The Other Woman

Have been wondering when I'll blog about her. I knew I would. I mean most people who are anyone in my life have been in here. My husband, my sister, my manager, my friends, my first crush, my ex, my sister-in-law etc....Have been putting her off but she doesn't seem to want to be put off any longer.

My husband & I have a sort of running joke about my secret fear of being dumped for a blonde nurse in a short uniform. I might even have mentioned it here before. Well she's one of them. The blonde nurses in short uniforms I mean. At the clinic where he works they are 4 dentists. And each one of them has a nurse assigned to work with him/her. All said nurses are currently very, very blonde, Eastern European girls. And yes the uniforms are short. And yes my husband is most definitey a legs man. They used to have a Bosnian nurse who wore hijab. She was always in white pants. But she was not 'his nurse'. And anyway she's gone now. Even the receptionist - who they all share - is Eastern European. In her own words 'me they all share'. In a way she's right. She's a receptionist, telephone operator, PR officer & one of the administrative heads thinks she's his private secretary. Poor girl. She always looks sorely harrassed. She's from Romania. But she's not blonde & she really deserves a post of her own because she's quite a good friend of ours actually. So I'll leave her alone for now.

So back to the Other Woman - the Bulgarian nurse in my husband's life. The very first time I ever set eyes on him he'd just walked into the waiting room with her. They'd been in the hospital in surgery apparently. They both looked tired but kind of happy & kind of close. My friend & I thought he was very attractive & we immediately started speculating about what's going on between him & the nurse. They went into his office. We were kept waiting maybe 15 more minutes. Then we got fed up with it. My friend was in a lot of pain. The receptionist was busy on the phone & talking to a lot of people so we just got up & sneaked into his office without waiting to be called in. We saw her helping him put on his white coat. Again that suggestion of intimacy. Do all nurses do that?

Nowadays when I see them come back from surgery together or just at the end of a rough working day I think they look like 2 people who've been up all night having frenzied sex. Maybe because now I know what he looks like when he's been up all night having frenzied sex? Or maybe my mind just gets dirtier as I get older?

Well she still helps him put on his coat & take it off. She also brings him his coffee three times a day & knows exactly how he likes it. At home if I bring him coffee most of the time he'll tell me off for waiting on him, that he can get it on his own. But he doesn't seem to mind her waiting on him.

What else does she do? She gets his desk in order. At home am not allowed to touch his desk or his papers.

And she gets him his reading material. It arrives in the mail & she gets it organized on the shelves in his office. Sometimes on his way out he'll ask her what he needs to read this week. She would know if he needs to look up something for a current case or if there's nothing urgent & he can concentrate on his other research - which is really outside the scope of her job. She tells him which books he needs to read & which DVD's he needs to watch & he brings them home with him etc....

Sometimes when we're trying to make a social engagement he'll pick up the phone & call her to ask her if he's free on a certain date. Once I asked him why he doesn't call our Romanian friend who is after all the receptionist and responsible for appointments. He said that our friend wouldn't remember everyone's appointments if she's not at work with the schedule infront of her but the nurse knows his cases & his appointments. And she does always have the answer for him.

And something else. She has her own car but they always go to the hospital & come back together in his car.

Add to that this hostility that she radiates towards me. She's the only person at the clinic that I haven't managed to win over. And boy have I tried. Sometimes I ask myself why I try so hard with her. It's weird really. I just feel that if me & her can be friends it would introduce some normalcy into the situation. It's strange for me that someone so obviously close to him would be barely speaking to me. I mean she never socializes with us. When we invite his colleagues over or when we go out with them she always has an excuse. She hasn't come over or gone out with us even once so far. And I know that she used to go out with them all the time before I came into the picture.

When I would be hanging around the clinic or the hospital she mainly ignores me. She's never openly rude. Just kind of short & unfriendly.

My friends think I should be very jealous her because of all of the above & because she's a seriously attractive girl who is quite a few years younger than me & who clearly can't stand me. I don't know if am jealous of her. At the risk of sounding overconfident, I think it's the fact that she is so obviously jealous of me that I find unsettling. I know they have a lot in common & I know that he relies on her a lot professionally. But she was there before me. And I think that if he felt more than that for her something would have happened before. And love would not have happened to us as fast or as hard if there was someone else in his life or mine. I don't know why she doesn't scare me more. Maybe she should.

Have I ever discussed it with him? Not seriously. Only as a joke. Am always careful not to say or do anything that might be interpreted as doubt or jealousy because I hate it when he acts jealous or suspicious of me so I try not to do it so that when he does it I can say well I don't give you a hard time over that sort of thing do I?I always trust you don't I? And etc....It's one of the very few means I have of controlling his jealousy or else it might get completely out of hand & I might find myself locked in the house dressed in black from head to toe. Well ok maybe that's an exaggeration but he IS an Arab & certain elements in his character have to be kept in check at all times by any sensible woman.

Last night I went over to the clinic for the first time in a few weeks. When he was done I helped him with that coat for a change. I was straightening his tie when I looked up & she was standing at the door staring at us. And if looks could kill.....I mean she kept on glaring even after she knew I'd seen her! He had his back to the door & when he asked me what's wrong she turned & walked away. I said it was her. And he called her back in & told her what are you doing still here go home get some rest etc....I just avoided looking at her face. That was embarrassing.

So the curse was a tall dark woman but the reality is a short blonde woman. I should check her neck for moles. The curse has got to get something right no?