‘Thank you Isabelle,’ he said, with a smile on his face.
The girl at the till looked startled, but she quickly realised what he’d done, and she blinked down at her name badge and blushed.
‘Oh,’ she said, with a slight giggle, ‘that’s quite all right, have a great day!’
As we walked out of the shop towards the van Jack was still smiling, in his own world, as though I wasn’t there. We got into the van, he placed the shopping bags behind us and got comfortable in his seat. All the while I was staring at him. He finally noticed.
‘What?’ he said.
‘What was all that about?’
‘What was all what about?’
‘The girl,’ I said, ‘ “Oh thank you Isabelle”,’ I said, mimicking him.
I was laughing, trying my best to seem cool and blasé, but it was too late, my jealousy was obvious. Isabelle wasn’t particularly remarkable or stunning and so far he hadn’t looked at anyone else’s name badge to tell them a personal thank you. Why her?
‘Oh, Isabelle?’
‘Yes, Isabelle,’ I said, ‘do you know her?’
‘No. But I used to know an Isabelle. She was great,’ he said smiling.
My blood suddenly boiled. I think my face went red. It’s okay Silvia, ex-girlfriends don’t mean a thing, I told myself. He turned around to me and let out a soft sigh before facing the road and pulling out of the lot.
‘I’ll tell you all about that at the next stop,’ he said.
‘Where are we going?’
‘You’ll see,’ he said.
As we drove it dawned on me just how little I still knew about Jack.