“That sounds fine. I am sure she won’t want to come back…”
“She said as much before she left,” Anna confirmed.
“I’ll give her space as well, but I’ll remind her tomorrow that she does need to continue with these appointments.” Elaine sighed as she got to her feet. “I’d do it today, but I’d rather not have a glass paperweight or porcelain vase thrown at my head.”
Anna chuckled. “That’s fair. Yes. Please, let’s let her breathe. Think. Relax.”
“Well, that’s one thing I don’t know if she knows how to do. Maybe one day you can convince her to meditate or something.” Elaine laughed, seeming amused at the very thought. “I’ve got rounds to make, Dr. Monroe. But you’ll see me again.”
“I’ll look forward to it.”
Two days later, Anna set up another appointment in the staff healthcare app for the next day, after consulting with Elaine on Victoria’s schedule. Three days later, she stood in front of her mirror, examining her outfit.
Victoria Monroe seemed to absolutely hate Anna’s comfortable, schoolteacherish way of dressing. So Anna would lean into that.
She also seemed to very much like the baked goods from Patisserie Rêverie, so Anna would also lean into that.
Today, what passed for an autumn chill in Los Angeles was in the air, so Anna pulled a deep green cashmere turtleneck out of her closet and paired it with a long, thin black wool skirt that she liked for the way it swished around her calves. Nude tights and the black ballet flats Victoria kept sneering at completed the look, even though Anna really would have preferred black tights and her favorite calf-high black boots.
For good measure, she pulled her untameable red waves back into a ponytail and capped it off with a big green silk bow. “Very 90’s, very schoolteacher,” she remarked, grinning into the mirror. The extremely chic, designer-clad heart surgeon would undeniably detest it.
Anna hopped into her little silver Camry and set a course for Patisserie Rêverie. Nothing so simple as a butter croissant today, oh no. Today, she would pull out the big guns. Not stopping to relish the delicious aromas in the air of the bakery as she normally did, Anna made quick, careful choices and scurried back out the door almost as soon as she’d gone in, arms laden with goodies.
Arriving five minutes before Victoria was due, Anna dropped a box of assorted miniature tarts in with Kathleen, to be shared with the other therapists. In the wellness lounge refrigerator, she left a box with a Waldorf chicken salad croissant and a bottle of Orangina, her intended lunch.
And on her desk in her office, Anna carefully lifted the lid on a box full of heaven. She’d gotten multiples of each of her favorite things; flaky puff-pastry four-cheese quiches, crispy palmier cookies, a pair of the butter croissants.
Thepièce de resistance?A pair of gorgeous cream stuffed croissants studded with crushed bits of pretzel in salted caramel sauce. These were Anna’s favorite seasonal fall treat next to the hot apple chai latte in her insulated travel mug, and she hoped they’d go a little way towards thawing Victoria out.
She made sure the bag of loose oolong, a clean mug, and the monkfruit sweetener she’d seen Victoria use were out in plain sight on the tea table, and then… she waited.
She waited, and she very carefully did not think about how she had never gone to this much effort to help any patient before. That way lay madness.
A knock at the office door. Short, sharp, and somehow imperious. Anna crossed the carpet to open it up.
As usual, Victoria looked straight off a runway. Today she wore loose black wool trousers, a black v-neck sweater that looked as soft as Anna’s own, and what looked like the black calf-high boots that Anna would have normally worn with her outfit today… though naturally, Victoria’s were likely to have cost a fair few more of Anna’s paychecks than hers had.
She looked tired. Despite this, Anna still thought she looked beautiful. Her hair was pulled back into a low chignon as usual, and she wore no jewelry other than a lovely jade pendant on a delicate golden chain around her neck. Despite the dark circlesunder her blue eyes and a slightly hectic pink in her cheeks, her statuesque beauty shone through.
Anna knew she was trouble, volatile trouble, and yet… God, what a beautiful, compelling woman she was.
Victoria didn’t even have to say anything today to let her opinion be loudly known. She simply cleared her throat to get Anna’s attention, looked her up and down with that icy, laser-like blue gaze, and quirked up one perfect golden eyebrow.
“So glad you like it,” Anna said, grinning in a way that seemed to make Victoria’s eye twitch. “Please, make yourself a cup of tea, and help yourself to the bakery box.”
The wordsbakery boxappeared to catch Victoria’s attention, and she headed over to Anna’s desk first. Anna pretended to not be watching as Victoria picked up a napkin and peered into the box, her hand hovering over each irresistible option. Would she actually take one? And if she did, would she eat any of it? Anna held her breath as she closed her office door and moved to pick up a plate for each of them.
The napkin fell on one of the caramel pretzel croissants, and the pastry was instantly snatched up, with one of the quiches swiftly following. Anna handed over one of the plates and Victoria dropped her bounty onto it, setting the whole thing down on the couch before moving to prepare her cup of tea. Anna noticed that when making the tea, she moved precisely, almost ritualistically. An interesting tidbit she filed away.
She already had a lot of interesting tidbits about Victoria collected.
Anna sat down in her chair with a caramel croissant of her own and waited for Victoria to settle down. She wanted to try a different approach today, and was nervous about how it would go. In her experience, if a patient left their sessions early three appointments running, they did not come back. But Victoria’scareer quite literally hinged on her acknowledging she needed help and getting it. How would today go?
Victoria sat down with her tea, stirring in the monkfruit sweetener and looking Anna over again. “On second glance, the ensemble isn’t so bad,” she remarked, with something that almost looked like approval in her gaze. “Could use boots, though.” She extended one foot out and pulled up the trouser leg to display her black-leather clad ankle.
“Ah, but you love my ballet flats so much,” Anna replied cheerily, wiggling her feet. “How could I deprive you?”
“How thoughtful of you.” Victoria took a sip of her tea, keeping her eyes on Anna. Tension fairly radiated off of her, a distrustful wariness that made Anna’s soft heart ache for her. She wondered what Victoria’s life had been like, that her walls were so very high, so much of the time? No wonder she didn’t seem to sleep.She must be living on high alert.
