One memory leads to another

 Jade supposed life was good. But things had gotten strange after Thanksgiving. Rudy moved in with Jewel, and here, all this time, she was expecting him through the holidays. Also, he got on in maintenance at the hospital.

"Well, aren't these good things?" Eric brought her a bubble tea from nearby as if she needed a pick me up in the afternoon at the dance studio/gym where Eric seemed to be constantly working out, or so Jade couldn't help but notice.

"Yeah, I guess." Maybe she should leave it at that. Jade knew she should, but she only had Eric to talk to. "My sister's pregnant."

"Huh, and she doesn't mind having your cousin around?" Eric said after sipping his cold drink on this very cold day.

"Well, it was a surprise." Jade hadn't had much time to think about it. Jewel was going to be a mom come late spring, and she was alone. "I mean, I didn't even know she was seeing anyone."

"Did you get to meet the guy?"

"No."

It was an unsettling mystery. As long as she'd known her older sister Jewel it was always "Do The Right Thing."

"Maybe she went off the deep end after she divorced James."

Jade told Eric that James was her sister's high school boyfriend and they'd married as soon as she got out of high school. "They went to college together and everything," Jade remembered their history. "I felt I had so much to live up to. I dunno. I let her down a lot."

She thought of her shoplifting life back then which didn't last all that long. She was hardly a criminal. Still, when she thought of that it led to memories of Tristan. Jade pushed her fingers over her eyes and had a good laugh. Such a  miserable time and yet,  he'd made it all better.

"What's so funny?" Eric was curious.

"It's nothing really."

Jade composed herself at her busy desk. The phone rang. It was time for Eric to go. She needed to focus. Some things were never coming back. Her sister would never be her high school self. And Jade knew Tristan never remembered. How could he?