The Rest of a Life

Chapter 2

The next morning, Meredith got up early to go out on the terrace and watch the sunrise under a comfortable blanket. Around seven AM, she was interrupted in her thoughts by the fact that Addison had just entered the house. Then, Meredith got up and went to join her in the kitchen.

"Good morning," Addison started while putting different shopping bags on the table, "I realized last night that I forgot to give you coffee. I came over to drop some off and bring you croissants for breakfast before going to work."

"That's very kind of you! Thank you so much again."

"Are you all awake, or are you the only one up?"

"No, I'm the only one awake. I woke up at dawn to look at the ocean. You were right, it's just awesome."

"I still have a bit of time before I have to go to the practice, do you want to have coffee together?"

"Of course, we'll settle down on the terrace?"

"Perfect!"

The two women brewed coffee before getting on the deckchairs facing the ocean to have a chat.

"So, how did it go yesterday?" Addison asked

"Well, that went pretty well. We spent the afternoon swimming in the ocean and then we ordered pizzas and ate them in front of a movie."

"What about Jo? How's she doing?"

"Yesterday afternoon and yesterday evening, she seemed to be doing pretty well, but the night was nevertheless very stormy."

"What do you mean by stormy?"

"We slept side by side. She had a really hard time falling asleep, so we went for a walk for an hour but when we came home she fell asleep right away."

"Did she wake up in the middle of the night?"

"Yes, she woke up about two or three this morning because she had a nightmare. We talked for an hour about everything she was thinking about and then it got better."

"It must be hard for her to deal with the situation. Amelia told me the whole story and I was speechless."

"The most complicated thing is that it was very sudden and that before all this, it was really a perfect love between her and Alex. I swear I'd never seen Alex as happy as the day he married Jo."

"Are you still in touch with him?"

"No, not at all. First of all, I consider what he did to Jo to be absolutely unforgivable. I understand that people can experience disruption in their lives and that they sometimes have to make some very difficult decisions. But the thing is, you can't leave your wife, a woman who loves you and has done everything for you, with a simple letter. Jo deserves more than that. Second of all, he hasn't contacted me since, and I don't intend to write to him first."

"Is he still in touch with some of the doctors at the Grey-Sloan?"

"No, as far as I know, he doesn't answer to anyone anymore."

"To be honest, I didn't think a guy like Alex was capable of doing something like that. I can't imagine what was going through his mind when he made that damn decision."

"Don't worry, you're not the only one struggling to figure out why he made this decision!"

While they were chatting together, Amelia arrived in the kitchen and joined her two friends directly.

"I didn't know you were supposed to come by this morning, Addi!" The young neurosurgeon told her friend.

"In fact," Addi answered, "I came to drop off some coffee because there was none left in the house."