“Oh, you have more.” Gumbo’s voice was back to cute wittle kitty mode. “Well done.” He sauntered back to the house and around the corner before I could even say thanks.
“You did great!” Brianne squeezed me close. “I knew you could do it. Now I have to run.” Then she, too, scurried down the sidewalk, leaving Lauren and me alone.
“That was weird.” I admired the sign. “Why didn’t they stay and watch me gloat?”
“You can always gloat tomorrow.” Lauren chuckled beside me. “Actually, they knew I wanted some time alone with you.”
And just like that, the anxiety was back. Crap. I’d already had a run-in with one division head. I wasn’t prepared for another yet. Couldn’t I take my meager win and my dehydrated-from-crying-self inside, and feel good for ten, maybe fifteen minutes before pressure took over again? Was that so much to ask?
Apparently so.
“Let’s go have a drink, Simone, and a good chat.” I was still nervous, but Lauren’s smile was pretty benign. “On me,” she added.
“You’re not gonna turn me into a toad or anything are you?”
Lauren dropped her pretty head back and laughed, loud and hard. It should have put me at ease. It should have, but it didn’t.
“Not tonight,” she replied with a wink. “In all seriousness, I want us to have a chance to talk and get to know each other again.”
My head was spinning as I tried to come up with excuses why I couldn’t go. But, as usual, instead of being productive, my brain froze under pressure. Just because she was mean to me in high school didn’t mean she was still unkind. Ethan had said otherwise, and she’d been nice enough in the board meeting.
Besides, we were sort of partners now, and maybe a good time away from the Magnolia would help put me at ease. I could use another ally. And Lauren remembered growing up here, maybe she could help me jog loose all these blocked memories.
If I really wanted another chance, I had to give it to others, too. There was one thing really holding me back, though. Something I had to know before I took another step forward.
“Can you answer one question for me before we go?”
Lauren turned to face me, her eyes serious.
“I’ve never slept with any of my patients, Simone. It’s highly unprofessional and diminishes my hard work.”
Whoa. She’d known just what I was going to ask. And she hadn’t answered me defensively or dismissed why it was so important to me. If she was going to extend that grace to me, I’d sure give it back to her.
“Cool,” I said. “Then let’s go have a drink.”
CHAPTER 19
“On a Friday night, you can’t find a single table here.” Lauren’s ponytail bobbed with each step she took into Gino’s Pizzeria. Nostalgia greeted me at the door, almost as strong as the mouthwatering scent of wood-fired pizza. My stomach grumbled. As far as I was concerned, there was little on this planet that melted cheese and doughy bread couldn’t solve.
“Luckily for us, it’s Tuesday.” I followed her to the small booth in the corner. All the locals knew it wasthespot. Not too close to the bathrooms, in Gino’s eyeline so he didn’t forget your order, and close enough to an overhead vent to always be the right temperature.
And, while Gino kept a close eye on the spot, he often got busy on weekends. This was the spot where young couples went when they wanted to—ahem—not keep their hands to themselves.
“Home sweet home.” Lauren giggled and plopped into her chair. “Ethan and I have a lot of happy memories of this spot. We even got divorced here.”
“Nice that it’s a happy memory for you.” I slid into the other side, ignoring the choke of my throat. “I don’t know that it will be for me when I get divorced.”
“Oh gosh, I’m sorry, Simone.” Lauren bit down on her lower lip almost hard enough to draw blood. “I didn’t mean to sound so cavalier about it.”
“It’s fine, Lauren.” I waved at the strange old lady I’d seentalking to the Mighty Oak the other day. She was with another woman, about my age, whom I didn’t recognize and a third person I could only describe as a goddess. Given what I’d learned, my guess was that she was an actual goddess. I drew my attention back to Lauren.
“You don’t have to choose your words so carefully around me. Trust me, I’m a blurter, too.”
“Thank you.” She threaded her ponytail through her fingers with a furrowed brow. “I’m always so self-aware, and yet I still manage to say dumb shit.”
“Join the club.”
A waitress swung by, greeting us by name although I didn’t recognize her. Small towns, I suppose. Word traveled fast. Then again, I’d grown up here. Maybe I knew her and didn’t remember.
