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“Hope, while I can appreciate your need to rail at me while you’re in this current state of anger, I can’t say that I like being accused of whatever you think I’ve done. What grievance am I charged with today?”
Hearing how calm I am speaking to her takes some of the wind out of her sails. She’s used to me giving as much as I’m given. Her eyes widening is an added bonus. She walks to stand between the two chairs so she can get a closer look at me.
“Are you feeling all right? Normally, you yell back at me if I come in hot the way I just did.”
“I’m not feelin’ the whole loud convo moment. Plus, you looked like you had some things to get off your chest. Feel better?”
Standing, I move to the bookshelf in the corner and pull one of the shelves to reveal the hidden compartment that houses a refrigerator. From the fridge, I snag one of the bottles of water from the door and pull one of thebaidrinks from the lower shelf. Handing thebaidrink to Hope, I move to the sitting area and take a seat on the couch. She sits on the ottoman.
“Yes. I do. I still want to know what happened, but I feel a hell of a lot better. I guess therapy is doing good things for you.”
“It is. This time. What happened and why do you think I’m the reason for it?”
“Dr. Emory left. She said something about returning to her clinic and it was time.”
I settle back in my seat with one calf resting on my other knee. I’m wondering what the issue is. I’m sure Brooklynn was a damn good doctor and was wonderful with the patients, but it sounds like it was time for her to go back to her paying job. I hadn’t noticed she wasn’t around because I keep running into her around town. I’ve seen her about as often as I would’ve had she been in the building.
“I must be missing what the problem is. Why does her leaving make it seem as if your world imploded? Wasn’t she a volunteer?”
Hope’s face shifts to some weird expression I don’t recognize. This one is new for me. I don’t know how to interpret it.
“She was.”
“Do we not have the staff to cover the time she met with patients?”
“We do.”
“Wasn’t she working with an assistant who was covering for her while she was out?”
“How did you know ...?”
“I might’ve been running around half-cocked for a minute, but my brain isn’t so baked I forgot how to read past paperwork and files. I’ve been spending a lot of time going over the financial reports. Before you go diving off into some fit of rage, I was checking to see if we needed anymore funds allocated to the budget. Despite my being away from the helm of JDJ, we still had a good year. The result was we had some extra money. I wanted to see if HFH needed it first before I split it the way I normally do.”
I’m off the couch and moving to return to my desk chair when she responds.
“Wow. Okay. You really seem fine with all of this.”
That has me stopping in my tracks and turning to face her.
“What do you mean?”
The look on her face says she’s said something she didn’t mean to say. Guilt is written all over it.
“Shit! I wasn’t supposed to let you know I knew.”
“Knew what, Hope?”
“About your history with Brooklynn Emory.”
“Huh?” I tap my empty water bottle against the desk as I slide my tongue along the inside of my cheek. “Which one broke?”
She’s confused for a minute before she catches my meaning.
“Your mother.”
“Of course, she did. Doesn’t matter. Things change. I thought I’d pursue her but decided against it. If she wanted a relationship ... she’s gone. Again. It’s fine.”
“Right. Are you still wearing the ring?”
