As a self-sufficient professional woman in her early 30s Stella had decided did not need to concern herself with needing to find Mr Right. Her last few relationships had been disasters and followed a similar pattern- lust, great sex, less sex, him becoming less interested to the point he started sleeping with other women. Stella saw the pattern and could not see how she could change it. For now, she would get by with her battery-operated boyfriend who had never cheated on her!
Stella worked as a senior nurse in the Emergency Department and loved her work. She was never flustered in a crisis and had a large social circle. Sadly, a few of her friends had married and were busy with children, but she still had a few girlfriends she knew she could call on to catch a movie or try out a new restaurant in town. Plus of course, shift work was not conducive to relationships.
One of Stella's weekly rituals was lunch with her oldest friend, Jo who was also a nurse but worked at a GP surgery. Usually having a day off during the week, or before a late shift, Stella would call into Jo's surgery where Jo would provide sandwiches and Stella would bring a cake for the rest of the team. She got on well with Jo's colleagues and Dr Davies, the owner of the practice was always offering Stella a job there. But Stella was very happy in her ED work.
One Monday, Stella received a text from Jo- "Babe, I don't know your roster, but we need to lunch ASAP- Dr Hottie has joined the practice and you need to meet him!" Stella laughed at her friend- Jo knew of Stella's luck with men and had even introduced her to her last boyfriend- medical rep Drew. She replied "Haha! No chance there. Earlies til Thursday, Friday off- will lunch Friday as long as he has a day off!" Stella and Jo bantered via text a few times that week, however Jo knew Stella enough not to bring up Dr Hottie!
Thursday evening Stella baked a passionfruit cake for Jo's team. She used a new bundt tin she had picked up and loved the way the icing cascaded down the grooves of the cake. She snapped a pic, uploaded it to Instagram and went to bed. It had been four months since she had had sex with someone other than herself. She thought of Drew and how he was amazing in bed, but dull outside of it. She remembered the way he would twirl his tongue around her nipples as she rode him and was immediately aroused. She reached for her vibrator and found herself orgasming in just a few minutes.
Stella had a rule on her day off- she wore a dress. Wearing scrubs every day for work, she liked the opportunity to wear her hair down, put on a little make-up and wear shoes that weren't designed to prevent vomit and blood from seeping into them! This day she pulled out one of her favourite Spring dresses- a pink cotton floral number, low cut with a tie on the cleavage and a flared skirt that finished just above her knees showing off her shapely legs. She arrived at the practice just before noon, waved at the reception staff who commented on the cake she was carrying and headed for their lunchroom. Dr Davies was just leaving her room as Stella walked past. "Ah, Stella, here for that interview at last," she joked. Stella reminded he that there would be cake in the tearoom and Dr Davies told her she only had the one patient to see and she would be in.
As soon as she walked into the tearoom Stella was taken aback. In front of her washing his cup in the sink was a very good-looking gentleman! "Hi, I'm..." She started to say before he turned and said "No, let me guess, drug company, no maybe medical supplies, actually, no, um, I can't think of any reps who bring cakes these days." Stella placed the cake on the table and turned to shake his hand, "Stella Marshall, I'm a friend of Jo's and we catch up for lunch once a week." "So, you're the famous Stella Jo has been talking about all week! I'm Jake and I believe we are going on a date this weekend." Stella was taken aback, she tried to say that no, that would not be happening, and that Jo would not be having any cake that afternoon when Jo bustled into the room. "Ah so you two have met, so glad, now when's the wedding?" Stella was at a loss for words. Jake could sense her embarrassment and excused himself from the room, promising to come back for cake after his next patient.
"So, you met Dr Hottie!" Jo shrieked. Stella was still trying to compose herself, Yes, she would admit he was extremely handsome, those piercing green eyes and the way his hair flopped over his left eye and he kept flicking it out of the way and the fact that he was tall and had a butt that was calling to be squeezed, but she again tried to explain to Jo that she was done with men adding that with looks like that he was bound to be a player. Stella and Jo sat and ate their sandwiches. Other people came in and out of the room, some cutting slices of cake and all complimenting Stella on another amazing cake, several of them begging her come and work full-time with them so they could get cake more often.
Stella and Jo swapped stories of their week. Jo had married Steve, the love of her life in the most perfect ceremony a few months earlier and they had recently rescued a dog from the local pound. Steve was a teacher and it was report writing season so Jo was finding herself with more time on her hands than she had had in several months what with wedding preparation and the honeymoon and settling into married life so she and Stella decided to grab brunch at a local café the following day to continue their conversation. Fortunately, Jake had not come back into the lunchroom so she did not have to deal with talking to him again, however she couldn't really stop thinking of those eyes.
The café was walking distance from Stella's apartment, so she took a leisurely stroll there on Saturday morning. It was another stunning Spring day, so she grabbed another of her favourite dresses from her wardrobe, a navy wraparound dress that accentuated her curves, put a scarf in her hair and wore some silver dangly earrings that her parents had given her for her 30th birthday. She had spoken to them the evening before using Facetime. They lived interstate and were very anxious for Stella to produce grandchildren. Stella's younger brother Max had come out in his teens and had been in a relationship with Nigel for several years. Stella kept suggesting that perhaps Max and Nigel might have kids, but she also knew that both of them were career driven and that was not really on the cards. Stella had thought of children and knew that Jo and Steve were going to start trying for a baby in the next few months, but she did not know if she could see herself as a mother. She often had enjoyed nursing the children who presented to ED, but she also knew what could go wrong.
Stella arrived and found a table outside. Jo arrived soon after and the two of them sat and chatted over coffee and eggs for what seemed like hours. Stella went in to order another round of coffees and when she came out, she could see Jo waving at someone summoning them to come across the street. Stella looked and stopped dead in her tracks- it was Dr Jake. "Jo, please, no," pleaded Stella. Jake had not crept into conversation that morning. "Stella, he's lovely and even if you don't want to date him, he's new in town and he knows no one." Stella could imagine 500 reasons why he had moved to a new town and not many put poor Jake in a good light. Stella decided to be the better person, so she asked Jake to join them for coffee.
The three of them talked for the next hour, although Jo did most of the talking. Stella discovered Jake used to work in ED, but he preferred the pace of general practice. Stella had to admit it was easy to talk with Jake although he didn't give a lot away about himself. The three of them got up to leave. Jo probed Stella for her roster, and they discovered it was not going to be possible to lunch the following week with Stella's day off coinciding with a day Jo was heading to a course. Jake was walking the same way as Stella so they said their farewells to Jo. Stella pondered on Jo's tale that Jake knew no one in town.
"So Jake, now, please don't take this the wrong way or anything, but I know you are new in town and don't know too many people and I don't want you to think that I am asking you out or anything like that, but I'm working an early tomorrow and I know you have work early Monday morning, but perhaps you might like to grab dinner with me tomorrow night- I'd be happy to cook, but it won't be flash and you don't have to and again it won't be a date or anything of the sort and I wouldn't..." Stella looked over to see Jake smiling. "Stella, dinner with nothing else attached would be lovely, can I bring a bottle of wine?" Stella told Jake of her working Monday and that she tried not to drink on work nights and told him to just bring himself. They exchanged numbers and she texted her address.
Stella went home and did her weekly housework. Her home always looked immaculate and she did not need to do a lot. She then started to worry about what to cook for dinner the following night. She knew she found Jake attractive, but reasoned that there would be few on earth who would not find him attractive. He was easy to talk with when Jo was there but what would it be like without her? She flipped through some recipe books. She wanted something quick, but delicious and not too ordinary, but at the same time she did not want to give the impression of caring too much. Despite owning a bookshelf and a half of cookbooks she came back to the same recipes time and time again and decided to cook her chicken pasta bake. She could prepare most of it that afternoon and reheat it after work.
