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“Well, like you said, she has her own issues she hasn’t dealt with and is most likely projecting them on you. We all have things we like to brush under the rug.” Her words seem to have a double meaning.
I turn to her. “What’s going on? The girls said you aren’t yourself right now.”
A heavy sigh leaves her lips again. “I sort of ran into a problem with my new office this week.”
“Oh shit.” I reach up to rub her shoulder, knowing that she’s been so thrilled about her new office for her practice. She’s been holding her sessions out of her house since she started counseling, but next week is when she’ll finally have her own space to keep building her business. “What’s going on? I thought everything was good to go when we return from here…”
She scoffs. “Well, it was going well, swimmingly, really. But last night I met the guy who bought the other empty space in the complex as my office now.”
“And?”
“And he’s a divorce attorney.”
I can feel my eyes go wide. “Oh, shit.”
“Yeah. How on earth am I supposed to keep couples focused on repairing their marriages when just around the corner will be a reminder of the other solution to their problems?”
I rub her shoulder, trying to provide her some comfort. “Maybe it won’t be as bad as you think it is. Maybe you’ll barely see him. Maybe you two could team up and he might actually help you with clients. He might be working with a couple and recommend they seek counseling before going through with their divorce,” I suggest optimistically.
“Ha. As much as I love you for trying to convince me of that, based on our first encounter, I’m going to say that chances of that happening are a big, fat no. He basically told me that I’ve already made him richer because my clients are going to walk right across the complex to him when they realize that what I do is pointless.”
My mouth drops open. “Oh, Jesus.”
“All I want to do is help people, Charlotte. It’s important to me given what I went through growing up.”
“You do help people, Amelia. This guy being there isn’t going to change that.”
She sighs. “You know what the worst part about him is?”
“What?”
“He’s hot as hell.” She stares off in the distance, probably fantasizing about him as we speak.
All I can do though is laugh. “Wow. So you really do have yourself a little problem to deal with back home, don’t you?”
She nods. “See, Char? We all have things in our lives that cause us to make decisions we’re not necessarily proud of, or to react to situations that we don’t know how to deal with, even me, the therapist.” She points a finger to her chest.
“Well, if it makes you feel any better, you’re a sex therapist, so as long as you didn’t sleep with him, I think you get a free pass here.”
She flashes me a small smile. “Yeah, there is no sex going on with Ethan, nor will there ever be, so that logic works for me.”
I rest my head on her shoulder. “Thanks for coming to check on me.”
“Of course. Everything will be okay.”
“I’m just really mad at her right now.”
“That’s valid. But when you’re done being mad, make sure you two talk. Tell her how she made you feel. It will make you feel better and help you process why you got angry with one another.”
“Man, what do other people, who don’t have therapists as friends, do in crises like these?”
“Live the same way you do. Just because I’m a therapist doesn’t mean everyone listens to me.”
That makes me laugh. “Well, I think they should.”
“I do too. But hey…I get paid either way.”
* * *
“You need to talk to her,” Noelle whispers in my ear as we walk through one of the shops in town the next day. My mother and her friends are milling about as well, but Penelope is avoiding me just like I’m avoiding her.
“I’m not saying anything to her right now. She was very honest about how she feels, and so was I in return. I’m still pissed about it, Noelle. And until I can calm down a bit, I think it’s best we don’t speak at the moment.” Amelia’s advice comes back to me, but this morning I woke up still angry, so I think space is the best option for us right now.
“But we’re all on vacation, we’re supposed to be having fun, and now…”
“I’m still having fun,” I say through a fake smile, holding up a t-shirt that says, ‘I got lei’d in Hawaii.’ “At least I can wear this t-shirt with pride after this.”
“Damien is delivering on the sex on vacation aspect, then?”
“God yes. It’s the only thing keeping me sane right now. When I got back to our room last night, I mauled him and took out my aggression on his dick.”
“Using sex as a way to deal with your feelings, I’m not sure Amelia would approve.”
“I’m not searching for her approval, or Penelope’s. I know that the way I’m handling this entire situation isn’t healthy, all right? I mean, for heaven’s sake, I agreed to let my childhood nemesis be my fake boyfriend. Nothing about this is sane. But all I needed was my friends to listen and support me as I figured this shit show out, and Penelope apparently can’t do that anymore and waited until she arrived in Hawaii to tell me that.” I put the shirt back on the rack and keep moving through the store as Noelle follows.
“I agree that the timing wasn’t the best, but I beg of you, don’t let this ruin the entire trip. We’re only here for a few days. There has to be a way for you two to make up.”
“I will when she apologizes,” I reply stubbornly, just as my mother comes up to me holding a floor-length maxi dress.
