Christina was easy to love, and all of you who have experienced that feeling for her can agree with me. She was made up of that special suspended sauce... maybe that's why heaven called on her early. I have my complaint with that because for me our time together was not enough; I wanted her to stay with me.
In the summer of 1998, Christina and I had been living together for almost three years in an apartment that we were renting in Burnaby, near Simon Fraser University (SFU) where she was working as a Co-op Coordinator. I remember the year clearly because it was my last year working as a chemist.
At the time, I was working for a startup research company based at the Vancouver General Hospital. The company was not doing well, did not have a clear development path, and it was certain that it would not survive the next round of financing. To contribute to my new family I had to look elsewhere and was sending my resume to many pharmaceutical companies, mainly in Ontario and Quebec. For that reason, if I was the first to arrive home the first thing I would do was to check the answering machine hoping to hear "the message". To my disappointment most of the time there was nothing, or the messages were from Christina's extended family. If Christina would arrive home before me then I would ask her with the same result: nothing.
One evening I arrived home before Christina to a bizarre and intriguing message:
"Christina, this is Nagel, I am in town for the weekend, I have been working on my Ph. D in California. I heard that you got married... congratulations! I am staying with my mom near Metrotown. Call me if you have a chance. I can be reached at 555-1234. Call me! Bye".
When Christina arrived:
"Christina, Nagel called, he left a message." - she looked at me surprised while walking to the answering machine and played the message.
"Nagel!"
"Who is he?"
"We studied together at SFU" - after a breve pause, she continued - "I think that he had a crush on me... Je, Je" - another pause - "he was a nice guy. We attended the same classes, we had good conversations, had lunches together at school... together with other friends."
"Ok"
"The only thing he ever said to me was... he asked me to go to Europe with him after graduation"
"What did you say?"
"No" - looking at the answering machine like in reaffirmation to her old decision.
"Wow! ...I think you should call him. He is just a friend, right?" - I said that and it felt like opening a door to the unknown, because, the way she talked to me seemed as she cared about him.
"Yes, nothing but a friend! Are you OK with me calling him?"
"Of course Christina... you can even invite him for dinner" - In the back of my mind, I thought that there was no way he would accept visiting and old love, and sharing dinner with her and her husband!
"Jose, are you sure?"
"Absolutely!" - no, I was not sure and was already regretting what I had just said, thinking that I was putting in jeopardy my relationship with my wife which had been in a perennial honeymoon in its fourth year. "Was I stupid or what! But it is done, so better put on a good show, and pretend to be civilized".
"We have those two rabbits in the freezer, we have wine, potatoes, salad stuff... yeah, you can treat your friend!" - She smiled, I think she was glad of the idea of talking to an old school friend, and perhaps it reminded her the good old days.
"Oh, it would be lovely!"
Nagel was delighted to hear from Christina and he accepted the invitation.
Christina always cooked her rabbit with garlic, celery, rosemary, thyme, sage, in a wine source; absolutely delicious! She prepared that with roasted vegetables and roasted potato wages; a true masterpiece! Accompanying that with salad and a glass of red wine is superb! Christina never had rabbit before she met me, but after I mentioned that rabbit was a meat in my Cuban family menu she always made sure that I would feel at home next to her and she would go the extra mile just to please me.
The day of the dinner came fast and all of a sudden our apartment became a Tuscany countryside painting. There is nothing more comforting, and calming, than the fragrances of good food on a warm evening, adorned by the site of a beautifully set dinner table.
Nagel arrived on time, and when he knocked at the door Christina received him. They laughed and hugged like two good old friends that have not seen each other for a long time. He brought flowers - "Beautiful!" - Christina accepted them and invited him in.
"Nagel, I would like you to meet my husband, Jose. Jose, this is Nagel".
"Pleased to meet you".
"The pleasure is mine, welcome, please come in" - I said as we shook hands.
The dinner time was very pleasant. They recounted old funny stories, we all laughed, enjoyed the food, drank wine. Nagel told us all about his Ph.D., how excited he was, that his end goal was to become a professor one day and have his own research group and teach. "I would like that for myself too!" - I thought.
I believe that they both enjoyed that evening immensely.
During the course of Nigel's visit I completely forgot who he was and saw him as a person who could be a good friend, we shared very similar career goals and tastes. In fact, in those days I had sent an application to compete for a professorship at the University of Manitoba. In the application package I had sent a proposal for the syntheses of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis antigens to study their interaction with immune system receptors; very interesting... but, back to the dinner.
The evening slowed down late at night. Nagel had taken public transit to visit us and we felt bad about sending him home after such a nice visit. We offered to take him home, and he gladly accepted. He rode in the back seat. Because everyone was tired after the excitement of the night, the silence in the car did not feel out of place.
"Drop me off at Metrotown, my mom lives within walking distance" - Nagel said as we approached the destination - "A little walk after a good meal is not a bad thing!"
When the car stopped across Metrotown, just before opening the door Nagel said:
"Christina, I never had the courage to tell you how I felt about you and now it is too late. Be happy guys."
He said that in a calm voice and exited the car. We were sitting frozen as if struck by thunder! As Nagel started to walk away, I leaned over to Christina and said:
"Nagel, good luck in your thesis, let us know how it goes".
"Sure thing"
"Take care Nagel"
"Thank you, Christina, thank you for having me over this evening".
"Your welcome Nagel, bye"
"Bye"
As the car pull away Christina said that although not surprised Nagel's confession was unexpected. To me, it felt like one of those "goodbyes", final, in a way sad, but it made me feel blessed by Christina's company; she was mine.
We never heard from Nagel again.
Nagel was not his real name. He came from a southeast Asian family, very conservative with an amazing history. As we drove home that night, Christina told me what he had told her about his family. After I met Nagel, I thought that if he had been the lucky one, he would have made Christina very happy as well.
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