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Her blue eyes widened. “Oh, that doesn’t seem necessary! But…well, the thing is,” she laughed a little, “I find myself having the strangest thoughts. And…I cry. All the time. Not when Dan can see me, of course. Or Felicia. And certainly not in front of Lauren. Oh, no. I only want her to see me happy. My momma taught me a true lady never shares her woes with the world.” The tears began again. “But, I do feel that I would benefit from some medication,” she whispered. “I’ve been on those message boards for the family of Alzheimer patients and, well, it seems that I’m not the only one who suffers from…from…”
“Depression?” he said quietly.
“Oh, no, I don’t have that! I just need a special—”
“Vitamin?”
“Exactly!” She beamed. “You took the word right out of my mouth.” She plucked another tissue from the box and daintily blew her nose. “Now, not to tell you your job or anything, but I’ve done some research. There’s a vitamin called Lexapro that my friend Gina is on which seems very promising. Paxil, I’ve also heard gets very good results. But go ahead! You’re the doctor. You decide.”
Nate hid his smile and wrote her out a prescription. “Lexapro, it is.”
She gracefully got down off the exam table and smoothed out an imaginary wrinkle from her silk blouse. “Now, remember, this is our little secret.”
It was in that moment, looking at Lauren’s proud, graciously genteel mother that everything Doc had said to him over the past months came crashing down on Nate’s head. This woman trusted him. Forget the fact that she was the mother of the woman he loved, she could have been any other patient who’d come in to see him today. She wasn’t a number in the waiting room. She was a flesh and blood person who looked to him for help. It was beyond humbling.
“Absolutely,” he said.
Then she smiled at him and walked out of the exam room.
*~*~*
Lanie had called and asked Lauren to meet her for lunch at The Bistro. Dhara was finishing up some last minute website details, and would join them when she was done. Nate’s sister listened to her plans for the new business and seemed impressed by how much she and Dhara had accomplished in just one morning. Then Lanie told Lauren about how Nate how gotten the locksmith to change up the locks on his house.
“Do you think Jessica’s gone for good then?” Lauren asked, taking a bite of her tuna salad sandwich. She wanted to hope for the best, but it seemed almost too easy.
“She better be.” Lanie laid down her sandwich. “Look, I know it’s kind of nervy of me to stick my nose in someone else’s love life, but I hate to see you and Nate break up over Jessica. She’s not worth it.”
“So…she’s locked out of the house, then? What did Nate do with her things?”
“That’s the best part,” Lanie said, beaming. “He dumped her stuff on the front porch.”
“For real?”
Lanie nodded.
“I’d love to be a fly on the wall when she gets back to his place tonight and finds herself locked out.” She paused. “Where do you think she’ll go? Do you really think she’ll stay here in town?”
Lanie hesitated and Lauren was almost afraid of what she’d say next. “I have no idea where she’ll go, but Nate looked into this job of hers. It’s legit. Her firm is opening up a branch in Panama City.”
Lauren couldn’t help but feel a twinge of uneasiness. It seemed wrong to wish anyone ill will, but why wouldn’t Jessica just go away? The sooner the better, as far as Lauren was concerned.
Dhara came into the Bistro and rushed over to their table. She hugged Lanie then took a chair and handed Lauren an envelope. “The mail just came. This was registered so I had to sign for it. I know I probably shouldn’t have opened it, but I couldn’t help myself. It looked really important.” Her dark eyes looked worried.
Frida came up to the table. “Hi, Dhara. Can I get you something to drink?”
Dhara shook her head. “Maybe later? I just brought this letter over to Lauren and I’m anxious to see what it says.”
Lauren saw that the return address was Waterbury Real Estate. What now? She quickly read the letter. “What?” Her gaze shot to Dhara’s then to Frida, and then finally to Lanie.
“What does it say?” Dhara asked.
“According to this, the property I’m renting is officially on the market. And…there’s been an offer. The potential owner wants to have the building inspected.”
“An offer already?” Dhara said. “But our lease is still good till October, right?”
“It says here that the deal is contingent on our vacating the premises in the next thirty days.”
“They can’t do that!” Frida said. “You have a lease.”
