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“This is Maude,” I hear Harry’s grandmother say, a sense of urgency in her voice. “Harry and Nadia. The gala date last night. Hello!? Any updates? Am I going to be a great-grandma again?”
My jaw slackens in disbelief. Are these sneaky women actually having a conference call about my gala date?!
Delores pipes up. “That’s right! What happened!? Are they an item now? Nadia better have jumped that man’s bones last night.”
“What didyouhear?” my granny asks, never one to show her cards first. “And how do I take this call off speakerphone? You women are as loud as ever.”
“Press the button with the little speaker,” Delores says impatiently. “So no updates on your end? No one has any updates on how things went for Harry and Nadia last night?”
“I don’t know nothing,” my grandmother says stubbornly. “What didyouhear?”
“Goodness gracious,” Maude Westbrook says in a panic. “I don’t know what happened with the two of them. I thought you would know. Does anyone have any updates?”
“I did my part. I sprayed the ylang ylang. Beyond that, it’s out of my hands.” I imagine Granny shrugging her narrow shoulders.
I thank my lucky stars that my grandmother’s got my back today, guarding my secret instead of gossiping to her friends. I don’t want this news getting out before I’m sure how I’m going to handle it.
Maude isn’t giving up so easy. She sounds determined. “We need to find out if they’re together now. I’m going to get to the bottom of this.”
“Not if I find out first,” Delores mouths off.
“It’s not a race,” Maude spits out, and I’d laugh if them it weren’tmylove life they were snooping around in.
Granny changes the subject. “Listening to you two bicker on my phone is absolute torture. We should be talking about what really matters. Delores, how’s that will looking?”
“Heifer, I told you. You’re cut off.”
On that, I peel myself away from the door. I creep down the hall and sneak out of the house. I text Regina as I climb into my car in the garage.
ME: I’m on my way
Her response comes before I’ve even clipped on my seatbelt.
REGINA: See you in a few
And twenty minutes later, my therapist is watching me patiently as I pace her office floor and chew off what’s left of my painted fingernails. My sneakers scuff across the carpet beneath me.
“Don’t you want to sit?” she asks me from where she’s seated comfortably on the floor, legs crossed beneath her like she’s ready to roast marshmallows over an open flame and exchange campfire stories.
I frown. “No, I definitely don’t want to sit. If I sit, my brain will explode and you’ll charge me double,” I mutter, continuing to wear a path across the office floor.
“But sitting will help bring you into the present, Nadia.” She speaks in that soothing way of hers. “It will help you think calmly and rationally.”
Pausing, I stare right at her. “There is nothing rational about this! I married Harry last night. Harry! Tell me how this happened. Tell me what I should do. ”
With a hand on her heart, my therapist takes a deep cleansing breath and I mimic her, trying to do the same.
“I know you’ll fight me on this, Nadia, but I really want you to focus on the interconnectedness between your soul and Harry’s.”
“The what?” My head swivels toward her.
“Maybe instead of fighting your attraction to this man, you should reconsider your perception and bring your attention to just one thing at a time. Ask yourself. Does Harry bring you peace? Does he give you a sense of wholeness?”
“No!” I shriek despite myself, waving my bejeweled left hand around in the air. “Do you not see this big ol’ rock on my finger? This rock does not bring me peace. It does not bring me a sense of wholeness. It makes me feel like I’m going to throw up my breakfast all over your carpet.”
Regina hurriedly shoves a garbage can toward my feet. “Please don’t. This is the only thing my great-aunt Miriam left me in her will. I think it might be worth something one day.”
Is my doc not hearing me?
