d tell me something, and I’d listen and ask about it. Normal human interaction. We’d been sitting there for almost an hour when she checked the time and swore out loud.
“I’ve got a call.”
“You’ve always got a call!”
“I do my job. I’ve heard about you, Mr Fairweather.”
That took me aback. “All good, I assume?”
That got the biggest laugh of the date. Then she got up to leave. I stood up with her, but she was already off. When she got to the door, she looked back and said, “This was fun, Jolon. We should do it again.”
“I can do Wednesday?”
“Maybe one day next week,” she called over her shoulder.
And just like that, Jadyn was gone. She didn’t touch the crisps I got. Maybe she doesn’t like salt and vinegar. Quite a good day, really. Will try and find us somewhere a bit nicer for next week.
next | previous
“Jadyn believes cheese should always sit under the wettest ingredient because it protects the bread.“ Jadyn knows her shit.