The Rest of a Life

Chapter 7

After Jo left her office after their discussion about her love story with Avery, Addison decided to quickly prepare what she needed for her morning surgery. While she was driving to St. Ambrose, her phone started ringing.

"Dr. Addison Montgomery," Addison said as she picked up her phone using the car's Bluetooth, "who's calling please?"

"Addison, it's Meredith."

"Good morning, Meredith. What's up?"

"I'm calling to warn you that Alex is probably coming to Los Angeles to talk to Jo. He showed up at my house this morning and told me he needs to see her."

"Do you know why he wants to see her?"

"Apparently, he wants to have a discussion with her. On a personal note, I refused to talk to him because I do not think we have anything more to talk about. I have been his best friend for a long time, he should have talked to me in person. Despite this, as a kind of reminder of our old friendship, I did tell him that she is in Los Angeles."

"Thank you for warning me. I have a surgery this morning but this afternoon I will be at the practice, so I will talk to Jo to make her ready for Alex's possible coming. It could really come as a shock to her to see him coming."

"That's for sure. That' s for sure. What scares me is that she might go back to the way she used to be when she was trying to run away from her ex-husband, Paul. She could leave everything she has built behind and walk away."

"I don't know, she certainly has done a lot of work with her therapist and she's really evolved. She is no longer the Jo who moved to Los Angeles a few months ago."

"Anyway, I trust you to handle the situation."

"Don't worry, Meredith, I'm going to make sure this Jo and Alex discussion goes smoothly."

"Thank you, Addison. You know, you're the person Jo needed in her life and you're doing her a lot of good."

"Thanks a lot."

Meredith hung up, and moments later, Addison arrived in St. Ambrose for her surgery. It was a reasonably simple procedure, and after an hour in the O.R., she had completed it. Afterwards, she headed back to the practice where she was expected to carry out her most challenging procedure of the day: making sure that the confrontation between Jo and Alex went well.

When she got back to the office, Addison went straight to check and see how Jo was doing. The young woman was quietly having a conversation with one of her patients. Addison watched her working for a few moments, and then Jo ended her consultation and took the patient out of her office.

"How did your surgery go?" Jo asked her friend Jo as she walked out of her office.

"It was pretty commonplace." Addison answered. "If you want and if you have any time, we could have lunch together. A new restaurant opened in the neighborhood, apparently it's pretty hip. We can go eat there."

"I don't really have time!"

"Are you sure?" Addison insisted, hoping to take advantage of this meal to talk to Jo about Alex's coming. "If you want, we can eat fast."

"I'm sorry, but I really don't have time to waste. I have consultations all afternoon and I need to be prepared."

"It won't be a waste of time," Addison decided to insist anyway, "it's really important that we both talk."

"What's going on, Addi?" Jo replied, worried about what her friend was going to tell her.

"It's about Alex!"