Not today. Today he’d been picked up by Nate for some sort of secret meeting about something she didn’t care about at all because she wasn’t giving in to her curiosity. What mattered was that Henry had lied to her.
She didn’t need to know all the awful details.
She glanced over and the plant she’d brought in many months before seemed to be thriving. Likely because Naomi had joined the practice. It certainly hadn’t been Caleb. He barely noticed living humans if they weren’t actually on his exam table.
The door opened and Holly rushed in, a big bag of books in her hand. She looked flushed from the afternoon heat, and her eyes went straight to Nell.
A bit of shame flashed through her. Holly was one of her best friends in the world, and she’d ducked her for a solid week using every excuse she could think of. It had been almost a week and a half since Henry had laid out the news that he was some kind of assassin. She’d stood beside him at Hiram’s funeral and been surprised they hadn’t been inundated with questions since at least half the town knew.
But at some point Laura had found out. Likely because Rafe was the newly appointed mayor of Bliss and he’d been debriefed. Because that was what they did now. From there it had been easy to figure out what had happened. Rafe and Cam had told their wife. Laura had been worried and called Holly. They’d both tried to get hold of her for several days, but she’d simply asked for time and space.
Time and space weren’t working with Henry. She found herself getting angrier and angrier. She tamped it down because she needed…
She needed to smash something.
“Hey.” Holly slowed down as if she’d run here but now she’d caught her prey and she could take it easy.
Nell hated the fact that she wanted to turn away from this woman, that she wanted to be alone. She wasn’t a person who needed tons of alone time. She tended to crave being around groups of people. She gained energy from discussion and debate, from helping people.
She’d barely left the cabin since Hiram’s funeral.
“Hey.”
The bag in Holly’s hand hit the floor with a resounding thump. Holly sighed as she left it there and came to sit on the other side of the couch from Nell. “I went into Alamosa for books. Classes start next week.”
Holly was back in college. She was taking business classes so she could run the business side of the clinic someday.
“What are you taking?” It didn’t matter, but small talk seemed safe.
“I’ve got a statistics class I’m nervous about. Especially since I’m not the only one taking it,” she admitted with a wince.
“Alexei’s taking it, too?” Holly’s other husband had been taking classes at Adams State University in Alamosa as well, though he hadn’t decided on his area of studies yet.
Holly shook her head. “Micky. I’m taking a class with my son. I feel like such a weirdo.”
Holly’s son was proof positive that she was awesome. Micky Lang had every bit of his mother’s kindness and a wonder for the world around him that always made Nell smile. “You’re not. You’re brave and strong and you’ll teach every kid in that class that they’re never too old to follow a dream.”
She felt old. Stupid. Maybe that was a better word, though she’d been so tired lately that old felt like it worked, too. She hated feeling dumb, but even more she hated the looks of pity she would get. Like the one on Holly’s face now. It was sad when she thought about it because she would tell anyone else to not look on it as pity, to see it for what it truly was—empathy, sympathy, caring.
But she was still a seven-year-old girl watching her mom being carted off to a mental facility, hiding in the corner of her room so they wouldn’t take her away. She was still the girl who listened to the social workers talk about how sad it was her mom was insane.
She was thinking more and more about her mom lately. For obvious reasons.
“Are you okay?” Holly asked after a moment of uncomfortable silence.
“I’m as well as can be expected.” Nell gave her friend what she hoped was an encouraging smile. She glanced out the window, but still no Henry. “I’m here for a checkup.”
No Henry, but there was a gorgeous blonde jogging up the street. Laura wasn’t wearing her usual heels. She was in a pair of yoga pants and a T-shirt, sneakers she could easily slip in and out of on her feet. She’d slung a yoga mat over her shoulder. But it was obvious she was more interested in cardio than stretching.
Nell turned back to Holly. “You called her?”
“I texted when I checked the appointments at the clinic for today,” Holly admitted.
“Isn’t that against HIPAA or something?” She couldn’t hide from a doctor’s appointment, but she’d thought she could get in and out quickly. After all, it was a weekday and she’d known Holly had to finish her registration and Laura would be at her yoga class in the park. The same yoga class Nell should have been in if it hadn’t been for Henry turning her into the town fool.
She could do that all on her own. She was well aware that some of her protests could be seen as less than normal. Mostly the ones that dealt with mime, but it was hard to yell all the time. It was good to change things up.
“I’m the office manager,” Holly replied. “Part time, but I do have access to the schedule.”
The clinic door opened and Laura walked in, tossing her mat over beside Holly’s books. “Thank god we finally ran you down. I’ve called
